Hold Fast Review:

Hey Guys! As everyone who reads my blog probably knows, I am in a book club that I have to read books every month, and then meet up and talk about for an hour. This is always so much fun, the talking part, but the reading is sometimes not so great. And now that I have a blog I have to read them to do the book club post every month. So I'm doing this for you, my lovely readers! Lmao. Anyways so for the month of August the book I had to read was Hold Fast by Kevin Major.

Okay so overall this book wasn't too bad but I didn't like it much. First of all, it seemed super old fashioned and not very relatable; but that is explained because it was originally published in 1978. So obviously this book is actually extremely old. Honestly this isn't a book I would usually read which is why I'm kind of glad I had to read it, so now I learned a little more about how things were back then. Especially since this book took place in Canada and not in the US or some far off dystopian world, as usual. This book was pretty short, in my copy only 170 pages, so I got through it easy enough in 3 days even if I had to force myself to read it sometimes. At first I had to force myself to start it but later it wasn't that hard, I guess I kind of latched on and it got better. But even though it only had 170 pages it still kind of felt like a lot at first glance  because the font was very small, as you guys probably know is usually the case with old books/classics. But honestly as I got further into it I kind of stopped noticing. I guess that does mean that it got pretty interesting, which is why I rate it a 6.2/10 stars.

This book actually introduced a lot of new topics for me especially with how the different the language was. As I was reading I noticed many times that the language kind of reminded me of like an old farmer style. You know how they talk; "Howdy how you fine folk doing today" or something like that. I guess it was less like that and more just old timey for that particular time, they weren't exactly farmers but they were close to it. A lot of the phrases I wasn't familiar with and sounded very strange to me, but after a while I got used to it and I'm glad I gave it a chance. As well I really liked how it took place in Canada and even mentioned Toronto! :)  It also really focused on the whole subject of pain and loss, especially at the beginning, and how to overcome it. (As well, at one point the title, Hold Fast is mentioned but I'm not quite sure what it means... Do you?)

The main character's, Michael's, parents died in a tragic car crash and he gets sent off to his aunt and uncle's house to live with his cousins. So obviously the beginning was very tragic, and mainly focused on how Michael had to overcome the loss of his parents. Especially since he got sent off to a new place to relatives he barely knew. The plot of this story had many different "hurdles" I would say, and not just like obstacles, but honestly like different sections. They were; his parents passing away, then him being sent away and having to live with his cousins, and finally them running away back home. These different sections all felt like completely different books I guess, because they were so difference and the author, Kevin Major, even makes this clear by labelling the different sections part one, part two (the longest), and part three. Another thing I had to comment on was how many connections I saw between this book and the previous book club book: How I Live Now. In that book the main character was also sent off to live with her cousins, had to overcome hardships, and ran away and had to live in the wild. So for some reason I feel like there's a theme going here, with these short book club books. ;) Overall, I think the plot was pretty good and by the end I found it quite interesting.

Another thing that played a big role in this book were the characters, well that kind of plays a big role in any book. Anyways... The main character in the novel is named Michael and he's very rash and a big talker, who is very stubborn and always wants to get his way. He gets into fights a few times in the book and severally dislikes his uncle who is all controlling and makes sure rules are followed. He is also described as kind of alluring, and has a relationship with a girl named Brenda in the book. Another important character is his cousin Curtis, who is definitely my favourite character, at times he is shy and doesn't say much but as we get to know him we realise that he is actually a very smart boy with a good heart and a desire to have his own freedom. One of the characters that I particularly disliked that played a large role in the second part is Curtis' "old man" as they call him, and basically Curtis' dad. He is very mean to the boys and has mistreated his family his whole life. He never let them get one ounce of freedom and was always on their backs for something. In the third part Curtis actually leaves his dad to go with Michael because he wants his freedom, and wants to show his dad that he won't put up with him anymore. At the end Curtis gives him a long talk about it and puts him in his place, he says everything he wanted to say to him his whole life, and that he hates him but wants that to change. Other characters include his other old Aunt Flo, his brother Brent, his grandfather, his Aunt Ellen (who's married to "the old man"), and Brenda. His grandfather is also pretty important because after Michael's parents died he was the closest to Mike, but he was old and couldn't take care of him.

This is a novel about trying to get over loss, moving to a new place and trying to fit in, and of discovering yourself and finding freedom all in one. I only read it because I had to but I'm glad that I did. It wasn't my favourite novel but I did end up enjoying it. Thank you so much for reading my review of Hold Fast by Kevin Major, and if you read it and have anything to say I'd love to hear about it! If you know what Hold Fast even means I'd love to know. Lmao.

- <3 Kat

(Btw have you noticed how Goodreads usually puts more pages then there actually are in a book and you never know what to do about it? ;) Like what's up with that? And here's a quote for you guys to think about:)