publisher: Quirk
date of publication: June 7, 2011
format: hardcover
pages: 352
source: purchased
Amazon / IndieBound / B&N
From Goodreads:
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 spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.
What I Thought
I had very, very high hopes for this novel. From the premise to the intriguing photographs that appear throughout the book, I was very much looking forward to finding out what the story had to offer. However, a few things fell short for me when I finally got the chance to read Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. From a main character I failed to connect with to a confusing account of things called Loops, I was left with only minor enthusiasm with regard to this book. What enthusiasm I did feel was on account of the Peculiars, not the main character. It isn't often that this becomes an issue for me, but I was left unsure as to what I thought of the book as a whole.
Jacob, though he is the main character, failed to gain either my interest or my attention. Something about him just fell flat and left me with a wandering attention span. It wasn't until he traveled to Wales and met the children that I began to perk up and pay more attention. It is the secondary characters that ran the show, as far as I am concerned. Miss Peregrine and her flock of peculiar children made for much more volatile and multi-layered characters. None fell flat, as far as they went. While they also didn't bring to the table what I thought they would (with the possible exception of one particular boy, whose talent was creating homunculi in a spectacularly creepy fashion), they were still interesting enough to make me enjoy every scene in which they appeared.
The storyline was definitely not what I was expecting. While not expecting out-right horror, I was at least expecting more thrills and chills than I got. True, the mysterious creatures were intimidating, but I had expected more of an eerie quality, especially considering how much time Jacob spends exploring an old, dilapidated house. It just was not to be, however, though I will say that the fantasy element was intriguing.
Speaking of dilapidated houses, the settings were another thing that I struggled with. While Jacob was in Florida, I found myself to be, unfortunately, bored. The descriptions just didn't go very far toward creating a picture in my mind's eye. Even when Jacob enters the tangled woods behind his grandfather's house, a point of action at the beginning of the book, I didn't find myself altogether interested. Once again, it wasn't until Jacob reached Wales that I really found myself taken in by the descriptions of the landscape and the people.
While I liked Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children well enough, I was disappointed in several ways. If you go into the book with no expectations toward the chill factor, then you will likely enjoy this book. If, however, you are looking for a chilling read, I wouldn't say that this one will fulfill your needs. It was a fun read and I can see myself reading the next installment. However, I definitely wasn't blown away as I had hoped to be.
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