Contributors

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs



.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine #1) 

A mysterious island.

An abandoned orphanage.

A strange collection of very curious photographs.

It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

A unique book.  I thought it was beautifully written and the story flowed very well.  It stretched the realms of reality without being too far fetched.  Everything "Peculiar" in it felt like it could actually be true in this world.  Ok some of it had been done before but what made the book unique were the photographs.  

At first I thought they were photographs that had been created for the book as they fitted in so well with the story.  Then, at the end, the author explained that they were actually real old photos.  This just blew my mind away as it made the book so very clever as the story and photos were so perfectly aligned.  


I would love to know if he had written the story and then hunted for the photos to go along with it or if he already had the photos and changed the story to make use of certain images! 



Even after finishing the book I sat for a while looking back at the photos and just appreciating the art of this book.  Knowing the photos were posed by real people made me wonder what on earth they were doing posing in such strange sets, costumes and poses.  It would be interesting if anyone knew of the real people in the photos - grandmothers etc - and what the real story behind them was.

A book I would recommend to anyone who likes a good story but also appreciates something a bit different in their reading. 



No comments:

Post a Comment