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12th out of 32 books
—
82 voters
Some Kind Of Fairy Tale
by
Graham Joyce
It is Christmas afternoon and Peter Martin gets an unexpected phonecall from his parents, asking him to come round. It pulls him away from his wife and children and into a bewildering mystery.
He arrives at his parents house and discovers that they have a visitor. His sister Tara. Not so unusual you might think, this is Christmas after all, a time when families get together...more
He arrives at his parents house and discovers that they have a visitor. His sister Tara. Not so unusual you might think, this is Christmas after all, a time when families get together...more
Hardcover, 310 pages
Published
July 10th 2012
by Doubleday
(first published June 21st 2012)
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A fairy tale...on the other hand, demands of the reader total surrender; so long as he is in its world, there must for him be no other.
W.H. Auden
this is the epigraph which opens chapter three of joyce's novel, and it is a good place to start. this is a deceptively immersive type of storytelling, one which compels the reader forward, accepting the magical elements willingly, but then jarringly calling attention to the novel's very structure, questioning how much is "reality" and how much is arti...more
W.H. Auden
this is the epigraph which opens chapter three of joyce's novel, and it is a good place to start. this is a deceptively immersive type of storytelling, one which compels the reader forward, accepting the magical elements willingly, but then jarringly calling attention to the novel's very structure, questioning how much is "reality" and how much is arti...more
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A few minutes after I finished the book I gave it a 4 star rating on Goodreads, after sitting for a while and thinking it over I had to switch it down to a 3 star rating. First let me say this: I read the book in less than 12 hours. I was engrossed from page one until the end, my favorite chapters were those from Tara’s pov, the ones telling her tale of what happened to her and the mysterious man Hiero (pronounced “Yarrow”).
The shrink’s chapters were interesting as well, someone trying to find...more
The shrink’s chapters were interesting as well, someone trying to find...more
I happened to see this on the shelf at the library and chose it by its title. I'm so glad I've been introduced to Graham Joyce! AFter finishing this, I downloaded samples of some of his other work to my Kindle for consideration.
In Some Kind of Fairy Tale, Tara returns to her family on Christmas day, twenty years after disappearing in the Outwoods. She's dirty and dishevelled, and doesn't look as though she's aged at all. She tells her family and the boyfriend she left behind a fantastical tale...more
In Some Kind of Fairy Tale, Tara returns to her family on Christmas day, twenty years after disappearing in the Outwoods. She's dirty and dishevelled, and doesn't look as though she's aged at all. She tells her family and the boyfriend she left behind a fantastical tale...more
Note to the Editor: Edit, the mystery was fun, but Peter Pan said it best when he said, "Its all fun and games until someone gets poked in the eye by an elbow while body surfing during a lake's afternoon delight."
After 20 years Tara returns home, her appearance dirty, though unaltered from a teenager. Was this girl running away from the guilt of her recent abortion? She claims she was taken by fairies.
I gave this book 2 out 5, because that's how far I got into it before the author used the wo...more
After 20 years Tara returns home, her appearance dirty, though unaltered from a teenager. Was this girl running away from the guilt of her recent abortion? She claims she was taken by fairies.
I gave this book 2 out 5, because that's how far I got into it before the author used the wo...more
12 likes · like · see review
My head is spinning. This book was utter craziness and I enjoyed every minute of it. I absolutely could not put it down.
Tara tells a very interesting story (fairy tale?) about what happened to her while she was missing. The whole story unfolds from several different perspectives - Tara, Peter, Richie and Dr. Underwood, a psychiatrist that was hired to help determine what might be going on with Tara. Of course Dr. Underwood has many psychiatric explanations for Tara’s story and it is a bit intere...more
Tara tells a very interesting story (fairy tale?) about what happened to her while she was missing. The whole story unfolds from several different perspectives - Tara, Peter, Richie and Dr. Underwood, a psychiatrist that was hired to help determine what might be going on with Tara. Of course Dr. Underwood has many psychiatric explanations for Tara’s story and it is a bit intere...more
6 likes · like · see review
This book left me feeling a little flat.
The plot is good, the premise should be engaging and it's clear that the author has done a lot of research to give the book an authentic underpinning, but the way it's written is, for me, quite tightly controlled - descriptive rather than emotional - even in the more dramatic moments.
I wonder whether Graham Joyce finds it harder to write from a woman's perspective than a man's because the male characters were much more believable and lifelike than the fema...more
The plot is good, the premise should be engaging and it's clear that the author has done a lot of research to give the book an authentic underpinning, but the way it's written is, for me, quite tightly controlled - descriptive rather than emotional - even in the more dramatic moments.
I wonder whether Graham Joyce finds it harder to write from a woman's perspective than a man's because the male characters were much more believable and lifelike than the fema...more
May 02, 2013
Alan
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Believers
Recommended to Alan by:
io9, and previous work
"Which do you prefer?"
That question, one of the penultimate lines I heard recently in the film Life of Pi, is the crux of Some Kind of Fairy Tale—or at least of its first half...
Tara Martin disappeared without a trace, twenty long years ago, shortly after an argument with her boyfriend Richie. When last seen, Tara was in the Outwoods, a wild patch where the English counties of Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire meet. (It's a real place, by the way—you can Google it.)
She was sixteen y...more
That question, one of the penultimate lines I heard recently in the film Life of Pi, is the crux of Some Kind of Fairy Tale—or at least of its first half...
Tara Martin disappeared without a trace, twenty long years ago, shortly after an argument with her boyfriend Richie. When last seen, Tara was in the Outwoods, a wild patch where the English counties of Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire meet. (It's a real place, by the way—you can Google it.)
She was sixteen y...more
1 like · like · see review
I knocked this book out in about 5 days. It's a very smooth and addictive read. The book merged some of my favorite topics: fantasy, mental illness, england and indie guitarists in one tight little story. Oh and cats. But for a change, the kitty was the weak link. There is an extended subplot involving a cat that just isn't needed in the book.
So, basically, a girl goes missing and turns up 20 years later. When she reappears she claims to have been gone in a fairy land, for six months. Cue the me...more
So, basically, a girl goes missing and turns up 20 years later. When she reappears she claims to have been gone in a fairy land, for six months. Cue the me...more
I loved this story.
The central character is a 15 year old Tara, who after a fight with her boyfriend, Richie, disappears only to reappear 20 years later, looking exactly as she did when she disappeared. The effect on her Mother and Father and brother and his family is what can be expected, mostly along the lines of "where were you" and "we are so pissed." The story Tara tells is that, she was abducted by fairies, and thought she was only gone 6 months, and was shocked to find how long it really...more
The central character is a 15 year old Tara, who after a fight with her boyfriend, Richie, disappears only to reappear 20 years later, looking exactly as she did when she disappeared. The effect on her Mother and Father and brother and his family is what can be expected, mostly along the lines of "where were you" and "we are so pissed." The story Tara tells is that, she was abducted by fairies, and thought she was only gone 6 months, and was shocked to find how long it really...more
1 like · like · see review
I picked up this book on a whim to read from the library. It sounded interesting so I started reading it right away. I really enjoyed the writing style in this book. It was clear cut and simple, yet elegant. This was also the type of fantasy book that wasn’t action heavy. It was more about telling a story and seeing the repercussions of that story being told. The reader gets bits and pieces of what happened to Tara for all these years as the story goes along. It felt like sitting on a park bench...more
So glad I listened to this rather than just reading it. The reader, John Lee, brought an extra dimension of expressiveness and quirkiness to the narrative. He rendered the individual voices with such charm and distinctiveness, the British accents often sounding like the Beatles' Liverpudlian drawl.
The story is magically meandering: it begins on Christmas, when Del (excuse spelling if wrong; as I said, I listened to it) and Mary, an older couple, are finishing their dinner. The doorbell rings -...more
The story is magically meandering: it begins on Christmas, when Del (excuse spelling if wrong; as I said, I listened to it) and Mary, an older couple, are finishing their dinner. The doorbell rings -...more
A very enjoyable book, part British fantasy and part psychological mystery. After 20 years, Tara returns to her family looking the same age as when she left. She claims she went to live with the fairies, but six month's time there was 20 years in the human world.
Not knowing what kind of a book it was, at first I thought yes, maybe she did. Then, as the scenes with her psychiatrist unfold and the story of her life with the fairies takes on a bizarre sexual tone, it seems more likely she suffered...more
Not knowing what kind of a book it was, at first I thought yes, maybe she did. Then, as the scenes with her psychiatrist unfold and the story of her life with the fairies takes on a bizarre sexual tone, it seems more likely she suffered...more
I felt like a distant observer as I was reading this novel. I
found it to be sterile and clinical. The characters weren't
very likeable with the exception of Ritchie. There were
several times when I wanted to put down this book, but I was
curious to see how it ends which turned out to be
anticlimatic. I didn't like blatant and crude sex references.
What I did like about this book, it was a bit like a modern Rip Van
Winkle, but instead of a guy falling asleep for 20 years, it was a
girl being aw...more
found it to be sterile and clinical. The characters weren't
very likeable with the exception of Ritchie. There were
several times when I wanted to put down this book, but I was
curious to see how it ends which turned out to be
anticlimatic. I didn't like blatant and crude sex references.
What I did like about this book, it was a bit like a modern Rip Van
Winkle, but instead of a guy falling asleep for 20 years, it was a
girl being aw...more
Folklore is rife with examples of people being beguiled by fairyfolk and losing days or years of their lives while they visit fairyland and only spend a day or two there. Graham Joyce asks the question: what if this happened today?
Tara is fifteen when she disappears without a trace. Frantic searches have turned up only a ring given to her by her boyfriend on a rock. The boy swears he had nothing to do with it, and no other evidence is found. She next is seen at her parents house on Christmas day...more
Tara is fifteen when she disappears without a trace. Frantic searches have turned up only a ring given to her by her boyfriend on a rock. The boy swears he had nothing to do with it, and no other evidence is found. She next is seen at her parents house on Christmas day...more
Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce was just that..a fairy tale.. for adults. I thought it was a very interesting story! A perfect blend of belief and skepticism.
At 16 years old Tara Martin disappeared. Only to reappear on her parents door step, on Christmas Day, 20 years later. The twist? Tara doesn't seem to have aged since she was last seen.
I've never read a Graham Joyce novel before. What a challenge he took on writing about something..(being kidnapped and brought to Fairyland??)..that...more
At 16 years old Tara Martin disappeared. Only to reappear on her parents door step, on Christmas Day, 20 years later. The twist? Tara doesn't seem to have aged since she was last seen.
I've never read a Graham Joyce novel before. What a challenge he took on writing about something..(being kidnapped and brought to Fairyland??)..that...more
I'm not sure that Some Kind of Fairy Tale (or, as I've been calling it for the past forty-eight hours, "A Sorta Fairytale") is good book, but it's a thoroughly enjoyable one. I began Valentine's Day 2013 by eagerly devouring the final pages and then found myself reading other people's reviews until sleep insisted I stop around 1am. I agree with many of the issues discerning readers have raised, as well as much of the praise heaped upon the book by those who simply felt that Joyce had spun a good...more
** Contains some spoilers: caution! **
Tara Martin disappeared at age 16, her boyfriend the last person to see her, leading the police - and her family - to believe he probably killed her. Her brother, Peter, had been best friends with her boyfriend, Richie, and Tara's parents thought well of the young man. He was like a second son to them.Though difficult to believe he would harm her, what else could they think? Then it comes out that she had been pregnant, Richie admitting they'd argued the las...more
Tara Martin disappeared at age 16, her boyfriend the last person to see her, leading the police - and her family - to believe he probably killed her. Her brother, Peter, had been best friends with her boyfriend, Richie, and Tara's parents thought well of the young man. He was like a second son to them.Though difficult to believe he would harm her, what else could they think? Then it comes out that she had been pregnant, Richie admitting they'd argued the las...more
Every girl likes a healthy dose of magical realism, and during the first half of this book I was feeling quite lucky. The fairytale and reality of small-town England seemed well woven together, and the entire plot was just at the right spot between intriguing and preposterous. As things started to unravel, though, it began to majorly piss me off.
(view spoiler)...more
(view spoiler)...more
3 likes · like · see review
"Some Kind of Fairy Tale" is an atypical book for me to read especially as it centers around the disappearance of a child/teenager. I usually make a wide detour around that cliched plot device - I refuse to read "The Lovely Bones" or any novel which uses a child's disappearance or murder as a gratuitous way to sell a product. However, "Some Kind of Fairy Tale" begins with the return of Tara Martin who disappeared from her home 20 years earlier. This subtle twist was enough to reel me in. Tara re...more
the premise was an intriguing one. this book fails in the execution, however, because it doesn't quite know what it wants to be, hence the titular "Some Kind Of."
the psychiatrist chapters were unnecessary--and dreadfully dull--as the masturbatory content is already hinted at during character conversations. those chapter 'headings' with other literary references immediately reminded me of those short books like Encyclopaedia of Snow that came out in early 2000. they are disruptive, more than any...more
the psychiatrist chapters were unnecessary--and dreadfully dull--as the masturbatory content is already hinted at during character conversations. those chapter 'headings' with other literary references immediately reminded me of those short books like Encyclopaedia of Snow that came out in early 2000. they are disruptive, more than any...more
I like to talk to co-workers about books and when a co-worker I really like told me she was reading this book and described it as “fantasy, sort of” I decided to add it to the top of my to-read list. That there were two passages within the first five pages that I had to read out loud to the nearest person (two different people at that) I knew I was done for. Because Joyce does a wonderful job writing with clarity and imagination about things I experience. And he also does a marvelous job writing...more
Oct 17, 2012
Margaret
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Readers of fantasy who want complex characters and a thought-provoking plot
This book is for readers of fantasy who want complex characters engaged in a thought-provoking plot. Missing for twenty years, Tara Martin appears on her parents’ doorstep Christmas day. The reunion leaves her parents shell-shocked and her brother Peter angry and unbelieving when she claims she was in another dimension with magical people. Hit hardest is her former lover Ritchie, a burned-out guitarist. Tension increases as the family tries to make logical sense of her story, having her see a ps...more
An amazing contemporary fairy tale. A girl disappears some time before her 16th birthday. She is gone for 20 years and just as suddenly returns. This great book is about Tara and her family and friends. The way it unfolds seems completely true, the fantastic and the mundane. Of course no one believes her, but she is so sure, and the strange thing is, she hasn't aged a bit.
When she left, her poor boyfriend was unfairly accused and has had a rough life since. He lost the friendship of her brother...more
When she left, her poor boyfriend was unfairly accused and has had a rough life since. He lost the friendship of her brother...more
Tara Martin returns to her home and family after an unexplained, 20-year absence. What really happened to her, and where has she been? One character states near the end of this surprising novel, “If you don’t believe in miracles, you’re left with only the beautiful and unsolvable mystery.” Can we explain the miracles of love, self-sacrifice, healing, and emotional renewal, or resolve the mysteries of sexual communion, the passage of time, and the final, unknowable journey that is death? Perhaps...more
I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this book. I gave it four stars, because a week later I still find myself pondering it, however a couple of sections of the story left me deeply unsatisfied as I thought they detracted from the plot needing either more explanation, or being edited out. On the whole though it was an interesting and entertaining read. The characters were very real in their reactions and beliefs and interpretations about the events in the story and I enjoyed some of the minor...more
Another one. I mean, another good sink-your-teeth-in book. I read this one in a matter of hours.
Christmas Day, Tara returns home. Tara's been gone for 20 years but, upon her return, has hardly aged at all. She looks tired, maybe wiser, but otherwise, she appears to be a 36-year-old in the body of a 16-year-old. The story is told from various perspectives. When Tara is telling her story, it is from her perspective, though the listener varies between her brother Peter, her ex-boyfriend Richie, and...more
Christmas Day, Tara returns home. Tara's been gone for 20 years but, upon her return, has hardly aged at all. She looks tired, maybe wiser, but otherwise, she appears to be a 36-year-old in the body of a 16-year-old. The story is told from various perspectives. When Tara is telling her story, it is from her perspective, though the listener varies between her brother Peter, her ex-boyfriend Richie, and...more
Lurved this book. Just finished it. I saw this reviewed in The New York Times Book Review and knew it was for me. Especially since the Freshmen and I did a unit on Fairy tales.
A girl disappears from an English town; she's 17. Her parents, the police and friends look for her, but they can't find her. Gone without a trace. Twenty years go by. It's Christmas day at her parents' house, and there's a knockat the door. It's Tara, thier daughter. She comes back to them after two decades—with a story th...more
A girl disappears from an English town; she's 17. Her parents, the police and friends look for her, but they can't find her. Gone without a trace. Twenty years go by. It's Christmas day at her parents' house, and there's a knockat the door. It's Tara, thier daughter. She comes back to them after two decades—with a story th...more
For some reason I have been on a dark fairy tale kick, so much like my previous few books, this one involves a girl who (you guessed it) vanishes in the woods only to return years later claiming that she had been to the land of the fairies. What I like about this novel is that she vanishes when she's 16, but when she returns she thinks that only 6 months have past when really it has been 20 years. Everyone has aged but she is still 16. It gives it a nice twist, plus I like the use of the psychia...more
Aug 06, 2012
Miz Lizzie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Shelves:
adult-fiction,
britain,
england,
faeries,
fantasy,
folklore,
families,
mental-illness,
realistic-fiction
Graham Joyce is one of my favorite fantasy writers. He writes a literary sort of urban fantasy that is really more of a magic realism that balances on the knife's edge of magic being real or a delusion depending on how you choose to view the world. I was delighted to find his newest book (and distressed to find I'd missed several since the last one I read -- at least I'll have more to look forward to reading). This novel centers on one of my favorite fairy lore legends of a human who is stolen a...more
Imagine what you would think if your sister disappeared as an 18 year old and returned 20 years later, no older and with a story that the fairies took her and that she was only gone for 6 months. This is the premise of Some Kind of Fairy Tale. Slowly, we learn from her brother about how heartbreaking this was for his parents, how Tara's disappearance ruined the life of her then-boyfriend and put him in jail and how little anyone around her has been able to recover. Tara, on the other hand, has a...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Readers: Book #4; Some Kind of Fairytale by Graham Joyce | 11 | 69 | Apr 01, 2013 10:13am | |
| What's The Name o...: sci-fy or young adult read [s] | 5 | 34 | Mar 02, 2013 06:54pm | |
| Coffee Talk: Lisa and Shelby Challenge | 32 | 12 | Sep 20, 2012 11:30pm |
Graham Joyce is an English writer of speculative fiction and the recipient of numerous awards for both his novels and short stories.
After receiving a B.Ed. from Bishop Lonsdale College in 1977 and a M.A. from the University of Leicester in 1980. Joyce worked as a youth officer for the National Association of Youth Clubs until 1988. He subsequently quit his position and moved to the Greek islands...more
More about Graham Joyce...
After receiving a B.Ed. from Bishop Lonsdale College in 1977 and a M.A. from the University of Leicester in 1980. Joyce worked as a youth officer for the National Association of Youth Clubs until 1988. He subsequently quit his position and moved to the Greek islands...more
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“What I mean is this: you meet someone, you think about them. You're already changing because of the way you think about them. You meet them again, you think about them some more, you're changing again. And on it goes. You are changing right now. Before my eyes.”
—
5 people liked it
“He looked like a once-green leaf that had begun to dry and to reveal the structure of its veins.”
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