I have to admit that I bought The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas without knowing anything about it. I had heard the title and the book is pretty with its black edges and, well, it was cheap at Half Price Books. So, when I thought that it would be a good RIP read, I really didn't know for sure but I was hoping for a perilous read. As I started reading it, I also began second-guessing my choice -- that is, until it became more perilous than one could ever imagine.
I don't want to give too much away about the plot so I'll just say that it's about a Victorian book that has the ability to fuel a very dangerous obsession. There's a lot of philosophy in it and sometimes I felt like it was a little too weird but, by the end, I was impressed with the direction that Thomas took. I'm definitely going to look for more of her books because of the unique ideas in this one.
At our Scholastic book fair last year, I picked up a copy of Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin and Lisa Brown. I thought this story had its ups and downs. It's a Civil War era story with ghosts and spirit photographs and love and betrayal. The story was a overly dramatic in parts but nicely historical in others. I think this is one case where I might be too old for the book. If I had read it as an eleven or twelve year old, I probably would have loved it.
Traveling from one end to another,
K
I thought The End of Mr. Y ended up a bit too weird as well -- particularly all the very weird sex-negative stuff? Am I remembering that wrong? But most of the book I thought was brilliantly imaginative and absorbing.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, you're remembering it correctly. The shocking thing to me was that the used book I bought had a girl's name written inside with her ELEMENTARY school name under it. I would really love to know if she got through it and, if she did, if her parents and/or teacher had any idea what the book was about. There were a couple of post-its inside too implying that she wrote some sort of book report on it.
DeleteI couldn't really get into Picture the Dead. A bummer since I received an ARC forever ago. I'm glad I'm not alone though!
ReplyDeleteYeah, it was pretty meh. I guess that it just seemed a bit simple and clichéd compared to some of the other historical sensational fiction I read.
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