[Subdue] The Trouble with Goats and Sheep - Joanna Cannon - 4.5 stars

[Robin P]

I loved this book. The young protagonist, who narrates sections of the book, is much like the children in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Whistling in the Dark or even To Kill a Mockingbird. She is trying to solve a mystery in her neighborhood while also trying to understand odd adult comments and behaviors.

The book has a series of moral dilemmas - How should the street's inhabitants deal with a threatening neighbor? Which secrets are better to keep than to reveal? How should best friends treat each other? And if God is everyone, why can't two girls find him in their surroundings?

I loved the turns of phrase this author used, for instance, just random sentences from various chapters:

My mother circled the rooms, containing her worrying at the edges of the house.
All the other houses seemed bewildered by the heat.
The sky was ironed into an acid blue.
His hair stuck out in wild clumps, as thought it were trying to escape from his head.
The words seemed to swing around in the air afterwards, as if they didn't really want to leave.

[Book Concierge]

I read this with my F2F book club a few years back. Great discussion.