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vpesak's review against another edition
4.0
I really didn't know what to expect of this book. It's an unusual love story but not really. Unusual in the sense that narrator Peggy Cort falls in love with a a boy more about half her age. Peggy is what many would call a spinster (a single 26 years old in a small town in 1950). This boy, James suffers from giantism and is seen as a spectacle and oddity to all. Both characters, however, suffer from loneliness that in which is assuaged in the friendship and love they find in each other. Peggy does so much to help James in the hopes that he will love her. Her love is all consuming. It is a "usual" love story in the it shows that people want to love and be loved.
It touches upon themes that I think that many people can connect with: feeling like and outsider, wanting love and discovering the capacities of one love for another.
I really enjoyed this and would definitely recommend it.
It touches upon themes that I think that many people can connect with: feeling like and outsider, wanting love and discovering the capacities of one love for another.
I really enjoyed this and would definitely recommend it.
lauren_endnotes's review against another edition
3.0
I read this book when it first came out - so I guess that was about 12 years ago. I was still a teenager, so I wonder what I would think of it now...
andreahewitt's review against another edition
4.0
Elizabeth McCracken writes fiction like a poet...my highest compliment to any writer. But, I had a difficult time with the narrator...I just didn't like her. Not at any point in the book did I like her...she just made me feel uncomfortable the entire time. So, here's to a well-written book with an unlikeable narrator!
nonna7's review against another edition
2.0
This book got a national book award. I'm sure some liked it. I never could get into it. I didn't like the character at all. I didn't like the whole concept of the story. Sorry.
everyeggmm's review against another edition
4.0
The Giant's House reads more like a character study than a novel, and I mean that as a compliment. Every face introduced in the book seems real enough to touch and the ways they interact with one another are magical. This makes it unfocused at times in terms of plot direction, but then again so is life. The best way I can describe this book is that it offers a wonderful world of people for the reader to get lost in. A vacation into others' lives, and a great one at that.
jessicabrazeal's review against another edition
4.0
What a weird little book. This was a recommendation from a book podcaster I listen to. The writing is amazing, but there were some weird little plot details and quirks. A boy who turns into a man that is a giant and the librarian that falls in love with him.
jlapaglia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
leighnonymous's review against another edition
4.0
The narrator is quite possibly the closest thing to hearing myself talk that I've read in literature. That, alone, endeared this book to me. Despite its odd plot, the book evoked intense empathy for James, the giant. I held nothing but sympathy for, admiration of, and kinship with Peggy. Perhaps because I've worked in a library, myself, I found myself laughing at similar situations I'd run into and phrases I remember saying to patrons.
The story also has the best first line of nearly any book I've read: "I do not love mankind." That sets the tone for the book and simultaneously sets up a challenge for the main character to grow and change over the course of the book, which she does; however, it is not the way in which you are probably thinking. The book is surprising and beautiful and takes romance to an alternate level. It may not have restored my faith in humanity, but I feel a little happier knowing that humanity encompasses another person like me.
The story also has the best first line of nearly any book I've read: "I do not love mankind." That sets the tone for the book and simultaneously sets up a challenge for the main character to grow and change over the course of the book, which she does; however, it is not the way in which you are probably thinking. The book is surprising and beautiful and takes romance to an alternate level. It may not have restored my faith in humanity, but I feel a little happier knowing that humanity encompasses another person like me.
iphigenie72's review against another edition
5.0
This was by first book in my subscription to the Chocolate and Book Box, I have chosen the category "Hidden Gem" that is exactly how I would describe this book.
The story is a little out of the ordinary: the main character Peggy is a librarian and she retells her own life and relationship with a young man that was a giant. Peggy calls her story a "love story", it isn't in the traditionnal way, but love does exist between Peggy and James though it is so much more than a meet, fall in love, marry path.
I've seen some people that reviewed this title disturbed by the fact that Peggy meets James when he is 11 years old and had a 13 years difference with him, that didn't bother me... I've seen that in real life and nothing romantic happens before James is an adult (as people I have known were) and in a village knowing people all your life is not so rare.
I'm very glad that my subscription chose this book first, I had put this on by TBR years ago and just forgot about it... and I have to say I can't wait for next month to see what they will send me!
The story is a little out of the ordinary: the main character Peggy is a librarian and she retells her own life and relationship with a young man that was a giant. Peggy calls her story a "love story", it isn't in the traditionnal way, but love does exist between Peggy and James though it is so much more than a meet, fall in love, marry path.
I've seen some people that reviewed this title disturbed by the fact that Peggy meets James when he is 11 years old and had a 13 years difference with him, that didn't bother me... I've seen that in real life and nothing romantic happens before James is an adult (as people I have known were) and in a village knowing people all your life is not so rare.
I'm very glad that my subscription chose this book first, I had put this on by TBR years ago and just forgot about it... and I have to say I can't wait for next month to see what they will send me!