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Aug 19, 2011

Tim rated it:

This book has great shelf appeal. It's got a gazillion illustrations ostensibly by our first-person narrator, a 12-year-old cartographer and technical illustrator from Montana—in bygone days he would be a naturalist—living with an entomologist mom, a bronco-busting dad, a sister older than her years, and the memory of a dead brother. The prose reveals a quirky character and rewards slow going.

But here's the problem: I'm only a couple dozen pages in and there are mistakes. It could be More...

5 comments like (6 people liked it)

May 06, 2010

Amanda rated it:

There are some books that touch me more than others, some characters that I love to love and love to hate.

But nothing and no one has made my heart ache the way this book has. In this book, Reif Larsen has created a story so beautiful in its simplicity and at the same time, filled with layers and layers of complexity. This book reminds me of ancient artifacts, items handled with loving care through time, to be held in your hands with reverence and wonder that something can last so lon More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Feb 07, 2010

Peter added it

I started this book ravenously--Science! Youth! Grief!--then I lost momentum. Then I fell into it again--Adventure! Bloodshed! Secret Societies!--then I became cynical about it. (One character says, “Grief, youth, science… People are so goddamn predictable. I should write a book about how to suckerpunch people into caring.”) When I finally finished it, I put it down with a fair respect for both its accomplishments and its shortcomings.

Here’s the hook: 12-year-old cartographer gen More...

1 comment like (12 people liked it)

Apr 22, 2009

Anne rated it:

Here we have one of the most unique and extraordinary debut novels I have ever come across, the author Reif Larsens is a 27 year old American and this novel caused one of the biggest bidding wars by publishers in history - resulting in a £1m price tag for the publishers.

First let take a look at the actual book itself. Mine is a proof copy, so not quite the finished article but it's going to be one of those eye-catchers that will jump from the bookshop shelves at people. The book is More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Jun 23, 2011

Ori rated it:

I was really excited to see this in the basement of the Brookline Booksmith for just $5. I'd seen it a few months earlier and knew the general story/hype (it's not often that an author gets a 6, let alone 7 figure deal for a book, particularly a first book).

I bought it toward the end of February and read the first 35 pages in a white-heat, captivated by the precocious narrator and his amazing "maps," both of the land, and of the habits of his family member. I particularly l More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 25, 2009

Jacob rated it:

When the Smithsonian decides to award genius cartographer T. S. Spivet the presitigious but little-known Baird Award, they are completely unaware that young T. S.--short for Tecumseh Sparrow--is actually a twelve-year-old prodigy addicted to mapping everything, from family dinner conversations to Loneliness on the streets of Chicago. The Smithsonian also doesn't know that T. S. has no way of getting to Washington, D.C. from his family's Montana ranch, but that doesn't stop him from hopping a tr More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 06, 2011

Jane rated it:

I would give the first section of this book 5 stars; I loved the story of T.S. and his family. But once T.S.'s train ride began, I was annoyed at the suddenly strange fantasy of the continuing tale. We were taken from a sensitive, smart and humorous story about T.S.'s dysfunctional family, about whom I REALLY cared, to a science fiction-like ride across the country that often made no sense to me. I also had no interest in Emma, and think in retrospect the title should be Th More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 24, 2009

Emily rated it:

Profusely illustrated with maps and diagrams of all sorts, this book kept me chuckling and shaking my head, turning the book sideways to read strange footnotes and study charts. Twelve year old prodigy T.S. Spivet's unique worldview brought me hours of delight, from his home on the Coppertop Ranch to his adventures in the larger world. Beautifully odd and intriguing, some plot elements were left dangling, leaving me in a state of wonder and pleasant confusion similar to the feeling I get from More...

2 comments like (7 people liked it)

Dec 30, 2011

Dasia rated it:

Basically what happens is that a twelve-year-old genius, T.S. Spivet, is obsessed with mapping the achingly ordinary world around him, until it stops being quite so ordinary – he wins a major scientific prize and has to decide whether to stay on the dry Montana ranch he calls home, or somehow travel two thousand miles across the country to claim his place among the scientists he so reveres.

Guys, it was so good.

You know what I loved? The experimentation with sidenotes and ill More...

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Oct 31, 2011

Nina rated it:

Eine Rezension dieses Buches kann ich nicht mit dem Inhalt anfangen. Denn dafür ist das Buch einfach zu schön. Auf fast jeder Seite sind neben / unter / über dem Haupttext kleine Zeichnungen, Anmerkungen, Fotos abgedruckt, die mich beim ersten Durchblättern sofort für das Buch eingenommen haben, ohne dass ich eine einzige Zeile vom Inhalt kannte.
Nun zum Inhalt: Der zwölfjährige T.S. Spivet lebt auf einer Ranch in Montana. Während sein Vater gerne ein echter Cowboy wäre, ist seine Mutter ei More...

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Aug 17, 2011

Elaine rated it:

Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Date: 2009
Number of Pages: 374
Geographical Setting: Divide, Montana, and a journey across the U.S.
Time Period: Contemporary

Three Words or Phrases Best Describing this Book: Child prodigy narrator, closely observed, poignant

Plot Summary: T.S. Spivet is a genius; cartography is his specialty. At 12, T.S. likes to make sense of the world around him through detailed maps of places, actions, items, expressions and thou More...

0 comments like

Jul 13, 2011

Alyssia rated it:

This was a book that intrigued me when I saw it in Waterstones, although had it not been on a buy 3 for 2 deal I probably wouldn't have spent the RRP price of £12.99. I think it intrigued me because it seemed like a more adult version of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time', which I had enjoyed. Although the main character does not seem to be autistic, he makes sense of life in a similar way, but instead of using numbers it's drawing maps. Plus, the front cover of the book is amaz More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 26, 2011

Pam rated it:

http://iwriteinbooks.wordpress.com/2011/...

Twelve year old T.S. Spivet has been living in Montana over the duration of his short life. His father is a rancher, a caricature of a western cowboy, while his mother is the obsessive, intellectual scientist, devoting her life to seeking out the rare, some might say nonexistent, Tiger Monk Beetle. His siblings are the boy and girl versions of two-dimensional ranch life, one aspiring to be a cowboy, himself, the other, longing for things far a More...

0 comments like

Apr 21, 2011

Phyllis rated it:

Reif Larson has written a book that's a perfect read for the nonlinear thinker. It comes with sidebars and seemingly-offtopic notes and illustrations, lots of illustrations. The narrator, a 12-year-old-genius cartographer and illustrator, is invited to accept an award at the Smithsonian Institution, which is unaware of the intended recipient's age. He decides to travel to D.C. to accept the award, without informing his parents or sister and without telling the Smithsonian that he's underage. His More...

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Apr 14, 2011

Danica rated it:

Well, what do you know. After a string of bedazzling reads (Crowley, Dunnett, and Murray), my disillusionment with contemporary lit continues apace.

A twelve year old genius cartographer with a quirky and symbolic name has blah blah adventures on a train en route to picking up a prize at the Smithsonian which he is too young to have honestly qualified for (meaning: misinformation was entered on the official application form. mothers were mislead. important people were lied to!) and fo More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 19, 2011

Llalan rated it:

I actually argued with someone about this book before either of us had even read it. My opponent was in a kerfuffle because he believed the book too "clever," and therefore was getting all this (A LOT of) attention from publishers for the wrong reasons: it was gimmicky, not well-written or -composed. (Please still bare in mind that neither of us had read it yet, and perhaps I was the only one to have actually held it in my hands.) I, too, argued that it was "clever," and but More...

0 comments like

Mar 03, 2011

Beth rated it:

What starts off as an interesting book with a unique style and premise quickly becomes annoying.

The mix of drawings and text was interesting. I found it extremely difficult to believe, however, that someone 12 years old would have had the time to finish the huge quantities of complicated material he was supposed to have created. Even geniuses have limits.

In the classic tradition of condescending literature written by rich white males, all of the educated/intelligent characte More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 13, 2010

Nan rated it:

Much to love about this one, which I did not expect (feared it would be another MFA Creative Writing product with the attendant issues). T.S. is a completely charming 12 year old who is a genius at cartography, and the book follows about a week of his life as he travels across the country to win an award.

What sets it apart are the digressions, on every page, complete with a map of some kind - the toasters his scientist mother has destroyed, the patterns of conversation around the di More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 09, 2010

Harkinna rated it:

This is one of those books I read about and instantly wanted…and then every time I would go to buy the book I would get cold feet…so I waited some time to get this one. (Obviously before the year of making do and our re-discovery of the library.)

The book chronicles the 12 year-old, T.S. Spivet as he decides to ride across the country from Montana to Washington, DC to accept an award at the Smithsonian. You see, T.S. is a very accomplished chart and map maker, even at 12. The book is More...

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Dec 31, 2009

Margaret rated it:

What a charming idea: Brilliant 12-year old boy "maps" his way through life, with the book including many of these maps and other illustrations in the margin. In theory, a Tom Sawyer-esque tail of adventurous travel from Montana to Washington, D.C.

Well, in reality, not so charming, not so entertaining, something of a slog, and as the illustrations most often come with writing, really a novel with footnotes. One needs to be careful with these... If the writer is to drag t More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 19, 2009

Jenny rated it:

T.S. Spivit is a cartographer who doesn't restrict his maps to geographic places. He's also a genius. And only 12 years old. And when his mentor nominates him for an award and intimates that he's a fellow professor at a university, T.S. finds himself the winner of this prestigous award and asked to come speak at the Smithsonian. This is the catalyst for a cross-country road trip and a graet deal of mapping.

Of course, I'm not actually certain about that last part, because I didn't re More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 17, 2009

Clare rated it:

I was surprised to learn that this book caused a bidding war among publishers. I had originally thought that the author must have had a hard time getting an editor to read this most unusual novel with its quirky story and its wonderful illustrations. I mean, how many books nowadays are illustrated with little maps and footnotes on nearly every page?

Well, whatever happened I am very glad that the book was published and I got to read it. It is a wonderful story about a little boy More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 07, 2009

Marjorie rated it:

This is my favorite new book of 2009 so far, though that isn't as meaningful a statement as it could be, since I've read very few new books this year. (The stiffest competition for favorite-new-2009-book for me is THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE, which I don't seem to have reviewed here, and which is also about a hyper-intelligent child.) This book is flawed, of course, but if the flaws knock it down from meriting a perfect 5 rating, they don't knock it all the way down to 4. Call this a More...

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Aug 04, 2009

Valrae rated it:

I heard an interview with the author of this book and so when I saw it at Costco, I couldn't resist. It was an interesting book, very different from what I would usually read. It is about a very dysfunctional family that is seen from a 12 year old boy's point of view. The fact that he is genius is beside the point. How he sees them at the beginning and at the end of the story is the story for me. Of course this isn't how the book is described, but how I saw it. I'm sure some will see it as More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 23, 2009

Sara rated it:

The most obvious charm this book has to offer is the collection of marginal illustrations that represent a wide spectrum of "maps" the narrator has created of things as concrete as city green spaces or as abstract as the elements of a particular facial expression.

Tecumseh Sparrow (T.S.) Spivet is the brilliant, twelve-year-old narrator of this journey across the country by rail. While his life up to this point has been devoted to cerebral pursuits and in particular the car More...

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Jun 21, 2009

Sibyl rated it:

The story of a 12 year-old making his way from Montana to D.C. to accept an award? Not the usual fiction on my reading list. Yet reading Reif Larsen's first novel had me engaged from beginning to end. I may have been pursuaded about the value of his work after listening to his interview with Diane Riehm (www.wamu.org). But really, I appreciate the introduction to new authors and am drawn to first works. T. S. Spivet as brought to life by Reif Larsen was not a disappointment. I do not see h More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 15, 2009

Alison rated it:

T.S. Spivet, an obsessive and nerdy 12-year-old cartographer who maps everything in his life and is too mature in the way of really smart kids, somehow manages to flatly and critically describe his surroundings and his family members, even while, almost as if he is unaware of it, he conveys an striking amount of compassion and love for his family. It's that subtle emotion - that humanity - that gives this book its charm, even as T.S. heads out on an inexplicable adventure that left me baffled as More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 26, 2011

Христо rated it:

Книгата, която ВСЯКО дете трябва да прочете – “Избраните творби на Т. В. Спивет” от Рийф Ларсън
http://www.knigolandia.info/2011/09/blog...

Малкият Т.(екумсе) В.(рабеца) Спивет е вундеркинд в най-пълния смисъл на думата – изключително умен, той непрестанно скицира всичко около себе си – канализационни системи, миграционни пътища, графики на звука, телата на всякакви насекоми и какво ли още не. Всичко, което му е достъпно, става обект на неговия интерес и той изписва тетрадка сле More...

0 comments like

Nov 09, 2011

Beverly rated it:

The book is off to a great start. A 12 year old boy just got excited about having a 3 hour conversation about longitude - and I like it!
I love the boy, and I could read a whole book just with him narrating his life. However, the book just sent him on a cross country trip, with no money, to receive a scientific award given by a group misled into thinking that he's an adult scientist, and I just couldn't read that story. The heartache likely involved would have hurt me too much.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 09, 2011

Tonya rated it:

This book thought it was clever, I mean look at the title, the book jacket, it screams "read me! I am oh so clever."

It's not.

Don't get me wrong the drawings are beautiful the idea of a tween boy going on a cross country adventure alone via the railway is clever, it's just this story did not live up to its own potential in my opinion.

I thought it started out great, a slight mystery as to the death of a younger brother during an experiment. An emotion More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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