Filled with childhood whimsy and wonder
The letter D has disappeared from the alphabet and Dhikilo’s the only person who seems to have noticed. Determined to find out what happened to the missing letter, and, more importantly, how to get in back, Dhikilo embarks on a perilous journey through a bizarre new world.
Michel Faber’s latest novel has everything you’d want in a great adventure story—a brave protagonist, an animal companion, and, of course, the nutty professor. Centred around Dhikilo’s journey to return “the missing D” to the alphabet, D finds pleasure in the ridiculous and the frivolous, charming readers with the same playfulness as children’s favourites like Alice In Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz.
But Faber also took some risks that didn’t pay off. There is an excruciating amount of time given to painting Dhikilo’s backstory as a non-white adoptee but there is never any connection made between her history and who she is now. There is no real exploration of her identity and although there are passing comments about Dhikilo never encountering people that look like her, Faber never really elaborates on how this might make her feel. So, while it’s refreshing to see non-white protagonists in stories that focus on more than just pain, Faber hasn’t written his characters of colour in a way that makes me feel seen and understood.
There’s also something uncomfortably colonial about the premise of an adventurer arriving in a mysterious yet dangerous foreign land, telling the locals how to speak properly, triggering a revolution, and then trotting off home once they’ve gotten what they want.
So, what’s my final verdict on D? Well, despite being a little lazy, this homage to Dickens is still a fun read. It’s a delightful story for Middle Grade readers that’s sure to put a smile on your face. However, it lacks the depth and character development I’ve come to expect from a teen novel, so when it comes to the intended YA audience, I think Faber has probably missed the mark.
Synthetic Serotonin 