Shadow – Michael Morpurgo
*Warning – may contain spoilers*
Author: Michael
Morpurgo
Publisher: HarperCollins
First published: 2010
Edition: Hardback.
If the front cover has a dog on it, I’m sold.
Pages: 288
Blurb: Never
have Aman and his mother needed a friend more than when a Springer Spaniel
appears – thing and war-ravaged – in the mouth of their Afghan cave, where they
struggle to survive in a world of poverty, corruption and police brutality.
Nursed back to health by Aman, the dog becomes a constant companion, a shadow
and that’s what Aman decides to call her.
But life in Afghanistan becomes
more dangerous by the moment. Eventually, Aman, his mother and Shadow find the
courage to embark upon the treacherous journey from war-torn Afghanistan to the
safety of a relative’s home in Manchester, England.
But how far can Shadow lead them?
And in this terrifying new world, is anywhere really safe…?
History of my copy: I picked up my copy
of Shadow for 50p at a car boot I went to last month Whilst the book and
dustcover are a little scuffed around the edges, it is otherwise in good
condition, especially for how little I paid for it!
Michael Morpurgo is one of my favourite authors. In fact, he
is who I consider as the author who turned me into a bibliophile. Although I
don’t have all of his books, I adore the ones I do own. Whist he is
predominantly a child author, there is a certain magic to his books and such
good underlying morals that they are appropriate to all ages.
Plot: Shadow starts with Matt staying
with his Grandfather and going to visit his best friend Aman who is locked away
with his mother, ready to be sent back to Afghanistan despite living in England
for 6 years. Matt himself isn’t allowed to go in, but the grandfather does and
that is how we hear Aman’s story.
Aman
tells the grandfather about his home in a cave in Afghanistan and how
eventually him and his mother, along with a homeless Springer Spaniel Shadow,
leave the war-torn country on a horrendous trek to the UK. Their journey has
its ups and downs, and painfully portrays the struggle that hundreds of
thousands of people are still making to escape their troubled homes.
We know from the beginning of the story
that Aman and his mother o make it to England, but the reader has no idea just
how difficult the journey was and the things they sacrificed to get here.
The end of the novel involves a protest
to allow Aman and his mother to stay in England and, just when the day seems
lost, the tables turn due to an unlikely hero.
Setting: Shadow has multiple settings, and
Morpurgo captures them all fantastically. From the prison-like Yarl’s Wood to
the war-torn Afghanistan and even the suffocating darkness of the containers
Aman and others travel in. Whilst a child’s book, Morpurgo can portray a
setting with little effort and with child-like descriptions rather than lengthy
paragraphs.
Characters: I absolutely adore Aman as a
character. Despite being young, he is brave and has seen enough war and
suffering to last a life-time. He clearly struggles retelling his story, but he
does it nonetheless.
Along with that, I think the
grandad is a great character too as he stays and listens to everything Aman
says, even when it appears that he isn’t coming back. On top of that, he helps
Matt organise the protest, which is quite a thing. It’s also refreshing to see
an elderly character that isn’t racist like many of the elderly people I am
used to.
To read or not to
read: Read. Shadow is a
brilliant tale of why people make the life-threatening trek across Europe to
reach England. With the Syrian crisis and with refugees by the thousands in
Calais, Shadow is very much on topic nowadays and is a must read for anyone who
can’t see why people would risk their lives to get here.
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