snylund1023's review against another edition
5.0
Great book! Loved it! I found it in the back of the library and had to read it
vivianbernard2012's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Note: This review contains spoilers.
Yes, yes, and yes! Zilpha Keatly Snyder has done it again!
My thoughts:
This book was just as amazing as the Egypt Game, one of my favorite books! The characters are so defined, especially the children! The author has such an accurate way of protrying them, whereas in many books of this kind, the children have mature and adult thoughts.
I loved the mystery circulating around Worm; is it real, or all in Jessica's mind? I liked that Jessica finally ended up bonding with Worm and realizing that she shouldn't be afraid of him.
When I first read this book, I hated it. I hated it because everything just got worse and worse. The moment you realize that Jessica is about to ruin her mother's seventy dollar dress, or when you just know that Jessica is going to push Brandon's trumpet out of the window, you just want to roll around on the floor and scream. But now, I realize that that's what made it such good writing. Strong emotions that you feel while reading, even if it's anger, are good.
Summary:
Jessica is lonely. Her mom is never around, always on some business trip or date, often leaving Jessica alone. She feels even more alone when her only friend, Brandon abandons her. To Jessica, Brandon is a "no good, stinking, traitor." She trys to make new friends, but one moves away, and the other has ditched her for a popular scum bag with a fancy pool.
But, everything changes when she finds a tiny kitten, just hours old, who is just as abandoned as her. While some would be delighted to have a tiny companion on their hands, Jessica is less than thrilled. She tries to give it to the apartment's "crazy cat lady," Mrs. Fortune, but she refuses. Now, Jessica is left with a ugly, eyeless cat, that looks like a worm, whom she must feed every two hours to keep alive.
Then, Worm talks. If Jessica wasn't freaked out by this abomination of a cat before, she definitely is now. He tells her to do things that she doesn't want to. As these things become worse and worse, Jessica begins to suspect that he is a witch's cat, sent by an evil figure to drive her mad. Is it her imagination at work, or is a witch really after Jessica?
Yes, yes, and yes! Zilpha Keatly Snyder has done it again!
My thoughts:
This book was just as amazing as the Egypt Game, one of my favorite books! The characters are so defined, especially the children! The author has such an accurate way of protrying them, whereas in many books of this kind, the children have mature and adult thoughts.
I loved the mystery circulating around Worm; is it real, or all in Jessica's mind? I liked that Jessica finally ended up bonding with Worm and realizing that she shouldn't be afraid of him.
When I first read this book, I hated it. I hated it because everything just got worse and worse. The moment you realize that Jessica is about to ruin her mother's seventy dollar dress, or when you just know that Jessica is going to push Brandon's trumpet out of the window, you just want to roll around on the floor and scream. But now, I realize that that's what made it such good writing. Strong emotions that you feel while reading, even if it's anger, are good.
Summary:
Jessica is lonely. Her mom is never around, always on some business trip or date, often leaving Jessica alone. She feels even more alone when her only friend, Brandon abandons her. To Jessica, Brandon is a "no good, stinking, traitor." She trys to make new friends, but one moves away, and the other has ditched her for a popular scum bag with a fancy pool.
But, everything changes when she finds a tiny kitten, just hours old, who is just as abandoned as her. While some would be delighted to have a tiny companion on their hands, Jessica is less than thrilled. She tries to give it to the apartment's "crazy cat lady," Mrs. Fortune, but she refuses. Now, Jessica is left with a ugly, eyeless cat, that looks like a worm, whom she must feed every two hours to keep alive.
Then, Worm talks. If Jessica wasn't freaked out by this abomination of a cat before, she definitely is now. He tells her to do things that she doesn't want to. As these things become worse and worse, Jessica begins to suspect that he is a witch's cat, sent by an evil figure to drive her mad. Is it her imagination at work, or is a witch really after Jessica?
halfdemonkitty's review against another edition
MC is a girl dealing with loneliness and anger...and her cat may or may not be possessed by a demon.
ashleylm's review against another edition
4.0
Although in the abstract this is not really my kind of book (it's mostly bleak and unfunny, and I gravitate to gentle/charming (not silly)), it's so well-written that one can't help but enjoy it on its own terms. The protagonist, whose viewpoint we follow throughout, is troubled (and trouble) and one wants to shake her, but one can't, and that's frustrating. The plot is resolved in a way that's too pat, I think, to work in the real world--but it is a novel, after all, so I'll let that go a bit.
I listened to it via Audible and the narrator did a lovely job, you forgot you were listening to it and felt like you were reading it (my highest compliment!)
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s)
I listened to it via Audible and the narrator did a lovely job, you forgot you were listening to it and felt like you were reading it (my highest compliment!)
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s)
sallyb72's review against another edition
5.0
This is a reading level 5.6. It was a read-aloud that I stopped reading to my children because it was too scary. I agree that it is a dark and disturbing book. I would definitely not let my child read it without reading it for discussion on reality and our impact on others.
i_will_papercut_a_bish's review against another edition
4.0
If you read this as a child, it's a terrifying novel about cat possession.
If you read it as an adult, it's a psychological thriller about a lonely, truly disturbed girl who escalates in destructive/abusive behavior and projects in a truly spectacular way onto a stray kitten she's fostering. There's no magic, just a novelized version of that one disturbing little girl in the case study on YouTube.
{spoiler} I'm relieved she didn't murder the poor damned cat.
Either way, bizarre. I'm still slightly unsettled. Which is usually a nice thing in a book, but the more realistic twisted side (plus the targeted age) makes me hesitate to pass it on.
If you read it as an adult, it's a psychological thriller about a lonely, truly disturbed girl who escalates in destructive/abusive behavior and projects in a truly spectacular way onto a stray kitten she's fostering. There's no magic, just a novelized version of that one disturbing little girl in the case study on YouTube.
{spoiler} I'm relieved she didn't murder the poor damned cat.
Either way, bizarre. I'm still slightly unsettled. Which is usually a nice thing in a book, but the more realistic twisted side (plus the targeted age) makes me hesitate to pass it on.
mrsthrift's review against another edition
3.0
I picked this up because I loved The Egypt Game as a kid, I haven't read anything else by Zilpha Keatley Snyder and I have thing for 1970s Newbery Honor books. The main character shares my name (how very 1970s) and the central storyline is about an ugly, evil cat she sort of accidentally adopts. In a very childish way, this made me really connect with Jessica, as I also have a sort of ugly, definitely evil cat who I occasionally resent and despise and I'm pretty certain he's got a demonic possession, too. I hope my cat does not read Goodreads. He will certainly murder me in my sleep.
This book also garners a mention for its breezy portrayal of a negligent, attractive, single divorcee of a mom. It is very 1970s, how she calls Jessica "Jessie Baby," how she leaves the TV dinners for her, doesn't listen when her daughter talks, dates a series of guys who don't want to be fathers to her daughter, introduces her kid as "my daughter, believe it or not," etc.
In any case, the reason I'm rushing to write about this book mere moments after I finished it is this: I was so profoundly touched by how seriously dark and scary this book is. The main characters are like, 12? and usually kids appreciate books with characters a few years older than them, right? so we're talking about 8-10 year olds as the target audience here. This book is about Worm, a witch's cat who tells Jessica to do horrible things, like ruin her mother's clothing, frighten old ladies with lies about men breaking into their houses and punish a "witch" by setting her house on fire. But then I mean, I know kids can handle some dark shit, but planning to set your neighbor's apartment on fire while she's napping is more We Need to Talk about Kevin than Newbery in my estimation. Also? There is a scene where Jessica tries to exorcise her cat. And in general, she is really mean and fairly abusive toward the cat, who she blames for her behavior. It's OK to blame an imaginary friend for things, but if you are 12 and you are blaming a live animal, going so far as to lock him in a closet to keep him from controlling your mind, well. That is different. And fucked up. And you should know better.
So, I don't know. I enjoyed the book and the weird, witchy outsidery-ness of Jessica, in the same way I appreciated Snyder's outsider kids in the Egypt Game, but I was put out by the treatment of animals and the outright creepiness of a kid who wishes so much harm and suffering on the people around her.
This book also garners a mention for its breezy portrayal of a negligent, attractive, single divorcee of a mom. It is very 1970s, how she calls Jessica "Jessie Baby," how she leaves the TV dinners for her, doesn't listen when her daughter talks, dates a series of guys who don't want to be fathers to her daughter, introduces her kid as "my daughter, believe it or not," etc.
In any case, the reason I'm rushing to write about this book mere moments after I finished it is this: I was so profoundly touched by how seriously dark and scary this book is. The main characters are like, 12? and usually kids appreciate books with characters a few years older than them, right? so we're talking about 8-10 year olds as the target audience here. This book is about Worm, a witch's cat who tells Jessica to do horrible things, like ruin her mother's clothing, frighten old ladies with lies about men breaking into their houses and punish a "witch" by setting her house on fire. But then
Spoiler
it turns out that the real demons are inside you. And all the evilness was actually coming from Jessica all along.So, I don't know. I enjoyed the book and the weird, witchy outsidery-ness of Jessica, in the same way I appreciated Snyder's outsider kids in the Egypt Game, but I was put out by the treatment of animals and the outright creepiness of a kid who wishes so much harm and suffering on the people around her.
kindleandilluminate's review against another edition
4.0
Read a lot of Zilpha Keatley Snyder as a child, but missed this one until now; now, when, as a fully grown and theoretically emotionally stable adult, I bizarrely sobbed so hard I couldn’t see the words on the page, out of reaction to the most intense feelings-flashback, remembering viscerally what it is to feel young and helpless and hateful and numb and monstrous and betrayed all at once.
And even more so to read other people’s reviews and see just how much all these other adults detest and are repulsed by the character you were relating so damn hard to.
And even more so to read other people’s reviews and see just how much all these other adults detest and are repulsed by the character you were relating so damn hard to.
tangerineteeth's review against another edition
4.0
Reread in September 2021: https://hollograms.blogspot.com/2021/10/books-read-in-september-2021-part-one.html