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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. This is a book that has each chapter written by a different author. In the first chapter we meet Maggie (and Jason) whose grandfather, Gee, has just died. He left them both a present and Maggie's is a both a present and a puzzle. It consists of a wooden box with 7 smaller boxes inside, each of which contains a shell. The second chapter tells the story of how Gee was given one of the shells so I expected the rest of the book to be the stories behind the other shells. I was wrong. Instead we learn more about Jason and then meet up with Maggie again when she was older. Although I enjoyed the first half of the book, I found the later chapters less satisfactory and at the end I was still wanting to know the story of the other shells. This more like a collection of related short stories than 10 chapters that make up a whole story. (  )RefPenny | Jun 29, 2009 |   After their famous photographer grandfather Gee dies, he leaves his grandson Jason some signed photographs from famous sports stars and his granddaughter a box of seven shells. These mysterious items begin the unfolding of mysteries that carry across decades. Ten authors came together to write this novel, each writing one chapter, more of a series of short stories. It's amazing to me how well these stories weave together to make a complete picture, not just a random assortment of stories, but truely a novel. The different writing styles compliment each other quite well. The book is well written throughout, and the characters are interesting. This is a genuinely sweet and touching story, and definitely one of my new favorite books. (  )blythe025 | Mar 27, 2009 | I wasn't wowed by this book. Some of the interlinked stories were much better than others, and overall the book just didn't grab me. Sometimes it was difficult to hold on to all the characters and remember someone when they popped up again in later chapters. Overall I think the idea was great, but it just didn't work for me. ( )4sarad | Mar 15, 2009 | This is an incredibly unusual and thought provoking book. Written by 10 different authors all following along a storyline which is rather like a chain letter, each building on what the preceding one has created, it is by turns hopeful, fatalistic, dramatic, funny and memorable. At the heart of the story is famous photojournalist "Gee" who touched the lives of many people and brought all their stories home to share with his granddaughter, Maggie. The further we go in the tales the more we learn of the legacy that lived on in his family in ways very unexpected. The book as a whole is rather hard to categorize. It has elements of fantasy, history, science fiction and the ordinary world, but not so much of any one that it would offend a reader particularly uninterested in that genre. My personal favorite tale was by Roddy Doyle of a young Irishman introduced to Mohamed Ali in his prime, because it made me laugh. Another honorable mention is the chapter by Ruth Ozeki of Japan in 1944 that made me want to cry. Although written for young adults and, in part, an effort to build awareness of Amnesty International I think this would also be an inspiring book for both schools and interested adults. (  )Jenson_AKA_DL | Nov 10, 2008 | bookchronicle | Oct 7, 2008 | 0.068 seconds to build listing  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0439411386, Hardcover)A video message from a dead person. A larcenous teenager. A man who can stick his left toe behind his head and in his ear. An epileptic girl seeking answers in a fairy tale. A boy who loses everything in World War II, and his brother who loses even more. And a family with a secret so big that it changes everything.The world's best beloved authors each contribute a chapter in the life of the mysterious George "Gee" Keane, photographer, soldier, adventurer and enigma. Under different pens, a startling portrait emerges of a man, his family, and his gloriously complicated tangle of a life. The full list of authors includes: Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author of A STAR CALLED HENRY; Nick Hornby, author of ABOUT A BOY; Ruth Ozeki, author of MY YEAR OF MEATS; Margo Lanagan, Prinz Honor Award-winning author of BLACK JUICE; Linda Sue Park, Newbery Award-winning author of A SINGLE SHARD; David Almond, winner of the Whitbread Award and Carnegie Medal and author of SKELLIG; Gregory Maguire, author of WICKED; Tim Wynne-Jones, two-time winner of Canada's Governor General's award and author of ONE OF THE KINDER PLANETS; Deborah Ellis, author of THE BREADWINNER; Eoin Colfer, author of the Artemis Fowl Books. And more are signing on! (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:53 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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