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2.55 AVERAGE
2.55 AVERAGE
A young man takes a job as a nanny to two young children at their family home on a remove island. He senses that something is not quite right with the house, or with the children. He begins to see shadows and figures on the grounds and in the house, but he is unsure if they're real or if they're all a part of an elaborate plot to drive him insane.
This book reminds me of the Turn of the Screw in terms of plot, but little else. I know it's a YA book, but the writing was really bad. It's written in epistolary form, as the main character, Jack, writes letters to his girlfriend back home and, occasionally, his father. It failed, however, to match the dread and fear of the original. The characters fell flat and were simply one-dimensional copies of the original. This was, perhaps, due to the jocular tone of the letters. Jack's tone was one of dismissive nonchalance, half-joking and book-ending the incidents he experienced with unimportant details of his day, and questions about life back home. Perhaps this was Prose's attempt to imitate the voice of a teen boy, but it succeeded, at least for me, in removing the sense of terror and rapidly diminishing sanity that made the original so powerful
It's hard to rate this book, because it really does read like a Y.A. book, and not a particularly well-written one at that. And the ending...gah...the ending.
My advice: if you like The Turning of the Screw, do NOT read this book.
This book reminds me of the Turn of the Screw in terms of plot, but little else. I know it's a YA book, but the writing was really bad. It's written in epistolary form, as the main character, Jack, writes letters to his girlfriend back home and, occasionally, his father. It failed, however, to match the dread and fear of the original. The characters fell flat and were simply one-dimensional copies of the original. This was, perhaps, due to the jocular tone of the letters. Jack's tone was one of dismissive nonchalance, half-joking and book-ending the incidents he experienced with unimportant details of his day, and questions about life back home. Perhaps this was Prose's attempt to imitate the voice of a teen boy, but it succeeded, at least for me, in removing the sense of terror and rapidly diminishing sanity that made the original so powerful
It's hard to rate this book, because it really does read like a Y.A. book, and not a particularly well-written one at that. And the ending...gah...the ending.
My advice: if you like The Turning of the Screw, do NOT read this book.
With my failure during LAST Halloween/October to find a book that was enough of a thriller I picked this up on a whim from Book Outlet. The plan was to save it for this Halloween/October but I was in a slump this month so wanted a quick read. With only 246 pages it was a quick read. I think I read it in one or two nights. The synopsis sounds intriguing enough, and the layout (a series of letters) made me want to pick it up. Sadly, this book was a huge disappointment. I know it was written with a younger audience in mind, but it’s safe to say this book wasn’t good. The characters were undeveloped. It wasn’t scary. The only thing going for the book was the setting. The idea of Jack spending the majority of the book on an island with just one house was cool. As much as I was on the edge of my seat wanting something to happen it never did. Instead I got another disappointing “horror”, that I can’t recommend.
Characters-1 Setting-4 Plot-1 Conflict-1 Resolution-1
1 star
Characters-1 Setting-4 Plot-1 Conflict-1 Resolution-1
1 star
Jack's summer job is to hang out with two eerily well-behaved children on an isolated island--no TV, phones, internet, cell service, nothing. Despite his early misgivings about the job (including the seagull screaming at him to turn back on the ferry over), he enjoys it--but there's still something weird. Then he starts seeing the man. And then the red-haired woman from the ferry. And then learns that they're both dead, and the mysteries keep on coming.
A retelling of The Turn of the Screw (which I haven't read), this has all the flavor of a gothic horror/ghost story, a good choice for the Halloween season. Easy read-alikes are the source material, Shirley Jackson, Long Lankin, and The Shining, as we see Jack uncover more and more of the island's history and his slow personality shift. Would recommend to 8th grade and up looking for something creepy for the gloomy fall nights.
A retelling of The Turn of the Screw (which I haven't read), this has all the flavor of a gothic horror/ghost story, a good choice for the Halloween season. Easy read-alikes are the source material, Shirley Jackson, Long Lankin, and The Shining, as we see Jack uncover more and more of the island's history and his slow personality shift. Would recommend to 8th grade and up looking for something creepy for the gloomy fall nights.
One word for this book: Creepy! Like very creepy! But I like it anyway. It's a retelling of [b:The Turn of the Screw|12948|The Turn of the Screw|Henry James|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327909344s/12948.jpg|990886] by Henry James which I haven't read but I want to. This book is about a boy named Jack going to this island called Crackstone's landing to babysit two kids, Miles and Flora. They are very strange and the house is creepy and people connected to the island died and the house might be haunted and ghosts and... and I need to calm down. So Jack hears this story about those people, Noriss and Lucy, who were the kids' previous teachers. They fall in love, but Noriss has bad influense over Miles and Flora and he makes them play those creepy and sick card games. And in the end Lucy and Noriss are murdered in a bar. And then when Jack is ill he sees Lucy's ghost and they talk and she tells him all that and then she gives him her lucky medal.
This books made me think I'm going crazy. Because I don't know if the main character only imagined all those things or maybe they were real. And in the end you think everything was just a halucination, Jack imagined it all. But he still has Lucy's medal.
Why does Jack keeps writing to Sophie? (I forgot to mention this is a novel in letters. The letters are from Jack to his girlfriend Sophie or to his dad.) I mean they broke up, because Jack thought that Sophie was cheating on him with her ex-boyfriend, Josh. I never liked Sophie. I think she was really cheating on Jack! So why does he keeps writing to her. It's like those crazy people who talk to themselfes.(which is another reason I started thinking that Jack was imagining it all.)
A really scary thing was that Jack said he was in love with Lucy. Lucy! Lucy the ghost! He doesn't even know her. He spoke to her twice and it was mainly about her death. Her death, Jack!! You think you are in love with a dead woman! And you can't really be in love with someone you don't know. I think I have said that a million times already. I just don't believe in love at first sight. Maybe crush at first sight, but love-no! And with Jack it wasn't even a crush. He never sid he liked Lucy, he never said she was beautiful, he just wrote to Sophie saying: I'm in love with Lucy! Just like that. Like a lightning strike!
But don't listen to me if you believe in love at first sight. Read this book and all the books about love and be happy! I recommend this book to everyone who like ghost stories.
This books made me think I'm going crazy. Because I don't know if the main character only imagined all those things or maybe they were real. And in the end you think everything was just a halucination, Jack imagined it all. But he still has Lucy's medal.
Why does Jack keeps writing to Sophie? (I forgot to mention this is a novel in letters. The letters are from Jack to his girlfriend Sophie or to his dad.) I mean they broke up, because Jack thought that Sophie was cheating on him with her ex-boyfriend, Josh. I never liked Sophie. I think she was really cheating on Jack! So why does he keeps writing to her. It's like those crazy people who talk to themselfes.(which is another reason I started thinking that Jack was imagining it all.)
A really scary thing was that Jack said he was in love with Lucy. Lucy! Lucy the ghost! He doesn't even know her. He spoke to her twice and it was mainly about her death. Her death, Jack!! You think you are in love with a dead woman! And you can't really be in love with someone you don't know. I think I have said that a million times already. I just don't believe in love at first sight. Maybe crush at first sight, but love-no! And with Jack it wasn't even a crush. He never sid he liked Lucy, he never said she was beautiful, he just wrote to Sophie saying: I'm in love with Lucy! Just like that. Like a lightning strike!
But don't listen to me if you believe in love at first sight. Read this book and all the books about love and be happy! I recommend this book to everyone who like ghost stories.
I don't usually read YA books, but this is another one I picked at BEA. (Francine Prose was signing them, and I wanted to say hello since she has written a bunch of pieces for us at Saveur.) It was an enjoyable read, and also one filled with great nostalgia. I was an insanely avid reader as a kid, and just flipping through the suspenseful story, featuring teenaged protagonists, that took me back to being that kid again, happily lugging home a pile of books from the library.
Find my review at my new blog! : https://wordpress.com/read/post/feed/38356676/829023132
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Really loved this one. It's a retelling of The Turn of the Screw with a male nanny and a different ending. Perfect for spooky fall reading!
I do not know what to say about this book. I really don't, and for that I feel bad. It just fell flat for me, for whatever reason. Maybe it was the epistolary form. Maybe it was that I've seen this same story told better in the past. Whatever the reason, it just didn't do it for me.
That was it? It kind of trails off at the end and leaves you wanting a resolution.
I think the delivery is good. It reminded me of Frankenstein and Dracula in that it was told through letters and you have a person explaining crazy events while probably going crazy in the process.
Apparently this is something of a retelling of the Turning of the Screw. I have never read that, might have to after this, but it seemed like the setting was a little... out of place. It had a very Skeleton Key feel for me, where you kept waiting for a pin to drop that never really did. The letter idea was weird as well. Maybe it should have changed to incorporate the use of the internet in only X area or time. That's a little more believable than a modern day setting.
I think the delivery is good. It reminded me of Frankenstein and Dracula in that it was told through letters and you have a person explaining crazy events while probably going crazy in the process.
Apparently this is something of a retelling of the Turning of the Screw. I have never read that, might have to after this, but it seemed like the setting was a little... out of place. It had a very Skeleton Key feel for me, where you kept waiting for a pin to drop that never really did. The letter idea was weird as well. Maybe it should have changed to incorporate the use of the internet in only X area or time. That's a little more believable than a modern day setting.