Helpful Score: 10
I LOVED this book. It was sweet and a bit sad, but written intelligently and a very unique story. I highly recommend it.
Helpful Score: 8
This was my first swap received in the mail with PaperBackSwap, and now one of my most favorite books. The author is talented and gifted with great style, descriptions and wit. National Book Award Finalist.
Helpful Score: 5
This book was touching and sweet. I bit slow in places but only because I wanted to see more.
Helpful Score: 3
I enjoyed reading this book. It is very humorous with minimal sappy romance. Everything up until the end was very enjoyable, but the ending puts me into a rather neutral category, though I can see others really falling for it and its creativity.
Helpful Score: 3
This is a good book and worthwhile to read. A librarian who has never been in love falls in love with an 11 year old very tall boy who grows into a giant. He accepts her as a friend. She becomes his best friend and he comes to love her also. The giant only lives to be 20 years old, but in those years they become very close. Their romance is bittersweet and very touching. In the very end there is a surprise for the reader.
Helpful Score: 2
Ordered this book from paperbackswap. Good story, read in one night. I highly recommend! I plan to order more of Elizabeth McCracken's books.
Helpful Score: 2
This book seemed promising, with an interesting story line and a very unique set of characters. However, while I do prefer a more eloquent, descriptive narrative, this book's particular style just left me always searching...almost like waiting for a punch line that never comes. There did not seem to be, for me, an ebb and flow that makes reading so enjoyable. Nothing hidden, waiting to be discovered...nothing unsaid, hanging in the air like electric current...no cat in any bag, threatening to be let out at any moment.
Not my kind of read. The book was confusing and unrealistic.
Helpful Score: 1
Bittersweet story, well written.
Helpful Score: 1
Interesting, quick read.
Helpful Score: 1
I thought this was a very nicely written book. Completely enjoyable.
Helpful Score: 1
This is an excellent and well-thought out book. I highly recommend it!
Helpful Score: 1
Tender novel about the strength of choosing to love in a world that offers no promises, no guarantees.
Helpful Score: 1
I enjoyed reading this book even though it's a lot different from the books I usually read. The setting is Cape Cod in the 1950's. The story's main characters are a librarian and a giant. They form a strong bond.
Helpful Score: 1
I really enjoyed the first part of this book, but it didn't hold my interest till the end.
Helpful Score: 1
Loved this book! A totally unique story of a librarian's love for a giant. Quirky sounding, but a fabulous read.
The Giants House by Elizabeth McCracken is about a librarian who forms a friendship with an overly tall boy. She calls it love, and it is a love story. But a different kind of love. Its not the sordid sort that makes you cringe. Its not about an older teacher-type woman taking advantage of a younger student. This is a touching tale about Peggy Cort and James Sweatt. Peggy is a single woman others would call a spinster. But that word conjures up images of a bitter, lonely woman, which she definitely is not. Peggy doesnt require companionship with many friends or even a husband to make her life feel full. Instead, she opens her heart to this unusually tall boy. James first came to her library when he was a 62 eleven-year-old; she was twenty five; it was 1950. Slowly she helps him not only in the world of books, but in general. She becomes a caring friend, and he becomes a precious gift to her. Miss Cort narrates the story looking back on her life, and it McCrackles with a blunt, honest, and dryly humorous tone. Her voice is luring. It flows easily and lightly. I could listen to her all day long. I think this book is one of those treasures that will stay with me a long time. Peggy and James are unforgettable. This book was a nice, giant surprise and shot right up there on my list of favorites. Read other reviews at http://readinginthegarden.blogspot.com
Great Story! Enchanting and unique!!
A satisfying read; bittersweet for sure but well-written from the inner thoughts of a librarian. Definitely not like anything else you've read. Pleasant was the word that came to me most at the end.
Fascinating characters, wonderful book.
Interesting enough to keep me moving right along--not sure I agreed with the premise though.
A great love story.
From the book jacket: Named one of the 20 best young american novelists, Elizabeth McCraken is a writer of fabulous gifts. The Giant's House, her first novel, is an unforgettably tender and quirky novel about the strength of choosing to love in a world that offers no promises, and no guarantees.
Touching, a great read.
Touching, a great read.
A National Book award finalist.The unusual story of a very tall little boy and the libarian who befriends him. Set in Cape Cod in the 1950's.
National Book Awars Finalist, Oprah's Book Club selection.
National Book Award Finalist
"The year is 1950, and in a small town in Cape Cod twenty-six-year-old Peggy Cort feels like love and life have stood her up. Until the day James Carlson Sweatt - the "over-tall" eleven-year-old boy who's talk of the town - walks into her library and changes her life forever."
"The year is 1950, and in a small town in Cape Cod twenty-six-year-old Peggy Cort feels like love and life have stood her up. Until the day James Carlson Sweatt - the "over-tall" eleven-year-old boy who's talk of the town - walks into her library and changes her life forever."
