Recently Read: Girl Meets Boy

I heard about this book from Kathy at JustKissMyFrog and it sounded very interesting so I went on a hunt to find it!  I love the cover it's so pretty, there is another one which is really ugly so obviously I had to have this one...

Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith is part of the Canongate Myth series which incorporates mythical characters in a modern re-telling of the story.  The character in this book is based on Iphis who is from Greek mythology, she is brought up by her mother as a boy because at that time her father could not afford a girl and would have killed her.  As she grows older she falls in love with a girl, Ianthe, and they are to be married, obviously Iphis starts to panic because on the wedding night her fianceé would find out that she wasn't really a boy.  Iphis and her mother pray to the gods and they transform her into a boy in time for her (his?) wedding.

Anyway, onto the actual book!  It is set in Scotland and the protagonist is Anthea who moves in with her sister and gets a job with her in a creative team at a bottled water company - a controversial subject in itself!  She hates it and there are a lot of sexist males in the team that the sisters have to compete with.  That is until Anthea sees Robin, a beautiful, masculine yet very feminine eco warrior who is graffiti-ing the company's sign outside.  She falls in love and Girl Meets Boy tells their unconventional love story through Anthea and her sister, Imogen's eyes.

It is a very short book, I read it in about 3 sittings in 2 days which is very quick for me - I am a slow reader!!  I really enjoyed it and I would recommend it to anyone interested in feminism and gender roles - that sort of thing, it is very interesting!  The only thing I would have liked was more details about Anthea and Robin meeting and getting to know each other.  Because the book is so short it just went from Anthea seeing Robin outside to the next chapter where Imogen is freaking out because her sister is a lesbian haha!

I would really like to read some more of Ali Smith's books now!

<3