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rjdenney's review
5.0
This was a fun 25 paged short story and I really enjoyed the 2 pages of John's actual manuscript. I hope they release more of his unpublished short stories and release a bind-up.
donasbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Instagram Review: https://www.instagram.com/p/CHqoCHXgcOK/
When I was a little girl, I loved the horror genre. Like some 80's parents, mine fed me a steady diet of horror movies and science fiction, John Carpenter and Planet of the Dinosaurs, Twilight Zone and Hitchcock Presents, haunted houses and ghost story collections. Not much was off limits and as a result, I had a pretty voracious appetite for the scary stuff. You might not expect such a "seasoned" little scream queen to like a relatively tame kids' mystery and thriller writer like [a:John Bellairs|101070|John Bellairs|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1197854239p2/101070.jpg] at twelve, in middle school, but you'd be wrong. I read [b:The House with a Clock in Its Walls|295801|The House with a Clock in Its Walls (Lewis Barnavelt, #1)|John Bellairs|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388467935l/295801._SY75_.jpg|1098801] one boring winter break and it hit me just right, scared the sparkly stuffing right out of me. And I became a John Bellairs fan.
Fast forward 25 years and I'm a Kindle Unlimited member, and recently, I saw The Gargoyle in the Dump available in there. It's really no longer than a long short story, so I grabbed it for a bit of nostalgia. I figured there must be worse ways to spend an afternoon. And there are, probably, but I'm not going to sit here and speculate about what they are. This book middled along so miserably that I've been straining to remember what I loved about Bellairs's books in childhood. I find comfort only in the fact that I read [b:The House with a Clock in Its Walls|295801|The House with a Clock in Its Walls (Lewis Barnavelt, #1)|John Bellairs|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388467935l/295801._SY75_.jpg|1098801] recently and still loved it.
So here is what I love, or like rather, and don't like, about The Gargoyle in the Dump:
Likes:
1. I don't want to spoil this book for anyone who wants to read it, but when the narrative first reveals what this gargoyle has hidden up his nose, my response was surprise and delight. The book's premise or concept is definitely worth exploring, despite the many complaints I will enumerate below. I actually wish someone from Bellairs's estate would approve updating this text, to give the premise more opportunity to shine.
2. The writing in this book is not spectacular (Bellairs never was poetic), but moments proliferate where Bellairs has perfectly captured a bygone era; he describes moments I can only assume children of contemporary times will never themselves experience, such as:
Don't Likes:
1. Well, if this book is any indication, they sure don't start them like they used to, and that's a good thing. After giving a page of boring character and setting detail, Bellairs starts the story by telling the readers he's going to do just that: "[a game] was going on when our story begins," Bellairs writes (loc. 46), breaking the fourth wall ineffectively and unnecessarily.
2. The dialogue in this book is really bad. Stilted. Hackneyed. It's so bad.
3. There are a lot of little internal logic problems. One or two of these is fine, but a pile of them in a thirty page book is a bit much. One example at loc. 116, so you know what type of problem I'm referring to, is when Bellairs refers to the three main characters as "small boys" (which might send you scurrying back to the info-dump on the first page, like it did me, where you'll discover Michael is 18).
4. Bellairs's casual references to the characters taking each other as slaves, as rewards for winning games no less, is definitely awful and well past anachronism.
And that's all I have! If you're a grown-up Bellairs fan like I am, you might want to check this one out. But I wouldn't give this one to your kids. It's not Bellairs's best work. Stay safe out there everyone!
When I was a little girl, I loved the horror genre. Like some 80's parents, mine fed me a steady diet of horror movies and science fiction, John Carpenter and Planet of the Dinosaurs, Twilight Zone and Hitchcock Presents, haunted houses and ghost story collections. Not much was off limits and as a result, I had a pretty voracious appetite for the scary stuff. You might not expect such a "seasoned" little scream queen to like a relatively tame kids' mystery and thriller writer like [a:John Bellairs|101070|John Bellairs|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1197854239p2/101070.jpg] at twelve, in middle school, but you'd be wrong. I read [b:The House with a Clock in Its Walls|295801|The House with a Clock in Its Walls (Lewis Barnavelt, #1)|John Bellairs|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388467935l/295801._SY75_.jpg|1098801] one boring winter break and it hit me just right, scared the sparkly stuffing right out of me. And I became a John Bellairs fan.
Fast forward 25 years and I'm a Kindle Unlimited member, and recently, I saw The Gargoyle in the Dump available in there. It's really no longer than a long short story, so I grabbed it for a bit of nostalgia. I figured there must be worse ways to spend an afternoon. And there are, probably, but I'm not going to sit here and speculate about what they are. This book middled along so miserably that I've been straining to remember what I loved about Bellairs's books in childhood. I find comfort only in the fact that I read [b:The House with a Clock in Its Walls|295801|The House with a Clock in Its Walls (Lewis Barnavelt, #1)|John Bellairs|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388467935l/295801._SY75_.jpg|1098801] recently and still loved it.
So here is what I love, or like rather, and don't like, about The Gargoyle in the Dump:
Likes:
1. I don't want to spoil this book for anyone who wants to read it, but when the narrative first reveals what this gargoyle has hidden up his nose, my response was surprise and delight. The book's premise or concept is definitely worth exploring, despite the many complaints I will enumerate below. I actually wish someone from Bellairs's estate would approve updating this text, to give the premise more opportunity to shine.
2. The writing in this book is not spectacular (Bellairs never was poetic), but moments proliferate where Bellairs has perfectly captured a bygone era; he describes moments I can only assume children of contemporary times will never themselves experience, such as:
It was two o'clock in the morning and a wet, fresh-smelling breeze was blowing through the willow trees in the front yard. [Michael] got up, tiptoed downstairs, opened the screen door, and walked out into the back yard. The crickets were chirping loudly, the stars were shining very brightly, and a worn-out yellow half-moon was sinking behind the oak grove on the far side of the lake. (loc. 228)Could a kid just walk out into their back yard at night in 2020 without setting off a home security system? I'm not sure. Either way, these scenes are truly rare.
Don't Likes:
1. Well, if this book is any indication, they sure don't start them like they used to, and that's a good thing. After giving a page of boring character and setting detail, Bellairs starts the story by telling the readers he's going to do just that: "[a game] was going on when our story begins," Bellairs writes (loc. 46), breaking the fourth wall ineffectively and unnecessarily.
2. The dialogue in this book is really bad. Stilted. Hackneyed. It's so bad.
3. There are a lot of little internal logic problems. One or two of these is fine, but a pile of them in a thirty page book is a bit much. One example at loc. 116, so you know what type of problem I'm referring to, is when Bellairs refers to the three main characters as "small boys" (which might send you scurrying back to the info-dump on the first page, like it did me, where you'll discover Michael is 18).
4. Bellairs's casual references to the characters taking each other as slaves, as rewards for winning games no less, is definitely awful and well past anachronism.
And that's all I have! If you're a grown-up Bellairs fan like I am, you might want to check this one out. But I wouldn't give this one to your kids. It's not Bellairs's best work. Stay safe out there everyone!
jmanchester0's review
4.0
An odd little story. But interesting. And definitely worth reading.
The title is actually pretty descriptive. Three boys find a gargoyle in a dump and bring him home. It seems simple, but Bellairs does a lot with a little in this very short story.
I'm not familiar with John Bellairs. But I do like his writing style. In an extremely short span of time, he goes from funny, to intense, and back again. Jumping between emotions isn't easy, and Bellairs does it seamlessly.
And I think the most fascinating aspect was seeing the profaning of the royal tombs at the Basilica at St. Denis in 1793 through the gargoyle's eyes. It's worth reading just to find out about this.
I recommend Swan Lake Opus 20 (from the opening scene of Dracula) as a soundtrack to this story. Very appropriate. And effective.
Thanks to NetGalley and Open Road Media for a copy in return for an honest review.
The title is actually pretty descriptive. Three boys find a gargoyle in a dump and bring him home. It seems simple, but Bellairs does a lot with a little in this very short story.
I'm not familiar with John Bellairs. But I do like his writing style. In an extremely short span of time, he goes from funny, to intense, and back again. Jumping between emotions isn't easy, and Bellairs does it seamlessly.
And I think the most fascinating aspect was seeing the profaning of the royal tombs at the Basilica at St. Denis in 1793 through the gargoyle's eyes. It's worth reading just to find out about this.
I recommend Swan Lake Opus 20 (from the opening scene of Dracula) as a soundtrack to this story. Very appropriate. And effective.
Thanks to NetGalley and Open Road Media for a copy in return for an honest review.
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