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kiwi_fruit 's review for:
Spoonbenders
by Daryl Gregory
Quirky novel about an eccentric family, the once famous Amazing Telemachus Family, that possesses remarkable psychic abilities. Teddy, the father, has no psychic skills, he is a con man, a card shark that uses tricks to make a living, his late wife, Maureen was a talented clairvoyant that could “see” things far away, their daughter Irene is the human lie detector, while Frankie can perform telekinesis (occasionally), and Buddy who can see the future (although he gets mixed up with the past). The younger generation is also gifted, Frankie’s twins can accidentally ignite things, and Matty, Irene’s son, has inherited his grandmother talent for astral projection.
It is the story of a dysfunctional family with likeable characters; it has funny, tender and tense moments. The genre of the novel is hard to define, fantasy? mystery? action? the story, told in alternating chapters with different POVs, involves mobsters, loan sharks and the foreign intelligence agency, and it is complicated to explain, but strangely, not difficult to follow.
The ending, where everything comes together, was a little too neatly packaged and fit-for-movie for me.
What I enjoy best was the writing; having previously read only another one of Daryl Gregory’s novel, [b:Afterparty|17910129|Afterparty|Daryl Gregory|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1379720402s/17910129.jpg|25095584], featuring oddball characters and peculiar situations too, I wonder if “quirky” is this author’s niche?
Eccentricity may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you are stuck in run-of-the mill reads and in the mood for something different, something “out there”, this could work for you.
2.5 stars rounded up.
It is the story of a dysfunctional family with likeable characters; it has funny, tender and tense moments. The genre of the novel is hard to define, fantasy? mystery? action? the story, told in alternating chapters with different POVs, involves mobsters, loan sharks and the foreign intelligence agency, and it is complicated to explain, but strangely, not difficult to follow.
The ending, where everything comes together, was a little too neatly packaged and fit-for-movie for me.
What I enjoy best was the writing; having previously read only another one of Daryl Gregory’s novel, [b:Afterparty|17910129|Afterparty|Daryl Gregory|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1379720402s/17910129.jpg|25095584], featuring oddball characters and peculiar situations too, I wonder if “quirky” is this author’s niche?
Eccentricity may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you are stuck in run-of-the mill reads and in the mood for something different, something “out there”, this could work for you.
2.5 stars rounded up.