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evelynepisodes's review
4.25
I picked it up looking at the beautiful sea images on the front. I was not dissatisfied. This book is a masterpiece of supernatural splendour. Powerful stories of free children with cute anecdotes of his personal connections. Well done David.
hannahdavey's review
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
marciazinha's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
elysian_mess's review against another edition
1.0
The thing with David Almond is there always seems to be an underlying message that I can never seem to grasp...so to me it's just alot if veryy random stories.
backonthealex's review against another edition
5.0
David Almond has been one of my favorite, go-to authors for a long time now. He always manages to write stories that seem to be about the ordinary until he peels the ordinary away and reveals the extraordinary in life. Each one of his works has a distinctive voice and perspective and I have often wondered where or how Almond comes up with his ideas. I think you will agree that novels like Skellig and The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean Telt by Hisself, and his latest, A Song for Ella Grey, are all riveting and unique.
Well, I thought to myself, wonder no more as I read the introduction and the eight short stories that make up Half a Creature from the Sea. In the book's main autobiographical Introduction, Almond writes "I'll start with things I can hardly remember, things I've been told about, things that are like fragments of a dream." From there, he goes on to introduce the reader to Felling-on-Tyne, the town where he grew up and the one he uses in his writing for "it's landscape, it's language, it's people" and rgwb procedes to show the reader just how he makes the ordinary extraordinary.
Each of the eight short stories that follow the Indroduction are also preceded with their own substantial autobiographical prologue. In them, Almond explains where his idea first came from, and gives enough background information to not only make the story richer for the reader, but also to give us a way of seeing how Almond's writing process happens.
The character's in each story come to life, in a way that is difficult to master in so short a space, but everyone in these Almond stories feels real and full-bodied, even the ghost in "The Missing Link." Almond's descriptions on which each of the landscapes his stories unfold become just as important, just as realistic as his characters, to the point where they become characters in their own right. As the stories wander around this North-East area of England that Almond knows and seems to love so well, you can almost smell the salt in the air in the story "Half a Creature from the Sea" and taste those wonderful meat pies from Myer's pork shop from "Slog's Dad."
And Eleanor Taylor's black and white illustrations throughout the book compliment and enhance the hauntingly mysterious stories. I especially liked the illustrations showing the ordinariness of Felling-on-Tyne as Almond introduced readers to it.
Half a Creature from the Sea offers readers a brillant peek at an author's inspiration and writing process supported by eight superbly crafted short stories. If you are already a fan of David Almond's or even if you are new to his work, you are in for a rare treat, and you will totally understand why he won the 2015 Guardian's Children's Fiction Prize recently.
I should mention that there some bullying, some violence and a lot of cursing and it can be raw, but not ever gratuitous.
This book is recommended for readers age 13+
This book was an EARC received from NetGalley
This review was originally posted on Randomly Reading
Well, I thought to myself, wonder no more as I read the introduction and the eight short stories that make up Half a Creature from the Sea. In the book's main autobiographical Introduction, Almond writes "I'll start with things I can hardly remember, things I've been told about, things that are like fragments of a dream." From there, he goes on to introduce the reader to Felling-on-Tyne, the town where he grew up and the one he uses in his writing for "it's landscape, it's language, it's people" and rgwb procedes to show the reader just how he makes the ordinary extraordinary.
Each of the eight short stories that follow the Indroduction are also preceded with their own substantial autobiographical prologue. In them, Almond explains where his idea first came from, and gives enough background information to not only make the story richer for the reader, but also to give us a way of seeing how Almond's writing process happens.
The character's in each story come to life, in a way that is difficult to master in so short a space, but everyone in these Almond stories feels real and full-bodied, even the ghost in "The Missing Link." Almond's descriptions on which each of the landscapes his stories unfold become just as important, just as realistic as his characters, to the point where they become characters in their own right. As the stories wander around this North-East area of England that Almond knows and seems to love so well, you can almost smell the salt in the air in the story "Half a Creature from the Sea" and taste those wonderful meat pies from Myer's pork shop from "Slog's Dad."
And Eleanor Taylor's black and white illustrations throughout the book compliment and enhance the hauntingly mysterious stories. I especially liked the illustrations showing the ordinariness of Felling-on-Tyne as Almond introduced readers to it.
Half a Creature from the Sea offers readers a brillant peek at an author's inspiration and writing process supported by eight superbly crafted short stories. If you are already a fan of David Almond's or even if you are new to his work, you are in for a rare treat, and you will totally understand why he won the 2015 Guardian's Children's Fiction Prize recently.
I should mention that there some bullying, some violence and a lot of cursing and it can be raw, but not ever gratuitous.
This book is recommended for readers age 13+
This book was an EARC received from NetGalley
This review was originally posted on Randomly Reading
epiphanylord's review against another edition
3.0
"What am I? Body, brain, soul, or all of these? Infant, boy, man, or all of those things together? Or nothing, just nothing at all?"
Alternative Titles Created By Me:
- Perhaps Ghosts Are Real: A Life in Tales
- I Was A Rude Preteen: A Life in Stories
- 1950's-60's Scottish Slang Is Difficult To Read: A Life of Confusion
-
Let me just say that the first story of the collection was terribly weak. I almost DNF'ed only 15 pages in. I was confused and bored and confused once more. I thought this book was to be a memoir of sorts, but instead it turned out to be half childhood anecdote / half alternate fantasy.
Some of the tales were actually rather good, whereas others were not. As mentioned above, there was a very fine line between real and unreal within these stories. I was unable to tell what actually happened and what was imagination, and that took away from the content.
To be honest, I only picked this up from the library because of the cover.
bookmarked642's review against another edition
3.0
David Almond is definitely a unique author.
This book is a collection of short stories based on Almond's own childhood, mixed in with anecdotes of his own experiences. Like most of Almond's writing, there is a very strange magic realism throughout these stories.
The stories are all based in Felling-on-Tyne, but Almond notes how he altered the setting to fit his stories. The characters are also a mix of fictional and real people.
Religion was clearly a big part of Almond's upbringing, and he envelopes tht in his writing. However, the stories aren't particularly religious at all. It's more the daily routine of the young boys and how religion is incorporated into this.
I'm a big fan of short stories. This collection was really good, though they were all very similar in atmosphere/genre. Not that that's a bad thing, necessarily, but I do like a bit of variety.
Almond's writing is fantastic, as always. Descriptive enough, but still leaving some details to the reader's own imagination. It was easy to just sit and read this book without needing to put it down. 3.5 stars.
This book is a collection of short stories based on Almond's own childhood, mixed in with anecdotes of his own experiences. Like most of Almond's writing, there is a very strange magic realism throughout these stories.
The stories are all based in Felling-on-Tyne, but Almond notes how he altered the setting to fit his stories. The characters are also a mix of fictional and real people.
Religion was clearly a big part of Almond's upbringing, and he envelopes tht in his writing. However, the stories aren't particularly religious at all. It's more the daily routine of the young boys and how religion is incorporated into this.
I'm a big fan of short stories. This collection was really good, though they were all very similar in atmosphere/genre. Not that that's a bad thing, necessarily, but I do like a bit of variety.
Almond's writing is fantastic, as always. Descriptive enough, but still leaving some details to the reader's own imagination. It was easy to just sit and read this book without needing to put it down. 3.5 stars.
anunande's review
Short stories will always be my first (writing) love and it's the form, especially micro and flash but also upto 3000 words, that I keep returning to when I want to go back to storytelling basics as it were. Since finishing my novelette, it's where I find myself again. Rediscovering my writing muscles in the form that made me first fall in love as a writer.
I've been wanting to read Half a Creature from the Sea: A Life in Stories since I first stepped foot into the Candlewick Press office a couple of years ago. I admit that it was the gorgeous cover that drew me in, but I stayed for the weird, wonderful stories and the very unusual memoir of a childhood spent in Felling-on-Tyne, deep in England's North East.
Once I got attuned to the author's writing style, I enjoyed his interpretations and representations of the quote in the following slide. The way his stories blend realism with the dreamed world until you're never quite sure what's what, how deeply rooted his stories in the countryside he grew up in, in the language and landscape and the people who shaped his formative years - and yet so far removed from it with the poltergist who simply wants to be heard and seen, to be at peace and loved, to the girl who wonders at the myths of her own origins, to the lad who believes his dead father's spirit has returned like he'd promised him he would, to the foreign boy from East Germany who's different but teaches the narrator an important life lesson, to the god who visits a garden on a snow day, to the now old man who remembers a childhood day that was the stuff of legends.
Each story had an autobiographical prelude of sorts where the author spoke about his inspirations and gave us tantalising glimpses into his childhood. I'm not usually a fan of author explanations but here I think it somehow works to create a rich magical experience, to show like many authors before him have that "ordinary places can be extraordinary".
I've been wanting to read Half a Creature from the Sea: A Life in Stories since I first stepped foot into the Candlewick Press office a couple of years ago. I admit that it was the gorgeous cover that drew me in, but I stayed for the weird, wonderful stories and the very unusual memoir of a childhood spent in Felling-on-Tyne, deep in England's North East.
Once I got attuned to the author's writing style, I enjoyed his interpretations and representations of the quote in the following slide. The way his stories blend realism with the dreamed world until you're never quite sure what's what, how deeply rooted his stories in the countryside he grew up in, in the language and landscape and the people who shaped his formative years - and yet so far removed from it with the poltergist who simply wants to be heard and seen, to be at peace and loved, to the girl who wonders at the myths of her own origins, to the lad who believes his dead father's spirit has returned like he'd promised him he would, to the foreign boy from East Germany who's different but teaches the narrator an important life lesson, to the god who visits a garden on a snow day, to the now old man who remembers a childhood day that was the stuff of legends.
Each story had an autobiographical prelude of sorts where the author spoke about his inspirations and gave us tantalising glimpses into his childhood. I'm not usually a fan of author explanations but here I think it somehow works to create a rich magical experience, to show like many authors before him have that "ordinary places can be extraordinary".
rainyoctober's review against another edition
4.0
David Almond is possibly my favorite author ever? His style is so distinctive and so beautiful, and his stories are captivating in a way that honestly feels like an enchantment. I liked the stories in these collection individually, but even more than that I loved the way they wove together to create this weird and magical world and I love that the author's own story is woven in there too. A lovely book.
innergrace's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0