Kid’s family arrives in New York for two reasons;
to house-sit and mind Doug’s dog named Cat, that comes with a handbook of
instructions and information on food, habits and grooming, and for Lisa, Kid’s
mum, to appear in a play running for two weeks.
Rumours exist that a goat lives on the roof of the
Manhattan apartment block.
The only person to actually see it is Jonathan who’d
had a stroke while on a sailing adventure with wife Doris. He is unable to
communicate this to anyone, although he’s tried.
Jonathan is only one of an interesting collection
of unusual people that live in the apartment building.
Kid sets out to explore her surroundings. She meets
Will, whose parents were killed in the twin towers and never goes out alone,
can’t look out of windows, and is terrified of heights.
There is Joff, the blind skateboarder, author and
chess player, and his seeing-eye dog, Michigan. Joff spends time at a park
where strangers play competitive chess against one another. There he meets the
mysterious Mara.
Kenneth P. Gill is still undecided about scattering
his father’s ashes. He recalls the relationships he’s had and their outcomes;
some with humour, others with regret.
Then there are the walk-in, walk-out characters in
the background. The lives of these people are intertwined and at the centre of
it all, are the rumours about the goat.
This is book approached in a highly interesting way
that looks at the various ways freedom is defined. All the characters begin one
way and end differently with lots of laughs, ridiculous happenings, and a
wonderful tying up of all the bits and pieces which appear to have no
connecting strands, but do.
It is a novel unlike any other that I have read and
that’s what makes it stand out. Anne Fleming’s ability to take what seems to be
random events and twist them into a fulfilling story is impressive. From the
point of view of a goat who survived the clutches of an eagle and how, to the
unexpected circus antics of a chair-bound stroke victim, a beautiful story of
humanity and liberation due to change, is born.
Title:
The Goat
Author:
Anne Fleming
Publisher:
Allen & Unwin, $16.99
Publication
Date: April 2018
Format:
Paperback
ISBN:
978782692140
For
ages: 11+
Type:
Middle Fiction
