“Elke, Elke, you have to read this book, it’s my absolute favourite!”
This is what one of my students told me two years ago. The book in question was Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, and according to her it was the best book ever written. Usually, I make sure to read my students’ favourite novels, but somehow I didn’t get around to reading this one. There were other things I had to read, I wasn’t in the mood for a young-adult murder-mystery novel, or maybe there were yet other reasons too. Anyway, last week I finally did manage to read it. Want to know whether it was any good? Read on!
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder was so famous that it was turned into a Netflix series a couple of years ago. It is about a young girl, Pippa Fitz-Amobi, who decides to do a school project about Andie Bell, who was murdered five years previously, supposedly by her boyfriend who later committed suicide. Pippa doesn’t believe that, however, so she does her own research, teams up with Ravi, the supposed murderer’s brother, and soon realises that the things she’s discovered might put her life in danger.
“Elke, Elke, have you read the book yet?”
Slightly less than two years ago, after I’d told her I was very excited to read this book, I had to admit to her that I hadn’t read it, nor made any effort of acquiring it. I did tell her I still really wanted to. After that school year, she had a different English teacher, and I didn’t talk to her much. However, a couple of weeks ago she came up to me and talked to me about Holly Jackson’s book again. I said I would love to read it, so she said I could borrow her copy.
“Elke, Elke, here’s the book!”
I took it and read it. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is one of those books that you finish in two days. I was absorbed by the story straight away, because Pippa is a compelling character, and I really wanted to know what had happened to poor Andie Bell, whether she was really dead, and who had actually killed her. I am usually not a fan of murder mysteries, but I thought this one was ok. I was surprised at the end of the novel, when I learned about what had actually happened (although I was not surprised at all when Pippa and Ravi got together, but hey, that’s young adult literature for you), so that’s a good thing. Overall, I can tell my student I really liked this book. There’s one thing that bothered me, however.
I was under the impression that I was reading a British book, because Holly Jackson is from the UK. However, the characters go to high school, pay with dollars, and use American words. I was confused when I read it, so I did some research about this book – look at me, reading this book actually made me as inquisitive as its main character – and found out that there’s two editions of this book. There’s the original British one, set in England, in Buckinghamshire, and then there’s the version that has been rewritten for an American audience. It bothered me.
It was like reading that book report again, in which a student claimed she couldn’t sympathise with a character because she didn’t have the exact same life as she did. Did Jackson’s editor really think that American readers would not be able to relate to a British girl? Did she think that American readers would be confused about the endless cups of tea consumed in this novel and therefore changed the beverage to coffee? (That’s really what happened; I was waiting for Pippa to have to deal with a caffeine overdose.) Would American young adults not understand that there are other parts in the world where people are murdered? That there are other parts in the world where children go to school, just like them? Or do they not understand that there are other parts in the world, period? Oh, I was fuming.
When I told my partner about this, he shrugged and said that this happens all the time and I shouldn’t worry about it so much. He was right, of course. Even though I still want to write an entire blog post on the world of publishing (now there’s an interesting topic I should do some research on!), what really matters is that I’ve now finally read my student’s favourite book in the whole world. So when she sees me and will ask:
“Elke, Elke, have you read the book yet?”
I will tell her that yes, I have. And that I absolutely loved it. And do you know what the best part about it is?
This is the first part of a trilogy, and I want to ask her if I can borrow the other parts, too.
What did you think of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder? Do you like murder mysteries? Do you like reading other people’s favourite books? What do you think of the fact that the setting was changed from the UK to America? Please let me know in the comments!
The Open Book 