Clever Swine

Title: Clever Swine

Family is rarely touched upon in great detail in stories. There's a mention of a mother, an appearance of a father, and sometimes there's even a situation that rallies them all together, whether it be a holiday or a tragedy. The family aspect behind certain characters can be key to readers understanding their actions and how their life ended up like it did, but even so it mostly remains behind the scenes so that the details come out when the writer feels that the time is right.

Clever Swine is written in first person, narrating the thoughts and feelings of the protagonist – a Polish teenager by the name of Wojciech. Despite living in America with his family, there is such a strong feel of their Polish background in the summary alone which is then expanded and developed within the three chapters that currently make up this story. Each chapter focuses on Wojciech's family as the main topic, but also interweaves events that are happening during the time period that this is set in, as well as dipping into small aspects of his personal life.

wonderwall; really brings her characters to life in Clever Swine, from giving each of the characters featured a personality that clearly shines through the words that she's written to having a family that one could imagine existing down the street from them. It's how she writes that makes her characters so amazing, with her writing being brilliant from the start.

Even if you don't know anything to do with the Polish culture, it shouldn't stop you from giving Clever Swine a chance. Sometimes the best writing can be about a topic you don't know about. You'll never know unless you give it a chance.