Orangeboy

Orangeboy By Patrice Lawrence Published 2 June 2016 Review copy from Books With Bite

Thrilling, dangerous, compelling, mysterious and intriguing - delve into the curious question of Orangeboy for a fast and furious contemporary read. One of my most highly anticipated books of 2016, the debut YA novel from author Patrice Lawrence Orangeboy is an action packed story that hurtles along the streets of London, and my heart is still pounding after the final page. It is the journey of one young boy’s desperate attempts to outrun the past and a society whose expectations are stacked against him.

Set in and around the residential streets of a Hackney estate, Lawrence’s Orangeboy is a contemporary thriller that demands you race along in a screaming downward spiral when main character Marlon is forced to do terrible things to keep his family safe. With a breezy, humorous and engaging writing style that cuts through the clutter and gets straight to the point, you can’t help but keep turning the page to find out what happens next.

“Not cool enough, not clever enough, not street enough for anyone to notice me. I was the kid people look straight through. Not anymore. Not since Mr Orange.”

Sixteen year old Marlon has made his Mum a promise – he’ll never follow his big brother, Andre, down the wrong path. But when a date ends in tragedy, Marlon finds himself hunted. Now he must become the person he never wanted to be to protect everyone he loves.

I spent six hours on a train reading this book, and it swept me along so brilliantly I barely felt the time. The central mystery that Marlon must solve will keep you guessing throughout, just who exactly is Mr Orange? What does he have to do with the path Marlon is travelling? It reminds me of films like Kidulthood and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels; Attack the Block with a hint of The Dumping Ground. The references to Reservoir Dogs, which doggedly follow Marlon through the footfalls of Hackney and Stratford as he runs from his anonymous enemies, are masterfully interwoven into the plot.

Lawrence explores what happens when you set your prejudices aside to enter into the mind of someone who feels they’ve been backed into a corner, and asks what would make the nicest person you know do desperate things? The powerful opening chapter that follows Marlon on a date with the beautiful Sonya, girl of his dreams, will give you an electric shock with its unapologetic exploration of race, privilege, revenge and selfish manipulation. It’s an ecstatic fairground ride with a heartstopping end. What happens will make your jaw drop in horror and desperate to read on.

Patrice’s writing makes you really feel for her protagonist He’s in the most horrendous of spiralling circumstances, with luck stacking up against him. Marlon is a brilliant character that you want to be ok, he just feels so real and honest. He is the invisible kid at school, the one with his head down, getting his work done and keeping out of trouble. There’s nothing particularly remarkable about him, besides the backstory of his family. His brother Andre had been in trouble with the police for his involvement in local gangs and drug dealing, the outcome of which landed him in an accident that left him permanently brain damaged and even angrier against the injustices of the world. The ramifications of Andre’s past have collateral damage, and the ricochet gets to Marlon despite his best efforts. Intrinsic to the plot and to the characters is a deft and knowledgeable exploration of race relations in the UK, and particularly in the gang culture of London, which Lawrence conveys in her realistic and much needed depiction of the multifaceted, multicultural landscape of the area. This is no whitewashed London populated by stereotypes.

One of the elements I most enjoyed about the book was the strained friendship between Milo (his nickname) and Tish. Next door neighbours and best friends since childhood, the circumstances threaten to tear them apart, with Marlon delving deeper into his own thoughts and paranoia, and Tish feeling left behind and forgotten. She’s a mouthy, bolshy presence who keeps him honest, even when he doesn’t want to be reminded of who he is at heart. I’d love to find out more about what makes Tish tick, and her own story.

In the Urban Dictionary, Orange Boy is an insult used to offend someone who goes against a cause they used to stand by - the story of Milo as he ventures away from the boy he used to be to the man he must become to survive is perilous, and full of pitfalls that tiptoe along the line of morality. When family ties are stretched thin, right and wrong is a blurred, inconstant dichotomy. As the story hurtles towards its conclusion, the tangled lives of the brothers screech to an end that doesn't allow anyone off easily, it's a truthful and powerful story that is much needed in the UK YA scene.

I absolutely adored this story. It is full of tears and laughter, unfettered fears and furious joy, family and friendship. This important, gripping, heart in your throat contemporary about teen boy swept up in trouble is not to be missed. For fans of Malorie Blackman, Jacqueline Wilson, Alan Gibbons, Benjamin Zephaniah and Melvin Burgess. If you like your stories real, heartfelt and moving, Orangeboy is one for you.

​5*

Genres in the mix: Contemporary realism

Age target: YA

Blurb says: Not cool enough, not clever enough, not street enough for anyone to notice me. I was the kid people looked straight through.

NOT ANY MORE. NOT SINCE MR ORANGE.

Sixteen-year-old Marlon has made his mum a promise – he’ll never follow his big brother, Andre, down the wrong path. So far, it’s been easy, but when a date ends in tragedy, Marlon finds himself hunted. They’re after the mysterious Mr Orange, and they’re going to use Marlon to get to him. Marlon’s out of choices – can he become the person he never wanted to be, to protect everyone he loves?

Review-in-a-tweet: Gripping, chilling and yet warm and gently told – this is a tale full of the poor (if somewhat inevitable) choices of a boy against whom the odds seem stacked from the first.

The emotional ride: edge-of-your-seat stuff. It’s easy to feel for Marlon from the beginning. I think having the first scene be what is so clearly a first date makes him so vulnerable that we readers easily identify with him and see what a fish out of water he is when everything starts getting serious.

Hot buttons/classroom opportunities: I’ll be recommending this for Black History month. Yes, I know it’s contemporary and very current and not at all historical, but there’s so much here about how young black people, boys especially, are treated and the expectations people have of them, that it seems really apt to me as a book about Black experience. I think that’s part of what Black History Month is about, so this goes firmly on my list.

Narrative style: The first person narration really helps to ‘get inside’ Marlon’s way of thinking, so it’s easy to understand why he does things, even when you can see (as an outsider) that he’s making the wrong choice.

Plotting and pacing: This is a strong aspect of the novel. It’s a pacey read, with plenty going on in poor Marlon’s life. There’s the whole ‘Mr Orange’ mystery, but there’s also plenty of conflict and mess in his family life too. I enjoyed the thread about his Dad, and the way this was linked in through music – I think that’s a key way a lot of people relate through the generations, which isn’t always noted, so it was nice to see it brought out here.

Hearthfire rating: 9/10 A scorcher!

Thank you to Hodder for allowing me a review copy via Netgalley. For more info on the book see Goodreads, Patrice Lawrence’s blog or Twitter or the publisher’s site.