The Furies

by Natalie Haynes

[Leah]

As soon as I spotted The Furies on Netgalley, I wanted to read it and I requested it immediately and crossed my fingers for acceptance and was so chuffed to be accepted a little while after requesting! I thought the title was such a great title, and I loved the book cover which seems to depict Alex's four students and I thought it sounded like a really, really interesting read. What surprised me is that it's being marketed differently in the US than it was in the UK. It the UK it was published under The Amber Fury (which having read the book now actually makes sense) and the cover looks quite old-fashioned, almost as if it's a historical novel, whereas the US version is simply The Furies (way better) with a more Chick Lit-style cover and it's more modern and appealing. I wouldn't have read it in its UK incarnation, but I am SO glad the US changed it up, because it was a fascinating, interesting novel.

The Furies is such a complex, interesting novel and it seems to be based on the Greek tragedies Alex teachers her students at Rankeillor. I can't say for definite because I've never read these Greek tragedies but from what Alex discusses and teachers to her students, there's obviously a link there and a reason as to why Haynes chose to feature Greek tragedies as the novel mirrors the very ones they discuss. Greek tragedies are vastly confusing, mind, with names beginning and ended in the same letters, and they're super hard to pronounce, and the stories are so fantastical and farcical you can hardly believe them, but if you pay attention and listen to what Alex and the kids discuss, you can make sense of the tragedies and see the beauty of watching the fictional Greek tragedies play out across the page as Alex's own tragedies play out across the page. Super, super clever. Not normally something I'd go for, but the fast pace of the novel, and the fact the story doesn't linger over the Greek stuff despite it being an overwhelming force in the novel, made for an interesting, varied read.

I loved that the thing that binded together Alex and her students - Jono, Mel, Carly, Annika and Ricky - seems to be tragedy and sadness. I loved that Alex was willing to give the kids a chance, and that instead of just rejecting her out right, the kids gave her a chance too - some easier than others, Annika was always abrupt, always wanting to be right, and in desperate need of a slap, but I warmed to Carly and Mel, and Jono and Ricky had their moments. It was interesting to see such oddball characters bond over Greek tragedies. People who never would have socialised together normally (except Carly and Mel who were friends before the Unit) being bounded together by their naughtiness, but all willing to learn, willing to make something of themselves, and their time together is the bit you're always wanting to get back to, because their lessons are always golden. There's always something there that keeps you coming back. It's so clever.

Alex is a very honest narrator, and as the novel seems to be looking back on her time at Rankeillor she mentions a lot that she didn't see something coming, and I was frantically trying to deduce just what was coming. It's easy, in the end, to see what's coming, but you can see that through Alex's fug of grief and rightful acknowledgement - she wasn't giving the kids 100%, even claming it to only be 70% most of the time, so just because I saw it coming, Alex certainly didn't. The other characters were interesting, too, though it was mostly young, deaf Mel who made an impression. Her diary entries were wonderful additions to the novel, and helped us get into the psyche of the kids in the Unit. It's a novel that very much straddles the genres. Haynes has a light touch, but with serious consequences and the constant referrals to the Greek plays were always heavier, but there was always an air about the novel that was lighter. It's somewhat wrong to just dismiss this as women's fiction - because it was rather a psychological thriller, even if it wasn't as obvious a fact.

The Furies was such a thrilling, enjoyable, roller-coaster of a read. I literally devoured it in chunks, staying up way past by bed time the first night to keep reading until I couldn't stay awake any more. I loved Natalie Hayne's writing style, she got Alex spot-on and I could hear her voice inside my head whilst I was reading, along with that of Mel's, too. It was such a clever, enjoyable book, one of those books you don't know what to expect from it, but it knocks your socks off and then some. The only fly in the ointment was that I would have liked to have known what happened to Ricky, but apart from that the novel was pretty much pitch-perfect. It had the right amount of drama, and pathos, and excitement to keep me hooked from beginning to end, and I can't wait to see what Natalie Haynes writes next, she's very, very talented. The Furies is an amazing first novel, and I am so glad I read it!

This review was originally posted on Girls Love To Read