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Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
was written in 2011 and published by Quirk Books. It is a Young Adult
supernatural/paranormal fantasy book with a historical fiction twist. This is
Rigg’s debut novel, utilizing odd antique photographs to create a mythological
world where certain people have strange powers and monsters hunt them for their
souls. This book was adapted directed by Tim Burton into a movie in 2016 staring
Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, and Ella Purnell, to some mixed reviews.
I picked this book up at my library in order to prepare for
the fourth book—The Map of Days—released October 2nd, 2018. My
cousins had read this before the movie came out and told me to read it but it
really didn’t seem like my thing so I put it off. I watched the movie and thought
it was okay . . . and put off reading it. Now that I work at a library and with
the fourth book—a surprise to fans everywhere—coming out, I figured it was time
that I actually read it.
Spoiler Alert!
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children follows Jacob
who is from a well-off family in Florida. He discovers his grandfather
dead—possibly murdered—and is trying to come to grips with his death. The
police rule it an animal attack but Jacob isn’t convinced after a cryptic
message from his grandfather leads him to wonder if any of the old stories had
some truth to them. He convinces his parents to let him go to the island where
his grandfather lived during World War II and try to track down Miss Peregrine,
the woman who raised him, or the other children who grew up with him. Once
there, Jacob discovers the peculiars, his own unique heritage, and a danger to
the entire world.
This book moves between the modern world and a single day
during World War II. Everyone in the past is stuck in a loop of a single day
and only peculiars are able to pass between the two times. Miss Peregrine
teaches and guards the children, who are easily in their 80s or older yet are
stuck as children and young teens because of the loop. Each child has their own
powers, ranging from invisibility to controlling air, to raising the dead or
controlling bees. They stay in the loop to protect themselves against creatures
known as wrights and their monsters called hollows; soul-less beasts that hunt
peculiars in an attempt to gain back their own souls. As events unfold, Jacob
is forced to choose between his life with his parents, and a life with the
peculiars. He can choose to be a human and live without protection from the
wrights or he can live and protect the other children while forming a romantic
relationship with Emma Bloom, the one-time sweetheart of his grandfather. When
a wright captures Miss Peregrine, Jacob makes his decision and sets out with
the other children to rescue her.
As I said, I didn’t pick this up for a long time because it
never really struck me as something I’d be interested in. After reading through
it within a couple of days, I have to say I was a little disappointed. The
novel has a really slow start with the narrator “all knowing” or “recounting my
life” which in general annoy me. I find that kind of narrator tends to lean
towards grandiose though thankfully this doesn’t seem to be the case with Jacob’s
narration.
The book takes it’s time to build momentum, giving us time
to learn about the different characters and their world and the rules, but
there’s no real conflict outside of some jealous characters and trying to learn
the truth about Jacob’s grandfather. He isn’t even being forced into staying
with the other peculiars because Miss Peregrine wants him to choose for himself
if he wants to stay, but that doesn’t really create conflict. There’s a little
tension between Jacob and his family since they think he’s a little nuts after
his grandfather’s death, but even that doesn’t really put a lot of pressure on
the story. It’s just there. On the
island, his father attempts to enforce some rules but never follows through
with them and Jacob easily slips away whenever he feels like it with little
more than a lecture and a threat to call his mother and therapist back in the
states as punishment.
I also had a problem with Miss Peregrine. I get she’s old
and is one of the guardians of peculiars and she knows more about the mysteries
of this world than nearly all the others, but I thought she was a bit full of
herself. She’s constantly telling the children that the future is bad yet she
also acknowledges the kids are aging past their years ad going insane because
of it. Yet that’s better than moving them a little further into the present for
some reason? I honestly would think there was a better solution.
When the wrights are revealed, I found it strange that the
same wright has been following Jacob his whole life, but it’s waited this long
before it decided to strike? Why? It didn’t make sense to me. The ending
conflict also felt unnatural. We’re never given any clues to the danger beyond
the warnings by Miss Peregrine—though it’s framed as things Jacob and the
children don’t have to worry about—and the death of Jacob’s grandfather.
Everything suddenly rushes to an end without really building towards it or
convincing me we earn the ending. Even with Miss Peregrine gone and the loop
closed, there is no reason for Jacob to stay with the children other than the
fact he feels responsible for protecting them. He has the opportunity to go
home but chooses to continue to involve himself in a world he really doesn’t
understand.
Over-all, the entire book is world building. What are the
peculiars, what are their lives and their world like compared to our everyday
lives? The old photographs add to this and create a great image for readers to
imagine more people and creatures that don’t seem to be part of our world, yet
we know these photos are “real”. I do
like the idea of the book. I’m just not convinced it was as great as people
claim it is.
*I am an affiliate with Z Publishing house. If anyone is interested in reading the works of new and emerging writers, you can find some great works at this site: http://www.zpublishinghouse.com?rfsn=1831564.e6264
I have been published in their Emerging Ohio Author's anthology and in their National Emerging Author's Anthology (Vol. 2) if you're interested in seeing my writing. I do receive a small payment for anything purchased through this link.
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