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Liked It “I thought this was a phenomenal book. Fans of Francesca Lia Block will enjoy it.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “I liked the beginning of this book, the wonderful writing style and the mood that Hartnett creates. However, there's not enough plot to sustain a novel and in the middle the main character sails to a mythical island and the sea journey is way too fantastical for my taste. I ended up skipping...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“I liked the beginning of this book, the wonderful writing style and the mood that Hartnett creates. However, there's not enough plot to sustain a novel and in the middle the main character sails to a mythical island and the sea journey is way too fantastical for my taste. I ended up skipping about 20 pages and reading the end to see what happens (and I never ever skip pages).
CMeyrink wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
From Amazon:
Grade 7 Up—Reality quickly gives way to fantastical fable in this story of an old woman who returns home from walking her dog to find a strange boy in her lounge room, where she gives him tea and tells him the story of her life. A lonely child of wealthy parents, Matilda/Maddy encounters a ragged, wild young man on the beach near her home. She names him Feather and they fall in love and conceive a child, but she miscarries. In trying to tame Feather, Maddy loses him, too, and, despairing, she attempts to drown herself in a pond, to be rescued by Feather, who then leaves for good. But Maddy learns to sail and embarks alone on a dangerous sea journey to find him, only to finally acknowledge that their fragile love cannot sustain a life together. Sailing back to her old life, she later becomes a doctor and humanitarian. As her story ends, it is apparent that the boy is her never-born child who has come to accompany her passing to the next world. Lyrical writing, heavy with visual imagery and touched with euphemism, creates an ethereal mood, but the story is not served well by the fantastical elements. Maddy's journey brings her face to face with talking sea creatures, a floating mosque, a battle between a kraken and a leviathan, and Zephyrus, who guides her to the savage island where she confronts Feather and the loss of love. Neither fish nor fowl, this romance may nevertheless find a readership with older fantasy lovers”“I thought this was a phenomenal book. Fans of Francesca Lia Block will enjoy it.”
Tabetha S wrote this review Sunday, November 29 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Absolutely breathtaking; one of my all time favourites. Every now and then you come across a novel so beautiful and full of magic that you can only ever read it once, because if you read it again, some of that magic will be lost.
Elise wrote this review Monday, September 28 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The depth and emotion in the novel is outstanding. Sonya Hartnett is one of my favourite authors and her subject choice is definately unique. She is evidently a quiet observer with strong feelings about a range of matters and she conveys them well through her work.
I don't think I've ever cried so much whilst reading a book. ”
“I generally go for ths type of book (especially in the summer), but I set this one aside after a few chapters...”
Gayle S wrote this review Thursday, August 27 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Lovely fable. Reminded me of remembering Babylon by David Malouf. Sonya Harnett writes in an enchanting way.”
Andrew G wrote this review Friday, August 21 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“An adult fairy tale - you just have to go with it and enjoy the ride.”
Mary-Marg G wrote this review Sunday, August 16 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“ Reviewed by Ashley B for TeensReadToo.com
TeensReadToo.com wrote this review Monday, July 20 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Matilda comes home one day to find a young boy sitting on her sofa. They have tea, and she tells him about her past. At that time, she went by Maddy, and she longed for a fairy tale life.
When Maddy finished school, she came home to her family's house by the sea. Her father asked her what she thought the most beautiful thing in the world was. She answered, "sea eagles." Her father decided that the two of them together would travel the world in search of the world's most beautiful thing, since he was not satisfied with her answer. After their travels, she was asked the question again. And she realized that she was the answer her father was looking for.
One day when she was back home, she went to the beach. She saw a young man and found herself walking towards him, scaring away the pelican that he was holding. She went to see him every day after that. She called him Feather. She married Feather, and they moved into a cottage in the forest.
He left one day, to be at his one place where he could be happy. Maddy could not come though, he told her. Weeks after, she wondered why he went to this one place and if he was happy. She decided that she needed to know the answer, so she had a sailboat made, and she set to sea. She saw many things, and spoke to sea life. She found Feather, and got her answer.
When she got back to her home, she left the cottage, unable to live there any longer. She decided she wanted to work in the war. She nursed injured soldiers, and from there decided that she wanted to be a doctor. From then on, she was Matilda. She helped people and then began to age. She was getting older, and lived in a house by herself. She ended her days in that house.
This was a very intriguing book. I was confused with the boy, but by the last chapter, I knew exactly who he was and why he was there. The life that Maddy lived was amazing. She went through so much, and many of those things weren't so good, which is very easy to relate to. Her parents were odd. Her father wanted Maddy to be who she wanted to be, whereas her mother just wanted her daughter to marry a rich man and not care about being happy, which bothered me. Feather was also confusing. He appeared out of nowhere. I was happy they married, but unhappy when he left her.
Overall, this was a very interesting book, and was hard to put down. I enjoyed it very much. ”
“Usually I'm a fan of Sonya Hartnett's books but I didn't care for The Ghost's Child at all. Indeed, I found it so uninteresting that I wasn't able to properly finish it. It was no mystery, really, who the strange boy in Maddy's house was supposed to be; that was patently obvious right from the start. Once that was figured out then I couldn't be bothered to finish the rest of the book, it was so dull. I did what I almost never ever do with a book: I skipped to the end to verify my suspicions about the boy and why he was there. In the last couple of pages I found out I was correct in my assumptions and so closed the book and returned it to the library. Sonya Hartnett has done better than this. Here's hoping that she'll be doing just that in regards to her next book.”
Bookworm wrote this review Thursday, June 25 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
0 of 1 members found this review helpful“Wonderful fantasy. ”
SouthWestZippy wrote this review Monday, February 9 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
0 of 1 members found this review helpful“Such a lovely little book! Mrs. D. is so grateful that every once in awhile a fine writer will attempt to make us think about important things and give us a chance to learn some wisdom rather than merely entertaining us! This book is written in a style called magical realism, like dear Gabriel García Márquez’ “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, which you’ve surely read, or will some day. Wikipedia defines magical realism as “an artistic genre in which magical elements or illogical scenarios appear in an otherwise realistic or even “normal” setting” (at least, this is how Wikipedia defines it today: tomorrow, who knows?). Who is the boy who unexpectedly comes to visit Matilda in her old age, prompting her to tell him her life’s story? Is he even real, or imaginary? And who, after all, was Feather, the young man Matilda fell in love with after seeing him talking to, of all things, a pelican! These questions are essential to understanding the book, yet they are not answered, as essential questions often remain unanswered in life.
DBRLTeen wrote this review Wednesday, January 21 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
So many celebrities, politicians, and advertisers make a mountain of money and a boatload of fame by telling us what we want to hear, instead of the truth, which we usually don’t want to hear. (You can be the next American Idol! Your dreadful little voice and lack of training and practice will be no obstacle if you only believe in yourself!) The truth is we’re only mortal after all, not gods, we can’t create the perfect world for ourselves. We can’t have everything (or everyone) we want. That’s the wisdom this book is trying to make us think about.
So Mrs. D. recommends “The Ghost’s Child”, by Sonya Hartnett, because we all need to build our lives on a foundation of truth, not delusions.”
