This book is, in short, a piece of art. There are two main characters in the book, and we follow each of their stories in two different ways: Ben, who recently lost his mother in an accident, we read about in the written part of the book, and Rose, the deaf girl, we follow in Brian Selznick’s beautiful illustrations.
In the beginning, the only thing the two characters seem to have in common is to have a different life. Ben lives with his aunt and uncle, and has to share bedroom with his cousin. Ben feels, in many ways, alienated from the rest of his family. He has only one ear that he can hear with, and has an interesting of collecting things, and for the stars.
One night Ben sees a light in his and his mother’s house, and goes over, to find one of his cousins wearing his mother’s clothes. This makes him angry and sad, and she apologies. Though she heads back to her parents’ house, he stays behind. Shortly after, a thunderstorms starts. He decides to stay a bit longer, in the hopes for the storm to ease, and he starts to go through some of his mother’s thing. He then finds something that gives him a clue on where to find his father, that he longs for, but has never known. One of the things he finds is a phone number, and he picks up the phone to try to give his dad a ring. As he does this, a lightning strikes, and he wakes up to find himself without the ability to hear at all. Even though Ben is now deaf, he refuses to give up on his father, now that he finally knows where to look, and on his own he sets out to try find him…
Rose is, as mentioned, deaf, and has been all her life. She scrapbooks everything she can find about a mysterious actress, and after a while she runs away from home to the big city to find her.
The two stories starts decades apart, but after a while they are woven into one. This is done in a wonderful way, and I must say I loved the book. The over 600 pages just flew, and the illustrations are so alive and vivid they tell more than a thousand words!
I also liked the fact that the main characters of the book can’t hear. Alas, there are not many books around with deaf people as the centre of the story. It’s interesting to see the world in a somewhat different perspective.
Though this probably would be seen as a children’s book, I have no problems recommending it to grown ups. The story has so many layers, and I’m sure we pick up things a kid probably will not. However, even though there might be elements kids miss out on, the story still works brilliantly. Maybe one of those books you could read together?
«Of course Santa Claus will come,» said Jimmy Martin confidently. Jimmy was ten, and at ten it is easy to be confident. «Why, he’s got to come because it is Christmas Eve, and he always has come. You know that, twins.»
Yes, the twins knew it and, cheered by Jimmy’s superior wisdom, their doubts passed away. There had been one terrible moment when Theodora had sighed and told them they mustn’t be too much disappointed if Santa Claus did not come this year because the crops had been poor, and he mightn’t have had enough presents to go around.
«That doesn’t make any difference to Santa Claus,» scoffed Jimmy. «You know as well as I do, Theodora Prentice, that Santa Claus is rich whether the crops fail or not. They failed three years ago, before Father died, but Santa Claus came all the same. Prob’bly you don’t remember it, twins, ’cause you were too little, but I do. Of course he’ll come, so don’t you worry a mite. And he’ll bring my skates and your dolls. He knows we’re expecting them, Theodora, ’cause we wrote him a letter last week, and threw it up the chimney. And there’ll be candy and nuts, of course, and Mother’s gone to town to buy a turkey. I tell you we’re going to have a ripping Christmas.»
From the short story «Christmas at Red Butte», in Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1909 to 1922, written by L. M. Montgomery.
I just read volume 14 of the Walking Dead comic books by Robert Kirkman, No way out. As usual, it ends with a cliff hanger, and I will have to wait until the next volume is published. This is the sort of comic books I find easily addictive: Once I’ve started reading, I can hardly put it down.
Normally, zombies aren’t really my cup of tea. However, the Walking Dead aren’t really about the zombies. Yes, the zombies, or roamers, are there, but what’s it’s really about are people. People’s reactions, their feelings, and how they cope under extreme circumstances.
The artwork is brilliant too. There’s so much to read from the illustrations, they express a whole lot more than a lot of other comic books. And to be honest – I find it harder to like comics with crap artwork than the one with really good one.
So, if you really like good comic books, I highly recommend the Walking Dead: It’s one of the best comics written today, in my opinion.
I love the works of Sylvia Plath, and in this video she reads her poem “Lady Lazarus”. Must admit it gives me a bit of a chill…
It is not much left of the day, and it’s time to reveal the winner if the All Hallow’s Read Giveaway! I am pleased to say that there was 30 entries into the lottery, and with the help of the Mrs Glosser’s Math Goodies Custom Random Number Generator the winners have been chosen. The winners are for Bram Stoker’s Dracula Paul Keefe, and for J. A. Saare’s Dead, Undead, or Somewhere in Between Alina Rios.
Congratulations to the winners, please send me your snail mail addresses so that I can send the books your way!
In the spirit of All Hallow’s Read I am giving away a couple of books: Dracula by Bram Stoker, and Dead, Undead, or Somewhere in Between by J. A. Saare. Two books I love. They will be brand new books. All you need to do is to fill in the form below. Simple, eh?
The books will be ordered from The Book Depository and shipped off directly to the winners. They ship worldwide, and you can find the list of countries HERE. If your country isn’t on the list, I’m afraid you can’t join. But as you see, there’s a lot of countries on that list!
The winners will be announced on Halloween, 31 October.