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A review by quetzalquill
The Haunting of Granite Falls by Eva Ibbotson
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
This Ibbotson re-read fell a bit flat for me. The mystery wasn't very engaging, partly because we knew the villains' plan from the beginning.
The transportation, fat phobia, and racism elements were minor asides that definitely detracted from my experience, but the big distasteful thing was the literal neo-Nazi villain working for a self-described fascist organization that wants to make Britain great again and who renames herself Adolfa and carries around a piece of (what she believes to be) Hitler's hair in a locket. Ibbotson herself was an Austrian Jew who fled in the 1930s, so it's not like she's writing a Nazi character with no context. I think it's supposed to be funny, that we're laughing at how absurd this woman's unhinged devotion to Hitler is, but reading in a modern era of rising fascism and neo-Nazism in both settings of this book, the US and the UK, makes this jarringly dark in an otherwise playful mystery book.
I find Dial-a-Ghost to be more suspenseful, with equally loveable characters, and better stands the test of time.
The transportation, fat phobia, and racism elements were minor asides that definitely detracted from my experience, but the big distasteful thing was the literal neo-Nazi villain working for a self-described fascist organization that wants to make Britain great again and who renames herself Adolfa and carries around a piece of (what she believes to be) Hitler's hair in a locket. Ibbotson herself was an Austrian Jew who fled in the 1930s, so it's not like she's writing a Nazi character with no context. I think it's supposed to be funny, that we're laughing at how absurd this woman's unhinged devotion to Hitler is, but reading in a modern era of rising fascism and neo-Nazism in both settings of this book, the US and the UK, makes this jarringly dark in an otherwise playful mystery book.
I find Dial-a-Ghost to be more suspenseful, with equally loveable characters, and better stands the test of time.
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism, Transphobia