Sign in

Book review

Pet

Catherine Chidgey

In a few words

Pet is set in New Zealand and split over two timelines: 2014 where 42-year-old Justine is reflecting on her childhood trauma while visiting her ailing father, and 1984 where 12-year-old Justine is a schoolgirl trying to cope with growing up without a mother. 

Justine narrates the story – setting the scene in a Catholic convent school with her classmates and their charismatic and beautiful teacher, Mrs Price. All the children admire Mrs Price, and they all want to be ‘the teacher’s Pet’. When Justine is finally chosen to be one of ‘the pets’ her world changes in a very believable way however, as different events occur, Justine begins to sense that something isn’t quite right. 

Justine just wants what many adolescents want — to fit in at school and be popular — but she has a lot going on in her life: coping with her mother’s death from cancer, living with her father’s increasing alcohol consumption, her own epileptic seizures, all the while having her loyalties tested on a daily basis between her classmates (especially her best friend Amy) and Mrs Price. 

Mrs Price breezes in like a Hollywood Star with her stylish clothes and her white left-hand drive Corvette. She praises sincerely, laughs, and offers kind words  — just what the children want to hear — while using her powerful position as teacher to manipulate, influence, and control the children in her care. 

Great for

Anyone who enjoys a character driven read with ominous undertones. It is chilling and suspenseful and just when you think you have it worked out there is another twist which leaves you wondering. Justine’s memory and therefore narration is unreliable so who do we believe? 

It is also a nostalgic read for anyone who was at school during the 1980s. Real events that took place that I too remembered: Lorraine Downes being crowned as Miss Universe in 1983, the school dental clinics where the nurses made bees out of the cotton wool, and the concrete pipe playgrounds.

Why I love this book

I love character driven novels where I am invested in the characters’ lives, feeling their happiness, their fears, their heartaches, and their sadness. Combine this with suspense and it was a page turner for me. 

I was at school during the 1980s and can relate to what school days were like then, for example, I knew the fear of being called by the child one above you on the roll to the dental clinic, and I remember the changing friendships, playground torments and ‘teacher’s pets’.  

My one criticism would be

I don’t have a criticism–I enjoyed the book from cover to cover. In my opinion, Catherine Chidgey is a great writer, and if you enjoy Pet, you should also read The Axeman’s Carnival by the same author — another great read.

Lesley Heal

Book notes administrator

Lesley reads widely with her book group, but particularly enjoys character-driven fiction and is also drawn to compelling true tales.

View more reviews