The Death Defying Pepper Roux

By Geraldine McCaughrean.

Pepper Roux’s Aunt Mireille has been told by Saint Constance that he’ll die by the time he’s fourteen and raised him to be ready for death.  When he wakes up on the morning of his fourteenth birthday though, he knows that he’s not ready to die, and sets off to stay one step ahead of the fate that he knows is his own.  This book traces his adventures as he dodges the wills of Saints and Angels, and lives each day that follows in the inevitability of his demise.  

There were many things that I adored about this book.  The narrative itself is enchanting, and Pepper is an amazing character whose story I really enjoyed.  His acceptance of death and the choices he makes raise philosophical questions.  Do we live fully if we think that we’ll still be here in a year?  What would we do differently if we knew we were to die?  The choices that Pepper makes are generous, creative and resourceful.  There’s also the question of fate.  What decides our time to live and die?  Do the saints and angels intervene in Pepper’s life in different ways?  And Duchesse is brilliant!  Would love to read his adventures too.

At times I stumbled on the style of writing and it seemed a little too wordy to flow, but this fitted with the way that Pepper has tried to compress his whole remaining life into a limited number of hours. Some of the ways that he sees the world are described superbly, such as the fact that lies taste of soap, and ‘As the word ‘dentist’ smells of disinfectant, ‘father’ was a noun that reeked to Pepper of drink and distance and disappointment.’  I think that for some readers, the lack of a glossary will be missed, as some really feel the need to understand each and every word they read, but for stronger readers it will be easy to get the gist and carry on.

The episodic structure will appeal to many but also made it quiet easy to take a break from for cups of tea and things.  The lose ends are tied together admirably at the end though.  There were several parts of this book where I laughed out loud, and not just because it was funny, but because it was delightful and sad all at the same time.  

Review by Miss A.