More Than This by Patrick Ness

Book Talk

A boy drowns. He wakes up in a house he hasn't lived in for years. The world is deserted. More Than This has a gripping and brutal opening chapter, but does the book live up to the potential of its opening? Host Sasha deBuyl is joined by children’s bookseller Eve Harvey and young adult author Keith Gray to discuss the book, the most recent Young Adult novel from Carnegie Medal-winning author Patrick Ness.Seth, the protagonist, is caught between two worlds. The sparse, deserted post-apocalyptic world he inhabits now and the rich but traumatic world that he remembers in involuntary flashbacks. The length of the book's first section divided our panel - is there enough intrigue to keep readers hooked?This is a book that deals with some very tough themes – suicide, murder, child abuse – our panel ask if young adult books should censor themselves or whether they have a responsibility to discuss these tough issues.More Than This was interpreted very differently at times by our panel - have you read the book? What did you think were the key themes from the book? How do you think it compared to the Chaos Walking trilogy? And is there really more than this?