Title: FuryAuthor: Shirley Marr
Release Date: 1st May 2010
My Rating: 4/5
Let me tell you my story.
Not just the facts I know you want to hear.
If I’m going to tell you my story,
I’m telling it my way.
Strap yourself in...
Eliza Boans has everything.
A big house.
A great education.
A bright future.
So why is she sitting in a police station confessing to murder?
I've never had so much trouble trying to find the right words to review something before! I will do my best not to spoil anything.
I really enjoyed Fury. I sat down to read it one night and ended up finishing it that same night. Shirley Marr has created fantastic suspense with Eliza telling her story and leading up to the expolsive conclusion as to why she is covered in blood. It is a story about violence, friendship, the cruelty of teenagers, pain and vengeance.
Eliza is a spoilt little rich girl who is strong, opinionated and stubborn. And she can be an absolute bitch. But when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, she loves her friends (although in real life I can't see why someone would be friends with her in the first place, the way she treats them sometimes). At the beginning of the story I found it very difficult to like her and I just wanted to slap her, but throughout the book you get to understand the reason she is how she is and understand her actions. By the end I wanted nothing bad to happen to her and for her and her friends to get on with their spoilt lives.
I like that Marr got the inspiration for her book from The Furies, the personification of vengeance in Greek mythology and it sums up the story perfectly. It is probably my favourite thing about the book. I also really enjoyed that it was from Eliza's perspective and that it went back and forth from present time back to the events leading up to Eliza sitting in the police station. It gave it depth and suspense.
The only thing that bugged me about Fury, and while this may seem insignificant to everyone else but bugs me in anything I read, is that al ot of the characters names were either taken from famous people (Paula Yates, Ronnie Wood, the english teacher was named Mr Trollop - as in famous author Anthony Trollop, history teacher Mr Tolstoy and Brian Fadden, - as in singer Brian McFadden?) or they were rather cliché (Jane Mutton and The Dashwoods, you will understand these when you read the book). If it had just been one character it wouldn't have bothered me but it was significant enough through the whole book for me to notice.
I really enjoyed Fury. I sat down to read it one night and ended up finishing it that same night. Shirley Marr has created fantastic suspense with Eliza telling her story and leading up to the expolsive conclusion as to why she is covered in blood. It is a story about violence, friendship, the cruelty of teenagers, pain and vengeance.
Eliza is a spoilt little rich girl who is strong, opinionated and stubborn. And she can be an absolute bitch. But when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, she loves her friends (although in real life I can't see why someone would be friends with her in the first place, the way she treats them sometimes). At the beginning of the story I found it very difficult to like her and I just wanted to slap her, but throughout the book you get to understand the reason she is how she is and understand her actions. By the end I wanted nothing bad to happen to her and for her and her friends to get on with their spoilt lives.
I like that Marr got the inspiration for her book from The Furies, the personification of vengeance in Greek mythology and it sums up the story perfectly. It is probably my favourite thing about the book. I also really enjoyed that it was from Eliza's perspective and that it went back and forth from present time back to the events leading up to Eliza sitting in the police station. It gave it depth and suspense.
The only thing that bugged me about Fury, and while this may seem insignificant to everyone else but bugs me in anything I read, is that al ot of the characters names were either taken from famous people (Paula Yates, Ronnie Wood, the english teacher was named Mr Trollop - as in famous author Anthony Trollop, history teacher Mr Tolstoy and Brian Fadden, - as in singer Brian McFadden?) or they were rather cliché (Jane Mutton and The Dashwoods, you will understand these when you read the book). If it had just been one character it wouldn't have bothered me but it was significant enough through the whole book for me to notice.
Fury is Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar crossed with Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson crossed with the attitude of Rose from Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead.
Thanks for the great review - I'm Shirley's editor at black dog books. It's interesting how things change between an advance copy and final edit, as Shirley did change many of the names you have mentioned. The book is out in May, hope you get a chance to read the final version!
ReplyDeleteThanks Melissa, I'll have to check out the final version and then possibly adjust my review :)
ReplyDeleteShirley Marr is a first-generation Chinese-Australian and author of young adult and children's fiction. It was while she was writing a very dry PhD on accounting that she realised she'd rather be writing down her dark, twisted daydreams instead. She is still an accountant by day and a 'masked writer' at night.
ReplyDelete