Review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

I don’t know what I was expecting when I read this novel, but it wasn’t this. Not that this novel is bad – it’s not. It’s just that I was prepared for it to be way more creepy and strange than it actually was.

The creepy and strange aspect comes in part to the multitude of found photos the author has included in this book and weaved into his story. Riggs has amassed a large collection of odd black and white photos of mostly children, some adults, all with an inexplicable creepiness to them. The girl on the cover, who appears to be hovering above the ground, is one of these photos, and Riggs gives her life as a character in his story.

Jacob is our protagonist – a sixteen year old who has just witnessed his grandfather’s death after a brutal attack by … well, he’s not sure what it was. His grandfather, Abe, had told him countless stories as he was growing up about his life on this island, where he attended Miss Peregrine’s school. Jacob dismissed the stories as fantasy, but after he discovers some photographs and letters while cleaning his grandfather’s home, he begins to wonder whether there’s some truth to the stories, after all.

He uncovers the mysterious place, enters a new world, and meets the peculiar children his grandfather spoke of. How does he play into the fate of the peculiars?

This is an entertaining journey, filled with unforgettable characters, mystery and danger. It features a complex relationship between Jacob and his grandfather, as well as his parents. It sets up a tie between the past and the present, and of course, reveals that Jacob might just be peculiar, himself.

Not quite the Halloween read I was looking for, but a thumbs up all the same.  The photos really add to the story, and are in themselves fascinating.

 

By the way, this was part of my TBR Book Pile Challenge. Not like i have a prayer of finishing it this year, but I’m trying!!!!!