OTOLI

The author's description; the story revolves around three main characters; Alice, Kieran and Jenny and a group of bullies known as the Popular. Alice Turner is a year eight pupil at Stowton Middle School who has become a victim of bullying by the girl gang - the Populars. Deeply unhappy, Alice finds herself wandering into a cafe called OTOLI that she has never noticed before. There she meets Jenny the mysterious waitress who always seems to be scrubbing the same table clean. Alice is initially excited to have a friend, but she soon realizes that this friendship may come at a price

At times we depends upon and another and "depends upon" another, enough to manipulative some into convincing you to decide bad choices and live with regret. Or accept your intuition and go with the thought thinking this is not right and everything has to be done to stop it. This reader believes this author is trying to alert the world that bullying is very destructive and has severe consequences and it should become a priority to stop it from continuing.

What if you found a friend who accepts you unconditionally until the nagging doubts of something is not right here; We all been there, question do you continue the friendship or walk away, there is a fragile line when someone d and teenager life situations arise and choices have to be decided. Events and challenges arise and an individual is on the outside looking in and needs to choose between being morally right or immorally wrong and go with the peer pressure or rebel against it. This is such a story about bullying and how each character, Alice, Kieran and Jenny in the plot decides how to deal with the emotional consequences of being bullying.

It has a dark twinge with light humuor to balance out the drama. It speaks about friendships and some that isn't what it seems to be, causing little flicks of doubt to crept into the victim's conscious as the Populars , the high class girls of the school targeted the weaker students and taunts them to the point of desperation of becoming anti-social, and lose their dignity or push them over the edge to become obsessed with revenge. The plot thickens as the tables are turned and the torturers are bully; in strange incidents. The story is complete with suspense and mystery and "what if's" questions.

Alice, the main character and Kieran find that one special friend, Jenny who does not seem to judging them, just accepting them for their selves; as time passes they senses slight gestures and words from Jenny as strange and starts to think twice about their friendship; does she out of desperation of loneliness to accept her intuition and run as far away as she can or denial the lies and overlook the slight hints of some more sinister is at play here. She is caught in a cat and mouse game and will have to make tricky decisions. So will Kieran, their maturity will decide their fate.

I am an American and this book is set in the United Kingdom but bully is increasing through the world through social media outlets; Facebook, cell phones and other devices and to some it is a torture to be targeted and constantly whipped emotionally and physically, it erodes all self-confidence and destroys a bright future. The statistics for suicides and other escapes these victims suffer through are rising and this story is a realistic perspective that other teens and adults should read and utilize to open up a community discussion how to became an advocate and look for the warning signs of someone being bullied. All ages, diversity and genders are chosen as victims and it is on the increase.

This story is short, realistic and in touch with the realities of bullying and a describes a sensitive topic with an unique style.

I choose this statement off the Internet for I believe it sums up the description of OTOLI;

This book is quite short, so I don't want to give anything away. However, OTOLI will leave you realizing the shock effects that bullying can have on people's lives; both for the victims and also for the bullies. I also loved the supernatural twist to this book; it gives a whole new element to an otherwise very serious story.

It is a YA book, a supernatural and fantasy book for all ages and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the organization 'Bullying UK' which is a valuable reason in itself to buy the book and help stop bullying and save someone's life tonight. 


Stories which take a look at Bullying always interest me, especially books like OTOLI which looks at the effects bullying can have on a person. OTOLI looks particularly at the type of bullying I'm most familiar with - name calling and teasing. The saying "bricks and stones can break your bones but names can never hurt you" is a lot of old crap and OTOLI shows this perfectly.

It focuses mainly around Alice Turner who is being teased by the so-called `populars' in school. You know the ones, they are at the top of the social pyramid in school, their popular (goes without saying), dress in the latest fashions etc and they think that because of this they can treat anyone how they want to. The teachers in school don't do anything about it (even though they know it's going on) and so the remarks in class (and out) continue never ending.

I don't really want to say too much about the story as the book is so short (perfect length for the story) but it means that anything I could say about it might be something majorly spoilery and I think it's a book that deserves to be read and not spoiled.

The story is told mainly from Alice's point of view in short, sharp almost diary like chapters. We see how she feels, what she tries to do to avoid coming into contact with the populars and then one day she meets Jenny. I have to say that I didn't really trust Jenny from the off, there was just something a little... off about her if you know what I mean.

Another character we see from time to time is Kieran, in a way he reminds me of me when I was his age (and still am in many ways), he's shy and awkward and although we don't see nearly as much of him as we do of Alice I liked him immediately.

I really loved the way we see the teachers nicknames - a couple of them made me giggle stopping the book from becoming too dark. It's a book which could have been depressing and really tough to read, fortunately I think the tone is set just right.

Ultimately like I said at the start I think it's a book that deserves to be read, the only question remains is what does OTOLI stand for - I know but do you?

This book really took me by surprise, it was definitely not what I was expecting at all. The book deals very strongly with the issues surrounding bullying, but within this book they take on rather a sinister tone that appealed to my dark side.

Alice Turner is seen as a social outcast by everyone at school, which puts her in the harrowing position of being a target of the school bullies, known as the Populars. They make her life a living hell. On one of her journeys home, desperate to stay out of their way, she comes across a little cafe called OTOLI. She wanders in to find a safe place to go and a new friend to help her deal with the bullying.

As their friendship grows, things begin to change at school. The Populars begin to lose out on the Popularity stakes and life begins to get easier for Alice. However, as the Populars suffer, Alice begins to wonder whether her friendship with Jenny is causing more harm than good. Alice has a feeling that the fall of enemies may be due to Jenny.

Jenny's friendship begins to cause Alice a lot of problems when she is unable to meet her friend's demands. Alice learns that if she is ever to grow stronger and move on with her life, she must face the bullies head on. She must stop Jenny from bullying her.

This is really quite a sad tale, where two young girls suffer from the devastating effects of long term bullying. Jenny has suffered just like Alice, yet she doesn't deal with it in a mature way, more hell bent on revenge than moving on. However Alice, begins to realise that revenge really isn't the answer. She finds an amazing inner strength, to overcome the obstacles she faces.

Jenny is an extremely interesting, if somewhat sinister character, whose secret past is slowly revealed to show the reasons for her behaviour. She believes she is being helpful and doesn't realise she is causing more harm than good. There is also another character, Keiran within the book who suffers from bullying too, however he seems to be able to stand up to Jenny better than Alice does.

The title intrigued me and the word does have meaning once you work out what the letters stand for, however that really isn't my secret to reveal!

Even though the book, is quite short, I found it moved at quite a pace, leaving me enthralled until the final outcome.

This book really hits home with the effects of bullying, showing just how it can escalate out of control, unless someone takes a stand. I know that it is a prime concern with majority of schools these days, but I cannot help but wonder if enough is being done. Bullying seems to me to be more immediate these days with bullies being able to victimize those chosen through mobile phones, email and Internet sites such as Facebook. I hope this book can help someone bring about change.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the organisation 'Bullying UK' which is a good enough reason in itself to buy the book. Luckily the book is an extremely good read too, so well worth buying. I was considering a giveaway for this book, instead I decided that I wanted it to go into a secondary school where hopefully it will be of use, so I am passing it in onto the lovely Emma Book Angel at Bookangel's Booktopia for her to put in her library.

If you know someone who is being bullied, yet struggles to talk about it, then this might be a good book to introduce them too.

In this beautifully written YA tale, Bryony Allen takes us on a journey into the lonely world of bullied teenager Alice Turner, and the solace she finds in a strange little cafe called Otoli. The waitress who works there, Jenny (who always seems to be scrubbing at something on a tabletop whenever Alice enters) offers her apparently unconditional friendship, and seems to understand the despair Alice feels at being a social outcast at school.

However, Jenny's friendship is only apparently unconditional, and as the novel progresses we realise, along with Alice, that there is much more to her new-found friend than meets the eye.

What I particularly loved about OTOLI is the way Bryony Allen draws the reader into Alice's world as inexorably as Alice herself is drawn into Jenny's. There's no spoiler in saying that a strong thread of the supernatural runs through the story, which Allen handles with a great subtlety and finesse which calls to mind the work of Susan Hill.

As the earlier review notes, Allen's own work as a teacher has clearly given her a profound and sympathetic understanding of the often tortuous journey from childhood to adulthood. OTOLI deserves to find a wide readership, and should certainly be in every school library.

An additional note: the book is published by the small indie press Pneuma Springs, and I was very impressed with the production quality. Not one typo in the entire book, which is more than can be said for many big publishers.

Highly recommended on all counts.

5.0 out of 5 stars A sleek addictive tale., 8 May 2011

Johnathan Wilkes's review