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3.12 AVERAGE
3.12 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
reflective
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I have mixed feelings about the book. The blurb and the cover really got my attention so I took the advantage to downloading the arc on NetGalley.
I was really interested in the book so I was a bit excited when I started to read it. The author's way of writing is a bit unusual for me, but honestly, I haven't read any other books from this author. The dialect was interesting at first, but it got me really distracted and somehow annoyed halfway through the book because I had no idea what the characters were talking about, like nothing made sense to me anymore. Got me a light headache really.
The characters of the story were just too shallow and not interesting for me. I got the Orpheus reference though, which was kind of what helped me finish the book. One thing I picked up was Claire's love for Ella Grey. The rest were just things here and there, like the book had no structure at all. The book was divided into six parts, which didn't make any sense to me at all.
If you want to read this book, I recommend you to familiarize yourself with the story of Orpheus and Eurydice so you can understand some parts of the story.
I just felt disappointed with the book. I think that the story and character depth could be told in a more interesting manner given more ideas and time to actually brainstorm and write about it.
I think that this book wasn't really for me.
Review also posted on The Bibliophile Confessions
I was really interested in the book so I was a bit excited when I started to read it. The author's way of writing is a bit unusual for me, but honestly, I haven't read any other books from this author. The dialect was interesting at first, but it got me really distracted and somehow annoyed halfway through the book because I had no idea what the characters were talking about, like nothing made sense to me anymore. Got me a light headache really.
The characters of the story were just too shallow and not interesting for me. I got the Orpheus reference though, which was kind of what helped me finish the book. One thing I picked up was Claire's love for Ella Grey. The rest were just things here and there, like the book had no structure at all. The book was divided into six parts, which didn't make any sense to me at all.
If you want to read this book, I recommend you to familiarize yourself with the story of Orpheus and Eurydice so you can understand some parts of the story.
I just felt disappointed with the book. I think that the story and character depth could be told in a more interesting manner given more ideas and time to actually brainstorm and write about it.
I think that this book wasn't really for me.
Review also posted on The Bibliophile Confessions
Book review
Title: A song for Ella Grey
Author: David Almond
Genre: thriller/paranormal/YA
Rating: ***
Review: Sometimes, if you are unlucky, you meet books in your life that make you incoherent with rage. This was not one of them. I mean, it came close but I am perfectly coherent at the moment so it didn’t.
It did make me angry though. For reasons I will elaborate in a moment but first, an introduction of sorts, some context on why I desired to read this novel.
Well. The biggest reason I wanted to read A Song for Ella Grey was because David Almond wrote Skellig which, though not perfect, came pretty close. It was atmospheric, had relatable characters and an ambiguous sort of charm that makes it a book that can be read and enjoyed by people no matter their age and circumstance. So I was pretty sure that I would, if not keel over in joy about, at least appreciate whatever Almond wrote.
If only I had let sleeping dinosaurs lie.
So in case you haven’t heard of the myth (Ovid, right?) of Orpheus, here’s the gist of it: Orpheus’s wife dies, he decides to go into the Underworld to bring her back, he finds her soul and starts leading her back into the upper world, he is told not to look back, he fails, he returns to the upper world wife-less, and the wife is sent back to the Underworld. Cheerful story like that, you can see why people are lining up to retell it and all.
So, Ella Grey plays the tragic role in Almond’s iteration of the story where nearly all the characters are adolescents. The narrator of the story, Claire (poor poor Claire), is Ella Grey’s best friend and lover–at least that is what is implied. They kiss a lot and have a lot of sleepovers though whether sex is something they also enjoy is never explicitly stated. Then along comes Orpheus, the most special snowflake that ever lived. He, without knowing ANYTHING about Ella Grey, sings to her through Claire’s cellphone and somehow pheromones and hormones get conveyed through the satellite and whatever technology is used to connect phones to each other and there is love and unicorns farting rainbows.
So, Ella Grey is convinced that their lurve is true lurve and one day he arrives during school and she walks out of class (these kids seem to have only one class with a guy called Krakatoa (Krokatoa?)) to be with him and next thing you know, they are planning to get married. Claire is asked to give Ella away.
Ella Grey is an asshole. She clearly sees and understands how Claire feels about her. Right? The girl calls out Ella’s name while sleeping with another guy so it’s kinda obvious at this point but Ella tells Claire that she ‘cannot understand the lurve that I feel for Orpheus unless you fall in lurve like we have.’ And I don’t know what kinda lurve Ella is talking about but I’m thinking it’s the hetero kind? Or maybe not? Because apparently even though they have been friends for over a decade, the love Claire feels for Ella is not as strong as the love Ella and Orpheus share because…? There’s no discussion of their bi-sexuality or any kind of substantial dialogue about Claire’s feelings. I mean, he sang to you over the phone.
Then Ella goes and dies. This is not a spoiler. Come on, the book is a retelling of bloody Orpheus. You know she had to kick the bucket. Anyway, ridiculous death is ridiculous and I kinda enjoyed that Ella died ridiculously because heh.
Okay, so super special snowflake goes bananas and tries to find the underworld and makes his attempt to liberate Ella Grey from the underworld and predictably fails. To tell his story, there is a long section about how Claire, a person, is erased and becomes the vessel through which feckin Orpheus speaks. Right. After she is repeatedly told that she cannot understand his love or his bloody amazingness. She is erased. Because she is unimportant in the grand scale of things.
That entire section, the story of when Orpheus goes to get Ella Grey, is too long and horrible and I just wanted for it to be over.
Okay, and now for the ending which is a spoiler so advert your eyes if you’re going to read this despite me telling you that it wouldn’t be a good idea.
There’s this girl, Bianca, who apparently loved Orpheus and bared her tits to him but he wouldn’t even glance at them. Anyway, she walks out of class (yes, Krakatoa’s class, what the heck?) (there’s this horrible section where the teacher and student have this sexually charged exchange while the rest of the class looks on. He even calls her a slut, like wtf?) to go look for Orpheus and finds him but he has turned gay. Or so speculation says…is anyone else offended by this? Because I AM. (Not because of his gayness (if it is indeed that) but because of the way the narrative seems to trivialize the suffering that people with different sexual orientations go through.) *even more deep breaths* Anyway, at the end Orpheus is chopped into pieces by this band of wild women because he is too hot, he is a tease, and because he dared to turn gay…what the actual heck? Oh and Bianca apparently can read eye expressions because Orpheus, just before he is hacked into pieces, is somehow able to emote to her that he loved them all.
This book is written in vernacular and Almond tries to write in lyrical prose and maybe even succeeds in some circles but not in mine. In fact, he bliddy well fails in mine. The writing tries too hard; the emotions are aggrandized–actually, there is no sincerity in the emotional drama and all of it felt like superficial fluff.
If you have read it and liked it, we cannot be friends.
Oh, I suppose I should also mention that bloody Orpheus plays the lyre which sounds like nothing in anyone else’s hands except his. A lot of the prose talks about how Orpheus’s music transports these kids out of their lives and is an experience that cannot be duplicated. There are lots of paragraphs about how his playing attracts the leaves, the stones, the ocean, the seals…all living things somehow reacts to Orpheus’s music. Not that I could tell or was convinced.
Title: A song for Ella Grey
Author: David Almond
Genre: thriller/paranormal/YA
Rating: ***
Review: Sometimes, if you are unlucky, you meet books in your life that make you incoherent with rage. This was not one of them. I mean, it came close but I am perfectly coherent at the moment so it didn’t.
It did make me angry though. For reasons I will elaborate in a moment but first, an introduction of sorts, some context on why I desired to read this novel.
Well. The biggest reason I wanted to read A Song for Ella Grey was because David Almond wrote Skellig which, though not perfect, came pretty close. It was atmospheric, had relatable characters and an ambiguous sort of charm that makes it a book that can be read and enjoyed by people no matter their age and circumstance. So I was pretty sure that I would, if not keel over in joy about, at least appreciate whatever Almond wrote.
If only I had let sleeping dinosaurs lie.
So in case you haven’t heard of the myth (Ovid, right?) of Orpheus, here’s the gist of it: Orpheus’s wife dies, he decides to go into the Underworld to bring her back, he finds her soul and starts leading her back into the upper world, he is told not to look back, he fails, he returns to the upper world wife-less, and the wife is sent back to the Underworld. Cheerful story like that, you can see why people are lining up to retell it and all.
So, Ella Grey plays the tragic role in Almond’s iteration of the story where nearly all the characters are adolescents. The narrator of the story, Claire (poor poor Claire), is Ella Grey’s best friend and lover–at least that is what is implied. They kiss a lot and have a lot of sleepovers though whether sex is something they also enjoy is never explicitly stated. Then along comes Orpheus, the most special snowflake that ever lived. He, without knowing ANYTHING about Ella Grey, sings to her through Claire’s cellphone and somehow pheromones and hormones get conveyed through the satellite and whatever technology is used to connect phones to each other and there is love and unicorns farting rainbows.
So, Ella Grey is convinced that their lurve is true lurve and one day he arrives during school and she walks out of class (these kids seem to have only one class with a guy called Krakatoa (Krokatoa?)) to be with him and next thing you know, they are planning to get married. Claire is asked to give Ella away.
Ella Grey is an asshole. She clearly sees and understands how Claire feels about her. Right? The girl calls out Ella’s name while sleeping with another guy so it’s kinda obvious at this point but Ella tells Claire that she ‘cannot understand the lurve that I feel for Orpheus unless you fall in lurve like we have.’ And I don’t know what kinda lurve Ella is talking about but I’m thinking it’s the hetero kind? Or maybe not? Because apparently even though they have been friends for over a decade, the love Claire feels for Ella is not as strong as the love Ella and Orpheus share because…? There’s no discussion of their bi-sexuality or any kind of substantial dialogue about Claire’s feelings. I mean, he sang to you over the phone.
Then Ella goes and dies. This is not a spoiler. Come on, the book is a retelling of bloody Orpheus. You know she had to kick the bucket. Anyway, ridiculous death is ridiculous and I kinda enjoyed that Ella died ridiculously because heh.
Okay, so super special snowflake goes bananas and tries to find the underworld and makes his attempt to liberate Ella Grey from the underworld and predictably fails. To tell his story, there is a long section about how Claire, a person, is erased and becomes the vessel through which feckin Orpheus speaks. Right. After she is repeatedly told that she cannot understand his love or his bloody amazingness. She is erased. Because she is unimportant in the grand scale of things.
That entire section, the story of when Orpheus goes to get Ella Grey, is too long and horrible and I just wanted for it to be over.
Okay, and now for the ending which is a spoiler so advert your eyes if you’re going to read this despite me telling you that it wouldn’t be a good idea.
There’s this girl, Bianca, who apparently loved Orpheus and bared her tits to him but he wouldn’t even glance at them. Anyway, she walks out of class (yes, Krakatoa’s class, what the heck?) (there’s this horrible section where the teacher and student have this sexually charged exchange while the rest of the class looks on. He even calls her a slut, like wtf?) to go look for Orpheus and finds him but he has turned gay. Or so speculation says…is anyone else offended by this? Because I AM. (Not because of his gayness (if it is indeed that) but because of the way the narrative seems to trivialize the suffering that people with different sexual orientations go through.) *even more deep breaths* Anyway, at the end Orpheus is chopped into pieces by this band of wild women because he is too hot, he is a tease, and because he dared to turn gay…what the actual heck? Oh and Bianca apparently can read eye expressions because Orpheus, just before he is hacked into pieces, is somehow able to emote to her that he loved them all.
This book is written in vernacular and Almond tries to write in lyrical prose and maybe even succeeds in some circles but not in mine. In fact, he bliddy well fails in mine. The writing tries too hard; the emotions are aggrandized–actually, there is no sincerity in the emotional drama and all of it felt like superficial fluff.
If you have read it and liked it, we cannot be friends.
Oh, I suppose I should also mention that bloody Orpheus plays the lyre which sounds like nothing in anyone else’s hands except his. A lot of the prose talks about how Orpheus’s music transports these kids out of their lives and is an experience that cannot be duplicated. There are lots of paragraphs about how his playing attracts the leaves, the stones, the ocean, the seals…all living things somehow reacts to Orpheus’s music. Not that I could tell or was convinced.
My second-favorite David Almond book, after Mina. It's just.....so beautiful......and totally gay......my heart hurts
Content warnings: death, murder, underage drinking, sexually explicit scenes.
Content warnings: death, murder, underage drinking, sexually explicit scenes.
Originally posted on:> http://lauraslittlebookblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/a-song-for-ella-grey-by-david-almond.html
I found A Song for Ella Grey a little confusing and hard to get my head around. I think it wasn't helped by the the way it was written, as it felt like I was reading a really really long poem.
It was quite hard not to let my mind wander when reading as there weren't really any concrete descriptions as to what was happening half the time. The one thing I liked though was when the pages became black with white writing to portray death.
It really was such a shame that I did not enjoy this as much as I wanted to, especially as it was a retelling of a Greek myth which I love. It was readable but it was hard to keep track of the story sometimes and I'm not even really sure what happened. The characters could have been much better developed and I don't see why it had to be written in prose. Maybe if it hadn't been written in prose, it would have lived up to it's full potential.
Overall it didn't meet my expectations and therefore could have been better.
I found A Song for Ella Grey a little confusing and hard to get my head around. I think it wasn't helped by the the way it was written, as it felt like I was reading a really really long poem.
It was quite hard not to let my mind wander when reading as there weren't really any concrete descriptions as to what was happening half the time. The one thing I liked though was when the pages became black with white writing to portray death.
It really was such a shame that I did not enjoy this as much as I wanted to, especially as it was a retelling of a Greek myth which I love. It was readable but it was hard to keep track of the story sometimes and I'm not even really sure what happened. The characters could have been much better developed and I don't see why it had to be written in prose. Maybe if it hadn't been written in prose, it would have lived up to it's full potential.
Overall it didn't meet my expectations and therefore could have been better.
I'm not an Almond superfan yet, but this mystical, poetic look at the Orpheus/Eurydice myth had me captivated. This story is told from Clare's perspective, who loves Ella Grey. Ella Grey meets Orpheus and it is love at first sight (or first listen). The way Almond describes the details of everyone's encounters, even just the description of a fire on the beach, is beautiful. It also tells the whole myth, complete to the way Orpheus ends. I would recommend it for high school readers, as I think it's better read with at least a basic understanding of the myth, and there is underage drinking, as well as sexual activity.
Although it's an extremely lyrical prose, with some Neil Gaiman recall, Sandman of course, and it has some great tricks (black pages and weird fonts), it felt a bit flat unfortunately...
**I want to thank the publishers for sending me an advanced copy of this book. This has not affected my review in any way and everything said is from my own opinion of the book**
There are moments when we, as readers, understand the synopsis of a book or are completely confused by one. This book's synopsis left me perplexed and really intrigued. It doesn't seem to explain everything and yet that's enough information to be called a synopsis. Needless to say, I was so mystified by this vague summary that I dived right into the book, knowing close to nothing.
Plot
This book is a contemporary story with a dark hint of mythology. Before you get immersed into the story, the author pulls a fast one and gives you a lesson on mythology 101, preferably the legend of Orpheus. Orpheus was considered a symbol of art and music and there is a story of him venturing into the underworld to bring back his wife, Eurydice. First told by classical Greek poets, and has been past down for generations as a myth that inspires both art and music.
This story is a modern mythology retelling and it's much more heavy and complex. There are fantastical elements so for those of you that love a surprise or a good element of fantasy, then this book is for you. The story itself tells like the tale it has this special ambiance with music playing in the background.
The narrator is Claire, the best friend of Ella Grey. The two are inseparable and their friendship grows even stronger with the duration of the book. Then comes along Orpheus, a guy inspired by the sound of music and art, who sweeps Ella Grey off of her feet with the sound of his own music. That's right ladies, this guy can pull some strings. As Orpheus and Ella start to grow fond of each other, Claire's hold on Ella dwindles. But when Ella tragically dies in the middle of the book, Claire realizes that she loves her friend more than she realizes.
Romance
It's something like a tainted version of Romeo and Juliet. Two people in love who aren't allowed to be in love with each other because they live two very different lives. There's no surprise that she kills herself and so does he. It states that in the synopsis, so I promise I'm not spoiling anything important. At first when you read it, it doesn't feel like Romeo and Juliet. And after, you're quickly taken aback by the realization that, yes, it does cover the same aspects in forbidden love and the idea of how the pair are infatuated with each other. Ahhh the romance was so cute, and it had that old and classic kind of vibe, like how people felt for each other a long long time ago!
I couldn't be more proud of a mythology-based retelling. A modernized version that displays an equal share in the past and the present. This book will make you laugh, smile, and cry hilariously as you discover the fact that it wasn't just a story you were reading, but it was also a myth and legend that people have believed in for ages. This book definitely surprised me but it wasn't an OMG to die for book, you know what I mean. I loved the mystery and lyrical aspect of it, but again, it wasn't something that blew me away.
There are moments when we, as readers, understand the synopsis of a book or are completely confused by one. This book's synopsis left me perplexed and really intrigued. It doesn't seem to explain everything and yet that's enough information to be called a synopsis. Needless to say, I was so mystified by this vague summary that I dived right into the book, knowing close to nothing.
Plot
This book is a contemporary story with a dark hint of mythology. Before you get immersed into the story, the author pulls a fast one and gives you a lesson on mythology 101, preferably the legend of Orpheus. Orpheus was considered a symbol of art and music and there is a story of him venturing into the underworld to bring back his wife, Eurydice. First told by classical Greek poets, and has been past down for generations as a myth that inspires both art and music.
This story is a modern mythology retelling and it's much more heavy and complex. There are fantastical elements so for those of you that love a surprise or a good element of fantasy, then this book is for you. The story itself tells like the tale it has this special ambiance with music playing in the background.
The narrator is Claire, the best friend of Ella Grey. The two are inseparable and their friendship grows even stronger with the duration of the book. Then comes along Orpheus, a guy inspired by the sound of music and art, who sweeps Ella Grey off of her feet with the sound of his own music. That's right ladies, this guy can pull some strings. As Orpheus and Ella start to grow fond of each other, Claire's hold on Ella dwindles. But when Ella tragically dies in the middle of the book, Claire realizes that she loves her friend more than she realizes.
Romance
It's something like a tainted version of Romeo and Juliet. Two people in love who aren't allowed to be in love with each other because they live two very different lives. There's no surprise that she kills herself and so does he. It states that in the synopsis, so I promise I'm not spoiling anything important. At first when you read it, it doesn't feel like Romeo and Juliet. And after, you're quickly taken aback by the realization that, yes, it does cover the same aspects in forbidden love and the idea of how the pair are infatuated with each other. Ahhh the romance was so cute, and it had that old and classic kind of vibe, like how people felt for each other a long long time ago!
I couldn't be more proud of a mythology-based retelling. A modernized version that displays an equal share in the past and the present. This book will make you laugh, smile, and cry hilariously as you discover the fact that it wasn't just a story you were reading, but it was also a myth and legend that people have believed in for ages. This book definitely surprised me but it wasn't an OMG to die for book, you know what I mean. I loved the mystery and lyrical aspect of it, but again, it wasn't something that blew me away.
this was really just sort of bad. there were pretty bits but I didn't find it original or very well written or very engrossing.
This entire book was poetry, and it was beautiful. I adored it, absolutely adored it. It was everything I needed in a book and more. I would get the entirety of it tattooed onto me forever. I can't even begin to explain how beautiful it was.