Sandra H. (sandifh) reviewed on 2/19/2012 + 3 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

Title: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children; Author: Ransom Riggs(2011); Quirk Books; 352 pp.

I bought this book because it was highly rated by so many book lists and because there were so many people waiting for it on PBS. If only I had known. Amazon's blurb says the author "spent his formative years making silly movies." In "Miss Peregrine's Home..." he has graduated to making silly books. I read over 150 pages without being interested; but I kept reading in hopes there would be a sudden reason to continue. The old photographs are the best thing, and may be the only good thing, about the book. However, the photos made me think more about the author's process than about the story. Did Riggs find the pictures first & create the book; or did he write the book then go looking for photos? Either way, it was often hard to relate the photos to the book. In fact, I found myself constantly going back and rereading in case I'd missed something. Many pictures seemed to have been inserted for no reason, except they were interesting to the author. There are places in the story where I became interested in a character; but most of the characters were flat and poorly drawn. Probably two of the most uninteresting characters were the 16-year-old narrator and Miss Peregrine. To sum up the problems I had with the book, it had no real ending. Nothing was resolved. It was just a way to set up the reader for sequels.
This book is billed by Amazon as for age 13 and up. If I were an adult buying for a child, I'd read this one before giving it. The "horror" scenes are filled with what seems to be gratuitous violence for violence's sake. I'm glad it was a gift. I hate to have paid for it.

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