November 30

‘All I Ever Wanted’ by Vikki Wakefield

All I ever wanted“Should you keep moving forward, even if you don’t know where you’re going?”

Jemima, also known as Mim, knows what she wants, and where she wants to go: anywhere but home, that is. She’s stuck in the suburbs with her mother who won’t get off the couch, and two brothers in prison. Mim has set herself rules to live by, like: – I will finish school, – I will not take drugs etc. Does she sound like a goody two-shoes to you? Well she isn’t. Does she know everything? No she doesn’t. But she does know you don’t walk too close to the Tarrant house.

Mim lives in the ‘worst street in the worst suburb’, and what she wants in her life is the boy she has a crush on – Jordan. This novel really makes you see how the author paints a picture of the poorer Australian suburbs. She does so well in describing the scenes that it makes you seem as if you can actually feel the heat, sweat and mosquitoes of a summer blackout.

The main characters include Mim, a sixteen going on seventeen-year-old girl, who has set herself rules. The main one is ‘I will not turn out like my mother’. Tahnee is a girl who is best friends with Mim except they are nothing alike. Tahnee does whatever she wants whenever she wants and just doesn’t care. Lola is a girl who is 20 years old. She doesn’t have a very good reputation. She does anything for easy money and is squatting in a house. But Jemima supports her. Jordan is a guy who comes from a very well mannered and successful family, who Mim has a crush on.

Mim is sent a job by her mother to go and collect a special package and bring it home, but on her way home she runs into Jordan and he steals the package out of her hands and leaves. This was a very unusual thing for Jordan to do because he comes from a very well mannered and successful family. So now Mim had to think up a plan to get the package back and doing so she becomes friends with his sister to get into his house. This book is not just about romance, and the package, it is also about Mim and her place in the world, and about the people around her. Sometimes Mim breaks away from their expectations. In addition, her family and neighbours at first glance seem a disparate crew of drunks, criminals, child neglectors, sex workers and nasty old ladies, but they are not all who Mim thinks they are.

Then on her seventeenth birthday Mim wakes up and sees the package on her table, and it was not what she was expecting to be inside. It was her birthday present from her mother. What do you think was inside the package?

I really like this book, even though I’m not one to want to read, because it felt like it was real. The wording left you with images in your head, and it really grabs your attention making you want to keep reading. It was full of adventure, wonder and heart filled thrills which should really be your next book to read. I would recommend this book to be read by females, between the ages of 14-16.

Brooke B., Year 9

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Posted November 30, 2015 by marjk in category Adventure stories, Realistic fiction, Student Reviews

About the Author

Teacher-librarian at Aquinas College, Southport, Gold Coast, Australia

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