OTOLI – Have you been there?

Social outcast ALICE TURNER went there to escape the constant bullying from the Populars. She is befriended by Jenny; an enigmatic waitress who seems to be stuck in the past.

As the Populars begin to reap the wrath of a faithful friend, suspicions build in Alice’s mind. Why does Jenny keep mementoes that are four years old? And why does Alice feel that she is to blame for the downfall of her enemies?

But friendship is a two-way deal as Alice soon discovers. After breaking her promise to Jenny, she faces a far worse foe than before. Alice is forced to make choices on which her future and that of others will depend; whether or not she knows it. Moreover, she will have to find courage to escape the ultimate bully – her best friend.

Otoli is the début novel by Bryony Allen. This novel certainly took me by surprise as not only did it cover a very controversial issue, it also had a paranormal twist that will appeal to any lovers of YA and should be given to any child who gets bullied so they know, they are not alone!

Characters: The book follows a number of the characters from there different view points which I loved because we get to see things from everyone’s perspective. However, we mainly see it from Alice and Kieran’s (both bully victims) and Jenny (a waitress at a cafe called OTOLI) point of view. Alice and Kieran are both in need of a friend and they find that in the form of Jenny who always seem to be there to listen to their problems when they need her most. Personally Jenny was my favourite character as she was bubbly and charismatic and sometimes quite sinister and as her secret past is slowly revealed to Alice and the readers, her odd behaviour begins to make sense.

Originality: I can quite easily say that this for me was 100% original. Never have I read a book like this. It tackles the issue of bulling throughout and by adding a paranormal twist – it keeps the reader interested in the story and also has the reader curious as to what is going on and how its happening? Once you start reading this – you won’t be able to stop.

Plot: As mentioned above this story tackles the controversial issues of bullying but not only from the victims point but from the thugs point and also on lookers of the bullying and it really opens you eyes up to see just how much people look away and pretend not to notice that this sort of thing happens everyday. When Alice meets Jenny, she is so relieved to finally have a friend and begins to believe that with this friend, it wont matter if she gets bullied as long as she has someone to talk to about it but when her bulliers start to back off as bad things seem to happen to them – Alice suspions build as her unanswered questions about Jenny begin to build. It was Creepy,sinister and completely brilliant.

Writing: Allen’s writing is snappy and fast paced and this very entertaining piece of work should be read by all. Her style is informative and also sensitive to the subject of bullying and those affected by it, which I absolutely adored about it. I also really thought that Allen’s style of dialogue was very well done and I felt I didn’t need to know which character was talking as the tone of her characters was always quite clear.

Kelly’s Rating: If all of the above was not reason enough to buy OTOLI, Allen also donates a portion of the proceeds of the sale of this book to the organisation ‘Bullying UK’ which I think is fabulous and very kind. I really did love this book and really wanted to read it to find out what exactly OTOLI means. So I leave you all with this question – Do you know what it means?

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