"Joltingly powerful, instantly compelling and often heart-breaking..."

• ASIN: ‎ B0BG3FKQC4
• Publisher: ‎ Gabe Oliver (20 Sept. 2022)
• Language: ‎ English
• Print length: ‎ 379 pages
• Genre: Coming Of Age Fiction

The BookViral Review:

Take a deep breath and enter the world of Gene Nelson. Joltingly powerful, instantly compelling and often heart-breaking, Oliver hasn’t picked an easy subject on which to write but his willingness to steer away from a prescriptive approach means he reaches his readers on both an emotional and intellectual level.

Coming-of-age fiction is a genre in which intelligence is woefully undervalued, but it is this quality — even more than Oliver’s narrative finesse — that distinguishes “Little Toy Car” from its peers. Oliver has a highly distinctive literary voice whilst his writing style is simple and spare. His ear for dialogue proves quite exceptional and it’s here he primarily succeeds in bringing Gene’s story to life. 

Of particular note is the three-dimensionality of Oliver’s characters who pull us in like a magnetic field. Gene weeps, bleeds and endures and Oliver is cuttingly precise in his observations. Yet “Little Toy Car” is not an unrelieved cry of pain. There’s humour in it and tender insight too. But what is devastating in “Little Toy Car” is how Oliver puts the sureness of right and wrong into doubt as he allows the full trauma of Gene’s teenage years to be revealed. Reminding us that denial and hope often grow from the same vine whilst young lives are ultimately built around the way they’re nurtured.

Is Gene a good man? Ultimately that’s for Oliver’s readers to decide because what he gives them is not just a coming-of-age story but something much rarer: a rounded, original portrait of a flawed man and the choices he has made. A story underpinned by richness of detail and impressive mastery of a constantly shifting tone as he demonstrates an enviable ability to project the mental anguish of his characters whilst making them feel overwhelmingly real.

An unforgettable and powerfully poignant coming of age novel Little Toy Car is unreservedly recommended.