House of Windows - Alexia Casale

"Nick hates it when people call him a genius. Sure, he's going to Cambridge University aged 15, but he says that's just because he works hard. And, secretly, he only works hard to get some kind of attention from his workaholic father.

Not that his strategy is working.

When he arrives at Cambridge, he finds the work hard and socialising even harder. Until, that is, he starts to cox for the college rowing crew and all hell breaks loose..."

House of Windows follows Nick, who is going to Cambridge University at the age of fifteen. Nick is incredibly bright, but doesn’t like to be labelled as a ‘genius’. He just sees himself as hard working! First of all, Nick struggles with the transition to university, especially being so young. He finds the university work harder than he had anticipated and the socialisation is something he’s never really been good at. Nick joins the rowing crew, hoping to eventually make a friend so he doesn’t feel so isolated. To be honest the rowing and its team is a much smaller element then I expected.

Nick’s isolation from his peers is a really strong element to House Of Windows. I don’t think that Nick is a particularly likeable character at the start of the book, but as the book progresses, I started to understand and empathise with him more. I felt like Nick was craving recognition from his father who works really hard often avoiding Nick. At the heart of House Of Windows is a story about the importance of choosing your own family and feeling like you belong.
I found the beginning of this book abit of a slog and difficult to get through but once you do, you find a really strong emotional core. As you get deeper into the book you become more involved with the people Nick meets. There is Tim, Professor Gosswin and Ange. 

Many of the other characters become so real you end up getting into emotional knots when something happens to them. I really loved the family dynamics and found them very heart warming. The one person who remains consistent is Nick’s father, who I have reserved a special place for in my ‘loathe-box’. As absentee father he excels and every time he let Nick down (again) a little piece of me broke and raged.

During the course book Nick grows from someone who pushes everyone away to a young man who can see that people helping him doesn’t mean they’re pitying him.

House of Windows doesn’t tie up in a pretty bow ending, it leaves you with reality that's looking upward. Not everything is fixed, people don’t always change but others can surprise you and there are journeys to be had.

Age Rating 12+. Nothing untoward but needs a more mature mind to understand the concepts.