Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (original 2011; edition 2011)

This book was very interesting- the pictures really added to the story as well. ( )

Totally delightful and charming. It's not quite what I had expected it to be from the synopsis, but that's okay. I loved the use of real-life unusual photographs that the author framed his story around - the book wouldn't have been the same without them. ( )

I liked this okay. It appealed to me first because its title reminded me of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, and because I like falcons, and then because I learned it used vintage photographs to augment the plot. The prologue, of a grandfather telling tall tales to his grandson, boded well. When I began to read it -- only after suggesting it for book club -- I had to dial my expectations down, and down again when I realized that it is the start of yet another trilogy. (I am heartily sick of books not being stand-alones and first or debut books being marketed as a trilogy -- and thus not having a proper ending -- before the initial book has shown whether the reading public wants more of the same (and usually worse of the same).)

Its concept and story-telling aren't good enough for a trilogy. It is going to involve the Holocaust (evident enough from the prologue, with the grandfather being sent as a boy in the late 1930s from Poland to the relative safety of western Europe) and calling his grandson Yakob, and reinforced later on with "hollowgast"). Some authors are strong enough to dance with that anvil but most just lean against it, hoping the actual event's weight will lend solidity and focus to insubstantial writing, and this is the latter.

The writing and editing are poor too. (They were worse in The Night Circus but I liked that story more.) When a Billy spoke a line, I took advantage of electronic format to look for where I had missed this character's introduction, but the name was a onceling, an error. The writing tries too hard in a way that does not ring true for the voice of 15-year-old Usan Jacob who has never heard of Ralph Waldo Emerson. When the boy pulls a trunk from beneath a bed, it leaves "parenthetical scars on the floor." In the next paragraph he sounds more like a teen from the 2010s, "going to town" on the trunk's lock trying to break it, which makes the previous phrase seem even more work-shopped. Later Jacob says "Roger Wilco" to his father, and when did he learn British wartime slang? Even "roger" seems dated now, let alone "wilco." He says something "howled like ten pigs being gelded," and this is a sound that a suburban teen is familiar with? ���Geld��� a word that leaps to mind?

Worst, the photographs are stuck in without being true to the story. An island town has no electricity or phones and thus no utility poles, making the power lines visible in a skyward photograph wrong. Photographs said to show the same person show an obviously different face.

Overall, it was entertaining but disposable, and I would have disposed of it without finishing if not for book club.

An aside, because all books are one book: Jacob skims "Self-Reliance," which resonates with him as little as it does with Richard Bascombe's same-aged son in Independence Day. Someone uses a taut rope to trip someone, and the book I finished immediately before this was The Dog Stars.

This was a book I have wanted to read for a long time. I finally got around to reading it, it was just as fantastically quirky I had hoped. It was a fun and mysterious read, also a little bit creepy at parts.

After the horrific death of Jacob’s grandfather, Jacob slumps into a deep depression. It’s determined that the only way to get Jacob out of this slump is for him to journey to the mysterious island that his grandfather grew up on. Jacob and his father journey to a remote island off of the coast of Wales. There Jacob investigates a peculiar children’s home that his grandfather grew up in. Jacob’s only clues are some mysterious pictures his grandfather left him and a peculiar note.

This was a fun and quirky read. It’s mainly a mystery about a young man trying to solve his grandfather's mysterious past....along the way he discovers children with strange powers, time travel, and evil monsters.

Jacob is an okay lead character. He is mainly characterized by his obsession to find out what really happened to his grandfather. Other than that, he wasn’t a real distinctive character for me.

What really drives this story is the mystery behind Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. The mystery unravels deliberately and things get more and more complex as Jacob unravels more and more secrets on this remote Wales island.

I am not going to get a lot more into the story beyond that because I don’t want to spoil anything. Let’s just say that through some quirks in time, all of these peculiar children that Jacob is so fascinated by may still be alive.

Of course a big draw for this book are all of the strange pictures throughout. I really enjoyed their addition to the story, they made the peculiar children all that more real to the reader. The fact that these are all actually real vintage pictures found in old picture collections makes this book even more unique and special.

The book was well written, engaging, and easy to read. What really drives the story is the mystery and what makes it enjoyable are the quirky pictures throughout. The main story is wrapped up pretty well, but there are things left unanswered for future books in the series.

Overall I enjoyed this book. It’s a very creative idea and implemented very well. The mystery is what drives the story and the pictures are fascinating and interesting. Jacob as a character could have used a bit more depth, but that really isn’t what this book is about. I am curious to see what the second book in this series will be about. I recommend this to those who are interested in a YA mystery read with fantasy overtones to it that’s a bit different than anything else out there. ( )

This book has ghosts in it and a parallel universe. If you like these kinds of things then that is a good book for you.