 "Not very enjoyable" | 2007-08-14 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3HS8WUIYW2RAE |
| I really did not enjoy this book very much. While I love Diana Wynne Jones' work, the book is not her best at all. Almost none of the characters were likable and the ending was strange. However, there is one reason to read this book. This book is something of an autobiography. I read an auto biography of DWJ on her website, and the descriptions of Cart, Imogen and Fernella (or whatever her name is) in this book matched those of young DWJ and her sisters in the autobiography. |
| |
 "Love DWJ, But this is far from her best" | 2007-05-29 |
| - Reviewed By stock24 |
The four sisters, Imogen, Sally, Cart and Fenella, are all unpleasant and unlikeable. They are immature and uncared for in much of the novel, and perhaps that is the reason for their often bizarre behavior. Their parents, in their callous behaviour to their own offspring, are also very unlikeable.
Unfortunately, it takes at least half of the novel to make sense of what is happening in the plot. By that time, I was out of patience with it, although I did finish the book.
Diana Wynne Jones has written many better books. Try Archer's Goon, The Dark Lord of Derkholm, The Year of the Griffin, Howl's Moving Castle, Power of Three, the Merlin Conspiracy or Deep Secret. Give this one a miss. |
| |
 "Fun Story" | 2007-05-07 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2J4KE1UR77LH7 |
| I have so far enjoyed all of Diana Wynne Jones' books, and this one was no exception. It's a good story as well as an adventure. Besides just that, having a favorite author consistently providing good stories of varying subjects is refreshing. |
| |
 "A Deep, Difficult, and Absolutely Wonderful Read" | 2005-06-26 |
| - Reviewed By vangula |
This book is a difficult read. It is not easy sailing, though the writing is superb. This book is unconventional to the extreme. There are two confusing points in the book, one of which is the ghost's identity (which sister is it?), and the other is that fact that the ghost is NOT a ghost of a dead person. But you can figure out the ghost's identity fairly quickly if you pick up several obvious clues that many seem to miss, and this book is one of my favorites.
I won't go into the plot--other's, such as the publishers, have done it already--save to say that it is not gory or freakshly disturbing. If you are zealosuly religions, then you may not like this book, as it does have a "dark, old, female something" (a goddess-like presence) and severe neglect from the parents regarding the four sister-protagonists. One of the sisters goes missing, and the parents doen't even notice after several days, even though the mother comes in to say good-night and the father throws a rage at them later, even going through all four names without noticing before leaving.
This book is more like a window into a at-once familiar and fantastical world than a science-fiction/fantasy novel, a world where things that most people go through in childhood (such as a play-sceance using scrabble-letters or a belief that there is a ghost in the house) do not collapse into disbelief with time but are confirmed in a subtle, definite way. THAT is the whole of the 'horror and occult' in this book.
The characters are exactly drawn. Perhaps others do not know people as unusual or interesting as the four Melford sisters, but they are the sort of people who are at the edge of the population, who turn into famous artists, writers, musicians--the sort of people who go into history books (the sort of people who are very unusual). They are disinctly portrayed, and you can feel that you would recognize them on the street after reading the book. The personalities are very vibrant, and the entire book is a pleasurable read. You may want to reread this book later, because it is one of those books that can be reread many times; not open and direct, but secretive, mysterious, and very well-woven. Five stars on this one. Diana Wynne Jones has done an excellent job and has not been afraid to step out of the borders of conventional fiction writing to turn out a novel of striking originality. |
| |
| "Scary Read" | 2005-02-01 |
| - Reviewed By arienram |
Charlotte (Cart), Selina (Sally), Imogen and Fenella Melford had a tugging contest over a rag doll. The doll lost and was ripped into quarters. Cart felt guilty and sewed the doll back together. Then to make it up to Monigan she invented the Worship of Monigan and awakened an ancient goddess whose out for blood.
Sally's spirit travels back into the past after her boyfriend Julian Addiman, also a Monigan worshipper, throws her out of his speeding car. Sally, possibly due to the trauma of this incident, can't remember who she is. As things start to come back to her, she tries to influence her sisters to fight Monigan or the goddess will claim Sally's life on July 17th, as promised 7 years earlier.
This is a very dark story that deals with mature subjects like domestic violence, parental neglect, dark occult worship etc. I thought the plot was very original but a bit confusing when Sally didn't know who she was yet I kept reading because Jones peaked my curiosity. I wanted to know what was really going on. This book starts out rather slow but it just draws the reader into the story.
|
| |
| "One of her "experimental" books" | 2004-07-04 |
| - Reviewed By megan_mais |
| Although I usually LOVE this author, I thought that this book was sort of weak. The plot could be confusing, and required me to go back and read previous bits all the time. In addition, I found the characters to be a little strange. The sisters act like nasty old adults at the beginning, and I was pretty far into the book before I realized that they were supposed to be kids. By the time I figured it out, I had to go back and re-read the whole thing in order to understand what was going on. Then, suddenly, they WERE adults. The sudden appearance of the occult stuff was a little jarring, too. If you want a challenging book and like stories that mess with the space-time continuum, then maybe this book is worth a read. Unlike her Chrestomanci series, this is NOT a kids book. It contains domestic violence and occult practices, as well as a few other things that might be questionable. However, they are appropriately done, so the book is fine for YA. |
| |
International Available
