Journal Entry 1 by goatgrrl from New Westminster, British Columbia Canada on Saturday, April 17, 2004

I've owned this book since 1992, and read it around that time. I have in mind to re-read it one of these days, as the character of Olive belongs on a list of "Great Old Ladies of Literature" I'm thinking of creating. This was a hilarious, poignant book -- very much in the style of Nick Hornby's About a Boy, though it preceded the latter by almost a decade. 

Journal Entry 2 by goatgrrl from New Westminster, British Columbia Canada on Monday, July 05, 2004

I just re-read this book, since it feels like time to release it, and I didn't want to do so without having read it one last time. If anything, I enjoyed it more the second time!

Trick or Treat tells the story of three families inhabiting a row of terraced houses in an unidentified city in northern England (probably Sheffield, where author Lesley Glaister makes her home). The families are the eighty-something Olive and Artie, a common-law couple who have shared their home since before WWII; expectant mother Petra and her three children Buffy, Bobby & Wolfe; and the elderly Nell and her sad, downtrodden, pedophile/ex-convict son Rodney. The three families converge at the climax of the novel in a Guy Fawkes Day celebration, but the reader comes to understand much earlier than that the many ways their destinies have been -- and may be -- intertwined.

One internet reviewer labeled Lesley Glaister's work "suburban gothic". Though family secrets are at the heart of much of what happens in this book, I wouldn't go so far as to label its tone "gothic". With the exception of Nell and Rodney's story, the individuals and families in this book seemed sweet, ordinary and familiar to me. Olive and Artie would be -- I suspect -- fantasy grandparent material for many of us.

Lesley Glaister's other novels include Honour Thy Father (1990), Trick or Treat (1991), Limestone and Clay (1993), Partial Eclipse (1994) and The Private Parts of Women (1996). Her most recent novels are Now You See Me (a 2001 novel which was longlisted for the 2002 Orange Prize) and As Far as You Can Go (2004). 

Journal Entry 3 by goatgrrl from New Westminster, British Columbia Canada on Sunday, July 11, 2004

I passed this book on to my sister-in-law, Christine, since we were talking about Sheffield and our conversation brought the book to mind. I think Chris will like the character of Wolfe, and his relationship with Artie, and suspect she'll relate easily to the Sheffield setting.