A House Called Awful End

Wie kommt man nur auf solche Ideen :-) ????
117 Seiten völliger Nonsense, Wortspielereien, Klamauk auf hohem Niveau und dazu noch die genialen Zeichnungen von David Roberts - man bekommt die Mundwinkel gar nicht mehr nach unten. Doch Achtung! Leserinnen und Leser, die ein Mindestmaß an Sinn in einer Geschichte brauchen um diese genießen zu können, sollten die Finger davon lassen. Hier zählt nichts außer der Freude am Erzählen - und zwar völlig sinnfrei.
Die Geschichte ist schnell wiedergegeben: Edmund, genannt Eddie oder Jonathan oder auch Simon, je nachdem ob seiner Mutter gerade sein Name oder Kosename nicht einfällt, muss eine Zeitlang zu seinem Großonkel, dem Wahnsinnigen Jack, da seine Eltern an einer abscheulichen, sehr show more ansteckenden Krankheit leiden, von der man gelb und an den Rändern (welchen???) etwas wellig wird sowie nach alten Wärmflaschen riecht. Auf der Reise nach 'Schlimmes Ende', dem Haus seines Großonkels, zusammen mit dem 'Wahnsinnigen Jack', der 'Wahnsinnigen Maud' (seiner Großtante) und dem ausgestopften Wiesel das Sally bzw. Malcolm, aber vielleicht auch Cornelius oder Edna heißt, begegnet er merkwürdigen Gestalten und landet unter obskuren Umständen im Waisenhaus 'Sankt-Fürchterlich-Heim für dankbare Waisen' bei der schrecklichen Frau Direktor Grausam-Unsäglich.
Ardagh liebt es, überall noch weitere kleine Geschichten einzubauen, die eine skurriler als die andere (wie sich beispielsweise der Theaterdirektor auf seine Rolle als Lachs in dem Stück 'Wir kleinen Fische' vorbereitete. Er verbrachte einen ganzen Monat in der Badewanne und ernährte sich ausschließlich von Wattwürmern und Ameiseneiern.). Dazu die in jeder Hinsicht spitzen Zeichnungen von David Robert: Figuren mit den spitzesten Nasen die man sich vorstellen kann, spitzen Fingern, spitzen Beinen, Ellbogen, Schulten, Füße - es ist eine wahre Freude sich beim Durchlesen diese herrlichen Bilder anzuschauen.
Harry Rowohlt hat hier sicherlich eine erstklassige Übersetzung geliefert (ich kenne das Original nicht). Wie kommt man nur auf Wörter wie 'Augenbrauenaufrauer' oder 'berühmtergeneralsförmiger Eiswürfel'? Sowas findet doch man nicht im Wäörterbuch - oder doch :-) ?
Also: Unbedingt Lesen!! show less

Zany is the word that kept leaping to mind as I read this book! The story begins with Eddie Dickens, a young boy in England circa 1860 who must leave his parents due to their unnamed but awful disease (that makes them turn yellow, and go crinkly around the edges) and go to live with his Great Mad Uncle Jack and Great Mad Aunt Maud. Although the trip is only 12 miles to his Aunt and Uncle's house called Awful End it is 12 miles filled with mad-cap adventure.

What I loved about this story was the way in which it was told. Ardaugh tells it in a manner which makes the reader feel he is listening to a story made up on the spot, all of the details spontaneous and unexpected, making it all the more hilarious.

Ripping good fun!

Some of my favorite books have been those ostensibly written for children. This charming little story reminds me of some of my favorites. The prose style is reminiscent of A.A. Milne (Winnie the Pooh...) and the characters remind me of those by Roald Dahl (James and the Giant Peach / Matilda / Charlie and the Chocolate Factory...) with a little Charles Dickens thrown into the names and the settings. If you think I mean that as high praise, you’re right.
The story is set in a fictional and sillier-than-real Victorian England where twelve-year-old Eddie Dickens, a little gentleman, is being sent off to live with his Mad Great Uncle Jack and even Madder Great Aunt Maud so that he will not catch the terrible disease his parents have show more contracted, which makes them yellow and crinkly around the edges, and although this is a very long sentence and possibly difficult to grasp all at once, it should also give you some idea of the flavor of this book, which I thoroughly enjoyed. And that’s all I think I’ll say about the book because it’s short, so the review should be as well.
I’d like to thank my Twitter friend Rowan for recommending this. I enjoyed it and I, too, recommend it. show less

Some of my favorite books have been those ostensibly written for children. This charming little story reminds me of some of my favorites. The prose style is reminiscent of A.A. Milne (Winnie the Pooh...) and the characters remind me of those by Roald Dahl (James and the Giant Peach / Matilda / Charlie and the Chocolate Factory...) with a little Charles Dickens thrown into the names and the settings. If you think I mean that as high praise, you’re right.
The story is set in a fictional and sillier-than-real Victorian England where twelve-year-old Eddie Dickens, a little gentleman, is being sent off to live with his Mad Great Uncle Jack and even Madder Great Aunt Maud so that he will not catch the terrible disease his parents have show more contracted, which makes them yellow and crinkly around the edges, and although this is a very long sentence and possibly difficult to grasp all at once, it should also give you some idea of the flavor of this book, which I thoroughly enjoyed. And that’s all I think I’ll say about the book because it’s short, so the review should be as well.
I’d like to thank my Twitter friend Rowan for recommending this. I enjoyed it and I, too, recommend it. show less

I'd say that this book is like a Series of Unfortunate Events with less misery for younger readers. Although it is definitely aimed at children, it is still have a good time at any age! I bought this book on a whim years ago and I've been entertained every time. I love Ardagh's sense of humour (which I'd say is similar to Snicket's although leaning more towards the ridiculous!) A quick fun read

Eddie Dickens is a regular boy who has the misfortune of being in a very irregular family. His parents are very sick with a strange illness that makes them smell like old water bottles and has made them go all yellow and crinkly around the edges. They can no longer take care of him so they send him to live with his mad Aunt and Uncle.

On the way to their house Awful End, Eddie meets a stuffed stoat, traveling actors, a police officer, and a whole lot of orphans. This book is odd and very silly.

My nine year old gave this four stars but I think that was mostly be abuse she insisted I read all the voices it in a British accent. Since my British accent is so bad as to not be recognizable, I think she just enjoyed laughing at me and my silly voice.

I think this book tried too hard to be like A Series of unfortunate Events. It was silly with weird characters but they mostly were all weird in the same way. There were some funny plays on words but they went right over my daughter's head. I think middle readers are the target of the story but there were gobs of words that age group would not be expected to know. I really felt that she really didn't know what was going on half the time.

Everything in the story was ridiculous to the show more utmost. In Lemony Snicket's books there are good people who try to help but are just ineffectual. There are evil people and there are non-brainy people and many of these are strange. But they very rarely are completely ridiculous. Here the characters are all inane and absurd and nothing makes any sense.

Some of the author's asides to the audience are funny and some are trying too hard. Many are confusing and if you didn't even already know the subject, difficult to know which stories were based on truth and which were complete fabrication.

So I'm going to give this three stars since apparently my kid enjoyed it. We'll see how much if she still wants me to read her the sequel next time we talk about it. show less