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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
Throughout the entire book I felt it hard to actually connect with Jennie. We're thrown right into the action of the plot and told about her past so splattered throughout the story that I feel I just don't know her well enough to really care. That's not to say the story wasn't good, nor was Jennie not a good character. I was just detached from her situation, like I was watching a TV show play out before me.
It wasn't until the very end that I really felt anything for her but I have to say, the ending was fantastic and quite possibly the best part of the book. The last couple of chapters, where the charade started to unravel, had me turning page after page after page to find out what's going on. The rest of the story was interesting enough although I think the spirit photography wasn't as in the forefront as it's portrayed as being. It plays a catalyst for certain plot points in the story but really stays in the background for the most part.
I did like how the story added some validity to the Spiritualist movement. While the spirit photographer was widely a hoax, some of the things that happened to Jennie's photos were rather hard to explain and even if they could be, they were rather enormously coincidental to be, well, a coincidence.
For me the secondary characters were much more three dimensional than Jennie herself was. I loved Aunt, in all her bitchtastic attitude. She was just a character that begged to be loved to hated. Even Quincey was quite a dynamic character. He was such a train wreck - I couldn't keep my eyes off of him, especially at the end. Very much bat shit but it made him all the more interesting to read.
I loved the drawings. They added so much more depth to the story, as if I were paging through Jennie's scrapbook myself. The script was hard to read sometimes but the photos were creepy, so solemn and morbid, most without actually intending to be so. They just made the overall feel of the story that much better.
Picture the Dead was a good read, especially at the end where some real girl power and suck it attitude comes into play, but I still had a distance with it. I wish I could have connected more with Jennie. Maybe if there was a little more exposition at the beginning to give us a better understanding of just where Jennie came from and why her situation was the way it was would have helped. But it is what it is.
It wasn't until the very end that I really felt anything for her but I have to say, the ending was fantastic and quite possibly the best part of the book. The last couple of chapters, where the charade started to unravel, had me turning page after page after page to find out what's going on. The rest of the story was interesting enough although I think the spirit photography wasn't as in the forefront as it's portrayed as being. It plays a catalyst for certain plot points in the story but really stays in the background for the most part.
I did like how the story added some validity to the Spiritualist movement. While the spirit photographer was widely a hoax, some of the things that happened to Jennie's photos were rather hard to explain and even if they could be, they were rather enormously coincidental to be, well, a coincidence.
For me the secondary characters were much more three dimensional than Jennie herself was. I loved Aunt, in all her bitchtastic attitude. She was just a character that begged to be loved to hated. Even Quincey was quite a dynamic character. He was such a train wreck - I couldn't keep my eyes off of him, especially at the end. Very much bat shit but it made him all the more interesting to read.
I loved the drawings. They added so much more depth to the story, as if I were paging through Jennie's scrapbook myself. The script was hard to read sometimes but the photos were creepy, so solemn and morbid, most without actually intending to be so. They just made the overall feel of the story that much better.
Picture the Dead was a good read, especially at the end where some real girl power and suck it attitude comes into play, but I still had a distance with it. I wish I could have connected more with Jennie. Maybe if there was a little more exposition at the beginning to give us a better understanding of just where Jennie came from and why her situation was the way it was would have helped. But it is what it is.
All I'm going to say is...
Oh Jennie, if only there was someone out there who loved you.
Oh Jennie, if only there was someone out there who loved you.
medium-paced
I think that there is a good story in here somewhere, but I feel as if the odd pacing and short chapters did not allow it to come out.
READ THE FOLLOWING:
This is a pre-advanced copy, the book that is made before the actual book. It DOES NOT have the same cover but is in paper back. Everything is the same compaired to the real book.
This is a pre-advanced copy, the book that is made before the actual book. It DOES NOT have the same cover but is in paper back. Everything is the same compaired to the real book.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It was good but I predicted the big “twist”. I loved the artwork and pages in between chapters. It added a lot of beauty to the book, but I wouldn’t recommend the novel to someone else.
I grabbed this book on sale for Nook, mainly because I trusted the authors who had reviewed it. Illustrated books on Nook seem to be hit or miss--I had no problem with Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, but this one was a bit harder to read. Even though you can zoom in on the illustrations, they weren't high-res enough for that to really help. I did like the format though, where there are letters and ephemera sprinkled throughout the text, and I liked the illustration style.
The story was simple and I think this could be enjoyed by a middle-grader. There isn't any language and there is a little bit of kissing but nothing explicit or graphic. I got a little creeped out reading it at night because of the spiritualism/ghosts aspect, but that just happens to me. Overall a good book that I would recommend to people younger than I am; I think I was maybe just a bit too old for it.
One thing I did really like was how there was a fairly plucky/independent female heroine, but she didn't really do things that were too anachronistic for her time. Sometimes it annoys me that every heroine has to be the one to buck the system or try to change the status quo. This girl was in a situation she didn't like, and because of how society was set up was unable to do anything about it for a lot of the book. Instead of being frustrated with it, though, I just found it more realistic than some girl who acts basically like a modern person when the story takes place 150 years ago.
The story was simple and I think this could be enjoyed by a middle-grader. There isn't any language and there is a little bit of kissing but nothing explicit or graphic. I got a little creeped out reading it at night because of the spiritualism/ghosts aspect, but that just happens to me. Overall a good book that I would recommend to people younger than I am; I think I was maybe just a bit too old for it.
One thing I did really like was how there was a fairly plucky/independent female heroine, but she didn't really do things that were too anachronistic for her time. Sometimes it annoys me that every heroine has to be the one to buck the system or try to change the status quo. This girl was in a situation she didn't like, and because of how society was set up was unable to do anything about it for a lot of the book. Instead of being frustrated with it, though, I just found it more realistic than some girl who acts basically like a modern person when the story takes place 150 years ago.
Historical fiction meets creepy ghost/suspense story, Picture the Dead was an interesting book. It was a quick read, because it actually had pictures--the second author credited on the cover is actually the illustrator--pictures which gave clues to things that were about to happen or clarified things that already had. I enjoyed the story, but the pacing seemed a bit off--for a lot of it, it felt like not much was happening and then once it did, bam! it all happened at once. Still, though, it was a fun way to spend a few hours.
This book was exactly what I was in the mood to read. First, it's spooky and gothic. It takes place during the Civil War and is told through Jennie's scrapbook she keeps. It is very, very cool. I don't want to give anything away here, but Jennie is a great character who experiences unexplainable things and we, as the reader, feel for her. We wonder about her sanity. About the society's sanity. On many levels it is a historical read about early photography and pictures of the dead (not in the way I first thought, originally I thought it was about photographing posed corpses-which they did back then). There are elements of romance, mystery, and the before mentioned ghost story. Quinn has a bit of Mr. Rochester to him.
Great read. Highly recommended.
Great read. Highly recommended.