A review by kinderny
The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World by E.L. Konigsburg

4.0

Konigsburg really knows how to write. She writes with such subtlety about characters- showing rather than telling and leaving a lot up to her readers to interpret. While this does not have a classic story such as From the Mixed Up Files, it is still a wonderful book and head and shoulders above much of what is written today for middle readers. She never goes for the easy jokes but gives complex characters that are not quirky just for her material’s sake but somehow more truly integrated. It is the story of a boy who wants to discover something that has been lost and restore it to the world and the friendship he develops with an estate liquidator’s son, who has done just that. They become embroiled in the life of a retired opera singer whose story and those of her family goes back to the pre-World War II Modern Art arena. It gives wonderful insight to those that lived through that time in Austria and Europe and would be a nice addition to the genre of middle school books that deal with the Holocaust as it focuses on a different aspect of it and Hitler’s regime- “degenerate” (e.g. modern) art. I liked this book a lot and probably because Konigsburg has done so many good books for so very long this will not be seen as exceptional- but I think it is so. I actually think that due to her writing excellence this is one that will appeal to adults who can appreciate her expertise, as well as grades 5-8 readers. It is not an adventure, although it is a mystery, and will interest the readers that like a quieter less swashbuckling story. Highly recommended. One negative- author overdid the self congratulatory bits that defined one of the secondary characters, but this was a minor flaw.