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torts's review
2.0
I think I need to officially call it quits on this one. Maybe it's just me being unfair to Mr. Wynne-Jones for not living up to the late great Diana Wynne Jones he's shelved next to, but I really can't get into his book. He lacks the easy eloquence, the subtle humor, the straightforward (yet ultimately surprising) plotline and pacing that I was craving when I picked up his book. I got like 10% through, so I'm entitled to an opinion on the entire book, right? I doubt that the writing style changes. And the back blurb (and other reviews) don't really make the book sound like a world I want to play in. Ever.
charlottereadsbooks's review
3.0
mystery
Dec is just a teenager trying to find out what happened to his mother, who supposedly left his family several years previous. Living just down the hill from his childhood home, Dec, his father, sister, and soon-to-be stepmother try to move on from their past. But when a man is found dead in the old house, Dec makes several trips back to the House of Memory trying to remember what really happened when his mother disappeared from his life.
This book explores the understandable and common need to know the truth. This story deals not only with truth but also with trust and parent-child relationships. Dec's mother, Lindy, leaving defined his entire childhood and adolescence, forcing him to grow up faster than he might have had to otherwise. This could be a good book to introduce teenagers to more weighty literary themes.
Dec is just a teenager trying to find out what happened to his mother, who supposedly left his family several years previous. Living just down the hill from his childhood home, Dec, his father, sister, and soon-to-be stepmother try to move on from their past. But when a man is found dead in the old house, Dec makes several trips back to the House of Memory trying to remember what really happened when his mother disappeared from his life.
This book explores the understandable and common need to know the truth. This story deals not only with truth but also with trust and parent-child relationships. Dec's mother, Lindy, leaving defined his entire childhood and adolescence, forcing him to grow up faster than he might have had to otherwise. This could be a good book to introduce teenagers to more weighty literary themes.
tresdem's review
3.0
It's an interesting story, light on prose but still the characters are painted well enough. I didn't feel any deep compelling understanding of them because there is always this distance--at least for me. But it was a good read and an entertaining read. I wouldn't read it again, I don't think, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth reading at least once.
pcarney's review
2.0
I didn't really get it? I feel like I missed something. Maybe I read it too fast.
hollowspine's review
3.0
This was an interesting book about a family mystery. Declan Steeple lives in a small house at the bottom of a hill, but above him on the hill is his old house, where he used to live before his mother ran away. It's a big house filled to the brim with relics of his old life. A random visit with his little sister turns into a mystery when Declan discovers a man buried beneath a large bookcase, dead. He starts visiting the house more often, seeing visions of his mother there. Is she trying to tell him something?
One mystery piles onto another and it is up to Declan alone to figure out the truth. Did his mother really run away? Or is she trapped in the House of Memory until he can set her free?
It was a very quick read and pretty good, suspenseful and well written. I liked all the quirky characters Wynne-Jones introduces throughout the story as well. For a short book it is well developed and the narrative is easy to follow and engrossing.
A good book for younger teens. Although they may feel that some of the kid characters are a bit older than their years.
One mystery piles onto another and it is up to Declan alone to figure out the truth. Did his mother really run away? Or is she trapped in the House of Memory until he can set her free?
It was a very quick read and pretty good, suspenseful and well written. I liked all the quirky characters Wynne-Jones introduces throughout the story as well. For a short book it is well developed and the narrative is easy to follow and engrossing.
A good book for younger teens. Although they may feel that some of the kid characters are a bit older than their years.
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