Helpful Score: 3
The Ice Cream Girls is a masterpiece. Dorothy Koomson excels at characterization and this is very much a character-driven story. It is told from the alternating points of view of both Poppy and Serena. As each have their own distinct voice, its easy to keep track of who is narrating. The book also contains flashbacks which are deftly woven into the story. However, it is not a sweet story. It is a story of abuse, lies and how that changes not only a life but those around it. This is not the sort of book you should reach for if youre after a bit of fluffy escapism, but if youre after something a bit grittier, but not heavy, I would really recommend this book. I felt that Koomson really got under the skin of her characters and produced a chilling piece of work.
Helpful Score: 1
This book was....I'm not really sure if I liked it or didn't - it wasn't a book that I made time for, or looked forward to reading at the end of the day, it was just kind of there. But when I was reading it, I kept getting sucked in and all of a sudden an hour or two had passed by. I don't really feel like the ending was as satisfying as I wish it was, and I think there are some interesting plot lines that could have been developed more, it was almost like there was too much of a focus on the main plot, which I know sounds weird and counter-intuitive for a novel, but the main plot has so many heavy themes - domestic violence, sexual predators, murder, controlling and manipulative relationships - it's a lot to handle. One thing I do think Koomson did an excellent job at is creating this complicated relationship between Poppy and Serena when they are younger, where they are close in so many ways but at the same time complete strangers. When they are older it isn't conveyed that well, which is unfortunate.
