"Witty, compassionate and beautifully written. "
Susin Nielsen’s new novel features unforgettable central characters, and is beautifully written; her ear for dialogue – young teen to teen, young teen to parent, young teen to emergency services – pitch perfect. Despite being a story of homelessness and poverty, it will leave readers cheered and thoroughly reassured about the strength and resilience of the human spirit. Twelve-year old Felix lives with his mother Astrid, only rarely seeing his dad. Astrid has a flexible attitude to truth and Felix has developed a chart to measure the lies she tells as they navigate their lives. These range from ‘the invisible lie’, through the ‘no-one gets hurt’ to the biggest, the ‘someone might lose an eye’ lie. As they struggle to cope living in a (stolen) camper van, Astrid uses her panoply of lies to the full and Felix reluctantly goes along with it, ready to support his mother even when it’s really difficult. Nielsen gives him good friends, and a talent for memorising facts, both of which help to set up a better future for him. Both painful and funny, this is a book that will have readers alternatively shouting at its central characters, and cheering them on.
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I felt every emotion and clung onto every word in this book. I brought this book with me everywhere I went so that I could read it any spare time I had and return into Felix's world.
Join Felix on an adventure of surprising events as he experiences his grandmother's death as well as competing in a game show for a much-needed money prize. Will he win or will he have to spend a lifetime living in a Westfalia van? Well, reader, I suppose you will just have to find out!
I have a great admiration for the book No Fixed Address because I feel like this is one of those books you will never forget.
The characters and event seem so real and are just eye-opening that some people in the real world are actually experiencing this type of living although this book is a novel.... Read Full Review
I really enjoyed this book even though it was really sad it gives you a lot to think about I would recommend this book to everyone.
I haven’t read any books by this author before, but I will be looking for some in the library. The story was really easy to read and made you want to keep reading even when you should be asleep. It is about a young boy called Felix and his mum. But he calls her Astrid because that’s what she prefers him to call her. One day his mum loses her job and they have to move out of their flat. They end up living in a camper van temporarily. Felix and his mum have very little money and Felix finds that Astrid is doing things that he doesn’t agree with, just to survive.... Read Full Review
This is a book about how easy it is to be homeless and the effect on a young boy who is trying to protect his mum and stop them being torn apart when they end up living in a van and his plan to get them out of there.
In this book, it's the story of an almost 13-year-old boy, his mum and their pet gerbil. They live in America and Felix, the boy, is trying to keep his family together when his mum, Astrid, loses her job. They live out a van which seems like an adventure at first but then he goes back to school and it gets harder to stop his friends coming over to his house. He plans to go on his favourite game show and win lots of money as he is really good at trivia living in a van means no privacy, no space and the damp starts to cause problems for Felix and Astrid.... Read Full Review
