A review by alinaborger
The Boy Who Swam with Piranhas, by David Almond
Part Roald Dahl, part Series of Unfortunate Events, this charming book tells the story of Stanley
Potts, who runs away with the carnival when his Uncle gets an entrepreneurial fever for canning fish and even--gasp!--fries up Stanley's beloved goldfish. Stanley revolutionizes the hook-a-duck stall, convincing every winner to sign goldfish adoption papers, and even convincing the stall owner's sour daughter to take a second chance on friendship and laughter. When his aunt and uncle show up looking for him, he's been mentored by the man who swims with piranhas, and is just about to jump into a tank full of the sharp-teethed monsters himself.
The most interesting craft element of this text is the narration. Almond created a sympathetic but adult voice, firmly outside the story itself--very Dear Reader. However, rather than feeling more distant from Stanley's story, it actually drew me in quite dramatically. Almond accomplished this feat by making his narrator 100% on Stanley's side. If Stanley had been telling me these quasi-outlandish events himself, I might have considered him unreliable or hyperbolic. But because of this unusual adult voice, I never doubted the veracity of Stanley's story--and so was free to enjoy its utter whimsy.
(It kind of reminds me of what Erin Morgenstern did in THE NIGHT CIRCUS with the inter-chapter materials, actually).
Potts, who runs away with the carnival when his Uncle gets an entrepreneurial fever for canning fish and even--gasp!--fries up Stanley's beloved goldfish. Stanley revolutionizes the hook-a-duck stall, convincing every winner to sign goldfish adoption papers, and even convincing the stall owner's sour daughter to take a second chance on friendship and laughter. When his aunt and uncle show up looking for him, he's been mentored by the man who swims with piranhas, and is just about to jump into a tank full of the sharp-teethed monsters himself.
The most interesting craft element of this text is the narration. Almond created a sympathetic but adult voice, firmly outside the story itself--very Dear Reader. However, rather than feeling more distant from Stanley's story, it actually drew me in quite dramatically. Almond accomplished this feat by making his narrator 100% on Stanley's side. If Stanley had been telling me these quasi-outlandish events himself, I might have considered him unreliable or hyperbolic. But because of this unusual adult voice, I never doubted the veracity of Stanley's story--and so was free to enjoy its utter whimsy.
(It kind of reminds me of what Erin Morgenstern did in THE NIGHT CIRCUS with the inter-chapter materials, actually).