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Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'
Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
7 reviews
euhfubeuh's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Miss Peregrine’s Home is a creepily fun and historical spin on school of gifted children trope. The characters are all fun, fiery, and quirky, and obviously I’m a bit biased to Emma. The collection of photos that is iconic for the series is a great addition to make the story even more immersive, knowing that Riggs collected most of them from Abandoned buildings and edited them to fit the story makes them all the more chilling.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Genocide, Hate crime, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and War
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Xenophobia, and Antisemitism
fujiopples's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Another one of my favorite books of all time. Jacob is such a great protagonist, and I love how this book combines the struggles of WWII with fantasy elements. All the characters are wonderful, and the way Riggs used old pictures and fit them into the story is just genius.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Death of parent
erebus53's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I tried to pick up a copy of this one as a graphic novel, as it was listed as on the shelves (at Christchurch South Library), but an unhelpful librarian refuse to help me track it down after I had flipped through everything on the shelves and come up wanting.. so I threw up my arms in agitation and just downloaded the audiobook. It was probably a wise decision in the long run.
The story focuses on a teen who is brought up in Florida and who has a close relationship with his Jewish grandfather who survived WWII. The man tells him fanciful stories and and shows him photographs of a children's home where he was raised with kids with special powers. The photographs look fake and a bit dodgy, so nobody believes his stories of special powers and monsters, assuming that they are the mentally divergent accommodations of a traumatised holocaust survivor. As the old man gets increasingly paranoid and the family are considering putting him in a care facility, his grandson goes to check on him, only to find that one of the monsters has got him.
Once his therapist okays the trip, he follows a set of clues in his grandfather's last words, and he travels with his father to a remote island in the UK where his father wishes to observe the local birdlife. There he puts together a puzzle that brings him into contact with people his grandfather once knew, and entangles him in further adventure.
Being set in Florida I notice that there is quite a bit of narrative about the treatment of the elderly. There is a focus on listening to the opinions of older people, and the ways that they are treated in society (there are a lot of rest homes and retirees in Florida, so this follows). I also encountered the term "lenai" for the first time. Intuiting that it was a type of verandah, I looked it up and realised that this common feature of houses in tropical climes was not unknown to me.. my Uncle has one similar to the pictures that I see in an internet web-search, and he lives in Australia.
The story is interesting, deals with alternate timelines and portals, and has a little bit of teen kissing, secret monsters, shape changers, levitating and snorkelling, and some stuff with common or garden necromancy, scary monsters, and sheep poo. This is the first part of a bigger story so it's not surprising that the end of it is a bit of a cliffhanger. I'd like to know what happens next.
The story focuses on a teen who is brought up in Florida and who has a close relationship with his Jewish grandfather who survived WWII. The man tells him fanciful stories and and shows him photographs of a children's home where he was raised with kids with special powers. The photographs look fake and a bit dodgy, so nobody believes his stories of special powers and monsters, assuming that they are the mentally divergent accommodations of a traumatised holocaust survivor. As the old man gets increasingly paranoid and the family are considering putting him in a care facility, his grandson goes to check on him, only to find that one of the monsters has got him.
Once his therapist okays the trip, he follows a set of clues in his grandfather's last words, and he travels with his father to a remote island in the UK where his father wishes to observe the local birdlife. There he puts together a puzzle that brings him into contact with people his grandfather once knew, and entangles him in further adventure.
Being set in Florida I notice that there is quite a bit of narrative about the treatment of the elderly. There is a focus on listening to the opinions of older people, and the ways that they are treated in society (there are a lot of rest homes and retirees in Florida, so this follows). I also encountered the term "lenai" for the first time. Intuiting that it was a type of verandah, I looked it up and realised that this common feature of houses in tropical climes was not unknown to me.. my Uncle has one similar to the pictures that I see in an internet web-search, and he lives in Australia.
The story is interesting, deals with alternate timelines and portals, and has a little bit of teen kissing, secret monsters, shape changers, levitating and snorkelling, and some stuff with common or garden necromancy, scary monsters, and sheep poo. This is the first part of a bigger story so it's not surprising that the end of it is a bit of a cliffhanger. I'd like to know what happens next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War
Moderate: Genocide, Gore, Excrement, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Kidnapping
spookily's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Moderate: Alcoholism, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Antisemitism, Dementia, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death, Drug use, Infidelity, Medical content, and Abandonment
dev921's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
koberreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Review: One of the best fiction books regarding how our individuality, even though might be a curse or something to fear by other people, is also something they are compelled by, even if they don't admit it.
We should focus more on how wonderful and interesting our differences are rather than derive hate and fear from them.
It is also a story about the eternal need in all of us, no matter how small to live forever, in paradise, even at times we would wish we are gods as well and are unaffected by death. But death is a part of life, not the opposite of it even time loops that seem to escape or make death invalid, from the very words of Ms. Peregine herself, only delay it.
Death gives life meaning. Therefore removing, death will truly make life meaningless or if not, maybe we become monsters in our desire to live like death is not part of life, like the hollowgast and wights. Maybe not physically a monster but just internally slowly.
Read the whole series, you won't regret it. It is for all ages. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and War
paulina_laukova's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, and War
Moderate: Child death and Antisemitism
Minor: Excrement