Come dine on – oops – with me…

The Savages by Matt Whyman

Not since I read the wonderful book, The Radleys by Matt Haig, (reviewed here), have I found a YA novel such fun.  Just look at the cover – you know it’s going to be hilarious.  You can sense that the Savages are a close family – like The Munsters or The Addams Family perhaps, and the strapline tells you they probably have a huge secret… 

The story begins at the end of a family dinner, cooked to perfection by mother, Angelica. After her younger brother Ivan has left, fifteen year old Sasha seizes the opportunity to tell her parents about her new boyfriend Jack – who is a vegetarian.

Events then flash forward:

Before the story broke, Sasha was all set to turn sixteen with only her exams standing in the way of the best summer of her life. Then the truth emerged. Overnight, as if a spell had been cast from above, she and her family became monsters.
…Besides, with every last scrap of evidence out in the open, from phone records to witness statements and even the grisly report from the drainage experts, it only takes a little imagination to get under the skin of the Savage family, and come close to the truth about what really happened.

What follows, to fill in what happened, is an hilarious black comedy involving using their house as the location for a commercial shoot, a bulimic super-model, a journalist turned investigator who is digging into Titus’s business affairs, and boyfriend Jack of course, alongside plans for more gourmet dinners.

The Munsters

To all external appearances, the Savages appear totally normal – unlike The Munsters who (mostly) appear monsters, but are totally benign.  The Savages’ family secret has its basis in true history, explained by grandpa Oleg. This helps to humanise them, which is necessary, because we do find ourselves wanting to like this strange family.

Whereas in The Radleys, the teenagers don’t know their family are vampires, apart from the baby, the Savages are fully aware of their family secret. When Jack challenges Sasha to go veggie for a month, teenager that she is, that is her chance to rebel against her family traditions. Little does she know that (natch) Jack’s intentions are not entirely honorable, and also that this relationship could also signal the beginning of the end…

Having the time-honoured themes of a portrait of family life and teenagers growing up at its core, allows Whyman to have great, gory fun with the Savages. There are laughs aplenty, and some imaginative set-pieces, yet there was enough depth to satisfy this adult reader. I loved it – and I’ve managed to fudge around the Savage’s secret too! (9/10)

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Source: Review copy – thank you. To explore further on Amazon UK, please click below:
The Savages by Matt Whyman – Hot Key books, pub June 2013, paperback 288 pages (12+)
The Radleys by Matt Haig.

9 thoughts on “Come dine on – oops – with me…

  1. sakura says:

    This looks wonderful! And I still need to read The Radleys too! I love the Munsters and the Addams Family so I’m definitely going to try this one.

    • gaskella says:

      Although superficially, The Savages sounds similar to The Radleys, they’re quite different. I adored both, and I’m sure you’ll like them Sakura.

    • gaskella says:

      Hot Key is a great new imprint for older children/YA. I have several others of theirs to read (including Sally Gardner’s Maggot Moon).

      • Alex says:

        I didn’t enjoy Gardner’s first and so rather stupidly have avoided her more recent books. I must get over that, even if only because I owe her something for what she had to say about Michael Gove.

        • gaskella says:

          I’m a huge fan of Sally Gardner. A few years ago I saw her talk to an audience of 9-13yr olds, and she was brilliant – and very eloquent about her severe dyslexia and the problems it caused her at school.

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