White Crow

WHITE CROW, Marcus Sedgwick, Orion (Ages 12+) ISBN: 9781842551875
White Crow is a modern gothic novel. It follows three narrative voices that each give a perspective to the story. The first is Rebecca, a teenage girl who has moved to Winterfold with her father after a tragic event. She is isolated and unable to effectively communicate with her father. She explores the village out of boredom, but what she is really looking for is a companion that she can bond with.
Rebecca then finds the strange and intriguing Ferelith, and a partnership starts to build, although Ferelith holds more of the cards than Rebecca does. Readers are left to wonder if this is a real friendship or a manipulation, a trap, or desperation. We learn most of the history of the village from interaction between the two girls, and from the third narrative, the parish rector, through his journal dated 1798. What happened at that time seems to have an impact on the modern age, and on Rebecca and Ferelith. As more of the book is read, we learn that the rector, along with a doctor who moved there from France, had been conducting experiments to find proof that there was life after death.
The idea of the book is that the reader is asked to think about life and death, and the possibility of an afterlife. The white crow of the title is a summation of this argument. There are no proven communications from an afterlife, and people require proof. All crows are black, because no-one has ever seen any that are not black. Until they see a crow that is not black, for instance, a white crow, everyone will continue to believe that all crows are black. In the same way, until there is proof of life after death, there will always be many who do not believe in it. This example is explained to the reader in the book.
The village of Winterfold is isolated and decaying. The sea is slowly swallowing it, with frequent landslides along the coast that will eventually lead to total destruction of the village. As part of this process, churches and graveyards are lost over the cliff edge bit by bit, revealing bodies, coffins, and artefacts as they go along. This provides suitably gothic detail, especially when we learn that Ferelith collects things from the exposed graves as souvenirs, including someone’s skull. The characters lives are slowly unravelling, producing secrets just like the ground is producing grave goods. All live are slowly rotting and decaying, piece by piece, heading towards our own personal destruction, death. This brings the quest for proof of the after life into focus again.
When I read this novel, I found switching the narrative voices irritating. It made the book appear choppy, a little too choppy for my personal taste. I later went back and re-read some of the text, and it was much easier the second time around, and I picked up on things that I had missed. My concern is that this would confuse children much more than it did me, and so make them unlikely to continue with the book, or re-visit it a second time. I talked to some colleagues who had also read the book, and they shared my concern. They also found the book choppy and stilted. One person I spoke to said that they did not get the book at all. Certainly, I have been putting off writing this review for at least two weeks, as I was unsure what to write. The question of proof of life after death is never fully dealt with, and of course, is never proven, even fictionally. There is a twist at the end of the story, but it failed to surprise me. I found the ending rushed, and I was unsatisfied at leaving the story there.
In conclusion, White Crow is a clever book that causes readers to think about important concepts such as life after death. It weaves narratives from different perspectives and timelines to piece together the story. However, in doing so it looses its flow, and becomes difficult to read. I found the initial reading of the book somewhat of a chore, but it is better a second time around. It is one of those books that grow with you, and that you take more from each time you read it. I can see that there has been careful thought given to how the book has been structured, but it just didn’t float my boat so to speak. The image, or indeed idea, of the white crow, is only dealt with briefly at the beginning and the end of the novel. In my opinion, more should have been made of it, especially given the title of the book.
Choppy, but carefully planned. Doesn’t deal with the question posed. 4/10
What I have learned;

· Be careful when using different narrative voices so as to avoid confusion, and not loose cohesion of the whole work.

· If imagery and concepts are central to the work, make sure that is reflected in the finished text, and not just in the title