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A review by laura_cs
The Message in the Hollow Oak by Carolyn Keene
1.0
I struggled through this one, for a variety of reasons. Mostly ended it by just flipping pages, not really reading.
To begin with, the plot focuses heavily on a college archeology dig at a Native burial mound. My eye twitched a lot because of this. For two reasons: 1, I am the daughter of an archeologist who specializes in prehistoric America (aka pre-colonization America). As a result, I tend to get a little intense/picky over how archeology is treated in fiction, especially when it involves Native artifacts and land. 2, Earlier this week, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History completed the state's largest repatriation of Native artifacts and remains to the Chickasaw Nation. So reading about a whole bunch of white college students eagerly digging up Native American skeletons made me a little twitchy. A very dated look of archeology. Also, Bob Snell (important side character) is on the dig and states that he's an electrical engineering student. *inhale* THEN WHY THE HECK ARE YOU ON AN ARCHEOLOGICAL DIG, BUDDY? Though it DOES explain why Theresa (the professor in charge of the dig; +1 points for having a female archeology professor leading a dig) basically tossed equipment at Nancy and her friends and said 'Yeah, sure, you can totally play archeologist on my site'.
The plot was a treasure hunt but it seemed like this was definitely the book the ghostwriters struggled to keep things interesting because it's an over 300 year old treasure hidden somewhere and they're looking for a very specific hollow oak somewhere in Illinois. There's a lot of oak trees in Illinois. So, in no particular order, here's some of the crazy things that happen:
1: We'll start here since it's literally in the first chapter. This one, at least, was funny to me, a Nancy Drew game player. Because it's Nancy's first stuck-in-the-elevator moment. Which does nothing to advance the plot. Never comes back up. Just horrible Nancy luck. She definitely wasn't trying to climb out herself (boo!).
2: 2 different car crashes, same farmer's vehicles.
3: A log goes through the galley window on a boat while they're eating dessert.
4: George falls into the river.
5: Nancy gets an admirer... who is jealous of Ned. And Ned's cousin actually has a crush on this guy. Bess tries to intervene. It's a mess, that doesn't really get resolved? (Maybe it does? I don't know, I did say that I flipped through the pages of the last little bit of the book, I just wanted it over.)
6: And then there's Claire, whom Theresa (the PROFESSOR!) tells Nancy plainly "No one likes her". She's a little bit of a witch. She just likes to spew out incorrect information and literally everyone hates her and the feeling is mutual. I kept waiting for the plot twist where she was feeding information to Kit Kaddle the entire time, but nope. She was just your generic mean girl.
7: Oh yeah and some little kids stole the gang's lunch. At any given time, Bess exists to either complain about the lack of food or that her diet is being ruined.
Basically, this is a hot mess of a book.
To begin with, the plot focuses heavily on a college archeology dig at a Native burial mound. My eye twitched a lot because of this. For two reasons: 1, I am the daughter of an archeologist who specializes in prehistoric America (aka pre-colonization America). As a result, I tend to get a little intense/picky over how archeology is treated in fiction, especially when it involves Native artifacts and land. 2, Earlier this week, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History completed the state's largest repatriation of Native artifacts and remains to the Chickasaw Nation. So reading about a whole bunch of white college students eagerly digging up Native American skeletons made me a little twitchy. A very dated look of archeology. Also, Bob Snell (important side character) is on the dig and states that he's an electrical engineering student. *inhale* THEN WHY THE HECK ARE YOU ON AN ARCHEOLOGICAL DIG, BUDDY? Though it DOES explain why Theresa (the professor in charge of the dig; +1 points for having a female archeology professor leading a dig) basically tossed equipment at Nancy and her friends and said 'Yeah, sure, you can totally play archeologist on my site'.
The plot was a treasure hunt but it seemed like this was definitely the book the ghostwriters struggled to keep things interesting because it's an over 300 year old treasure hidden somewhere and they're looking for a very specific hollow oak somewhere in Illinois. There's a lot of oak trees in Illinois. So, in no particular order, here's some of the crazy things that happen:
1: We'll start here since it's literally in the first chapter. This one, at least, was funny to me, a Nancy Drew game player. Because it's Nancy's first stuck-in-the-elevator moment. Which does nothing to advance the plot. Never comes back up. Just horrible Nancy luck. She definitely wasn't trying to climb out herself (boo!).
2: 2 different car crashes, same farmer's vehicles.
3: A log goes through the galley window on a boat while they're eating dessert.
4: George falls into the river.
5: Nancy gets an admirer... who is jealous of Ned. And Ned's cousin actually has a crush on this guy. Bess tries to intervene. It's a mess, that doesn't really get resolved? (Maybe it does? I don't know, I did say that I flipped through the pages of the last little bit of the book, I just wanted it over.)
6: And then there's Claire, whom Theresa (the PROFESSOR!) tells Nancy plainly "No one likes her". She's a little bit of a witch. She just likes to spew out incorrect information and literally everyone hates her and the feeling is mutual. I kept waiting for the plot twist where she was feeding information to Kit Kaddle the entire time, but nope. She was just your generic mean girl.
7: Oh yeah and some little kids stole the gang's lunch. At any given time, Bess exists to either complain about the lack of food or that her diet is being ruined.
Basically, this is a hot mess of a book.