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The Apothecary

3.9 of 5 stars 3.90 · rating details · 2,717 ratings · 612 reviews

It's 1952 and the Scott family has just moved from Los Angeles to London. Here, fourteen-year-old Janie meets a mysterious apothecary and his son, Benjamin Burrows - a fascinating boy who's not afraid to stand up to authority and dreams of becoming a spy. When Benjamin's father is kidnapped, Janie and Benjamin must uncover the secrets of the apothecary's sacred book, the P

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Audio CD, 0 pages

Published October 4th 2011 by Penguin Audio (first published August 29th 2011)

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Nov 25, 2011 Maja rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobooks, cover-lust, historical-fiction, ya

Sweet and entertaining, but not what I expected.

It's the year 1952, and 14-year-old Janie is living a happy, carefree life with her parents in Los Angeles. One day, while walking home from school, she notices a black sedan following her, which causes her parents to panic and make some sudden decisions. Suspected of being communist sympathizers, they feel like they have no choice but to pack everything up and move to London.
Starting school in London is harder than she ever imagined. Janie hates e...more Sweet and entertaining, but not what I expected.

It's the year 1952, and 14-year-old Janie is living a happy, carefree life with her parents in Los Angeles. One day, while walking home from school, she notices a black sedan following her, which causes her parents to panic and make some sudden decisions. Suspected of being communist sympathizers, they feel like they have no choice but to pack everything up and move to London.
Starting school in London is harder than she ever imagined. Janie hates everything about her new school: her classmates, having to learn Latin, speaking differently than everyone else… until she meets Benjamin Burrows, son of the local apothecary.
Benjamin’s future is set. He’s supposed to take over his father’s business some day, but he hates the very idea of becoming an apothecary – he would much rather be a spy. It turns out, however, that Benjamin’s father is nowhere near as boring as he seems. He is the keeper of a very important book, the Pharmacopoeia, and one of the very few people who know how to use it. When the apothecary gets kidnapped, it’s up to Janie and Benjamin to keep the book safe from Russian spies and others who would do anything to get their hands on it.

The Apothecary is a middle grade adventure book, with an (unnecessary) touch of magic. I usually have very little patience for middle grade books and I’ve been avoiding them ever since I got over my obsession with Enid Blyton some 15 years ago, but The Apothecary kept me interested and left me wanting more. Janie is truly an admirable heroine and she and Benjamin make a great team. They never once disappointed me, and even when they made mistakes, they realized them pretty quickly.
The magical elements felt just a little out of place at first. When the kids turned into birds and flew off a roof, I felt like I’d just been slapped. It did get better eventually, with the arrival of some new characters, but I think that I’d have been happier with a non-paranormal spy adventure in this case.

I’ve been told that there are some great illustrations in this book, but you’ll have to read other people’s reviews to find out about those. I can only tell you that the audio is very good. I didn’t expect much from Cristin Millioti after she completely ruined Virals for me last year, but this time, she did an excellent job with all the accents.

For this review and more, visit The Nocturnal Library (less)

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Oct 24, 2012 Riley.p rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really like this book so far it is really good and I like that there are like potions and stuff.
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Jun 11, 2013 Alexis Wright rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

*Spoiler Free....I think*
This book was AMAZING. At first, I was hesitant to buy it, but after a while, I proceeded to order the book. And thank goodness my money had been well spent!
The story starts out with a girl,Janie Scott,who's parents just happen to be Communists (which I'm not sure actually counts as a spoiler, but if it does, sorry), and flee- I think that's a word I can use for the situation- to England. There she meets and apothecary and his son, Benjamin, and when something happen...more

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Jun 11, 2013 Bob Prhs rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When you read this book, prepare to become seriously addicted. I started it the day I got it from the library, and finished it that afternoon on the back porch, it was that good.

All you have to do is go to the library and take it out, and you will become immersed in the magical adventures of 1952.

Janie's family just moved across the ocean to England because the U.S. government thinks her parents are communists.

They move into a flat (British slang for apartment) with minimal heating, and Janie ha...more

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Jun 06, 2013 Krista rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: caudill-2014

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 30, 2013 Gabrielle rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: may-reads, fantasy-fiction, historical-fiction

When Janie Scott is forced to move away from her sunny LA to live in dreary London because of her parents' communism acts, Janie feels although she'll never be happy again. Then she meets, the mysterious, quite unusual, Benjamin Burrows, who wants to be a spy. Together, both students discover the truth of the Apothecary, Benjamin's father. When Benjamin's father, his only remaining family link, goes missing, Janie and Benjamin must accept that anything is possible.

I picked up this book because m...more

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May 16, 2013 Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, fantasy, historical, j, not-graphic

Intrigue, I think, is the word for this book. Spies and international espionage. Cold war politics, plots, and double crossings. A secret society dedicated to protecting scientific and alchemical magic, and to using that magic to better the world. Adults who can't be trusted. At times it feels like an unusual and unexpected mix of ingredients, but the one common element is that wherever the young teens in this story turn, whatever they get involved in, it involves intrigue.

And danger. The stakes...more

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Apr 01, 2013 LJ rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: juvenile-books

The main character in Maile Meloy’s The Apothecary is Jane Scott. At the time the story begins, she is a freshman at Hollywood High, living in Los Angeles with her parents, a television writing team. The family makes a sudden decision to move to London, precipitated by the anti-communist hysteria that is just starting to affect actors and writers in the early 1950’s.

Jane, or “Janie” as she prefers, is a total fish-out-of-water in 1952 London. Because her uniform is not ready yet, she attends her...more The main character in Maile Meloy’s The Apothecary is Jane Scott. At the time the story begins, she is a freshman at Hollywood High, living in Los Angeles with her parents, a television writing team. The family makes a sudden decision to move to London, precipitated by the anti-communist hysteria that is just starting to affect actors and writers in the early 1950’s.

Jane, or “Janie” as she prefers, is a total fish-out-of-water in 1952 London. Because her uniform is not ready yet, she attends her first day at prep-school in her favorite Californian outfit: a pair of bright green “Katharine Hepburn” trousers and a yellow sweater, which doesn’t help her fit in any better at St. Beden’s. On that first day, there is a bomb drill and a defiant boy refuses to get under the table with the other students, claiming that they would all be “incinerated… and their flesh would burn.” This boy turns out to be the son of the local Apothecary, on an Apothecary Association scholarship, destined to follow in his father’s footsteps, something that Benjamin does not look forward to.

What Benjamin does not know is that his father is not just an ordinary Apothecary, but an alchemist. Janie and Benjamin stumble upon this knowledge when thugs enter the Apothecary shop and Benjamin’s father thrusts a special book into their hands, urging them to hide and then he himself disappears.

Previous to this incident Benjamin invites Janie to go with him to play chess in the park. What Janie thinks is her first date is actually a distraction that Benjamin uses to facilitate his spying on a Russian diplomat whose son is a student at their school. Instead of being an apothecary, Benjamin has ambitions to become a member of the SIS, Britian’s spy agency. This is practice. On their second outing, Benjamin intercepts a note which reads, “Jin Lo Has Been Taken, You’ll be Next” intended for his father. Before he has a chance to find out what that means, his father goes missing and the mysterious book falls into their hands.

The plot takes off from there with Janie’s parents conveniently being called away to work on a television shoot in the country. Janie and Benjamin have at this point have translated portions of the book, written in Latin, and used the recipes to become invisible, and turn into birds, picking up a friend, Pip along the way who helps them rescue Jin Lo and find out that Jin Lo and Benjamin’s father, as well as a few others have collaborated in developing a defense mechanism to protect humanity from the Atomic bomb escalation plaguing their world. Their Latin teacher, Mr. Danby who they originally trusted turns out to be a traitor working for the Russians. He has captured Sergei Shiskin’s sister and mother as a method for convincing Mr. Shiskin, the Russian diplomat to rat on Benjamin’s father and Jin Lo. Originally he was helping them, but feels as though he can no longer when his family is threatened.

The complicated plot is not hard to follow thanks to the way Meloy engages the reader. Janie comes off as a real adolescent who is figuring it all out and gradually falling in love with Benjamin. For his part, Benjamin is also fully fleshed out, and not the handsome bad boy rebel stereotype that this type of character can so easily turn into. It is rated as a juvenile book, but there is a murder, a gin-loving landlady who becomes Janie’s guardian while her parents are away, and many references to how Benjamin’s touch thrills Janie, plus a first kiss scene. But it’s all pretty well PG. The book is also illustrated, which adds to the juvenile vibe in this book’s case.
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Mar 03, 2013 Ccl Children's rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: children-s-fiction

Set durning the Cold War time period, intrigue abounds in this magical novel where nothing and no one is what they seem.

When Janie's family moves to London from Los Angeles she feels like she doesn't fit in at her new school and is desperately homesick. When she first spots Benjamin Burrow ignoring the bomb drill she can't decide if her interest in him is because of the excitment he brought to the day or something else.

When she decides to follow him she finds out that he is the son of the local...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Sabrina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013

It’s 1952. Janie Scott has to move from Hollywood, CA to London, England, with her parents. She’s not thrilled at the prospect. She soon forgets her homesickness when she stumbles upon a mysterious apothecary, his handsome son Benjamin, and a murder. She’s not the only one in danger; an nuclear bomb is being put to the test. The apothecary, along with the oddest assortment of companions, had been working against Russian spies to stop the bomb. Now, it’s up to Janie, Benjamin, and their pal Pip t...more

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Feb 10, 2013 M. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 2014 Rebecca Caudill nominee. Historical fantasy, set in 1952. Janie and her parents move from Hollywood to London to avoid being forced to testify against friends and co-workers in the McCarthy era witch hunts against purported communists. One in London, Janie falls headfirst into adventure when she becomes friends with Benjamin, a schoolmate at St. Bedens and spy want-to-be whose father, the local apothecary (pharmacist), is also a secret alchemist. He and other modern day alchemists are tryin...more 2014 Rebecca Caudill nominee. Historical fantasy, set in 1952. Janie and her parents move from Hollywood to London to avoid being forced to testify against friends and co-workers in the McCarthy era witch hunts against purported communists. One in London, Janie falls headfirst into adventure when she becomes friends with Benjamin, a schoolmate at St. Bedens and spy want-to-be whose father, the local apothecary (pharmacist), is also a secret alchemist. He and other modern day alchemists are trying to find a way to negate blast and radiation damage from atomic bombs, with particular emphasis on one soon to be tested on by the Soviets on an island in the Barents Sea, north of mainland Russia. Unfortunately, the group of alchemists and Janie and Benjamin are being thwarted by British double agents working for the Soviet Union. The good guys are followed and intimidated, and and some are kidnapped.

Modern day alchemy, in the name of chemistry, saves the day several times.

The beginning of the book grabbed me immediately. It's fast paced and full of adventure and modern day alchemy seemed to solve problem after problem. The last part of the book, though, seemed hurried and there were too many unanswered questions not glossed over by alchemy. If you need gold, will a gold alloy do since jewelry usually isn't pure gold? How long can a person really survive if dropped into 38 degree sea water in February in the Barents Sea? Wasn't Jin Lo affected by blast and radiation before her containmnet device started working? How did Sergei's family escape the Soviets? And how did Pip get the scholarship to St. Bedens once the kids were back in London?

These are quibbles and the average middle schooler probably will either not notice them or not care. Nonetheless, they bothered me. I'd give the first part of the book 4 stars and the last part, 2 stars.

Adults need to be ready to answer questions about the Cold War, McCarthism, Soviet fear of American military dominance, and atomic and nuclear bombs.(less)

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Jan 29, 2013 Smoore rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: middle-grade, fantasy

Maile Meloy's (pronounced MY-lee like Miley Cyrus) middle-grade novel The Apothecary is a bit like Harry Potter meets the pharmacy meets the Cold War. Instead of wizards and spells you have apothecaries and magical elixirs, and instead of evil Voldemort you have governments bent on nuclear domination.

The year is 1952. The place is London. Janie Scott has been forced to move from Los Angeles with her screenwriter parents who have been blacklisted. Soon she meets and makes friend with the daring a...more

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Aug 05, 2012 Rhiannon Ryder rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm telling you, my BEA shelf might be getting less crowded but it's still full of all sorts of fantastic gems. The Apothecary was one of those books I didn't even have to read the blurb for when I grabbed it at the BEA. That beautiful cover sold me on the spot. To my intense delight the art continues on to the inside, although my copy is missing a lot of it because it was so advanced ,as if I need more excuses than that to buy a finished copy.

The Apothecary is not just another pretty face thoug...more

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Jun 29, 2012 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: tag-2012-13, ya-2011, young-adult

Jane is uprooted from her California home when her parents, screenwriters, decide to leave the country rather than face the McCarthy era witch hunt for communists and communist sympathizers. They go to London. That Jane is initially dismayed by the idea is an understatement, but soon her new life takes some crazy and unpredictable turns that lead her on a wild adventure filled with spies and alchemy fit for the big screen.

"We were on a nuclear test site with an untested antidote. The Soviet Nav

...more

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Mar 23, 2012 IndyPL Kids Book Blog rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, fantasy

An apothecary is an old fashioned name for a person who mixes up medicine – to us, a pharmicist. In the old days, apothecaries mixed up medicines made out of herbs or other things in nature like ground up minerals. There was a bit of magic believed to be at work. In 2012, we associate medicine with chemicals, even though those chemicals might come from natural sources like plants or minerals. We think that science is at work…not magic. This book imagines what would happen if the ideas came toget...more

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Feb 26, 2012 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

*Some Spoilers in this review*

This book was an interesting mix of genres. Mystery - Fantasy - historical fiction. I think a lot of students would enjoy this book, but I was personally put off by the author's representation of communism. Pg. 9 of the book defines communism as "the idea that people should share resources, and own everything communally, so there aren't wildly rich people who have everything and desperately poor people who have nothing." That sounds wonderful! Except that's not what...more

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Feb 13, 2012 Barb Middleton rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, fantasy

Janie’s parents are writers who are blacklisted as Communists during the McCarthy era, 1952. The family flees LA to live in London where Janie starts midyear at a new school. The city is still scarred from WWII where chocolate and a nice apartment are hard to come by. When Janie makes friends with the Apothecary’s son, Benjamin, she gets swept up in a mystery (and fantasy) as the two try to figure out who kidnapped his father and why.

The author does a great job with character development using u...more

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Feb 01, 2012 Erik This Kid Reviews Books rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

During the 1950′s, Janie was a normal American girl from a normal family that the American government accused of being communists. Janie’s family fled to London because of the accusations. In London Janie isn’t really happy but she meets Benjamin. Benjamin’s father runs the town’s apothecary and one day while they were at the apothecary, Benjamin’s father gave a special book to him and told Janie and Benjamin to hide in a secret room in the apothecary. Janie and Benjamin hear men speaking German...more

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Jan 19, 2012 Debbie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: oldbooks-historicalfiction

Ian Schoenherr's black-and-white drawings add a lot to the suspense and mystery of The Apothecary. Most of the illustrations lurk in the background of the chapter ends and beginnings, but there is one full-page spread that hits you in the gut.

Janie, our heroine, begins the story in sunny California, where her parents are screenwriters in Hollywood. But it's the 1950s, her parents are suspected of being Communists, and so the family flees to cold war-ravaged London. Janie's parents are happy work...more

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Jan 14, 2012 Tina Hoggatt rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Apothecary by Maile Meloy, a middle grade novel, can be read by all ages for its fine drawing of history along with meditations on family, war, power, freedom and the threat of nuclear weapons. If this seems heavy freight for adolescents be assured that these deeper themes are carried along by adventure, budding romance and magic.

Janie Scott, the daughter of two successful Hollywood writers is wrenched from her comfortable life in 1952 Los Angeles when her parents take a job writing for BBC...more The Apothecary by Maile Meloy, a middle grade novel, can be read by all ages for its fine drawing of history along with meditations on family, war, power, freedom and the threat of nuclear weapons. If this seems heavy freight for adolescents be assured that these deeper themes are carried along by adventure, budding romance and magic.

Janie Scott, the daughter of two successful Hollywood writers is wrenched from her comfortable life in 1952 Los Angeles when her parents take a job writing for BBC television. In brief scenes we know the ease and pleasures of Los Angeles, and are introduced to the paranoia and destructiveness of Joseph McCarthy's State Department investigation into communism, the impetus for the family's move. Arriving in London to a cold, cramped flat, Janie records her impressions of her new life in her diary and reacts with typical adolescent resentment to the changes she experiences. On her first day in London she meets the Apothecary of the title, who runs London's version of a neighborhood pharmacy, supplies the family with hot water bottles and gives Janie a remedy for homesickness that seems to work.

In her new school Janie meets Benjamin Burrows, the Apothecary's son, who has lost his mother to a German bomb during the Blitz and who refuses to "duck and cover" for a nuclear bomb drill. The two become friends. Benjamin would rather be a spy than dispense prescriptions like his father, and the two stumble upon Cold War espionage when they observe suspicious meetings in the park and discover that Benjamin's father is not what he appears. No spy, he has alchemical powers and harbors secrets that place them all in danger. When he disappears, entrusting an ancient book of spells and transformative elixirs to Benjamin, the reader and Janie are swept up in a journey of mystery and suspense that could end in the world's annihilation. With magical transformations, a pickpocket, murder, and the race to contain the power of nuclear bombs through physics and magic (and what is physics if not magic?), Janie, Benjamin and a host of well drawn and engaging characters are propelled through laboratories, capture and flight until they end up in the Arctic aboard an icebreaker with everything at stake. The resolution is surprising, suspenseful and tender, and left me hoping for a second book with these characters. I loved the magic and the very real relationship Meloy establishes.

Huzzah for the resurgence of illustrated books. The lovely drawings by Ian Schoenherr carry the story forward. A gorgeous book in the hand, compulsively readable and beautifully written.(less)

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Jan 10, 2012 Eva rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: interesting-much

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The Apothecary berkisah di Era Perang Dingin dimana Jane Scott bersama ayah dan ibunya 'terpaksa' bermigrasi dari Los Angeles ke London karena Mr. dan Mrs. Scott dilabeli person of interest oleh CIA yang saat itu sangat paranoia terhadap ide2 komunisme dalam bentuk apapun.
London di tahun 1957 bukanlah London yang kita kenal saat ini, selang 12 tahun semenjak PD II, peperangan itu mengakibatkan permasalahan sosial yang sangat besar. Bangunan2 hancur, kota berantakan, bahan bakar langka, orang2 hi...more The Apothecary berkisah di Era Perang Dingin dimana Jane Scott bersama ayah dan ibunya 'terpaksa' bermigrasi dari Los Angeles ke London karena Mr. dan Mrs. Scott dilabeli person of interest oleh CIA yang saat itu sangat paranoia terhadap ide2 komunisme dalam bentuk apapun.
London di tahun 1957 bukanlah London yang kita kenal saat ini, selang 12 tahun semenjak PD II, peperangan itu mengakibatkan permasalahan sosial yang sangat besar. Bangunan2 hancur, kota berantakan, bahan bakar langka, orang2 hidup dalam kemiskinan dan hanya bergantung dari ransum yang dijatah dari pemerintah.
Di tempat itulah Jane pertama kali bertemu dengan Mr. Burrows, seorang apoteker pendiam yang memberikannya ramuan supaya tidak lagi merasa kangen rumah. Putra sang apoteker, Benjamin, ternyata bersekolah di sekolah yang sama dengan Jane. Bagi seorang ABG berusia 14 tahun, Benjamin terlihat memukau; dia pandai bermain catur, keras kepala, berani melawan guru, sedikit songong dan nekad. Dan Benjamin kepingin sekali berkarier menjadi mata2.
Tak diyana ternyata ayah Benjamin yang nampak biasa2 itu memiliki rahasia. Dia memiliki sebuah buku bernama Pharmacopoeia yang berisikan resep2 rahasia yang luarbiasa; bagaimana meramu serum kejujuran, bagaimana membuat diri sendiri menghilang, bagaimana membuat larutan transfigurasi untuk seseorang bertransformasi menjadi burung!
Tentu saja dengan buku seperti ini, Pharmacopoeia merupakan aset yang luarbiasa bagi bangsa2 yang berseteru; Uni Soviet, Amerika, Inggris, dan Jerman. Tanpa disadari, diam2 pihak Uni Soviet menempatkan seorang mata2 di jajaran guru untuk mengawasi Benjamin dan suatu hari Mr. Burrows menghilang setelah sejumlah orang Jerman menyatroni tokonya.
Kini tugas Jane, Benjamin untuk mencegah perang nuklir yang sewaktu2 akan pecah--dibantu seorang bocah maling bernama Pip dan alkemis Cina yang tangguh bernama Jin Lo, mereka memulai petualangan gila2an melawan otoritas Uni Soviet yang didukung oleh agen ganda jahat bernama Mr. Danby. Tujuan mereka tak lagi hanya untuk menyelamatkan Mr. Burrows, melainkan juga menuntaskan ide Mr. Burrows untuk menciptakan campuran yang bisa mencegah bom nuklir bekerja dan menetralisir radiasi di waktu bersamaan.

Novel ini seru banget! Serius. Sekilas ide2nya agak membuat sejumlah pembaca teringat Harry Potter, terutama karena Jane dan kawan2nya cukup banyak mengandalkan ramuan tidak kasat mata untuk mencuri2 dengar pembicaraan orang2 yang menculik Mr. Burrows. Tapi sejauh ini idenya lumayan orisinil; banyak ramuan yang gila2 abis sampe2 lo sendiri akan meringis saat membaca.

Chemistry antara Benjamin dan Jane juga tergali dengan cukup baik. Beberapa adegan terlihat cute dan mungkin akan mengingatkan kalian akan kisah cinta ababil di masa lalu. Tapi para pecinta roman, jangan banyak berharap, soalnya roman cuman mendapat porsi sebagai bumbu saja di sini.
Sejauh ini karakter favorit gue adalah Jin Lo si alkemis dari Cina, dia keren banget! Akhirnya kebangkitan ekonomi Asia memberikan sejumlah inspirasi bagi pengarang2 Barat untuk menyertakan karakter2 Asia keren di dalam cerita mereka.

Beberapa ide ramuan mungkin terdengar sedikit absurd, terutama ide menetralisir pengaruh radiasi berbekal esens bunga. Tapi seperti yang diutarakan oleh penjaga taman botanika di London, jangan berpikiran sempit! Apapun bisa terjadi!Secara keseluruhan, The Apothecary adalah kisah petualangan anak2 dan ramuan alkemia bukanlah fokus utama di sini.Maile Meloy, pengarang The Apothecary, berhasil membawa pembaca memasuki setting-nya ceritanya yakni dunia Barat di era Perang Dingin yang menegangkan dan penuh kecurigaan; dan memaparkannya melalui mata Jane Scott yang saat itu berusia 14 tahun. Pembaca diajak mengenal slang2 di era itu, film2nya, selebriti2 yang ternama di era Perang Dingin, lagu2 propaganda, bahkan acara BBC saat itu yaitu film Robin Hood.Melalui The Apothecary, gue bisa mencicipi bagaimana hidup di era Perang Dingin, ternyata orang2 Amerika jauh lebih nyaman ketimbang orang Eropa yang sebelumnya udah babak belur dihajar NAZI. Atau ternyata orang2 dulu begitu miskin hingga tidak sanggup membeli mentega dan alih2 menggunakan margarin yang diberi pewarna kuning supaya kelihatan seperti mentega.

Sayang sekali, tidak seperti cita2 Mr. Burrows, dalam realita krisis nuklir akan terus berlangsung baik dalam bentuk ancaman2 negara totaliter macam Korea Utara atau Iran, atau dalam bentuk pembangunan PLTN yang ternyata tidak seaman yang diduga.(less)

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Jan 01, 2012 Dewitt rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

THE APOTHECARY
By Maile Meloy; Putnam, 2011

Despite its widely positive reception, I am baffled how Maile Meloy’s fifth book, THE APOTHECARY—her first for Young Adults—could engage a serious writer’s talent, even as a holiday from seriousness. There are investments: in the historical framework of 1952, in the Los Angeles of that time (with McCarthyism and the black list), and the London of that time. The author has done research and invested time and setting with realistic detail. The heroine, fou...more THE APOTHECARY
By Maile Meloy; Putnam, 2011

Despite its widely positive reception, I am baffled how Maile Meloy’s fifth book, THE APOTHECARY—her first for Young Adults—could engage a serious writer’s talent, even as a holiday from seriousness. There are investments: in the historical framework of 1952, in the Los Angeles of that time (with McCarthyism and the black list), and the London of that time. The author has done research and invested time and setting with realistic detail. The heroine, fourteen year old Janie, is a smart and nervy girl who models herself after Katherine Hepburn, and whose screenwriter parents, harassed as Communist sympathizers at home, take her from Los Angeles to London, where they are working on a Robin Hood script. From here, the story attempts to appeal to a Harry Potter audience. Janie becomes involved with an Apothecary and his son Benjamin. The Apothecary is descended through a clan of alchemists stretching through the ages and is now dedicated to containing and transforming nuclear weapons in the Cold War arms race, while agents from governments on all sides try to stop them.

Apparently this idea was pitched to the author by a Hollywood screenwriter/producer team, Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levine, whose credits include MADELINE and JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH. In her afterword, Meloy tells us they trusted her “with the beginnings of a story they cared deeply about. They described what they had imagined as a movie, let me run with it, and talked through the convolutions with me as it changed.” In other words, THE APOTHECARY is the novelization of an unwritten script, and will likely be turned back into script and film.

That said, I sense the serious writer having fun less with the plot, which verges on being slapdash and silly rather than inventive, than with aspects of the alchemists’ transformative powers, which through various concoctions, powders, and herbs (especially those grown in the Chelsea Physic Garden in London), can temporarily change people into birds, force them to speak truth, make them invisible, reduce them to piles of salt (which can be rehydrated), and cast invisible nets powerful enough to contain a nuclear blast and its radiation.

For instance, here Janie is cornered by an adult secret agent on a rooftop. Her friends Benjamin and Pip have both taken a potion that changed them into birds, and now it is her turn, if she is to escape: “I felt a strange, rushing feeling my veins, and understood why Benjamin and Pip had looked so surprised. I’d never been aware of each individual blood vessel in my body like that, and of the blood coursing through them. Then I felt my heartbeat speed up, and my bones seemed to lighten….My skull felt like it was changing shape, and lightening, and I thought: Allow for the possibilities. And then I leaped, still human, off the roof…. My hands became wings in midair, and my legs became tiny bird legs.”

Here at least is a touch of meta-fiction: the “magic” is imagination, and the alchemist is a stand-in for the writer and her power with words. While such passages recall Ovid in THE METAMORPHOSIS or even Gabriel Marquez, many others tend be simply realistic descriptions of technical effects we recognize from such films as the X-men series, imaginative clichés at this point.

In the love plot between Janie and Benjamin there is a sweet shyness, as well as mutual regard and kindred intelligence, nerve, and wits. The dialogue is consistently good. There is some fun with modesty as they must each undress to bathe in the solution that makes them invisible, leaving only a shoulder or tip of a nose visible so that they may detect each other. At the end, there is a long delayed and hard-won first kiss: “I could feel the warmth of his breath and smell his clean, soapy skin. I wondered where he had slept and bathed, but then his lips touched mine and I felt a steady current of electricity running through my whole body. I knew I would never forget the feeling, as long as I lived.” Such moments are winning.

The educational product placement as Janie mentions Tolstoy, Dickens and Henry James at different points is commendable--plugs to young readers for the highest art of the realistic novel—but I find the public service moral against nuclear arms, as voiced by the Apothecary, more corny than visionary: “we must make the greater world a different place. As it stands, we are all threatened, at every moment, and nothing we can do to lock our own doors and earn our pay and tuck our children in bed will make the slightest difference.” Indeed; but for conviction try Neville Shute’s ON THE BEACH.

In a recent PW Interview Meloy mentions that while writing THE APOTHECARY, she “started itching to work on a grown-up book.” We look forward.

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Dec 22, 2011 Anmiryam rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When literary writers shift gears into writing for young adults the enterprise is risky. Will they overload the narrative with complexities of language or ambiguities of perspective that swamp the action? Will they create central characters that are believably complex children or adolescents? In Maile Meloy's case the payoff was worth the risk, though any reader of her previous works would expect this to be the case. She is a writer of deceptive simplicity whose tales are full of details that ar...more When literary writers shift gears into writing for young adults the enterprise is risky. Will they overload the narrative with complexities of language or ambiguities of perspective that swamp the action? Will they create central characters that are believably complex children or adolescents? In Maile Meloy's case the payoff was worth the risk, though any reader of her previous works would expect this to be the case. She is a writer of deceptive simplicity whose tales are full of details that are rich and make a powerful impression without being flashy.

In "The Apothecary" she has crafted a story that is adventurous and historical without being didactic -- the bleak post-war London she evokes with a few key words comes to life in sight, sound and smell; the story uses it's Cold War setting as a fabulous backdrop to make readers think about loyalty and moral choices without preaching. Her teenagers grapple with the feelings of no longer being children, but not really being adults and not always understanding adult motivations though they are beginning to realize they have power to act, even if they don't understand everything around them. The romance between the central characters feels true and undated, despite the nearly 60 years between the novel's 1952 setting and the present. And, even better, there's magic. Magic that works with the plot and with the characters, magic that feels magical and somehow realistic at the same time.

There are flaws, of course, but they are forgivable. Does literature need another cockney kid descended from the Artful Dodger (with the appropriately Dickensian name of Pip) who nearly steals the show? Probably not, but Pip is more than entertaining and you feel he deserves every bit of the energy Meloy invests into him. Are the bad guys too simply bad, the good guys too good and some of the plot twists too obvious? For me as an adult, perhaps so, but for a reader between the ages of 10 and 16, probably not. Is the framing device a bit clunky? Yes, but it's needed to tidy up what would have otherwise been some very messy loose ends.

Small reservations aside, I'm extremely glad that the door has been left open for sequels. Let's hope Meloy decides to walk through and bring us more Jainie and Benjamin, Pip and Sarah.(less)

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Dec 04, 2011 Book Bunny rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

From the Book Bunny's site at HoorayforYA.com

History and fantasy are the perfect combination in my ideal book. The best kind of fantasy is set in a world we're not entirely familiar with, to enhance the feeling of wonder. Although The Apothecary (Putnam/Penguin, Oct. 2011) is set in 1950s London - not too far away from modern day - we're looking at a world overrun with the fear of Communism. It's crazy to imagine what that world was like. Feeling like you had to watch what you say, perhaps you w...more From the Book Bunny's site at HoorayforYA.com

History and fantasy are the perfect combination in my ideal book. The best kind of fantasy is set in a world we're not entirely familiar with, to enhance the feeling of wonder. Although The Apothecary (Putnam/Penguin, Oct. 2011) is set in 1950s London - not too far away from modern day - we're looking at a world overrun with the fear of Communism. It's crazy to imagine what that world was like. Feeling like you had to watch what you say, perhaps you would lose your job, be spied upon, or be imprisoned just for saying the wrong thing.

Our main character, Janie, lives in California. Her parents write for television, but all of a sudden strange men in suits start following Janie, and her parents feel the threat from the government strangling their lives. So, like many during the era of McCarthyism, they left. Janie lives in London, which hasn't recovered quite as well from WWII as California. But the students practice bomb drills by hiding underneath their desks, and Janie meets Benjamin, a boy who's father runs the apothecary next to her family's apartment. Benjamin is slated to take over the family business, but has no desire, and would rather become a spy, interacting in a changing world. But suddenly, Dad's job becomes way less boring when Benjamin's father is captured and the teens are left with a powerful book who's recipes can turn them invisible, into birds, and even stop a nuclear disaster.

This quiet little book with beautiful black and white illustrations by Ian Schoenherr heads into fantasy through the theories of alchemy. It's beautifully done and you can tell the author has written for adult audiences. But it's magical. History, mixed with scientists, alchemists, and magic makes a book that even Publisher's Weekly called one of the best children's books of 2011. And although the book doesn't seem as quick as other YA novels, it takes place in the span of just three weeks. And I say the book is quiet because it doesn't try so hard. The way the history, fiction, and fantasy intertwine is effortless. Potions are created and it doesn't seem too unreal. A good fantasy draws you in, and this one certainly did.

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Nov 24, 2011 Rebecca rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a very well written book with a lot of action and original ideas ... but I didn't like it. Half way through I just wanted to get to the end so I could be done with it.

Set in post war London, 14 year old Janie Scott moves across the ocean with her parents to escape being labeled communists. There they met an Apothecary who likes to brew potions. His uptight son, Benjamin, goes to the same school as Janie. Janie and Benjamin develop a somewhat interesting relationship made stronger by all...more

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Nov 19, 2011 Hilary rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, fantasy, grades-5-6, grades-7-8, historical-fiction

The year is 1952, and Janie is not amused when her parents make her move, suddenly and without warning, from sunny L.A. to dreary London. Her new school seems uptight and stuffy, and everyone looks at her funny on the first day when she shows up in her favorite green slacks and everyone else is wearing the standard school uniform. Things are really looking rotten until she notices a boy named Benjamin who refuses to duck under the cafeteria tables during a bomb drill on the principal that a tabl...more

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Oct 29, 2011 Eva Mitnick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: children, fantasy

It's 1952 and 14-year-old Janie's parents have just been blacklisted, which means a move for the whole family from Los Angeles to London. Janie experiences major culture shock - not only is post-war London gray, cold and drab, but also they have to put pennies in a meter just to heat their flat, there is still rationing, and the students at her new school are learning Latin.

Mostly, the students seem fairly snobby, but one boy, Benjamin, appeals to Janie. Intense and defiant, he wants to be a spy...more It's 1952 and 14-year-old Janie's parents have just been blacklisted, which means a move for the whole family from Los Angeles to London. Janie experiences major culture shock - not only is post-war London gray, cold and drab, but also they have to put pennies in a meter just to heat their flat, there is still rationing, and the students at her new school are learning Latin.

Mostly, the students seem fairly snobby, but one boy, Benjamin, appeals to Janie. Intense and defiant, he wants to be a spy, not an apothecary like his father - but his father, it turns out, is much more than a simple dispenser of drugs and medicaments. Rather, he is one in a long line of apothecaries who have guarded the hard-won secrets of herbal and medicinal lore, all of which have been written down in an old tome called the Pharmacopoeia.

The Soviets, aided by the East Germans, want to get their hands on these secrets and will stop at nothing, including torture and murder, to get them. Janie and Benjamin join forces with a small bunch of eccentric and brilliant scientists, plus a street-smart urchin named Pip, to preserve those secrets and save the world from the threat of nuclear war.

Clearly there are familiar elements here, with bits and pieces reminiscent of The Da Vinci Code, Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and Kane Chronicles series, Baccalario's Century Quartet series, and even N.D. Wilson's recent The Dragon's Tooth. Ancient knowledge must be kept out of the hands of the bad guys, and only a couple of intrepid kids and a few trustworthy adults can save the world from Evil.

So yes, it's been done before. But what makes this book stand out is the freshness and competence of the writing, which sparkles with both humor and warmth. Meloy has a gift for introducing a scene in just a few perfect sentences, giving us an immediate sense of both place and emotional resonance. Here is Janie describing her first day at school.

The school was in a stone building with arches and turrets that seemed very old to me but wasn't old at all, in English terms. It was build in 1880, so it was practically brand-new... Two teachers walking down the hall wore black academic gowns, and they looked ominous and forbidding, like giant bats. The students all wore dark blue uniforms with white shirts... I didn't have a unform yet, and wore my bright green Hepburn trousers and a yellow sweater, which looked normal in LA, but here looked clownishly out of place. I might as well have carried a giant sign saying I DON'T BELONG.

Making Janie an American who finds herself in England means we get to experience all the foreignness of a different country along with her, and in addition the readers can see how different 1952 was, when the Soviet threat felt very immediate and kids had to take part in bomb drills at school.

This isn't supposed to be a fantasy; it's science, not magic, that creates all the fantastical effects. However, any potion that can turn children into birds or make them invisible counts as magic in my book, so let's call this a fantasy and not science fiction. After all, Benjamin becomes a starling while Janie becomes the very American red-breasted robin, which feels like a very magical touch.

The blossoming of romance between Janie and Benjamin is both sweet and age-appropriate, and makes the ending all the more bittersweet. And yet the end is satisfying and right, even if it's one few readers would hope for.

The plot is supremely far-fetched in almost every way, and the science or magic or whatever makes no sense whatsoever - and these are definitely flaws, when one considers the masterful plotting of a book like Stead's When You Reach Me. But they are only small imperfections when measured against the quality of the writing and the delight of Janie's adventures with Benjamin and the rest of her odd companions.

Highly recommended for ages 11 to 14. (less)

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Oct 23, 2011 Jackie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: children-s-lit, pleasure-reading, series, vamps-and-other-paranormal-pleasure, work-review-related-reading

This is a spy story of sorts, set in 1952 England, with some very impressive teenagers as the heroes. It is fast paced and magical and reminds me very much of the Harry Potter's books without whisking you away to a whole other world, but with the threat of atom bombs looming large every day.

Janie is an American teen forced to move to England with her parents to get away from the blackballing of the "Red Scare" in Hollywood (they are script writers). She meets Benjamin, who is not afraid to state...more

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Oct 16, 2011 Harmony Beaufort rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have so much love for this book, guys!

It's a historical set during the Cold War about a girl named Janie who moves from Hollywood where her parents are TV writers to go to London and she meets a boy named Benjamin who thrusts her into this magically scientific world of potions and spies and adventure!

Janie is an awesome heroine! She's brave, funny, smart, and exactly the type of girl i'd love to be friends with! I loved watching her become strong through her adventures and you really see her m...more

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Oct 09, 2011 Ken Kugler rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a fun Fantasy novel that has its start in California, 1952, where the Scott family is leading a nice life until Davis Scott and his wife Marjorie are accused of being Communists or at least sympathizers. They are a writing team in Hollywood but have to move before they are arrested. They wind up in London in, hired to write for a new series there. London is not the wonderful place we think of but the post WWII city that is rebuilding and still has shortages of most everything.
Janie, the...more

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About Maile Meloy

Maile Meloy was born in Helena, Montana, in 1972. A Family Daughter is her third book. Her short stories have been published in The New Yorker and The Paris Review. Her first story collection, Half in Love, received the Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters , the John C. Zacharis Award from Ploughshares, and the PEN/Malamud Award. Her first novel, Liars and Saint...more

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“We have to think of a question that we wouldn't otherwise want to answer.'

He stood over the pot, looking down at the leaves. 'Something like, Who do you fancy?'

'That might work,' I said, even though it was the last question I wanted to answer. But it was impossible, suddenly, to tell a lie.

Benjamin took a deep sniff over the steam and turned to me. 'All right,' he said. 'So who do you fancy?'

I hesitated. 'Fancy means like, right?' I said stalling.

'Of course.'

I gritted my teeth against the answer coming out. but I couldn't stop myself. 'You,' I said helplessly.” — 1 person liked it

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