{Review} Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Published by HarperCollins, 2002

Softcover, 162 pages

ISBN 0439576881

Genres: adventure, children's fiction, fantasy, horror, paranormal, science fiction, YA

2/5: The movie Coraline has been a favorite of ours ever since it was in theaters. The Mr took me, pregnant at the time with Gabriel, to see it on Valentine's Day and it was great fun. Now the wee one loves it as well for its "spookiness", as he says, and awesomely quirky characters. It has just the right proportions of action, drama, dialogue and story progression, and the animation! Absolutely stunning and so very interesting you can't tear your eyes away. Needless to say, Gabriel and I were very excited to pick up a copy of Coraline at our favorite used bookstore and start reading it as soon as we finished Dahl's The Witches. We would have been disappointed anyway, but right on the heels of a hilarious and imaginative Roald Dahl book? With Quentin Blake illustrations?? I'm not sure it's possible to have moved on to a more anticlimactic selection than Gaiman's Coraline. It plods along, as flat and colorless as the Other Mother's misty landscape, with an awkward storyline in which developments feel haphazard, superficially planned, and make little sense. The characters promise a lot but, once again, lack any real uniqueness with which to interest the reader, much less charm or entertain. Coraline is well written, and therefore mechanically a very good piece. However, that cannot whatsoever make up for the tepid nature of the content. Gabriel and I were very glad to finish this book and return to the marvelous Dahl and Blake. While it wasn't a terrible reading experience, I can't recommend Coraline very highly. This is, in fact, a rare time I would suggest simply enjoying the movie.

Mary Beth

{Review} Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
Published by Putnam Adult, 1995
Hardcover, 244 pages
ISBN 0399140557
Genres: adult fiction, chick lit, contemporary fiction, fantasy, magic, magical realism, paranormal, romance, women's fiction

Synopsis (via Goodreads): For more than two hundred years, the Owens women had been blamed for everything that went wrong in their Massachusetts town. And Gillian and Sally endured that fate as well; as children, the sisters were outsiders. Their elderly aunts almost seemed to encourage the whispers of witchery, but all Gillian and Sally wanted was to escape. One would do so by marrying, the other by running away. But the bonds they shared brought them back-almost as if by magic...

My review: I got acquainted with Alice Hoffman early this year when I read her newest novel The Dovekeepers (which is fabulous). For some reason I was thinking it was her debut novel (don't ask me where I picked that up from, ha) so I was surprised when I looked her up on Goodreads and discovered she has been an established author for quite a long time. I have heard good things about the movie adaptation of Practical Magic and decided I would watch it... but only after reading the novel. School started so I finally got around to it last week, finishing it on Labor Day. I greatly enjoyed it and plan to continue reading everything by Alice Hoffman I can get my hands on. The story is much better than the synopsis above makes it sound and well worth the short amount of time it takes to read.

Sally and Gillian Owens are orphaned when they are ages five and three and taken in by two aunts who have a local reputation for witchery and spells, usually of the love variety. The little girls grow up knowing they're different, the other children at school and their parents making sure they never forget. The older the sisters get, though, the more they understand the magic their aunts wield is not imagined or exaggerated: it is very real and powerful. While the girls become used to the stream of women finding their way to the aunts' back door every evening in hopes of obtaining a cure for their less-than-satisfactory love lives, they are disturbed by it all the same. Gillian in particular, who during high school becomes a beauty and heart-breaker, is dissatisfied with what their guardians have to offer and takes solace in romance and rebellion. Sally is much more prudent and less selfish than her younger sister and eventually finds love with a young local. Bad choices and tragedy break the family apart, though, eventually reuniting them once again many years later.

The story is quite involved with many characters coming and going, though instead of confusing the plot this simply adds dimension to it. Sally and Gillian evolve throughout the novel, making promises and breaking them; alternately turning into the people they said they'd never be and striving towards who they need to be; having dreams and becoming disillusioned and yet against all odds finding hope once again. These experiences are common to every person and make the characters very easy to relate to and empathize with. This book also stirs up complex emotions because just like in real life, you can love someone, identify with them, and still want to smack them silly. Practical Magic has excellent pacing and development: you thoroughly get to know the characters and the lives they lead without getting tired of them. My only complaint is a minor one and it would be that closer to the end of the book Gillian's bedroom experiences with her boyfriend Ben are described, and it got a little cheesy. Okay, it was really cheesy. But just keep reading, don't dwell on it and you'll find this book to be extremely enjoyable and meaningful.

While this book has mainly female protagonists and is frequently labeled chick-lit, I think it is a book any adult could enjoy, especially if they already have a fondness for magical realism and contemporary fiction. It is not lengthy either, so a great deal of patience is not necessary. I'd love to hear your thoughts regarding Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman, the chick-lit label, and/or how the movie adaptation compares to the novel, as I haven't gotten around to watching it yet.

Mary Beth

{Review} The Night Circus: A Novel by Erin Morgenstern

The Night Circus: A Novel by Erin Morgenstern
Published by Doubleday, 2011
Hardcover, 387 pages
ISBN 0385534639
Genres: adult fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, magic, magical realism, paranormal, romance, YA

Summary (via Goodreads): The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands. True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead. Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.

My review: I enjoyed The Night Circus reasonably well. The descriptions of the circus creators’ parties, the circus itself, and the cities visited are marvelous. The characters are interesting and the lengthy span of time covered in the novel allows the reader to get to know them better than would otherwise be possible. The story is very involved with certain aspects becoming clearer and others more complicated the farther into the book you get. The circus is a magnificent creation on the part of the author and she clearly describes it so as to give the reader the feeling that they are really there eating licorice mice, visiting the striped tents, and being mesmerized by the magical shows found within.

My two favorite characters are Bailey Clarke, a young circus-goer, and Herr Friedrick Thiessen, a clockmaker. They are, I feel, the real heroes of the story and about the only ones I feel empathy for. Bailey is 10 years old the first time he visits the circus, immediately falling in love with it. Herr Thiessen develops such a deep connection with the circus that he begins writing articles about it and inadvertently forms a circus-lovers club of sorts. The rest of the characters are, as I mentioned, interesting, but I rarely felt any strong emotions towards them or about anything they did. I think one issue is a lack of character development. Celia and Marco don’t seem to ever change, and their parts in the ending were predictable and a little lackluster. Poppet and Widget, twins born into the circus, are sweet but they don’t significantly change either even though almost their whole lives are chronicled off and on.

The style of the book was rather aggravating and the constant jumping between characters, from city to city, and back and forth (and back and forth and back again) in time got very annoying. I enjoy books that jump around in time a bit and/or have flashbacks, etc. but this was just too much, especially since a whole “chapter” of the book would frequently only be one to two pages long. I feel that with a slightly more linear time frame my reading experience would have been greatly improved.

I suppose, though, my biggest problem with this book involves the basis of the plot: the magicians’ duel. What exactly was the point? The man in the grey suit (Alexander) and Prospero the Magician pit the two young people against each other, but why? What is their history? How many times have they done this? Was Prospero involved in one such duel earlier in his life? How old are they, anyway? Tsukiko enlightens the reader somewhat with her personal account and in one of the last sections of the book Widget and Alexander sit down together and talk, the latter giving a very slight explanation for what the duel was all about. Other than that, though, there really isn’t much information given. I don’t know if the author thought up this amazing premise and then had a hard time following through, or if she and her editor felt they couldn’t make the book any longer (it’s only 387 pages, though), or what happened, but I am pretty disappointed. I don’t hate this book by any means, and I would be interested in reading anything else Ms. Morgenstern writes next, but I don’t have any strong positive feelings about it either. The only people I would recommend this book to are those who are fast readers, have a good deal of patience, and already love fantasy and magic.

I would love to hear your thoughts on The Night Circus below and thank you so much for stopping by!

Mary Beth

{Review} What-the-Dickens by Gregory Maguire

What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy by Gregory Maguire

Published by Candlewick Press, 2007

Hardcover, 304 pages

ISBN 0763629618

Genres: children's fiction, fairy tales, fantasy, magic, paranormal, urban fantasy, YA

Synopsis (via Goodreads): A terrible storm is raging, and Dinah is huddled by candlelight with her brother, sister, and cousin Gage, who is telling a very unusual tale. It’s the story of What-the-Dickens, a newly hatched orphan creature who finds he has an attraction to teeth, a crush on a cat named McCavity, and a penchant for getting into trouble. One day he happens upon a feisty girl skibberee working as an Agent of Change — trading coins for teeth — and learns of a dutiful tribe of tooth fairies to which he hopes to belong. As his tale unfolds, however, both What-the-Dickens and Dinah come to see that the world is both richer and far less sure than they ever imagined.

My review: This is a difficult book to review. I adore What-the-Dickens and Pepper, and much of his/their story is extremely charming and sweet. The narrative about Dinah and her siblings and Gage, however, was simply hard to get into and doesn't make a lot of sense. It also takes up way too much of the book without any kind of satisfactory character or plot development or even a decent resolution. In addition, I'm rather disappointed in Mr. Maguire because it would seem that he modeled the children after religious and homeschooling stereotypes without a lot of first-hand knowledge of such lifestyles. The reason I say this is because not every homeschooling family breeds religious fanatics, a family's religion or faith is not always the motivation for homeschooling, and homeschooled is not necessarily synonymous with antisocial. To be honest, I'm not sure what his point is regarding the children's upbringing because the story would be much greater served without all of the extra religious/sheltered angst.

The story Gage tells about the skibbereen, on the other hand, is fun, magical and feels much more like a proper fairy tale. I love old Mrs. Gangster and her collection of morbid books (gifts from her family), the mama grisset and her maternal affection for What-the-Dickens, and the tooth-achy Bengal tiger, Maharajah. The skibbereen are an awesome and very imaginative creation, and What-the-Dickens and Pepper, what with their evolution and growth throughout the story, have enormous potential for further adventures. 

Unfortunately, in addition to the problems mentioned above there is an awkward disjointedness between the two stories, absolutely unbelievable dialogue among the children and Gage, more cheesy and inept adults than you'll find in an episode of Scooby-Doo, and long dull stretches that interrupt and ruin the suspense and magic of What-the-Dickens' story. As much as I enjoyed the fairy tale bits, I had a hard time mustering up enough enthusiasm to even give this book two stars. I am very disappointed in What-the-Dickens and to be honest, I can't think of anyone I would recommend it to.

Mary Beth

{Review} Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs & a somewhat minor identity crisis

My blog has been having an identity crisis over the past several months. I've been agonizing and today decided to DO something about it (resulting in my blog being revamped... Again). I really do promise that this is the last time for a long time. Scout's honor. I've decided to do with it what I darn well please, so it is now (officially) a book blog. This makes me very happy :)

You may have noticed the new widgets (I love that word, haha) to the left. Three to be exact because I went a little overboard, but I couldn't help myself. They are all from that amazing site goodreads, which I have so completely fallen in love with since April. One widget shows what I'm currently reading, another how I'm doing on my books-read goal for 2011, and a third that is representative of my favorite books shelf.

One of the books I read this year that actually ended up on my favorites shelf is to the left - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Here's my review:

A fantastic new YA book
by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine #1) by Ransom Riggs
Published by Quirk, 2011
Hardcover, 352 pages
ISBN 1594744769
Genres: fantasy, historical fiction, horror, mystery, paranormal, science fiction, YA

My review: 5/5 stars. Fantastic. A well-written and suspenseful adventure story, about which I have only one complaint: that it wasn't written sooner. Considering how engrossed I became in it at age 22, I can only imagine how my imagination would have taken flight when reading it ten or twelve years ago. It is not a book that will appeal to everyone, but I adore it and am eagerly awaiting more adventures with Jacob, Emma, Miss Peregrine, and the rest of the peculiars.

I'm still a little fuzzy on writing reviews, since I want to say what I like/dislike about the book but I also don't want to give too much away. I mean, goodreads has a little box you can check that will warn the reader the review contains spoilers, but I still don't like to give too much away, haha. So I'm still working on it. Have you read Miss Peregrine? Or another great YA book this year? I'm getting re-interested in YA books, strangely enough, mainly thanks to the peculiars and... Lemony Snicket, who I will probably talk about next time.

Toodeloo... good grief, my spell check tagged this word and wants me to replace it with "toothily," so toothily for now and have a great evening! Happy reading!!

Mary Beth