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Showing posts with label twins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label twins. Show all posts

Monday, January 1, 2018

Down Among the Sticks and Bones

Jack and Jill's backstory, hinted at in Every Heat a Doorway, gets fully realized in Down Among the Sticks and Bones. 

Their parents, Chester and Serena Wolcott, had children for the most selfish of reasons. When the twins weren't what they expected, Chester assigned them stifling gender roles. One of them he dresses as a tomboy, Jill, while the other, Jacqueline, he dresses in finery. 

Unsurprisingly, what their father does has disastrous effects. When they reach the Moors, they reverse roles; Jack becomes self-sufficient and skilled in the sciences while Jill becomes the vain daughter of a vampire. 

This is the 2nd part of the Wayward children series. Though it lacks the spark of the first part, it offers a wonderful depiction of the Moors. 

Friday, November 27, 2015

Eleanor : A Novel by Jason Gurley


Eleanor is one of the most intriguing works of fiction. Jason Gurley, the author, spent fifteen years writing the book. He self-published it before it was picked up by a mainstream publisher--Crown of Random House. 

Eleanor is a tour de force; At its heart is a brave fourteen-year-old girl who wants to change her family's tragic trajectory. Her grandmother, also named Eleanor, was deeply unhappy. Her unhappiness spread to her daughter and grandchildren.

What makes the work different is that its a ghost story unlike any other. After reading about the tragic history of the Witts, readers are confronted with a brand new reality--Mea and Efah. Who are these mysterious beings and how do they affect Eleanor and Jack?

Eleanor is filled with searing images. Readers can see the two protagonist jumping off Huffnagle Rock, hand in hand. They can see Eleanor falling and then disappearing. They can see Jack's grief after Eleanor is transported to an mysterious place--the Rift.

Eleanor, a teen-aged warrior, discovers the power to heroically change her present and her past by entering people's dreamscapes. She encounters a witch, a frosty environment, dinosaurs, and the plane responsible for her cousins' deaths. 

After researching the author, I've discovered why the novel seems so alive with vibrant images. Gurley devised Eleanor as a graphic novel as he attests in his blog, 
https://conditionclear.wordpress.com.



Thank you to Library journal for sending me an advance reader's copy of Eleanor. What a fabulous read it has turned out to be!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Review of Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian

Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian

All Chip Linton wants when he moves to Bethel, New Hampshire is a little peace and quiet for his family. He has already survived the unthinkable, a plane crash. Since he was the pilot, he blames himself for not being able to pull off a "Miracle on the Hudson" type maneuver.

Tragically, Linton is not able to pull off the same type of miracle and 39 of the flight's passengers die. In therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder, Chip vows never to fly again.

Emily, Chip's wife, decides the family needs to move away from Philadelphia but she has a difficult time adjusting to the Victorian house. She's grateful for the anonymity; she was tired of fielding questions about the crash.

On the other hand, she finds the house's history creepy. The former inhabitant's twelve-year-old son is rumored to have killed himself in the house. The house's internal structure is strange: each of the three floors is a little narrower than the preceding one, the wallpaper is hideous, and the basement has a bolted door that seemingly leads nowhere.

In addition, why are there so many greenhouses in Bethel? Every house, including the one Chip and Emily have just bought, seem to have one. Why does everyone in the town seem overly interested in the Linton twins.
Bohjalian's narrative most freely back and forth among all the characters but it is actually the twins' impressions which stand out. Despite their father's fragility and nightmares, the twins are face even greater dangers.

This is marvelous, well-researched novel by one of America's best writers. Chris Bohjalian writes that he spoke to countless pilots to get the details right.

The epilogue, however, made me sad. While I didn't expect Chip to become an all-American hero  that Sully Sullenberger was, I thought he could at least save his family from the herbalists. The ending is disturbing, albeit thought-provoking.

If you're reading this for a book club, you may want to discuss what you would do differently if you were Chip or Emily Linton.

Other books by Chris Bohjalian:
Before You Know Kindness
Buffalo Soldier
Double Bind
Idyll Banter
Law of Similars
Midwives
Secrets of Eden
Skeletons at the Feast
Sandcastle Girls
Trans-Sister Radio
Water Witches

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