Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children - Book Review
Hey everyone,
I know its been a couple of months since I've posted but I've had family issues and a few health problems but now I'm back on track so hopefully I'll be able to start this again. I love reading, its a way for a me to relax and feel like I'm somewhere else, not sat in college waiting to head into yet another tiresome physics lesson. So I decided to read Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children By Ransom Riggs. Here is what I thought about it.
Because common folk cannot understand these peculiars, and what is not understood is often feared, the children live apart. Their well-being is overseen by a shape shifting woman, Miss Peregrine, who is also called a ymbryne as she could turn into a bird and as such was a time keeper.
Jacob is our main character, a sixteen year old American boy who has always struggled to fit in amongst his peers. When a family tragedy sends him into a spiral of anxiety and recurring nightmares his psychiatrist suggests it may be helpful if he travelled to a remote island off the coast of Wales where his grandfather lived as a child.
Jacob’s grandfather raised him on a diet of weird and peculiar stories which he claimed were true yet Jacob came to the conclusion they were just stories to scare him. They were about children who could not exist, who lived together on this island in a beautiful house. They were threatened by the monsters.
When Jacob sets out to uncover the facts around his grandfather’s early life he finds only a ruin where the children’s home used to be. He looks for clues amongst the broken home, asking questions of the locals. He discovers more than he bargained for, but he must then make a choice, just as his grandfather did so years before.
The writing remains light despite the horrific occurrences threatening the peculiar children’s way of life. Jacob and his new friends from old stories must battle forces intent on their demise whilst keeping their existence hidden from the common people living alongside. Their enemies are known to hide in plain sight yet cannot be seen by the peculiar except by their shadows.
Although containing many of the familiar elements in a young adult fantasy, there is much offbeat humour downplaying the fear and poignancy.
Within the narrative are scattered authentic vintage photographs depicting many of the characters. These provide a wonderful addition to the surreal feel and were definitely one of my favourite additions to the book making it very unique. The disturbing Santa pictures you have to see.
Zoe Abigail x
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