A review by heleneintheclouds
The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole, by Michelle Cuevas
4.5
4.5 stars
At times like these I need half stars, because 4 stars is too low for this funny, cute and heartfelt tale, and it's not perfect enough for 5 stars.
The story is narrated by Stella, who is speaking to her dead father. I immediately loved the sarcastic humour. An example:
"Who's there?" I asked. No one answered. Has anyone in a scary movie ever answered that question?
Oh, glad you asked, it's me the axe murderer. Dang it! That was actually supposed to be a surprise...
Chapter eleven
...
Chapter eleven has been eaten by a black hole. Please proceed to Chapter Twelve.
See what I mean? I could not count all the times the sassy narration made me smile.
Well, Stella ends up with a black hole as pet and she feeds him all the things she dislikes or remind her of her dead father, hoping they will disappear and she will feel less sad.
Eventually she herself enters the black hole to retrieve her dog. With a bunch of companions, she navigates the crazy inside of the black hole with a bathtub as vessel.
This was one of the things I liked less about the story. The world inside the black hole was weird, but not in a beautiful way, and there was less humour.
There were little illustrations throughout the book and the pages inside the black whole were actually black, some empty, some with words randomly draped around the pages. It made the book a very quirky and unique read.
Five chapters into the story I found myself comparing this book to Cressida Cowell's work. Sarcastic humour, crazy hilarious situations, pages coloured to match the situation in the book and sometimes beautiful quotes.
At times like these I need half stars, because 4 stars is too low for this funny, cute and heartfelt tale, and it's not perfect enough for 5 stars.
The story is narrated by Stella, who is speaking to her dead father. I immediately loved the sarcastic humour. An example:
"Who's there?" I asked. No one answered. Has anyone in a scary movie ever answered that question?
Oh, glad you asked, it's me the axe murderer. Dang it! That was actually supposed to be a surprise...
Chapter eleven
...
Chapter eleven has been eaten by a black hole. Please proceed to Chapter Twelve.
See what I mean? I could not count all the times the sassy narration made me smile.
Well, Stella ends up with a black hole as pet and she feeds him all the things she dislikes or remind her of her dead father, hoping they will disappear and she will feel less sad.
Eventually she herself enters the black hole to retrieve her dog. With a bunch of companions, she navigates the crazy inside of the black hole with a bathtub as vessel.
This was one of the things I liked less about the story. The world inside the black hole was weird, but not in a beautiful way, and there was less humour.
There were little illustrations throughout the book and the pages inside the black whole were actually black, some empty, some with words randomly draped around the pages. It made the book a very quirky and unique read.
Five chapters into the story I found myself comparing this book to Cressida Cowell's work. Sarcastic humour, crazy hilarious situations, pages coloured to match the situation in the book and sometimes beautiful quotes.