Poppy Jenkins by Clare Ashton

Poppy Jenkins
by Clare Ashton
Pages: 342
Date: June 19 2016
Publisher: Breezy Tree Press
Series: None

Review
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.0
Read: July 5 to 6 2016

Forgive me for indulging for a moment or two in moving into the review/notes-on-what-I-read indirectly.

For those who have read my reviews some may or may not recall something that I find myself mentioning once or thrice when writing reviews for Melissa Brayden books – the simple fact that I came to the party late. Most of those who I know/follow/friended at the very least really liked, or loved Brayden’s books. So, I entered somewhat nervously – only to find that I loved them as well.

So, why am I saying all this in a little box set aside for a book by Clare Ashton? Simple enough really – when I started reading this book, the book in question, ‘Poppy Jenkins’ (you know, the book this review is taking place on), had a rating somewhere near or above 4.6. I think it was actually at 4.64 at the time I started. And my friends, 17 of them (actually, only six have rated the book), had combined to give a rating of 4.83. Did I think of that at all? No. Because I’d read something else by Ashton first, something I gave high marks to, though also something that isn’t listed at the end of the book in the ‘other works by this author’ section (maybe because it’s a short story? Perhaps because it involves dildos both as the main ‘thing’ of the story, and in the title?). So, I went in expecting to not be in the place I feared to be when I jumped into Brayden’s work – the place of being the odd ball out.

There’s some lovely writing here. Some great scenes. I really felt like I (a) came to know the characters; (b) came to know the area (Wales). It’s a nice lovely little story, eh? I admit that, it is. I just . . . it just didn’t hit me right, I guess. There was a mixture of me giggling, sometimes sounds louder than giggling, then other times of me whimpering with a mix of either boredom or . . . frustration. I’m sure Dai is quite lovely and all, but he annoyed me greatly. He got on my last nerve, he did. Poppy, the main character and point of view, is quite lovely. Even just being in the same room near her would almost guarantee happiness for all, even me. Yet, her somewhat dreamy state, her somewhat inability to move past her kind of passive state frustrated me.

She, Poppy, had several things that she was annoyed about in regards to her friend, former, who poofed on her unexpectedly. That horrible little scene that occurred in school when both were 16 (whereupon Rosalyn said some very nasty things to Poppy). The part wherein she, again Poppy, was pissed because Rosalyn never told anyone that she was a lesbian; and fancied Poppy. Except she, here Rosie, had. She had told Poppy. Course Poppy was drunk at the time, so that really shouldn’t count; but most importantly? The part where Poppy is pissed at Rosie for not telling her this deep dark secret when . . . Poppy never said anything like that to Rosie. Hypocrite much? Admittedly, that horrible scene in school is hard to move past, though it has been 15 or 16 years (I think 15 may or may not have been mentioned, though it has been 16, since both were 16 at the time, and both are 32 now).

Bah. I just interrupted myself by a thought of something else that annoyed me – it is something I’ve seen here and there, the part where ‘everything’ would become clear if people just bloody talked to each other, but, while one is in the process of opening up, the other says something along the lines of ‘you don’t have to say anything’ or, at the very least, something that shuts the other down. I mean, I get it. Lesbian fiction tends to involve people who circle each other for 90 to 98 percent of the book before they finally ‘find each other’. That circling for that much time was even natural for a book like this . . . except for the part wherein Poppy shut Rosalyn up.

Not an exact quote.
Poppy: Oh, I’ve been dying to know forever and more; I’ve even, just the other day, had a conversation with various people, including Rosalyn's father about ‘what happened, why Rosalyn changed’ . . .
Rosalyn: I need to tell you what happp…
Poppy: Oh no! You mustn’t, it’s such a great moment we are having. Don’t ruin it.

For fuck sake. And the million and one times people Poppy should know, see we are seeing things through her eyes so I know she has to know, that some people around her, the locals, are (1) corrupt; (2) a little nasty at times; yet she just can’t get herself to believe. Especially when Rosalyn is the one to bring certain things to her eyes (I’d randomly like to inject another ‘fuck you Dai’ to Dai here – somewhere along the line I kind of liked the guy, he stood up for Poppy when her clothing was stolen; he stood up for her when others in the school started to ignore her; but . . . the way he acted, the ‘ooh, no, that wasn’t really that bad really, when that nasty misogynistic person stole your clothing’; and how he chased the guy but never actually returned – made me think he actually was in on it somehow (both for not returning, and for constantly sticking up for the dweeb who took her clothing); my brain just dribbled out my ears so I’ll move on).

I liked most of the people injected into this story. Pip, Poppy, etc. I do not know why I had trouble with this book. But I did. Sorry about that.

July 6 2016