You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
books_and_pups27 's review for:
The Grave Keepers
by Elizabeth Byrne
So far a lot of the 2017 releases I’ve read can only be classified as uniquely strange. This book fits that category very well.
Set in what could be considered the real world, in this novel people put a lot of stock into thier graves and the upkeeping of them. A grave is decorated, opened, and sealed with great ceremony similar to how we celebrate coming of age milestones in real life. This whole concept is unique and takes a litle bit of reading to fully understand. I believe the author based it off of how certain cultures all over the world view death not as something to be feared, but accepted and understood as just a part of living. I guess you could classify this as magical realism, and it has the similar small town magical weirdness that most books have in that particualr genre.
Also like most books in this genre, it focuses on one particular family that is the central point of where all the magic comes from. The Windham family is in charge of the upkeeping of graves and the tenents of Grave Keeping. The main characters, Athena and Laurel are two very different sisters who both respond differently to how they are viewed by the town for what they do. After the death of their older sister they are kept cut off from the rest of the town by their parents. In spite of this, the Windham family is a very loving and supportive one. The parents were great, and considering how in YA parents are usually terrible, that was refreshing. The sisters fight as normal siblings do, but both of them are unique characters. Throughout the novel I was thinking how relateable this whole family was in spite of the strange setting. It made me nostalgic for when I was the age these sisters were.
Another important element to the story was the ghost, a character that get’s their own POV as the story progresses. While at first it was a unique perspective, as the story went on it became heart-breakingly lonely and by the end I was DROWNING IN FEELS. It balances out the more lighthearted acceptance of death by saying “HEY THIS IS WHAT IT’S REALLY GONNA BE LIKE WHEN YOU DIE”. After reading this it feels like both the main characters and the reader of the book will have a new respect and appreciation for life, which is what I think the author intended.
So overall this book was another genre-bender that was not what I expected it to be. It starts out as more light hearted and slightly amusing, but by the end you will DEFINITELY BE FEELING SAD FEELINGS. Also trigger warnings for animal death. And basically deaht in general. If that sort of thing bothers you, this book may not be for you. But I’m definitely glad I picked this up. It fits the magical realism perfectly and is a credit to the genre. I look forward to more from this author.
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Set in what could be considered the real world, in this novel people put a lot of stock into thier graves and the upkeeping of them. A grave is decorated, opened, and sealed with great ceremony similar to how we celebrate coming of age milestones in real life. This whole concept is unique and takes a litle bit of reading to fully understand. I believe the author based it off of how certain cultures all over the world view death not as something to be feared, but accepted and understood as just a part of living. I guess you could classify this as magical realism, and it has the similar small town magical weirdness that most books have in that particualr genre.
Also like most books in this genre, it focuses on one particular family that is the central point of where all the magic comes from. The Windham family is in charge of the upkeeping of graves and the tenents of Grave Keeping. The main characters, Athena and Laurel are two very different sisters who both respond differently to how they are viewed by the town for what they do. After the death of their older sister they are kept cut off from the rest of the town by their parents. In spite of this, the Windham family is a very loving and supportive one. The parents were great, and considering how in YA parents are usually terrible, that was refreshing. The sisters fight as normal siblings do, but both of them are unique characters. Throughout the novel I was thinking how relateable this whole family was in spite of the strange setting. It made me nostalgic for when I was the age these sisters were.
Another important element to the story was the ghost, a character that get’s their own POV as the story progresses. While at first it was a unique perspective, as the story went on it became heart-breakingly lonely and by the end I was DROWNING IN FEELS. It balances out the more lighthearted acceptance of death by saying “HEY THIS IS WHAT IT’S REALLY GONNA BE LIKE WHEN YOU DIE”. After reading this it feels like both the main characters and the reader of the book will have a new respect and appreciation for life, which is what I think the author intended.
So overall this book was another genre-bender that was not what I expected it to be. It starts out as more light hearted and slightly amusing, but by the end you will DEFINITELY BE FEELING SAD FEELINGS. Also trigger warnings for animal death. And basically deaht in general. If that sort of thing bothers you, this book may not be for you. But I’m definitely glad I picked this up. It fits the magical realism perfectly and is a credit to the genre. I look forward to more from this author.
Rating: 4/5 Stars