Sunday, February 9, 2014

Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Jacob and his family don’t quite believe his grandfather’s increasingly panicked warnings about danger and strange beings pursuing him, until his grandfather’s murder. Determined to find out what actually happened, Jacob believes the answer lies on a small island off Wales where his grandfather spent time as a child.


I totally wanted to like this book, mostly because I was intrigued by the photographs of (as the title puts it) “peculiar children.” According to the end material, these photographs are real artifacts, collected by the author and some of his acquaintances. It seemed to me, though, like the children weren’t the center of the story; rather, the narrator (Jacob) and  his pursuit of his grandfather’s killer(s) played that role. I think that’s where the book let me down. It’s also a YA book, and I generally find that YA titles, while they might have interesting plots, don’t have the sophisticated language or deep characterization that I enjoy reading. This book was a quick and easy read, but I probably won’t do the sequel. 3/5*

1 comment:

  1. I agree with you. I was intrigued by the photos and their usage, but the story didn't draw me enough to read any sequels. Also, I burnt out on reading YA over the last few years. Fortunately the granddaughters don't need me screening their reading anymore :)

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