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Comin 2 gt U
by Simon Packham

Release Date: 1st Jul 2010
Publisher: Piccadilly Press
ISBN: 978 1 8481 2095 2
RRP: £5.99

Average Customer Rating: 
(0.0 based on 0 ratings)

A dark tale of iPods, 30's Jazz and serious bullying...

Sam is going to die. Betrayed, he finds himself stranded in an unknown part of World 67 with two characters he barely knows. The atmosphere turns menacing, and one of his antagonists suddenly raises a sword. Begging for his life, offering up all his worldly possessions still doesn’t save him from being brutally killed – but it isn’t his virtual death that gets Sam really worried. That knot in his stomach feels tighter because of the thinly veiled threat on his real life.

Comin 2 gt U makes for disturbing reading. If ever there was a novel that mirrors the current trend of cyber-bullying; this is it. But Sam’s experiences extend beyond the realm of virtual reality and spill over into his daily life, when it turns out that his cyber-murderer knows his real identity and begins a cruel and calculated campaign to isolate, ridicule and humiliate him. As events hang precariously on the edge, Sam is torn between being a cry-baby and telling one of the many adults in his life about the bullying and the need to preserve a stiff upper-lip. The pressure to be a man is overwhelming in the face of his war-hero Grandfather and ‘Hardman’ father.

The dislocation of reality and perception, of what is current and past, is fundamental to the narrative. This is illustrated by the incongruity of squashing together iPods and Smartphones with hand-typed memoirs, 30’s Jazz and pineapple chunks, and the amalgamation of pivotal themes: Child Mental Health, bullying and self-acceptance.
Comin 2 gt U is terrifying for the protagonist as well as the parent and highlights the difficulty in managing bullying; either on or offline. It also shines a light on the danger of careless words spoken that can have a huge impact on a child’s perception of him/herself and the world around them. Most of all, it underscores just how tumultuous childhood can be and emphasizes the need for parents to be receptive to their child’s emotional state. Because of all that, Comin 2 gt U is hard going, it’s a hard read. It’s frightening and disturbing and actually unpleasant at times. But that’s as it should be.

On a lighter note, we are shamefaced that we didn’t ‘get’ all the textual shorthand... obviously the author is more in tune with his target audience than we are. Well done Packham; you’ve successfully shown up every other parent out there (we’re certain we’re not alone in this).

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