Scan barcode
blairconrad's review
4.0
A cute Young Person's ghost story. Older readers will probably anticipate the direction the plot takes, but it's still entertaining enough. I really liked the take that Oliver took on ghosts, their development, and how their world relates to ours.
The younger characters had good levels of believability and sympathy, whereas the older characters were (as is often the case in Young Person's literature) somewhat cartoonish.
I'd recommend the book if only for the names - Liesl, Po, Bundle, Mo, Augusta… a delight to read.
The younger characters had good levels of believability and sympathy, whereas the older characters were (as is often the case in Young Person's literature) somewhat cartoonish.
I'd recommend the book if only for the names - Liesl, Po, Bundle, Mo, Augusta… a delight to read.
krish_'s review
5.0
I must surrender my breath as it is threatening to choke me with all that this book put me through. Lauren Oliver's Liesl and Po is a beautiful, painfully moving declaration of love, loss, yearning, despair and discovery.
It is about a sad and lonely but hopeful and pretty little girl called Liesl who, with the help of her ghost friends boy-or-girl-but-most-likely-boy, Po and cat-or-dog-but-most-likely-dog, Bundle and young-but-poor-and-recently-homeless-former-apprentice, Will, sets out to lay her dearly departed father's dust in peaceful rest at the "pond by the willow tree". There's a lot going on in this book. Its so heart-wrenching - and I don't like using that expression because it is so overused but this book is...There's so much wanting and wishing; some grand, some mischievous and some devastatingly simple. What struck me most was how knowing Oliver is of the human heart and all of its nooks and crannies. Not that its hard to understand ourselves (although it is), but her intent is so clear that it is because I know exactly what the characters want and need that my own heart broke. Liesl wishing her father back, Po finding again what it is like to feel and remember, Will looking for someone, anyone, to think more of him than useless...Mo, ever grieving his long lost sister; the alchemist, hungering for his long overdue glory; the Lady Premiere denying her shameful past...so much running from and racing to, all desperate, lost and determined in their own way.
The writing is exquisite. Oliver's language is soft and poetically abstract. She compels us to live in her world where time and space are both infinite and palpable; where one dies and dissolves back into the universe and becomes part once again of stars and space dust; where one has an Essence, within which one can hold another...a world so vague in its rules and regulations but so lovingly written that we know almost exactly what she's talking about...know what I mean? Like how someone rambles on, trying to describe something and failing at words but it doesn't really matter because you understand completely before they even get there. Reading Delirium, I knew Oliver was a good writer, but Liesl and Po has nearly no faults. There is one particular scene where she opens up a pocket of possibility, narrative but then emotional, and with a single blow dashes it to pieces before your very eyes. No, not dashes, because there's no mess, it leaves no fragments. She simply wills it gone and with it my breath.
The plot is a tangle of journeys; different intentions, good and bad, urging the pages on. There are several story lines playing simultaneously but it is impressively and neatly synchronized. The navigation throughout the interweaving narratives is seamless. We never seem to forget where characters leave off; each resume effortlessly. The book moves like a movie (only in that it is so visual and even) -- which is fitting as the book begins with really cool, movie-like credits. Let me gush about the illustration, just for a moment...they were beautiful! Gorgeous! Who's ever idea it was to open the way this book opens seriously deserves a raise. It isn't exactly brilliant (we should try not to throw that word around so carelessly), but it was very nice, and it certainly put a smile on my face. Its incredible how much disdain and malice an artist can infuse in the slight tilt of a woman's head, or how the smooth flow of a young girl's hair around her ear and down her shoulder can make her so real and endearing...
I'm going to buy a copy of this book. This is one I know I'll be revisiting in the future. Its an easy read; it goes so fast you hardly believe where all the pages have gone. But it really does reach out and hit you in the heart (wink, wink). Liesl and Po is a triumph...well done, Oliver. Well done, indeed. You say this story was your confession...here is your absolution.
Also, Mwark. Is that not the best invented animal sound you've ever come across?
---
Excerpts:
It is about a sad and lonely but hopeful and pretty little girl called Liesl who, with the help of her ghost friends boy-or-girl-but-most-likely-boy, Po and cat-or-dog-but-most-likely-dog, Bundle and young-but-poor-and-recently-homeless-former-apprentice, Will, sets out to lay her dearly departed father's dust in peaceful rest at the "pond by the willow tree". There's a lot going on in this book. Its so heart-wrenching - and I don't like using that expression because it is so overused but this book is...There's so much wanting and wishing; some grand, some mischievous and some devastatingly simple. What struck me most was how knowing Oliver is of the human heart and all of its nooks and crannies. Not that its hard to understand ourselves (although it is), but her intent is so clear that it is because I know exactly what the characters want and need that my own heart broke. Liesl wishing her father back, Po finding again what it is like to feel and remember, Will looking for someone, anyone, to think more of him than useless...Mo, ever grieving his long lost sister; the alchemist, hungering for his long overdue glory; the Lady Premiere denying her shameful past...so much running from and racing to, all desperate, lost and determined in their own way.
The writing is exquisite. Oliver's language is soft and poetically abstract. She compels us to live in her world where time and space are both infinite and palpable; where one dies and dissolves back into the universe and becomes part once again of stars and space dust; where one has an Essence, within which one can hold another...a world so vague in its rules and regulations but so lovingly written that we know almost exactly what she's talking about...know what I mean? Like how someone rambles on, trying to describe something and failing at words but it doesn't really matter because you understand completely before they even get there. Reading Delirium, I knew Oliver was a good writer, but Liesl and Po has nearly no faults. There is one particular scene where she opens up a pocket of possibility, narrative but then emotional, and with a single blow dashes it to pieces before your very eyes. No, not dashes, because there's no mess, it leaves no fragments. She simply wills it gone and with it my breath.
Spoiler
Its the scene when Po and Bundle, for just a sliver of a second, become real...and I thought...oh, but I didn't even have time to hope --The plot is a tangle of journeys; different intentions, good and bad, urging the pages on. There are several story lines playing simultaneously but it is impressively and neatly synchronized. The navigation throughout the interweaving narratives is seamless. We never seem to forget where characters leave off; each resume effortlessly. The book moves like a movie (only in that it is so visual and even) -- which is fitting as the book begins with really cool, movie-like credits. Let me gush about the illustration, just for a moment...they were beautiful! Gorgeous! Who's ever idea it was to open the way this book opens seriously deserves a raise. It isn't exactly brilliant (we should try not to throw that word around so carelessly), but it was very nice, and it certainly put a smile on my face. Its incredible how much disdain and malice an artist can infuse in the slight tilt of a woman's head, or how the smooth flow of a young girl's hair around her ear and down her shoulder can make her so real and endearing...
I'm going to buy a copy of this book. This is one I know I'll be revisiting in the future. Its an easy read; it goes so fast you hardly believe where all the pages have gone. But it really does reach out and hit you in the heart (wink, wink). Liesl and Po is a triumph...well done, Oliver. Well done, indeed. You say this story was your confession...here is your absolution.
Also, Mwark. Is that not the best invented animal sound you've ever come across?
---
Excerpts:
Coincidences; mix-ups; harmless mistakes and switches.
And so a story is born.
-
It was snowing, and late, and already getting dark, and as Will passed by Kevin Donnell's house, he had seen a door flung open. He had seen light and warmth and the big, comforting silhouette of a woman inside of it. He had smelled meat and soap and heard a soft trilling voice saying, Come inside, you must be freezing....And the pain had been so sharp and deep inside of him for a second that he had looked around, thinking he must have walked straight into the point of a knife.
Looking at the girl in the attic window was like looking into Kevin Donnell's house, but without the pain.
-
Po had never seen a ghost cry before. There were no actual tears: just quivering little dark spots, like shadows that pushed apart the atoms of Liesl's father's face, temporarily revealing the starry sky beyond. Ghosts, even the newest ones, just weren't held together very tightly.
postitsandpens's review
3.0
I liked this one, but it ultimately wasn't really anything special, although the narrator - Jim Dale - helped a lot with my enjoyment. Not sure I'd have felt the same if I'd read the book instead of listened to it.
Full review to come at some point.
Full review to come at some point.
reading_rachel's review
2.0
I wanted to like this book; I really did, but I just couldn't. It was a cute enough story, but I just didn't feel a real connection with the characters, especially not when there are such great books out there like The Graveyard Book that run on similar themes. I'm glad that writing this book could serve as a catharsis to Lauren Oliver in a time of great struggle and sadness, but I just felt it was lacking.
princeeskeleton's review
3.0
* A 3.5 star review
I've been debating about the rating of this book for an hour now basically and decided just to meet in the middle of a 3 star rating and a 4 star rating. I really wanted this book to be at least 4 stars, and i'm pretty sure at points in the book I was like "Hell yeah!!! 4 STARS!!!" But ultimately, this book left me wanting something more.
I love middle grade books. I really really do. I find them, most of the time, be a lot stronger than any YA or adult books i've ever read, especially when it comes to fantasy. Middle grade books always seem to tap into the inner child in me, and leave me in such fascination, wonder, inspiration, and love (ex. Harry Potter of course). Liesl & Po, though just didn't do all that much for me in that department.
Although at times I did feel hopelessly in love with this story, but I also felt it lacked something to me to hold on to. I felt that it was kind of just ok I guess.
Basically the book is about a mix up of two very important items, also it includes some ghost, some magic, and some vindictive characters out for whatever they can get. Although I did find the plot interesting, I found that the ending was anti-climatic in a sense. I felt that there were to many ends left open which I didn't really like, and I felt that the main characters were pretty flatly written. There weren't really any hidden meanings in the book or important lessons. The story just kind of unfolded and that was that. I just felt that there could have been more done all around in this book.
Although those are some negative things I did enjoy this book. I found it highly entertaining, and I found the plot, magic, and ghost all very interesting aspects of the story that made it really favorable to me. I loved how dark and grotesque the book got at points, and I really love dark middle grade stories so that had me very happy and very intrigued. The illustrations sprinkled throughout the book were lovely and effective, and fit perfectly with the tempo of the story. Plus the writing was downright beautiful.
However for me it just didn't stand out all that much between other children's books i've read. I do want to reread this story one day and give it another try though. Maybe I didn't find this story as great because I'm in the middle of finals right now, and was a bit preoccupied with other things. Either way I do recommend this book to those that like middle grade books and want something fast, fun, and highly entertaining to read.
I've been debating about the rating of this book for an hour now basically and decided just to meet in the middle of a 3 star rating and a 4 star rating. I really wanted this book to be at least 4 stars, and i'm pretty sure at points in the book I was like "Hell yeah!!! 4 STARS!!!" But ultimately, this book left me wanting something more.
I love middle grade books. I really really do. I find them, most of the time, be a lot stronger than any YA or adult books i've ever read, especially when it comes to fantasy. Middle grade books always seem to tap into the inner child in me, and leave me in such fascination, wonder, inspiration, and love (ex. Harry Potter of course). Liesl & Po, though just didn't do all that much for me in that department.
Although at times I did feel hopelessly in love with this story, but I also felt it lacked something to me to hold on to. I felt that it was kind of just ok I guess.
Basically the book is about a mix up of two very important items, also it includes some ghost, some magic, and some vindictive characters out for whatever they can get. Although I did find the plot interesting, I found that the ending was anti-climatic in a sense. I felt that there were to many ends left open which I didn't really like, and I felt that the main characters were pretty flatly written. There weren't really any hidden meanings in the book or important lessons. The story just kind of unfolded and that was that. I just felt that there could have been more done all around in this book.
Although those are some negative things I did enjoy this book. I found it highly entertaining, and I found the plot, magic, and ghost all very interesting aspects of the story that made it really favorable to me. I loved how dark and grotesque the book got at points, and I really love dark middle grade stories so that had me very happy and very intrigued. The illustrations sprinkled throughout the book were lovely and effective, and fit perfectly with the tempo of the story. Plus the writing was downright beautiful.
However for me it just didn't stand out all that much between other children's books i've read. I do want to reread this story one day and give it another try though. Maybe I didn't find this story as great because I'm in the middle of finals right now, and was a bit preoccupied with other things. Either way I do recommend this book to those that like middle grade books and want something fast, fun, and highly entertaining to read.
cleah's review
5.0
Liesl has been locked in the attic for many months now, ever since her father passed away and she fell into the care of her heartless stepmother. It is a quiet and lonely existence, so when a ghost named Po shows up one day, she welcomes the company. Across town, a young boy named Will routinely carries out errands for his employer, an Alchemist with his sights on creating the most powerful magic in all the land. When Will makes a terrible mistake during a delivery one night, the consequences set he and Liesl off on separate paths away from their jailers. And yet before they know it, their journeys come together for a common purpose.
What fun! The characters of Liesl, Po, Will, and the Guard with Lefty were all so endearing and sweet. The action started right from the start and didn't let up until the very end. There is a lot of sadness in this book, with Liesl and Will living fairly hard and miserable lives, but I still think many readers will be able to identify with the sense of longing and adventure. The villains were simple in their motivations, wanting to destroy the children for their own fame and riches. Oliver has a beautiful, lyrical, story-telling style or writing that would lend itself well to being read out loud. And the end scene is completely worth the trouble for these poor kids (and ghosts)! This is the third book by Lauren Oliver and her first for middle grade readers. If I wasn't already a huge fan of her before, I certainly am now!
What fun! The characters of Liesl, Po, Will, and the Guard with Lefty were all so endearing and sweet. The action started right from the start and didn't let up until the very end. There is a lot of sadness in this book, with Liesl and Will living fairly hard and miserable lives, but I still think many readers will be able to identify with the sense of longing and adventure. The villains were simple in their motivations, wanting to destroy the children for their own fame and riches. Oliver has a beautiful, lyrical, story-telling style or writing that would lend itself well to being read out loud. And the end scene is completely worth the trouble for these poor kids (and ghosts)! This is the third book by Lauren Oliver and her first for middle grade readers. If I wasn't already a huge fan of her before, I certainly am now!