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babs5005 's review for:
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
by E.L. Konigsburg
The book, “From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler,” was all right.
It was also very dated—so dated in fact I checked to see when it had been written. The book was written in the 60s and it definitely showed its age.
The cost to ride the bus, for example, seemed a trifle low (20 cents), as did the cost of pretty much everything else in this book.
But it was the language the main character, Claudia, used that really dated this book. She was constantly correcting her little brother’s grammar in a way that doesn’t seem likely in today’s climate. She seemed kind of prudish and formal for a kid who was only supposed to be 11.
She talked like someone’s old aunt or b*tchy grandmother.
Her brother Jamie was a lot cooler and he seemed a little smarter.
For me, the story started strong and grew weaker as it went on.
I thought the hiding out in the museum storyline was pretty great until they became obsessed with a statue that made the story go left and kind of flame out. I didn’t understand the fixation on the statue and I didn’t like Claudia’s character enough to really empathize with her plight.
I couldn’t see her point of view and I thought she was a creep.
She seemed a privileged soul, and I can’t get behind kids running away from homes where they aren’t experiencing abuse just because they feel like running off.
The kids in this book were rich little brats who didn’t care much about anyone else. They were for sure users. For example, Claudia only invited her little brother Jamie along because he had money, and Jamie only had money because he’d been ripping his best friend off for ages. Neither one of the kids were entirely sympathetic characters.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t think I liked Claudia all that much. Her brother was a little better, and Mrs. Basil E. Frankwiler, though kind of hostile toward her lawyer, Saxonberg, was ok.
I think this book was good, but it had the potential to have been even better. I think if the kids had been a little more likeable, and if the adventure in the museum had been more interesting, than this book could have been fantastic. Instead I felt like it flopped a little, and that’s why I’m rating it 3 stars.
It was also very dated—so dated in fact I checked to see when it had been written. The book was written in the 60s and it definitely showed its age.
The cost to ride the bus, for example, seemed a trifle low (20 cents), as did the cost of pretty much everything else in this book.
But it was the language the main character, Claudia, used that really dated this book. She was constantly correcting her little brother’s grammar in a way that doesn’t seem likely in today’s climate. She seemed kind of prudish and formal for a kid who was only supposed to be 11.
She talked like someone’s old aunt or b*tchy grandmother.
Her brother Jamie was a lot cooler and he seemed a little smarter.
For me, the story started strong and grew weaker as it went on.
I thought the hiding out in the museum storyline was pretty great until they became obsessed with a statue that made the story go left and kind of flame out. I didn’t understand the fixation on the statue and I didn’t like Claudia’s character enough to really empathize with her plight.
I couldn’t see her point of view and I thought she was a creep.
She seemed a privileged soul, and I can’t get behind kids running away from homes where they aren’t experiencing abuse just because they feel like running off.
The kids in this book were rich little brats who didn’t care much about anyone else. They were for sure users. For example, Claudia only invited her little brother Jamie along because he had money, and Jamie only had money because he’d been ripping his best friend off for ages. Neither one of the kids were entirely sympathetic characters.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t think I liked Claudia all that much. Her brother was a little better, and Mrs. Basil E. Frankwiler, though kind of hostile toward her lawyer, Saxonberg, was ok.
I think this book was good, but it had the potential to have been even better. I think if the kids had been a little more likeable, and if the adventure in the museum had been more interesting, than this book could have been fantastic. Instead I felt like it flopped a little, and that’s why I’m rating it 3 stars.