Anna Fienberg, Picasso and the Greatest Show on Earth, Allen & Unwin, July 2023, 374 pp., RRP $17.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760296988
Picasso and the Greatest Show on Earth is a sad but hopeful story of how friendship, a dog’s love and enjoying nature, as well as the creativity of art making, helps heal two young people struggling with traumatic life experiences.
It is a beautifully written YA novel by award winning, highly acclaimed author, Anna Fienberg, and I can see why CBCA judges have included it on the 2024 CBCA notables list for Older Readers.
I loved Fienberg’s evocative writing style with original metaphors that authentically describe the characters’ emotions and reactions as well as the physical setting.
I felt drawn into main character, Frances’s experiences of not only grief, shame, fear, disappointment, and confusion but also her pleasure from artmaking and comfort in companionship of new friend, Kit, and her dog, Picasso. Just to name a couple (amongst many) of these brilliant metaphors – Frances’s anxiety and sadness is described as the foggy not breathing feeling, and a grey sky from ear to ear blows in and turns your head to clouds. A quirky touch to Frances’s expression of these feelings cleverly hints at her humour and resilience.
Fienberg’s descriptions of place are impressive too. I could vividly imagine the lovely local natural environment, the school and Frances’s home. Kit and Frances are also developed as complex and believable characters and I felt as if I got to know them.
Whilst the story is primarily character driven and about Frances’s emotional journey, there is plenty of plot tension to hold the readers’ attention. The gradual revelations of Kit and Frances’s shameful secrets kept me wondering. Each of the perilous, suspenseful moments and accounts of interpersonal conflict kept me turning pages.
I recommend this book for teenagers as a heartwarming story about managing difficult life experiences and troubling emotions.
Reviewed by Barbara Swartz
