Finn's Going, by Tom Kelly, is about a 10-year-old English boy whose identical twin brother has died. Danny, fresh off of 6 weeks of self-imposed silence, is unsure how to deal with his feelings, so he decides to run away. He gets on a train and goes to the coast to the site of a past family vacation. Once there, he takes refuge on an island in an old boathouse.
Although Danny packed for his journey, he didn't pack well. As he is laying down in the boathouse during a storm, he sees a man appear, who checks to see if he is alright. Later on, someone leaves food and a note to "come say hello." During Danny's wanderings, he finds the man who had visited him living in a camper near the beach. Danny meets this man, Nulty, and learns about his life and why he ended up in his situation.
Danny continues staying on the island, with the help of supplies from Nulty, who realizes Danny has a purpose of some kind. Danny occupies himself with gathering bricks from around the island (leftover from a destroyed building) and counting and stacking them. Eventually, he feels comfortable confiding at least some of his feelings to Nulty, which leads him to be ready to return home.
The best part of Finn's Going was the character's voice. Most of the story is told using an interior monologue, as Danny spends most of the novel by himself. The character seems like a real 10-year-old, as his logic is not always logical, and he thinks often of bodily functions as many 10-year-old boys do. The book moved slowly, but given the subject matter, the pacing was appropriate. While it may not be appreciated by younger readers, I enjoyed the introspection, and the ending definitely got me thinking.
Rating: ****
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