I bought the book "The smell of other people's houses' by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock for my daughter - our bookworm. The school holiday is the time when she reads books wholesale, and she is able to read everything I suggest. I take advantage of this and buy or lend her books which are especially for teenagers as well as set books, so that we will have less work during the school year. The thing that intrigued me about this book was its remarkable title. Now that I have read it, I don't know who it is aimed at. Is it for teenagers or maybe for adults who want to understand their children? I think that it should be read first and foremost by those who don't even try to understand young people. The book presents the typical problems young people have in the difficult and inhospitable surroundings of beautiful Alaska, which, like in reality, partly have their roots in our adult life. They result from differences in our characters, and from a lack of empathy and communication.

Have you ever noticed that every home smells different? Our food, flowers, pets and cosmetics create a domestic smell which is most often associated with love and safety. However, there are also homes which have a different smell and leave young people with childhood memories connected with uncertainty, peril or threat. Longing for a home with a mum, clean sheets and love, fomented in particular by a different scent, strict rules and the lack of any feelings, teenagers feel the need to look for something new. Sometimes they find and fill the emptiness, but sometimes they happen upon a substitute, which when it disappears leaves a permanent mark and changes their life forever.

The main characters are teenagers who tell us their stories: Alyce, who has to choose between her passion for dancing and salmon fishing with her father; Ruth, who is desperately looking for love, is reared by her extremely strict and chilly grandmother; Dora, who is brought up in a family of alcoholics, and whose life changes when she meets a street comic; and Hank, who takes the place of a father for his younger brothers and who thinks the only way to have a normal life is to escape.
Thanks to the narration of a few people, these stories about love, happiness, adversity or unrealized hopes are even more authentic and touching. The threads initially unfold side by side. Finally, they join up to form a complete, heart-wrenching novel.

My daughter read "The smell of other people's houses" in only two days. It turns out that a book for teenagers doesn't need to be a love story, a crime story, or a story with unusual monsters, unreal wizards and vampires. It can be a book about feelings, dreams, striving to reach a goal and fighting against mundane problems. I think that for adults this book is a cautionary tale. It makes us realize how much our decisions influence our children's lives and how much a lack of love can hold young people back.

I recommend it!

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