Behind the Attic Wall

I first read this as a child and I've read it many times since then. I just finished re-reading it and actually stayed up until the wee hours of the morning because I couldn't put it down even though I already knew the ending!
I think this book is so well written. It's the kind of book that stays with you long after you've finished it. I really like the way it is written with small glimpses into the present in between the different parts. I think because it is written in this way what could have been a really depressing book is quite hopeful. We see in the first couple of pages that Maggie is living with a family who she has grown to love and she's started to call them mom and dad and her sisters. This gives us hope as we read about her show more difficult life knowing that she has found a place to belong.
I think the author did a wonderful job of showing Maggie's insecurities and vulnerabilities and helping us understand why she does the things she does.
There are still some really sad parts in this book that just break my heart. When she finally has something to share with her class and she comes out of her shell to excitedly share only to be laughed at. She's so afraid to get close to anyone and so she does things so that people won't want to be around her. She's become much more comfortable alone, sometimes if feels easier that way.
I didn't like the two aunts but I think they were portrayed realistically as they were stuck in their ways with their own views and were very intolerant of anyone behaving in ways that didn't fit into their box. We do see a brief glimpse of one of the aunts excitement at giving Maggie a gift which Maggie doesn't want and things may have gone differently if Maggie had accepted this gift.
I really enjoyed the ending although it was bittersweet and haunting.
A beautifully written story that I will continue to enjoy re-reading.

This book was reviewed on the Literary Club Podcast episode 66
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1984185 show less

I first read this as a child and I've read it many times since then. I just finished re-reading it and actually stayed up until the wee hours of the morning because I couldn't put it down even though I already knew the ending!
I think this book is so well written. It's the kind of book that stays with you long after you've finished it. I really like the way it is written with small glimpses into the present in between the different parts. I think because it is written in this way what could have been a really depressing book is quite hopeful. We see in the first couple of pages that Maggie is living with a family who she has grown to love and she's started to call them mom and dad and her sisters. This gives us hope as we read about her show more difficult life knowing that she has found a place to belong.
I think the author did a wonderful job of showing Maggie's insecurities and vulnerabilities and helping us understand why she does the things she does.
There are still some really sad parts in this book that just break my heart. When she finally has something to share with her class and she comes out of her shell to excitedly share only to be laughed at. She's so afraid to get close to anyone and so she does things so that people won't want to be around her. She's become much more comfortable alone, sometimes if feels easier that way.
I didn't like the two aunts but I think they were portrayed realistically as they were stuck in their ways with their own views and were very intolerant of anyone behaving in ways that didn't fit into their box. We do see a brief glimpse of one of the aunts excitement at giving Maggie a gift which Maggie doesn't want and things may have gone differently if Maggie had accepted this gift.
I really enjoyed the ending although it was bittersweet and haunting.
A beautifully written story that I will continue to enjoy re-reading.

This book was reviewed on the Literary Club Podcast episode 66
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1984185 show less

Read as a kid and recall only confused feelings about it. Decades later: Yeah. It's the kind of claustrophobic slooow plot with anticlimactic pseudo-resolution that I didn't feel comfortable with then and don't enjoy much more now. Much of it feels, like the uncle's humour, like it's trying too hard.

(It was really hard to figure out his deal. At first I figured totally unfamiliar with kids and trying too hard to be quirky. Then somewhat browbeaten by, somewhat rebellious of, the great-aunts. Charitably I could see him not realising how desperately she needed kindness. Then... idk, under some kind of geas to never mention the dolls? Maybe talking about them is as dangerous as letting the wrong people in to see them? It's the only show more possible explanation!)

What's most creepy to me now is how badly Maggie's clearly been treated, to be acting out as she does, and turning all the scolding she receives onto the Backwoods Girls, and how desperate she is for the uncle to say something simply nice to her. That she can have a healthy relationship with her two adoptive sisters in the book's future can only be attributed to her having experienced those morsels of friendship from the dolls.

So much is ambiguous that it's really hard to tell if there's a lot below the surface, or just a lot that the author didn't care about while contriving the situation/outcome she wanted. show less

When orphaned Maggie is kicked out of yet another school, she is shipped off to live with her two old, stern aunts. In a hidden room, she discovers a pair of dirty old dolls and their dogs. To her surprise, these dolls can talk and walk about the room. Over time, she slowly develops a relationship with them and finds that in caring for them, she improves herself. This odd little book was one of my absolute favorites as a child. I read it so much, the paperback cover is nearly worn off. I re-read it a few years ago and it still held up -- it's just as I remember it in character, plot, and its very own brand of enchantment.

This is a melancholy little ghost story that never pulls its punches.

I'd gotten this as a gift around the time it originally came out. I will always be grateful for this, because it's not a book I would have sought out for myself. The friend who gave it to me died young - which added a poignant element to seeking it out all these years later. Rereading it as an adult was an absolute pleasure. I think that a few elements in some recurring dreams (creepy ones) probably had their start in this book. Relatively slow burn. Opportunities for interpretation.

Looks like most Library Thing reviewers liked this book, as did most critics. It won several notable awards and citations. But it all fell flat for me.
Behind the Attic Wall introduces an unlikable orphaned girl who is sent to live with two equally unlikable aunts. She has a highly entertaining and eccentric uncle who shows up occasionally, like a breath of fresh air, as he is the only character in the book who is actually likable.
Once in the monstrous home of the aunts, which is a former boarding school, Maggie begins to hear voices, eventually finding her way to an attic room where she engages in conversations with two antique dolls who have been forgotten up there. For most of the book, is somewhat ambiguous whether the dolls are show more actually alive, or if we are merely witnessing the active imagination of a lonely child. (This is clarified on the last few pages.) But I found the repetitive scenes with Maggie's imaginary friends "the Blackwood girls" boring and irritating. This obnoxious child is even rude to her imaginary friends! Maggie doesn't seem to learn anything through the course of the book. She's as loathsome at the end as she was at the beginning. Some will argue with me that going through the childhood Maggie went through, no wonder she behaves as she does. And that is a fair argument. But it doesn't make spending time with a child like that a pleasant experience. show less

This story was fun and touching from the start. I knew some of what was coming and for a while enjoyed the fantasy angle less than the realistic part. But I ended up liking it all and have much appreciation for how it ended up for all of the characters. I was both delighted and frustrated by the ending. A part of me wanted more but mostly I loved its open-endedness. I’ve decided on my own how it ended up in the long run for the main character. Maggie is a memorable character and I believe very genuinely and effectively believable. Ditto Morris and most of the others, even minor characters such as Barbara. This is a book I’d love to discuss in private with others who’ve read it. Had I read it at age 9 or 10 I’m certain it would show more have been one of my favorite books at the time. In some way it feels like a classic but I was already an adult when it was published. Big spoiler not to be read if you think you might read the book but haven’t yet: I was so glad that Maggie didn’t end up staying with Harriet and Lillian.

Thanks to Goodreads friend Hilary for alerting me to it and encouraging me to read it. show less