Scan barcode
moiru'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A heart-wrenching, yet heartwarming story about family and grief, based on Malaysian folklore and superstition.
It says that the most beautiful blooms come from the darkest soil.
It's about a pelesik, a type of ghost that takes the form of a grasshopper in disguise, who was previously under the command of a witch. When he is no longer under her possession, he travels to find a girl who shares the same blood as the witch. The ghost cannot grasp what emotion is in his non-existent heart, but a joy of human pain, because that is what the witch has taught him. However, when he meets Suraya, the girl he’s been searching for and who named him “Pink,” he learns that her greatness of humanity is contagious to him, and he doesn’t like feeling it. One thing about Suraya, despite behaving like a little sunshine, is that she lives in a poor status and hard circumstances where she has a dysfunctional mother. Pink knows exactly how hard it is for her, and soon they cherish their human-ghost friendship.
She shivered slightly under his gaze—she had no blanket—so he curled himself around her for warmth and smiled when she sighed happily in her sleep.
The Girl and the Ghost was an amusing medium-paced read. The story is set in a village in Malaysia, and I adore Hanna Alkaf when she wrote some of the words in Malaysian, e.g. kampung and sarong. Her writing style helped me to feel close to the characters, and they also had a decent development throughout the story. Its adventurous, emotional, tense, and mysterious atmosphere makes it a terrific read, but inappropriately too dark for a middle-grade book. It was depressing in the early chapters, and I had to stop myself from reading because there were twenty pages of graphic bullying scenes, and it took so long for the bullies to obtain their karma. Alkaf in her book is implying that standing up for yourself against the bully makes you a bully is so wrong; standing up for yourself against the bully does NOT make you a bully too. The moral of the story should have taught the kids to defend themselves against bullies.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. The ending is predictable, but I had myself quite fulfilled. I’m glad I spent 5 days on a worthwhile read and planning to read other books by Hanna Alkaf. I feel honored to read an English book that is set in Malaysia, and I would recommend this book to anyone interested in this setting. If you like or are looking for a story about the dynamic between humans and supernatural beings, or the hardship of mother and daughter, or even an adventure against evil beings, please consider grabbing this book and giving it a big amount of love.
⭐ 4.1/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Blood
Moderate: Child death, Death, and Grief
Minor: Violence and Murder
emerentina's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Murder
tania_mybookishsecret's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Blood and Vomit
Minor: Child death, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
qrschulte's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
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? Yes
5.0
Ugh what a beautiful and emotional book. Had me crying by the end. My suspicions were correct, and the reveal at the end was hard, but perfect. It was definitely horror, but not too much for me to handle. It was scary while still being manageable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Torture, Grief, Stalking, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Vomit, Death of parent, and Murder
lizgom's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This will probably be my favorite middle grade book. I listened to this as an audiobook, and honestly it was great. I feel like it gave the characters more depth than I would've given them if I had read it. I have a habit of liking middle grade books better as audiobooks. This is a great take on mental health and reaching out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Blood, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Torture, Violence, and Murder
alexvb's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0
This was so great! I enjoyed it from start to finish! I wish the ending had just one more chapter between the final and the epilogue or just a few more pages or something. It felt just a tad rushed.
The writing flowed so well, and the story was very easy to get into!
The characters are all so distinct and great. I like PINK even though we are challenged to question him and his morals. The bad guy was actually chilling and creepy!
The story naturally has Muslim and Malaysian culture / aspects into the story which was great for me to look up (especially all the food mentioned! So much food was mentioned!) and do extra research about if I wanted to.
I the dual pov was perfect for me.
This story also discusses parental love, mourning, and bullying, and it felt very realistic. The fantasy/supernatural is very minor compared to the modern day, everyday life, and real topics in ths book.
I found myself crying in that last chapter though! The reveal!!
Personally, I think that this book is probably better for the upper end of middle grade (13-14) rather than the lower end. Some publishers class age 8-14/15 as middle grade, but I would not recommend this book to someone under 12, because some parts of this were genuinely dark, creepy, and scary if I'm being honest. I had some disgusted, creeped-out, heart-racing moments myself reading this as an adult! Our main character around 12 to 13 years old, so if you're going to give this book to a child, I think a child of the same age or older is best.
The writing flowed so well, and the story was very easy to get into!
The characters are all so distinct and great. I like PINK even though we are challenged to question him and his morals. The bad guy was actually chilling and creepy!
The story naturally has Muslim and Malaysian culture / aspects into the story which was great for me to look up (especially all the food mentioned! So much food was mentioned!) and do extra research about if I wanted to.
I the dual pov was perfect for me.
This story also discusses parental love, mourning, and bullying, and it felt very realistic. The fantasy/supernatural is very minor compared to the modern day, everyday life, and real topics in ths book.
I found myself crying in that last chapter though! The reveal!!
Personally, I think that this book is probably better for the upper end of middle grade (13-14) rather than the lower end. Some publishers class age 8-14/15 as middle grade, but I would not recommend this book to someone under 12, because some parts of this were genuinely dark, creepy, and scary if I'm being honest. I had some disgusted, creeped-out, heart-racing moments myself reading this as an adult! Our main character around 12 to 13 years old, so if you're going to give this book to a child, I think a child of the same age or older is best.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Child death, and Death
Minor: Violence, Grief, and Murder
charmingreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
4.5
i love this story so much. the writing is beautiful, the characters are amazing, and the story is wonderful. the girl and the ghost deserves so much more recognition.
age rating: 11+
age rating: 11+
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Death and Murder
jay_jade736's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
I decided to bump it to 4.5 ⭐ after giving it a thoughtful reminiscing. It's truly a fun middle grade read.
I was really fond of Pink and Suraya's friendship. When there was a debale between the two, I found myself being lenient to one over the other when the POV switches. As individuals, I really love them and can see myself being friends with them
Jing is a fun side character. I do think that she's shallow compared to some other side characters in other books, she still is someone I have a sort of fondness over. She reminds me alot of Mei Mei in Upin and Ipin and I think the author draw inspiration from her
I also noticed a rather intriguing but peculiar writing style the author tends to add. "If you would listened carefully, you would have heard Pink buzz" (Not an actual sentence from the book)
At first I thought it was annoying and ruined the whole vibe of the book but as I read along and eventually being engrossed with the books sequence of events, the more I found it to be engaging. It then felt awkward in the ending parts as it wasn't utilised as much and when it was, it no longer has that nuance to it
Speaking of endings, this one crushed me. While I think it was cliché (the twist to be specific) I still found the departure of Pink and Suraya heartbreaking especially since that was the last time they could be together in the same physical space if that made any sort of sense
Overall, this was a fun read and a bug suggestion if you love to get to know more of Malaysia and it's culture
(Note: This has bullying, medical detail, murder and abandonment way detailed and explicit than what you'd normally expect from a middle grade book so read with caution)
Update: lowered it to 4.25 ⭐️
I was really fond of Pink and Suraya's friendship. When there was a debale between the two, I found myself being lenient to one over the other when the POV switches. As individuals, I really love them and can see myself being friends with them
Jing is a fun side character. I do think that she's shallow compared to some other side characters in other books, she still is someone I have a sort of fondness over. She reminds me alot of Mei Mei in Upin and Ipin and I think the author draw inspiration from her
I also noticed a rather intriguing but peculiar writing style the author tends to add. "If you would listened carefully, you would have heard Pink buzz" (Not an actual sentence from the book)
At first I thought it was annoying and ruined the whole vibe of the book but as I read along and eventually being engrossed with the books sequence of events, the more I found it to be engaging. It then felt awkward in the ending parts as it wasn't utilised as much and when it was, it no longer has that nuance to it
Speaking of endings, this one crushed me. While I think it was cliché (the twist to be specific) I still found the departure of Pink and Suraya heartbreaking especially since that was the last time they could be together in the same physical space if that made any sort of sense
Overall, this was a fun read and a bug suggestion if you love to get to know more of Malaysia and it's culture
(Note: This has bullying, medical detail, murder and abandonment way detailed and explicit than what you'd normally expect from a middle grade book so read with caution)
Update: lowered it to 4.25 ⭐️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
bexi's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Child death, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Body shaming, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Murder
sarah984's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is a very sweet (but also pretty scary in places!) novel about a young girl and her ghost friend. It's set in Malaysia and covers topics such as family secrets, loss of a loved one and what happens when your best friend suddenly makes a new friend. It's written in a really charming almost fairy tale style.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Child death, Death, Blood, Grief, Stalking, and Death of parent
Minor: Cursing, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Murder