I wasn’t sure what to expect when I got a copy of Sharp Teeth, other that I was in for a modern-day werewolf story. Opening it up and realising that it was written in free verse admittedly surprised me, and my first reflex was something to the effect of “Hm, gimmicky.” Doing proper, compelling free verse is hard, so the little cynic inside me relegated Toby Barlow’s choice of narrative flow to the realm of cheap trickery.

But, while the writing style does feel a little tacked on at times, Barlow was successful overall in creating a story which uses free verse to establish rhythm, creating both moments of reflective introspection and deliberate expediency. When it’s quick, the lines fall into each other at fiery tempo, only to enter contemplative, psychological moments with measured, searching stride. Then it dawns that the novel is intended as a homage to the oral tradition, in which great tales of heroism, deception and passion were passed down throughout generations.

Yet it’s a difficult experience to immerse oneself into, as the novel isn’t quite capable to deliver a protagonist to latch on to. There is a vast cast of front-and-center characters which all vie for our heartstrings, spreading ourselves out too thin to really care for any one of them for real. However, Sharp Teeth’s mystery-shrouded plot makes it satisfying enough to keep the pages turning.

Book: Sharp Teeth

Author: Toby Barlow

Publisher: HarperCollins

Next: Clumsy

This entry was posted on Friday, March 28th, 2008 at 9:30 pm and is filed under 52 Books In 52 Weeks, Books, free verse, novels, toby barlow. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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