‘A philosophical and irrelevant look at the big issues facing young people today’
By Conrad Landin / Spinebreakers Crew
Killing God is a powerful title to say the least, complemented by a book-jacket of similar power. Indeed, I could write a book of my own on the looks I got whilst reading it on the tube. What this tells us is that this work, like most of Kevin Brooks’s, deals with some serious topics.
If you’re looking for a straightforward read, this certainly isn’t it. Though written simply and being relatively short, Killing God is a running insight into the mind of the main character, 15-year-old Dawn Bundy. Brooks leads us along countless tangents, some of which appear to have meaning, but sadly others do not. The reader is dragged into Dawn’s obsession with the band The Jesus and Mary Chain, although admittedly, this is the key to one of the book’s biggest successes; the reader truly enters Dawn’s mind, and even starts to think as her. In this, Kevin Brooks has succeeded where many childrens’ authors have failed.
The main plot concerns her feelings regarding her father, an alcoholic and drug addict, whose discovery of God led to a worsening of their relationship and a culture of being able to be forgiven for anything, and coincided with the unforgivable itself. As a distraction more than anything else, Dawn explores how one could take revenge on the one who she believes was responsible for the destruction of her father, who has now been missing for the past two years – God.
What seems most apparent in the writing is an objection to the way in which religion dominates our lives to such an extent, expressed through little things such as Dawn’s questioning of why shops close early on Sundays. Brooks has himself expressed his objection to people attempting to interfere with the beliefs of others, and his main character undoubtedly shares this feeling.
Despite the focus on beliefs and meaning, Killing God is by no means a book only about religion – it also explores family values, in particular the role of the father, how addiction can dominate and destroy lives. Also covered are teenage relationships and the culture of peer pressure and ‘fitting in’ found amongst today’s youth more than ever. If you are seeking a philosophical and at times irrelevant look at the big issues facing young people today through the eyes of a troubled teen, you need look no further.