Catfish Rolling

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Her determination to work with her father to uncover the secrets of these scattered time areas, makes her easy to root for. When Sora’s father goes missing, she has no option but to venture into these spaces in hope of tracking him down. This is the sort of reading experience that has to be done at the right time, with patience and a open mind. especially when she begins to see shadows and her own father seems to be slipping as if caught in his own, odd time bubble. Kumagai is not here to answer your questions; she’s here to trap you in this narrative and keep you so intrigued you can’t escape.

But Sora must be swift for anyone who spends too much time in these zones are seldom seen ever again, and with her father already showing signs of such damage, she must push herself further than she ever has before. I found myself feeling pretty confused on the timelines and locations of everything, particularly any flashbacks.The way the zones warp time is very similar to the effects that grief can have on our perception- and memory of time. I've been a fan of Japanese fiction for a while now and anything that melds together the love of the natural world with a surreal story is fine with me.

There are themes of grief (and all its stages), growth (as both a young person experiencing trauma and grief), and living in liminal spaces where time moves faster, slower, or normally. Her overseas adventure brings great wonder, but Luki soon discovers a darker side, of racism and inequality. It was when Sora and Maya started looking for Sora's dad that I got so invested, and i honestly believe the author should have started earlier with this arc.I found the ideas on time, and the whole concept of the fast and slow time zones, fascinating - especially how time feels like it flows differently in certain places (often in nature), for different people, and during grief. Slowing it down, speeding it up, making entire chunks of it go missing, or trapping characters to get lost in times gone by.

This review was written by Kelly Ashley With over 20 years of education experience in both the US and the UK, Kelly Ashley currently works as an independent consultant, providing training and support for primary schools across the UK. Candy Gourlay’s Bone Talk was shortlisted for both the Carnegie medal and the Costa children’s book award. Will Sora’s scientist father find the answer to what really happens in the ‘zones’ before it’s too late? Those readers, who enjoy the emotional ride and are more into the heart than the reason, are in for a treat. And all of this sticks enough in 'reality' to keep the scenes and characters familiar and sympathetic.These zones however draw speculation and intrigue, and this is how Sora makes her income: taking people into these forbidden zones so they can quench their desire for the unknown, until one day her father learns of what she has been doing and leaves her with little choice but to move away leaving him alone when perhaps that isn’t the wisest idea. Both subtle and horribly raw, Sora shines a light on grief and loss, and what it means to have (or not have) enough time. There’s a feeling this story gives you that is impossible to explain, and I can already tell I’m doing this wrong. But dwelling in the time-zones isn’t without danger, and when Sora’s dad travels too far, Sora must venture into uncharted territory to bring him back to now.

Whilst she struggles to socially connect with her peers, she discovers a unique ability to travel in and out of the zones, able to feel the distinct shifts in time. About losing yourself, the almost impossible journey to find your place as world around tries to exclude you from everywhere. Because although the sci-fi/fantasy components are fascinating, complex, and unexplained, there’s a lot more to this book than time travel and shadows with no bodies and catfish god folklore. This will be one of those elusive narratives that I won’t be able to review well because words can’t capture the magic of Catfish Rolling.The fantastical elements melded well for the most part, but I got confused in the last few chapters as things sorta get surreal and extreme. The different time zones are described as dangerous, but the actual consequences of them were not explored enough for my taste. The main theme of this novel is, however, grief, and I thought it dealt with this topic beautifully, with the difficulty of losing someone you love playing through this whole book; how you can feel that you've moved on, but then grief rears it's head and you're lost all over again. I started reading with such intrigue and wonder, I was fascinated by this story but in the end, it was just ok. This mysterious opening by Clara Kumagai’s debut YA novel, Catfish Rolling, drew me in from the first page.