noodles01's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
rachelb36's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars
This was just an okay story... for being so short, it seemed to take a while for the author to get to the point... if there was a point, that is. The ending was abrupt and felt incomplete.
My edition was not separated into chapters, and that is always frustrating. Perhaps a newer edition has a better format.
I did really like the sweet description of Tolly's great-grandmother:
"She had short silver curls and her face had so many wrinkles it looked as if someone had been trying to draw her for a very long time and every line put in had made the face more like her." (p 17)
This was just an okay story... for being so short, it seemed to take a while for the author to get to the point... if there was a point, that is. The ending was abrupt and felt incomplete.
My edition was not separated into chapters, and that is always frustrating. Perhaps a newer edition has a better format.
I did really like the sweet description of Tolly's great-grandmother:
"She had short silver curls and her face had so many wrinkles it looked as if someone had been trying to draw her for a very long time and every line put in had made the face more like her." (p 17)
marmeelovesbook's review against another edition
3.0
Charming is the word that comes to mind after finishing the book. I did feel that it was slow a bit in places and wonder ifit would have been engaging for me.as a child. Still the premise of the book was a good one- little boy goes to live in an old house in the country with his grandmother and meets the ghosts of his ancestors from lon ago and gets to hear exciting stories of their life. The end was a bit anticlimactic, but still it was a nice journey to go on. This book was part of my "Inkheart" project which is to read all the books quoted at the beginning of the chapters in Inkhheart that I never read as a child.(less)
foggy_rosamund's review against another edition
4.0
A beautiful and atmospheric story in which lonely Tolly arrives at his ancestral home for the first time. In the ancient castle, Green Knowe, Tolly's great-grandmother maintains the traditions of the house, and tells stories about the generations who have lived there before her. It's a magical place: Tolly arrives for the first time by rowing boat, as the fens are flooded, and fish swim on the lawn. He plays with toys that are almost 400 years old, and meets tame birds, hares and moles. But the magic runs deeper, because Tolly also meets three ghost children, who lived in Green Knowe and continue to make it their home over the centuries, playing games and music, romping through the gardens, and acting as companions to lonely relations. My caveat for this book is that the plot is poorly thought-through, and it's unfortunate that what plot there is rests around a "gypsy curse", which is a dated and frankly offensive conceit. However, the story itself is so richly populated with wonderful creations and characters that I was able to look beyond that detail. The prose in this book is unforgettable, and I was so caught up in the story that I couldn't stop reading, even while wanting to savour it.
thegabecole's review against another edition
2.0
Would’ve given it three stars but the very problematic Romani rep means I’m docking a star. Also there...wasn’t really much of a plot? Eh.