28th October, 2008

I, Coriander by Sally Gardner

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Wouldn’t you like to own a pair of shoes that fit like it was made for you? Ah, how nice that would be! Coriander Hobie is one lucky kid. She receives a pair of silver shoes and they fit her perfectly. But then, there is another story altogether behind those pretty shoes.

In this book, Coriander tells her tale in seven parts. She also lights seven candles to represent each part and blows them off one by one as she finishes one part after another. Now this candle-blowing thing is really intriguing but I don’t understand what it means.

First, Coriander introduces herself (she was born in 1643) and her parents. Where they lived, how her parents met, how her mother could ‘cure’ the neighbours by recommending them to take some of her homemade remedies. Some people secretly called her mother a witch or a cunning woman but they still flock to her home to be treated.

Now one day, a package arrives for Coriander and what does she find in there? Why, it’s the pair of silver shoes that fit her so darn well. Unfortunately, her mother doesn’t allow her to wear them. Six-year-old Coriander who has fallen in love with the shoes just couldn’t understand why she wasn’t allowed to wear them. She knew that the shoes were made especially for her.

Unable to resist not being able to have those shoes, Coriander sneaks into her father’s room and discreetly wears them. She panics when she couldn’t take them off, as if they wouldn’t come off. Well, it was only temporary. The shoes acted normally after that and Coriander’s parents let her wear them freely.

After a while, something odd happened to Coriander’s mother. She died not much later and the family’s broken-hearted. To make matters worse, Coriander’s father is advised to take on a Puritan wife so that he can keep his properties. Mr. Hobie was supportive of the Royalist cause and the Royalists had lost the English Civil War.

Mr. Hobie’s new wife, Maud, is like the wife/step-mother from hell. She finds fault with almost everything and is set on making the house more Godly by removing and changing many things which she considers to be linked to witchcraft. She also brings a preacher, Arise Fell home and insists that he stay with them.

Arise Fell is definitely one person whom I would never like to meet! He’s an extremist, heartless, cunning, and just a really hated character in this book. I felt angry and sympathetic towards Coriander and the others who had to suffer from Arise Fell’s ‘hand of wrath’. He even forces Coriander to change her name to ‘Ann’ because Coriander is not a suitable name for a God-fearing person. Ridiculous!

You’ll enjoy reading I, Coriander as it’s magical and beautifully-written. The parts with Arise Fell were quite disturbing because he just seemed so cruel! He’s quite remarkable because he can influence people with what he preaches but things go too far when he takes matters into his own hands. For example, the part where he and Maud deliberately kill an old, defenseless woman while other people just stood by watching.

I should like to see this book turned into a movie. It would be quite fascinating to watch Coriander, Arise Fell, Tycho (Coriander’s love), and other characters on screen.

Other Reviews: Jenne, Jen Robinson, Casey

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Posted in Authors G, Children's Books, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Titles I at 9:55 pm | Comments (14)



14th August, 2008

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

I had no idea this book was written way back in 1998! I thought it’s a fairly new book since I’ve only just heard of it. Man, am I outdated or what!

All the same, I immensely loved the movie! Now that I’ve finally read the book, I found that it’s quite different from what I saw on the big screen. But it still was a magnificent read. Although the book looks like it’s meant for children, it certainly is not. There are parts and words in it which would not be appropriate for younger readers at all. That was another surprise to me too. I’ve always thought it’s a children’s fantasy book but it’s not.

So, at the beginning, Dunstan Thorn crosses the gap that separates Wall, England and Fairie or Stormhold. Fairie is nothing like Wall. Wall is like our normal world while Fairie is a magical place with creatures and objects you will not find in Wall. Dunstan then meets a pretty slave girl and falls for her. They slept with each other and nine months later, a baby was delivered to Dunstan. That baby was Tristran Thorn.

Tristran grew up to be an ordinary young boy with some extraordinary features like an ear which is almost pointed for example. He’s also in love with the beautiful Victoria Forester. Unfortunately, she’s not that interested with him. She’s broken lots of hearts anyway, so why should she show interest in an ordinary boy like Tristran?

However, one evening when Tristran managed to walk Victoria home, they witness a falling star. Hoping to win her heart, Tristran promised Victoria that he’ll find the star for her. In return, she should grant him anything he desires. Because of that, the love stricken young man bid farewell to his family and set off to find the star in Fairie.

During his journey, he meets a little man who helps him. He gives Tristran a special candle and a thin silver chain. In the movie, his mother gave him a Babylon candle and the chain instead.

Now, Tristran isn’t the only one who’s looking for the fallen star. The witch-queen is looking for it too. She and her sisters are old hags but if they eat the heart of a star, their youth and beauty will be restored for a while at least. Michelle Pfeiffer did a really good job acting as the witch in the movie.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell how the star fell in the first place! Well, she was hit by the topaz necklace which was released by the dying Lord of Stormhold. The son who manages to retrieve the necklace will be the next Lord of Stormhold.

Nevertheless, when Tristran and the star, Yvaine first meet each other, they didn’t get along well. She didn’t get along with him actually. She was just a miserable, bad-tempered fallen star and he was only interested in bringing her back to his true love, Victoria.

All in all, it was a great book. The movie’s fabulous too. I’ll watch it again and again. Oh, Captain Shakespeare’s not in the book. It’s Captain Johannes Alberic instead and his role was very small unlike Robert De Niro’s in the movie! This book was kind of serious with not much humour in it. Hmm, I don’t think there was any humour at all but I’m not complaining!

Other Bloggers’ Reviews: Care, Robyn, Kim, nylusmilk

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Posted in Authors G, Fantasy, Titles S, Young Adult Fiction at 10:45 pm | Comments (16)



2nd May, 2008

An Amazing Story by Carlo Gabbi

You may think this is purely a love story but no, it is not. It is mainly the story of Dolores who is on a quest to find true love, happiness, and her purpose in life. The book starts with Uncle Bill narrating his experiences while in Brazil and also how he met Juanita. Juanita is Dolores’ mother.

There are many characters in this book but I’ll just start with Uncle Bill, as Dolores calls him. He does not have a happy marriage and finds comfort in the arms of Juanita. He believes Juanita is his true love but they cannot be together since he has to return to his promiscuous wife in Australia. Bill also treats Dolores like his own daughter and he’s one of the few people whom she can trust.

When Bill and Juanita separate, Juanita met another man, Jack. At first, Dolores looked up to Jack as a loving father but he has been sexually abusing her without her knowing it because she’s still too young to understand and all. She thought that he’s just being a loving father figure.

One night, Juanita thought that Dolores was trying to steal Jack away from her although Dolores was just actually trying to save her mother from Jack’s cruelty and selfishness. Since then, Dolores wasn’t on good terms with her mother. Her mother was certainly very blind to everything and naive at that time.

Dolores left for Sydney, working as a dancer. But she didn’t stay long at the job. After that, she tried to get herself recruited into modeling agencies but to no avail. Things got so bad and she was absolutely desperate for money until she decided to be a high class prostitute at The Brazil nightclub at Kings Cross. She vowed to save up enough money so that she can return to Brazil to start a brand new life.

Cupid’s arrow struck her when she met Thomas, a famous photographer who thinks that he is not capable of loving a woman. However, she’s unsure if he really likes her or just using her. She’ll just need to wait and see how things go then.

Dolores wrote parts of life down in her diary and she sent a manuscript to Uncle Bill, probably hoping that he’ll write a story of her life. That’s how the story began.

It is an interesting and unique book though there are obvious grammatical errors in it. There are also many events in the story and it gets complicated if you don’t read it properly. Besides that, I think that girls and women should read it as it is a story for women after all. Apparently, ‘An Amazing Story’ is a partly true story, to what extent I do not know. Is there a real Dolores out there?

All the same, if it is a true story, it’s good that it is written. Maybe it can be a guide for young women who may feel that they have nowhere else to go or have completely given up on love. Dolores’ story is capable of helping women out there.

Thanks to Carlo Gabbi for providing me a copy of this book!

Buy An Amazing Story

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Posted in Australian, Authors G, Romance, Titles A at 10:00 am | Comment (1)



8th June, 2007

The Family From One End Street by Eve Garnett

What an interesting book! And imagine if you had SIX brothers and sisters, seven if you include yourself! Wouldn’t it be fun and rowdy everyday, fighting and playing with your numerous siblings? That’s what life is for the Ruggles family who live at Number 1, One End Street in Otwell.

Josiah or Jo and Rosie Ruggles have seven children where two of the redheaded boys are twins. Jo is a Dustman while Rosie is a Washerwoman. Let me name the childrens’ names from eldest to youngest. Lily Rose, Kate, James and John, Jo, Peg, and William.

Each child has had an adventure. I noticed that Peg is the only without any remarkable and exciting incident happening to her. First off is Lily Rose’s mistake with the green silk petticoat. It actually belongs to one of Rosie’s customers and Lily Rose had a blunder with it.

Next is the brilliant Kate who hopes to win a scholarship. However, her parents are worried because if she wins a scholarship, it means that they’d have to spend on her uniforms, tennis racket, shoebags, etc. Well, Kate got a new school hat and something unfortunate happens. Will she get to wear her new school hat to school?

Incidentally, the twins, James and John were recruited into a gang. Each member in the gang was required to indulge in any kind of thrilling adventure and was expected to relate it to the other members during the weekly meetings. Therefore, both set out to find their own adventures and I can say that they did have some interesting tales to tell the other boys.

Jo is a fan of Mickey Mouse and he loves going to the cinema although his mom doesn’t really approve of children spending time at the cinema. When there’s a new exciting show coming up, Jo’s eager to catch it no matter what it takes!

And baby William was entered in a baby contest! He’s ten months old and still toothless. But, his proud parents still think he has a chance of winning a prize. Well, he seems like an adorable little baby, anyway.

Eve Garnett herself illustrated the beautiful illustrations in this book! She’s an artist AND a writer. One publisher even thought that this book was not suitable for children and turned it down. Rather weird, huh? I think it’d be a wonderful read for both children and adults alike!

Buy The Family from One End Street (Puffin Modern Classics)

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Posted in Authors G, Modern Classics, Titles F at 2:08 pm | Comment (0)


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