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mat_tobin's review against another edition
4.0
Ping returns to Green Knowe in what was to be the fourth installment. I am fascinated in Boston's attraction to this character since, at this point, he is 'as' present at Tolly. I wonder whether this is Boston's 'Children of Green Knowe' for Ping.
The first part of the story takes us far away from Green Knowe into the 'jungles of Africa' in which we follow a young gorilla as he is horrifically torn from his home and family and shipped to the UK. Skip forward in time and we find Ping's visit to a zoo brings him face to face with a huge gorilla: Hanno who has been kept in captivity for most of his life.
Here then are two 'displaced' characters who find an attachment through the very fact that they have a connection in their disconnection from a sense of home until they both arrive at Green Knowe. When he escapes the zoo, Hanno finds sanctuary in its landscape and so does Ping. There is some clever work here going on by Boston with regards to identity and a sense of place and past - I can see how and why it won the Carnegie back in 1961.
The first part of the story takes us far away from Green Knowe into the 'jungles of Africa' in which we follow a young gorilla as he is horrifically torn from his home and family and shipped to the UK. Skip forward in time and we find Ping's visit to a zoo brings him face to face with a huge gorilla: Hanno who has been kept in captivity for most of his life.
Here then are two 'displaced' characters who find an attachment through the very fact that they have a connection in their disconnection from a sense of home until they both arrive at Green Knowe. When he escapes the zoo, Hanno finds sanctuary in its landscape and so does Ping. There is some clever work here going on by Boston with regards to identity and a sense of place and past - I can see how and why it won the Carnegie back in 1961.
ehparrish's review
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Animal cruelty, Racism, and Abandonment
pinksonia's review against another edition
3.0
I read this book for a Young Adult Book challenge. The task was to read two books that won award each from a different country's list. Stranger at Green Knowe won the Carnegie Medal.
I ended up liking this book more than I thought I would after reading the first twenty pages or so. I wasn't fond of the section told from the point of view of the Gorilla. Perhaps I'm too literal, but I'm not a huge fan of the anthropomorphizing of animal thought as narration.
Once Ping became the primary narrator I enjoyed the story much more. It's a fairly general boy and his animal story with the addition that the animal is not really the boys. On top of that primary story, there is the orphan looking for - and finding - a place to belong. Neither story is terribly ground breaking but the characters are fun enough to keep at least my interest.
I would not be adverse to reading the other Green Knowe Chronicles which I understand are more fantasy based (or possibly magic realism is a better term) than this one.
I ended up liking this book more than I thought I would after reading the first twenty pages or so. I wasn't fond of the section told from the point of view of the Gorilla. Perhaps I'm too literal, but I'm not a huge fan of the anthropomorphizing of animal thought as narration.
Once Ping became the primary narrator I enjoyed the story much more. It's a fairly general boy and his animal story with the addition that the animal is not really the boys. On top of that primary story, there is the orphan looking for - and finding - a place to belong. Neither story is terribly ground breaking but the characters are fun enough to keep at least my interest.
I would not be adverse to reading the other Green Knowe Chronicles which I understand are more fantasy based (or possibly magic realism is a better term) than this one.
kailey_luminouslibro's review against another edition
3.0
In this story, a gorilla escapes from the zoo and hides in the thicket behind Green Knowe, where Ping befriends and hides him.
This is not my favorite of the Green Knowe books, because I'm very "meh" about monkey stories, especially when monkeys are constantly being compared to men. Monkeys, gorillas, or any other primate are NOT like men. Seriously? They are animals. They work on instinct. That's pretty much it. Are they interesting and majestic? Yes, sure! But it gets so annoying after the first 100 pages to constantly hear how the gorilla's expression was just SO human. bleh.
But of course, I adore the old house of Green Knowe, and the delightful grandmother Mrs. Oldknow, and the enigmatic Ping!
I loved that Ping was the main character for this story. He's such a shining character, and he has a beautiful soul with deep and open thoughts. There's so much to explore in his character, so I'm glad he has his own story to bring out more of his personality and everything.
And naturally, the writing is so incredible that I can feel just what Ping is feeling. There's a spell of words woven around the Green Knowe stories that is really something special and true. I feel that I know that old house. I have lived there and slept there and playing in that garden. I've been swimming in the river, and come in for a late tea with Mrs. Oldknow.
I love this series so much!
This is not my favorite of the Green Knowe books, because I'm very "meh" about monkey stories, especially when monkeys are constantly being compared to men. Monkeys, gorillas, or any other primate are NOT like men. Seriously? They are animals. They work on instinct. That's pretty much it. Are they interesting and majestic? Yes, sure! But it gets so annoying after the first 100 pages to constantly hear how the gorilla's expression was just SO human. bleh.
But of course, I adore the old house of Green Knowe, and the delightful grandmother Mrs. Oldknow, and the enigmatic Ping!
I loved that Ping was the main character for this story. He's such a shining character, and he has a beautiful soul with deep and open thoughts. There's so much to explore in his character, so I'm glad he has his own story to bring out more of his personality and everything.
And naturally, the writing is so incredible that I can feel just what Ping is feeling. There's a spell of words woven around the Green Knowe stories that is really something special and true. I feel that I know that old house. I have lived there and slept there and playing in that garden. I've been swimming in the river, and come in for a late tea with Mrs. Oldknow.
I love this series so much!
mat_tobin's review
4.0
Ping returns to Green Knowe in what was to be the fourth installment. I am fascinated in Boston's attraction to this character since, at this point, he is 'as' present at Tolly. I wonder whether this is Boston's 'Children of Green Knowe' for Ping.
The first part of the story takes us far away from Green Knowe into the 'jungles of Africa' in which we follow a young gorilla as he is horrifically torn from his home and family and shipped to the UK. Skip forward in time and we find Ping's visit to a zoo brings him face to face with a huge gorilla: Hanno who has been kept in captivity for most of his life.
Here then are two 'displaced' characters who find an attachment through the very fact that they have a connection in their disconnection from a sense of home until they both arrive at Green Knowe. When he escapes the zoo, Hanno finds sanctuary in its landscape and so does Ping. There is some clever work here going on by Boston with regards to identity and a sense of place and past - I can see how and why it won the Carnegie back in 1961.
The first part of the story takes us far away from Green Knowe into the 'jungles of Africa' in which we follow a young gorilla as he is horrifically torn from his home and family and shipped to the UK. Skip forward in time and we find Ping's visit to a zoo brings him face to face with a huge gorilla: Hanno who has been kept in captivity for most of his life.
Here then are two 'displaced' characters who find an attachment through the very fact that they have a connection in their disconnection from a sense of home until they both arrive at Green Knowe. When he escapes the zoo, Hanno finds sanctuary in its landscape and so does Ping. There is some clever work here going on by Boston with regards to identity and a sense of place and past - I can see how and why it won the Carnegie back in 1961.
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