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meenie_14's review against another edition
5.0
Saturday Night Ghost Club is unequivocally beautiful and wonderful. It’s a bittersweet, humorous, spooky at times, coming-of-age story, and there were so many beautifully written lines it’s a wonder I didn’t highlight the whole thing. The characters are carefully and lovingly crafted, and the entire time I was trying to grasp the mystery while fully enjoying it. I loved this book and if there were more than five stars to give I’d have no qualms handing them over.
My favorite quotes:
“Living in Cataract City shrank Dove, because it asked her to be so much less.”
“Our boy owes us nothing. No boy owes his parents. Parents owe their children everything, always and unconditionally, and that’s just the way it goes.”
“Imagine trying to hold the tail of a comet as it blazes across the heavens. It’s burning your hands, eating you up, but there’s no malice in it; a comet can’t possibly know or care about you. You will sacrifice all you are or ever will be for that comet because it suffuses every inch of your skin with a sweet itch you cannot scratch, and through its grace you discover velocities you never dreamed possible. You will love that comet, but part of that love—a percentage impossible to calibrate—is tied to your inability to understand it. How can that comet burn as it does, pursue the trajectory it does? It confuses you, because the comet disguises itself as a human girl. But make no mistake, the girl contains fire to evaporate oceans, light to blind minor gods.”
My favorite quotes:
“Living in Cataract City shrank Dove, because it asked her to be so much less.”
“Our boy owes us nothing. No boy owes his parents. Parents owe their children everything, always and unconditionally, and that’s just the way it goes.”
“Imagine trying to hold the tail of a comet as it blazes across the heavens. It’s burning your hands, eating you up, but there’s no malice in it; a comet can’t possibly know or care about you. You will sacrifice all you are or ever will be for that comet because it suffuses every inch of your skin with a sweet itch you cannot scratch, and through its grace you discover velocities you never dreamed possible. You will love that comet, but part of that love—a percentage impossible to calibrate—is tied to your inability to understand it. How can that comet burn as it does, pursue the trajectory it does? It confuses you, because the comet disguises itself as a human girl. But make no mistake, the girl contains fire to evaporate oceans, light to blind minor gods.”
heathergrayyy's review against another edition
3.0
This book was not at all what I expected it to be. I should have known after reading the reviews that it wasn't going to be the juicy, spooky novel I had hoped, but it REALLY was not that. 100% a coming of age tale, a zero on the spooky scale.
lonelybeatnik's review against another edition
4.0
Jake Baker is kind of your everyman dweeb on the schoolyard. Though new kids in town flock to him and his friendliness every summer as they move in, by the time school starts they've moved on to a more popular crowd intent on punishing Jake for his weight, interests, and fear. Complicating his life further is his crazy uncle Cal who runs Niagara Falls iconic Occultorium, the curio shop filled with monkeys' paws and ouiji boards. This summer starts no differently: two new kids in town find and befriend Jake. But the summer ends with a lot more than Jake could have expected.
You know, I had some mixed feelings about this story. It has a lot of the elements of a classic coming of age story that you expect, but with some strange twists and turns. Dove Yellowbird presents as a great femme fatale that really brings out a lot of Jake. I resonated with a lot of the feelings Jake has to explore there. And the moments of growth really had me cheering for the guy.
Honestly, I didn't find the book as worth it until the very end, though. Davidson does a great job of tying up the loose strings, both the ones that had been bothering me and a lot of pieces that I didn't even notice.
A final note: I saw that the book's description tried to tie it to Stranger Things, but apart from a few ghost stories told by Uncle Cal, the similarities end at "Teenagers in the 80s in a nothing town". If you're looking for a bit more paranormal, you'll probably be disappointed. I still thought it was well worth the read, though.
You know, I had some mixed feelings about this story. It has a lot of the elements of a classic coming of age story that you expect, but with some strange twists and turns. Dove Yellowbird presents as a great femme fatale that really brings out a lot of Jake. I resonated with a lot of the feelings Jake has to explore there. And the moments of growth really had me cheering for the guy.
Honestly, I didn't find the book as worth it until the very end, though. Davidson does a great job of tying up the loose strings, both the ones that had been bothering me and a lot of pieces that I didn't even notice.
A final note: I saw that the book's description tried to tie it to Stranger Things, but apart from a few ghost stories told by Uncle Cal, the similarities end at "Teenagers in the 80s in a nothing town". If you're looking for a bit more paranormal, you'll probably be disappointed. I still thought it was well worth the read, though.
crowscratch's review against another edition
5.0
Beautifully written! Evocative, compelling, heart-breaking and haunted. Cannot recommend enough. Thoroughly enjoyed.
funtimeseany's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This was unfortunately a miss for me. As it never quite lives up to its premise, the story you’re left with is rather predictable and ham fisted. The emotional beats just didn’t hit for me in this one.
royalgiraffe362's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
vampire_envy's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
tarygl's review against another edition
5.0
This reminded me of The Body by Stephen King in all the best ways.
cjpass4's review against another edition
4.0
Aptly described as a mix between “Stranger Things” and “Stand by Me”, I loved this book immensely. I only knock a star off because it took me 40ish pages to get into it, but then I loved it. Such a great “Summerween” book. It takes you back to when you were 12 and believed in ghosts - but also shows you how ghosts can still be real when you’re an adult. Davidson is also a master at his imagery of the town and its haunts.