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A review by librarianna81
Click: One Novel, Ten Authors by Eoin Colfer, Margo Lanagan, Tim Wynne-Jones, Roddy Doyle, Nick Hornby, David Almond, Gregory Maguire, Linda Sue Park, Deborah Ellis, Ruth Ozeki
3.0
shelfnotes.com
Dear Reader,
I was really excited for this book. It had a lot of promise! So many great authors, and all working for such a great cause. And, I did love most of it - there were some great and beautiful "sub-stories", and the writing was beautiful. However, for those of you who have read A Tale for the Time Being, you'll understand what I mean when I say things got a bit unexpectedly weird. I was hoping for a great resolution to the mystery, but was pretty disappointed by what, ultimately, the explanation turned out to be.
However, the characters almost made up for any of the story's shortcomings. I don't think I'll soon forget the tale of the girl and her mother who live alone on the seashore, or the one of the teenager who feels so alone in her despair until she meets a photographer who captures her story with a large piece of jagged glass. Or the Russian prisoner who receives unexpected kindness. I think the main characters - Maggie and Jason, and their grandfather "Gee" - framed the story really well. I'm quite interested to know if the authors all conceived the entire story together, or if they wrote their chapters in order, with no idea where the book would go (even if they tried to gently guide things one way or another). Knowing that would make the story even more strong to me, I think - knowing one way or the other. I remember trying to write a story like that once or twice in my past, and being disappointed to see where my partner had taken the tale I was trying to tell. Each author only gets so much control over the book, which I found endlessly intriguing - especially because, as a writer, I certainly love having control of my own stories!
I'd recommend this to writers especially, because I think they'd be fascinated to watch how ten different authors approached the same novel. (And luckily, their different narrative styles don't disrupt the flow of the story in any way.) I think it was a very interesting read, just not quite up to the par I was expecting.
Yours,
Arianna
Dear Reader,
I was really excited for this book. It had a lot of promise! So many great authors, and all working for such a great cause. And, I did love most of it - there were some great and beautiful "sub-stories", and the writing was beautiful. However, for those of you who have read A Tale for the Time Being, you'll understand what I mean when I say things got a bit unexpectedly weird. I was hoping for a great resolution to the mystery, but was pretty disappointed by what, ultimately, the explanation turned out to be.
However, the characters almost made up for any of the story's shortcomings. I don't think I'll soon forget the tale of the girl and her mother who live alone on the seashore, or the one of the teenager who feels so alone in her despair until she meets a photographer who captures her story with a large piece of jagged glass. Or the Russian prisoner who receives unexpected kindness. I think the main characters - Maggie and Jason, and their grandfather "Gee" - framed the story really well. I'm quite interested to know if the authors all conceived the entire story together, or if they wrote their chapters in order, with no idea where the book would go (even if they tried to gently guide things one way or another). Knowing that would make the story even more strong to me, I think - knowing one way or the other. I remember trying to write a story like that once or twice in my past, and being disappointed to see where my partner had taken the tale I was trying to tell. Each author only gets so much control over the book, which I found endlessly intriguing - especially because, as a writer, I certainly love having control of my own stories!
I'd recommend this to writers especially, because I think they'd be fascinated to watch how ten different authors approached the same novel. (And luckily, their different narrative styles don't disrupt the flow of the story in any way.) I think it was a very interesting read, just not quite up to the par I was expecting.
Yours,
Arianna