Read: I'll come to that later. But I did actually finish it a week or so ago - I apologise, Noah, for not posting the review sooner. It won't happen again! (Well, at least, I hope it won't; I blame too many episodes of The Office).
Review: I enjoyed this. I always enjoy books about children, but this one seemed to have a particularly good level of magic, innocence and uncertainty about reality in it. At one level it's a scary book - it is about ghosts - but at another level it's about how we form relationships. (Gosh I feel pretentious - I don't think I'm very good at reviewing books!) Anyway the story is of a seven year old boy named Tolly, left behind in England by father and stepmother, and going to spend Christmas in a huge old empty house with a great grandmother he has never seen before. His arrival - by boat, through a flooded garden - emphasises the strangeness of these new experiences, but Tolly soon becomes more familiar with the house and with its mysterious inhabitants.
Time: I think this has got to be the longest time it's ever taken me to read a book. I started it one evening when I was nine, but the description at the beginning of Feste, the ghost-horse, scared me so much that I hardly slept that night. I remember it quite vividly - everything was strange and black and yellow and I had to go in and wake up my mum and dad. The next morning when I woke up I was really poorly with hepatitis and stayed off school for nearly a month. And... I finished it some time last week. I'm glad to say that this time around I got away with just a cold, and haven't had to miss any days of school so far.
In total, then, I guess this one took me 17 years! (I did re-start it, though, and it only lasted me a few days - it was very good, and quite short).
No comments:
Post a Comment