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3.41 AVERAGE
3.41 AVERAGE
I used to be a big Konigsburg fan. Mixed-Up Files was one of my favorite books as a kid, and as an adult, I whipped through the rest of her oeuvre, straight up to [b:The View From Saturday|4538|The View from Saturday|E.L. Konigsburg|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165445984s/4538.jpg|4242], which I loved. I even went so far as to ILL the long-out-of-print George, back in the days before inter-library loans became commonplace.
That said: she's really gone downhill lately. Her books are now ostensibly written for children, but they feel more like adult books that feature kids. Or rather, adults who are only 10-14 years old. Every child in her books has that kind of quiet, emotionally-brilliant maturity that takes away from the "child" element. This book is no exception, and it reads more like a short, mediocre adult book than children's.
Related: everywhere I turn lately I'm getting Holocaust stories. The Book Thief and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas I was prepared for, but the denouement of this title involving the convenient shared history of two otherwise-unrelated characters' husbands, one a Nazi and one a gay art dealer, was a little much. And one of the daily comics I read has been doing a series with an elderly neighbor recounting his memories of Krystallnacht. Weird.
That said: she's really gone downhill lately. Her books are now ostensibly written for children, but they feel more like adult books that feature kids. Or rather, adults who are only 10-14 years old. Every child in her books has that kind of quiet, emotionally-brilliant maturity that takes away from the "child" element. This book is no exception, and it reads more like a short, mediocre adult book than children's.
Related: everywhere I turn lately I'm getting Holocaust stories. The Book Thief and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas I was prepared for, but the denouement of this title involving the convenient shared history of two otherwise-unrelated characters' husbands, one a Nazi and one a gay art dealer, was a little much. And one of the daily comics I read has been doing a series with an elderly neighbor recounting his memories of Krystallnacht. Weird.
Similar themes to The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, just not executed as well.
An entertaining read from Konigsburg. Vivid characters. Smart prose.
Konigsburg really knows how to write. She writes with such subtlety about characters- showing rather than telling and leaving a lot up to her readers to interpret. While this does not have a classic story such as From the Mixed Up Files, it is still a wonderful book and head and shoulders above much of what is written today for middle readers. She never goes for the easy jokes but gives complex characters that are not quirky just for her material’s sake but somehow more truly integrated. It is the story of a boy who wants to discover something that has been lost and restore it to the world and the friendship he develops with an estate liquidator’s son, who has done just that. They become embroiled in the life of a retired opera singer whose story and those of her family goes back to the pre-World War II Modern Art arena. It gives wonderful insight to those that lived through that time in Austria and Europe and would be a nice addition to the genre of middle school books that deal with the Holocaust as it focuses on a different aspect of it and Hitler’s regime- “degenerate” (e.g. modern) art. I liked this book a lot and probably because Konigsburg has done so many good books for so very long this will not be seen as exceptional- but I think it is so. I actually think that due to her writing excellence this is one that will appeal to adults who can appreciate her expertise, as well as grades 5-8 readers. It is not an adventure, although it is a mystery, and will interest the readers that like a quieter less swashbuckling story. Highly recommended. One negative- author overdid the self congratulatory bits that defined one of the secondary characters, but this was a minor flaw.
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler used to be my favorite E.L. Konigsburg, but this blows it out of the running. Loved the layers of this book. It was deep and profound and real. it also brought to light less talked about aspects of the Nazi regime, while also touching on our vast capacity for choosing comfort over virtue. Worth reading.
This book would go on my stairs.
This book would go on my stairs.
It really bothers me how many people are downgrading this amazing book one, two, three stars because of "kid appeal." As a "kid," I can tell you that is one hundred percent bullshit, excuse my language. Take [b:Hugo Cabret|9673436|The Invention of Hugo Cabret|Brian Selznick|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327879761s/9673436.jpg|527941]. This book was about the history of filmmaking in France.
So growing up, Konigsburg's The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler was one of my favorite books. As an adult, I discovered her book The View from Saturday and loved that one, too - a lot. But for me, The Mysterious Edge just didn't work the way her other two books did. The plot is disjointed and strange, the characters inconsistent and unrealistic, and the entire premise centers around a lot of coincidences.
I really wanted to like this book - two kids becoming friends while helping an elderly lady clean out her house that's full of interesting stuff - doesn't that sound like fun?? But the old lady, Mrs. Zender, is really weird, and so are both of the boys - and not in the realistic, quirky way of some of Konigsburg's characters in Saturday - just weird, weird: the kind of weird that leaves you scratching your head in puzzlement.
A lot of the story centers around a picture that one of the boys finds, a drawing of a naked woman. Now we're informed that this is art, so this is a "nude" which is different from just someone being naked. But... it still felt really inappropriate for the age of the characters and the intended readers, and, once again, was just kind of weird. Like why does the picture have to be of a naked person??
There are almost some good discussions about how people perceive us and how we perceive ourselves, about people who are rich and people who aren't, about whether or not a government should be able to decide what is or isn't art. But none of those conversations really go anywhere, so the whole book feels awkward and stunted.
All in all, this book felt like it needed a solid editing so that the edges of the stories actually matched up. Instead, the whole thing felt ragged, odd, and directionless. Not a book I recommend or ever see myself rereading.
I really wanted to like this book - two kids becoming friends while helping an elderly lady clean out her house that's full of interesting stuff - doesn't that sound like fun?? But the old lady, Mrs. Zender, is really weird, and so are both of the boys - and not in the realistic, quirky way of some of Konigsburg's characters in Saturday - just weird, weird: the kind of weird that leaves you scratching your head in puzzlement.
A lot of the story centers around a picture that one of the boys finds, a drawing of a naked woman. Now we're informed that this is art, so this is a "nude" which is different from just someone being naked. But... it still felt really inappropriate for the age of the characters and the intended readers, and, once again, was just kind of weird. Like why does the picture have to be of a naked person??
There are almost some good discussions about how people perceive us and how we perceive ourselves, about people who are rich and people who aren't, about whether or not a government should be able to decide what is or isn't art. But none of those conversations really go anywhere, so the whole book feels awkward and stunted.
All in all, this book felt like it needed a solid editing so that the edges of the stories actually matched up. Instead, the whole thing felt ragged, odd, and directionless. Not a book I recommend or ever see myself rereading.
Amadeo Kaplan has just moved to St. Malo, Florida with his mother, a corporate father. His father is an artist in New York City, where Amadeo used to live. Amadeo has always wanted to discover something and when he finds that a schoolmate, William Wilcox, is working with his mother to clear the estate of the eccentric elderly woman next door, he asks to participate. As Amadeo assists in clearing out the collected effects of a lifetime, he also connects with both Mrs. Zender, the elderly woman, and William in ways he didn't anticipate. The story reaches back to occupied Netherlands in the second World War, and from Florida up to Wisconsin.
How is it that schools don't use this book to demonstrate what life under occupation by Hitler's Nazis was like? Its powerful message sneaks up on you. My only guess is that in addition to Jews, homosexuals are characters we grow to love and sadly that's not acceptable in most public schools.
William and Amadeo are helping to prepare for the estate sale of a former opera singer, Mrs. Zender, as she is forced to move into a retirement community. Her household of belongings recalls tales which she tells the boys as they work. Ultimately, her life and those of the boys interweave in unexpected ways. You see into the worlds of opera, art, life under Nazi occupation, rural northern Florida, antiques dealing, and many others. A fascinating book with so many layers it definitely deserves several read-throughs.
Do yourself a favor and listen to the audiobook of this one: Edward Herrmann's narration adds so much to the story as he morphs his voice to become each character. Amazing!
William and Amadeo are helping to prepare for the estate sale of a former opera singer, Mrs. Zender, as she is forced to move into a retirement community. Her household of belongings recalls tales which she tells the boys as they work. Ultimately, her life and those of the boys interweave in unexpected ways. You see into the worlds of opera, art, life under Nazi occupation, rural northern Florida, antiques dealing, and many others. A fascinating book with so many layers it definitely deserves several read-throughs.
Do yourself a favor and listen to the audiobook of this one: Edward Herrmann's narration adds so much to the story as he morphs his voice to become each character. Amazing!