Title: White Crow
Author: Marcus Sedgwick
Publication: Roaring Brook Press (2011)
ISBN 978-1-59643-594-0
Format: PaperBack (Advance Reader Copy) 240 pages
A town slowly crumbling into the sea, a girl with a troubled past, a secret long forgotten, and a question: What's on the other side of death?
Thought provoking as well as intensely scary, White Crow unfolds in three voices. There's Rebecca, who has come to a small, seaside village to spend the summer, and there's Ferelith, who offers to show Rebecca the secrets of the town . . . but at a price. Finally, there's a priest whose descent into darkness illuminates the girls' frightening story. White Crow is as beautifully written as it is horrifically gripping.
I am not even on page 100 and already I want to throw in the towel. I am not quite sure what the point of the book is and why I am supposed to feel anything for the main characters so far. There are three people who have the microphone and none of them have any sort of personality. If they are cardboard cutouts I don't even know what the minor characters are. Yet the fact that this book is a review copy makes me feel as if I have to finish it. Also I heard that it gets better further on. Here's to hoping.
It is not too hard to find out the theme of this book. Angels and Demons? Heaven and Hell?
Although, if you missed that memo then I can safely say that you have not been reading the book. And I include skimming as part of a looser definition. Let's get back to chronological order, shall we?
So Rebecca and her father move to a small town by the sea called Winterfold. Why? No one knows until around two-thirds of the way through the book. Until then we get a lot of emo monologues and random point of view switches. The reader is told over and over again about how something happened to them both that caused them to leave behind their life but other than that there is a whole lot of nothing.
While Rebecca (that is such an awesome name, by the way) is exploring and surprisingly brooding in broad daylight she comes upon a cliff. Cue the air-headed idea to stand really close to the edge and then have someone come out of nowhere and you get Rebecca almost over the edge. This first meeting of Ferelith is a good indicator to the rest of their relationship. It is very obvious where you hear from Ferelith's point of view that she has a crush on Rebecca (how can you not with a name like that) however Rebecca is still in denial over the ending of her last relationship. They do a bunch of stuff together that we don't really know about because of the priest's story.
The pastor is corrupt. I know this is so surprising, right? When have there ever been corrupt people put in the clergy? *Note the heavy sarcasm, please.* So he gets together with a doctor who I am pretty sure was kicked out of Paris for being a nut-job and they kill some people in order to find out the big question that is being asked every other paragraph in this book. What happens after you die? Ohhhhh! All the priest sees is hell.
Back to Rebecca and Ferelith. They do a bunch of stuff and many of the things that Ferelith forces Rebecca to do would have made me stop hanging out with her. Yada yada ya. Things happen and we find out that they moved because of something that happened while her dad was working. I was all ready to hear how something also happened to her. I was Wrong with a capital W. Nothing happened to her. She is just being a brat and making it all about herself. I think if anyone was to combine all of the parts that actually explained why they moved it would barely fill up a page. That is how little is said about it.
The last few chapters confuse me. Are we supposed to believe what Rebecca told her dad or was she really hallucinating? When did it happen? So confusion abounds.
My thought on the fact that they have three point of views is that it could have been done better. The three people that we hear from are not likable and I think that they had been better fleshed out or fleshed out at all I could have found them interesting. Maybe. The first half of the book drags. Nothing happens and yet it takes a surprisingly long time for it to happen.
I would have given the book three and a half stars if it had not been for the beginning and the end. The middle was surprisingly interesting but just as I was starting to get into the book the completely confusing ending came along. I did not find myself scared at any point of the book which is always nice but in this case very disappointing. This was the first book by Marcus Sedgwick that I have ever read so I can't really say how this one compares to his other books but many say that his other ones are much better.
It is not too hard to find out the theme of this book. Angels and Demons? Heaven and Hell?
Although, if you missed that memo then I can safely say that you have not been reading the book. And I include skimming as part of a looser definition. Let's get back to chronological order, shall we?
So Rebecca and her father move to a small town by the sea called Winterfold. Why? No one knows until around two-thirds of the way through the book. Until then we get a lot of emo monologues and random point of view switches. The reader is told over and over again about how something happened to them both that caused them to leave behind their life but other than that there is a whole lot of nothing.
While Rebecca (that is such an awesome name, by the way) is exploring and surprisingly brooding in broad daylight she comes upon a cliff. Cue the air-headed idea to stand really close to the edge and then have someone come out of nowhere and you get Rebecca almost over the edge. This first meeting of Ferelith is a good indicator to the rest of their relationship. It is very obvious where you hear from Ferelith's point of view that she has a crush on Rebecca (how can you not with a name like that) however Rebecca is still in denial over the ending of her last relationship. They do a bunch of stuff together that we don't really know about because of the priest's story.
The pastor is corrupt. I know this is so surprising, right? When have there ever been corrupt people put in the clergy? *Note the heavy sarcasm, please.* So he gets together with a doctor who I am pretty sure was kicked out of Paris for being a nut-job and they kill some people in order to find out the big question that is being asked every other paragraph in this book. What happens after you die? Ohhhhh! All the priest sees is hell.
Back to Rebecca and Ferelith. They do a bunch of stuff and many of the things that Ferelith forces Rebecca to do would have made me stop hanging out with her. Yada yada ya. Things happen and we find out that they moved because of something that happened while her dad was working. I was all ready to hear how something also happened to her. I was Wrong with a capital W. Nothing happened to her. She is just being a brat and making it all about herself. I think if anyone was to combine all of the parts that actually explained why they moved it would barely fill up a page. That is how little is said about it.
The last few chapters confuse me. Are we supposed to believe what Rebecca told her dad or was she really hallucinating? When did it happen? So confusion abounds.
My thought on the fact that they have three point of views is that it could have been done better. The three people that we hear from are not likable and I think that they had been better fleshed out or fleshed out at all I could have found them interesting. Maybe. The first half of the book drags. Nothing happens and yet it takes a surprisingly long time for it to happen.
I would have given the book three and a half stars if it had not been for the beginning and the end. The middle was surprisingly interesting but just as I was starting to get into the book the completely confusing ending came along. I did not find myself scared at any point of the book which is always nice but in this case very disappointing. This was the first book by Marcus Sedgwick that I have ever read so I can't really say how this one compares to his other books but many say that his other ones are much better.
0 comments:
Post a Comment
I encourage feedback because it reminds me that I am not talking to myself. I don't mind if you comment on my post, recommend a book, or just want to say hello. You can even have a conversation with each other. All civil correspondence is welcomed.
Don't forget to check back for my response