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19th out of 552 books
—
126 voters
The White Darkness
I have been in love with Titus Oates for quite a while now--which is ridiculous, since he's been dead for ninety years. But look at it this way. In ninety years I'll be dead, too, and the age difference won't matter.
Sym is not your average teenage girl. She is obsessed with the Antarctic and the brave, romantic figure of Captain Oates from Scott's doomed expedition to the...more
Sym is not your average teenage girl. She is obsessed with the Antarctic and the brave, romantic figure of Captain Oates from Scott's doomed expedition to the...more
Hardcover, 373 pages
Published
September 1st 2005
by HarperCollins Publishers
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Do you have any idea how to live in a freezing dessert called South Pole? Or have you tried reading thousands of books regarding South Pole and the failed expedition of Captain Oates? What if you fall in love to an imaginary character just by watching an old film about South Pole? This book is sympathetically all you need to live in the South. No need for maps or self-help books and most of the entire journey is effortless.
I never wished to go to the South and I don’t have any idea how to fall i...more
I never wished to go to the South and I don’t have any idea how to fall i...more
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So many people have loved this book... I think it's just not my thing. After the death of her father, 14-year-old Symone, excruciatingly shy hearing-impaired geek with an imaginary friend, is whisked away on a surprise trip to Antarctica by her Uncle Victor. From the start you can sense that something's not right here. Victor's acting fishy, lying to Sym about their destination, stealing her mother's passport so she can't come with them... and things just get bleaker and bleaker as the journey g...more
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A gorgeous book. Shocking when someone pure and innocent--not just because she is young--many of her peers are far more worldly-wise than she--is manipulated by those she trusts--she has no idea what is real and what is not. Her whole existence, the whole story she's been told is just based on other people's manipulation of the facts. I'm still not certain whether those who manipulated the facts were conscious that they were doing so. It is yet another great example of the ills of fanaticism, no...more
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McCaughrean, Geraldine. The White Darkness, HarperTempest, 373 pages. Fictional chapter book, mystery.
Description: Symone is obsessed with Antarctica, particularly with early 20th century Antarctic explorers. In fact, she can apparently communicate with the spirit of a departed explorer named Titus. When her uncle takes her to Antarctica to find the mythical Symmes Hole, she must act rationally under mysterious circumstances.
Review: The White Darkness is filled with twists, turns, hardships an...more
Description: Symone is obsessed with Antarctica, particularly with early 20th century Antarctic explorers. In fact, she can apparently communicate with the spirit of a departed explorer named Titus. When her uncle takes her to Antarctica to find the mythical Symmes Hole, she must act rationally under mysterious circumstances.
Review: The White Darkness is filled with twists, turns, hardships an...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Symone is a bit of an odd duck. For one thing, she’s in love with Captain Titus Oates, which is only remarkable in that Titus died ninety years ago. For another, she is obsessed with all things Antarctica. So when her Uncle Victor surprises her with a dream trip to Antarctica, she is thrilled. But before long, Symone will be thrust into a nightmarish struggle for survival that will force her to reconsider everything she thought she knew—about Antarctica, about her past, and about herself.
If you...more
If you...more
Fourteen year-old Sym seems to be trapped in her own mind, her deafness, shyness, and social naiveté make her an outcast at school. Her father's death has made her mother distant and invited her eclectic uncle into bring the family out of a financial burden. However, when her uncle, who feeds her love for all things about Antarctica, encourages the family to take a trip, Sym gets whisked away from her mother and thrown into a dangerous adventure in the icy continent with her uncle. His drive for...more
"What! Whoa!" was the chorus running through my head as I read this highly unusual story, this year's Printz Award winner. Although it took a while to get going, it quickly morphed into a layered mystery, narrated by 14-year-old British girl Sym, who accompanies her Uncle Victor (and her imaginary friend, the Artic explorer "Titus" Oates) on a trip to Paris which turns into a trip to Antarctica (!!) and a survival story unlike any other. Pair with "Life As We Knew It" for two great survival-girl...more
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2008 Printz Award winner!
I'm going to echo several other reviews here: this is beautifully written, atmospheric, and engrossing, and yet it just didn't do it for me.
When Symone's generous uncle offers to whisk her and her mom away to Paris, Sym jumps at the chance--and when her mom's passport goes missing at the last moment, Sym looks forward to exploring Paris with Uncle Victor. But after one night, he reveals that the trip is bigger than Paris. They're going south. Very far south. Antarctica-s...more
I'm going to echo several other reviews here: this is beautifully written, atmospheric, and engrossing, and yet it just didn't do it for me.
When Symone's generous uncle offers to whisk her and her mom away to Paris, Sym jumps at the chance--and when her mom's passport goes missing at the last moment, Sym looks forward to exploring Paris with Uncle Victor. But after one night, he reveals that the trip is bigger than Paris. They're going south. Very far south. Antarctica-s...more
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In this brilliantly crafted story of madness and despair comes the story of teenage Sym who is whisked away from her normal teenage anxieties to face the bleak desolation of Antarctica and her uncle's obsession. Sym is a normal British teen, unpopular boys and the butt of many jokes with her friends. Her father has died rather tragically, but Sym finds solace by insulating herself in a fictional world where her principal friend is an incarnation of Captain Lawerence Oates, who lead an ill-fated...more
White Darkness has the most amazing premise. Fourteen year old Sym travels with her uncle to the Antarctic on what should be the trip of a lifetime. It is indeed a trip that will never be forgotten. Her uncle is convinced that there is a hole in the Antarctic that leads to an inner world, proving the earth is a hollow shell. After they arrive at the base, her uncle sabotages the return plane and drugs everyone at the base so he can steal a snow machine and head towards the coordinates where he t...more
Feb 18, 2008
Candice M (tinylibrarian)
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
masochists, fans of Lars von Trier films
Shelves:
award-winners
When I think about this book, all I want to do is sigh. Sigh because it was a frustrating read, sigh because of the main character's situation throughout most of the book, and sigh that it won the Printz.
I read it, and I read it fast. I stayed up all night to finish this mother. I was *so* worried about this girl's retarded fate that I couldn't sleep! I needed to find out what happened! So in that sense, yes, it was excellent. In the sense that the story traps you like you've gotten snowed in w...more
I read it, and I read it fast. I stayed up all night to finish this mother. I was *so* worried about this girl's retarded fate that I couldn't sleep! I needed to find out what happened! So in that sense, yes, it was excellent. In the sense that the story traps you like you've gotten snowed in w...more
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I have a friend who says she can tell if she’ll love a movie with the first ten minutes. And I can often say the same for a book; I can tell I love it within the first twenty pages or so. But The White Darkness took me until page 73 to get really hooked. And then I couldn’t put it down. It’s about a teenage girl, Symone, who gets her dream vacation: a trip to Antarctica. She is obsessed with Antarctica and one of its brave explorers, Captain Oates from Scott’s doomed expedition to the South Pole...more
Although I think perhaps this book was little too long, I can see why it won the Printz award last year. There were portions of this book where the writing was just incredible...so descriptive and powerful...it reminded me of some passages written by Gary D. Schmidt. The story was intense, mysterious, and original.
I'd be interested to see how high school students would react to this book, because it did take me quite a long time to finish. I think it may be for more mature readers, or patient r...more
I'd be interested to see how high school students would react to this book, because it did take me quite a long time to finish. I think it may be for more mature readers, or patient r...more
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The current weather here certainly gives you some insight of what being stranded on Antarctica might feel like.
For Polar Survival stories, I liked Shackleton's Stowaway by McKernan way better--but they're not even really readalikes, unless you're an Antarctica nut. White Darkness actually reminded me more of Cole's The Goats in a lot of ways (even though that one has nothing to do with Antarctica): big on character, teen social outcasts, surviving on wits, adults are clueless or openly malicious...more
For Polar Survival stories, I liked Shackleton's Stowaway by McKernan way better--but they're not even really readalikes, unless you're an Antarctica nut. White Darkness actually reminded me more of Cole's The Goats in a lot of ways (even though that one has nothing to do with Antarctica): big on character, teen social outcasts, surviving on wits, adults are clueless or openly malicious...more
Really excellent YA novel about a girl who is obsessed with Antarctica, and the uncle who kidnaps her and takes her there.
2 likes · like · see review
This was certainly one of the more interesting books I've read recently. The story was so bizarre and the characters so unusual that it made me want to keep reading to see how it would all end. The writing style, too, was unsual and engaging. But there was also something abou this book that didn't sit quite right with me. I guess I just had a hard time really believing the story; once you throw so many odd elements together, it becomes difficult to make them all work in a way that actually seems...more
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This was a very good book from a literary standpoint. It is however, not a "fun" read. It is a Printz award winner for the best book of the year for young adults, and deservedly so.
It is a tale of a teen from England who gets taken on a surprise trip to Antartica with her uncle. Symone's (Sym) story quickly turns into a survival tale, as she deals with an increasingly manic uncle.
What helps Sym get through is her imaginary relationship with a long dead artic explorer. This character is more rea...more
It is a tale of a teen from England who gets taken on a surprise trip to Antartica with her uncle. Symone's (Sym) story quickly turns into a survival tale, as she deals with an increasingly manic uncle.
What helps Sym get through is her imaginary relationship with a long dead artic explorer. This character is more rea...more
Feb 18, 2009
Melissa
added it
4Q 4P J
The author draws upon historical facts and figures in regards to exploration of the Antarctic throughout the book. The main character, Symone or “Sym”, grows-up emersing herself in information about Arctic exploration, and is most fascinated by Captain Scott’s expedition to the South Pole in 1910. She specifically idolizes and falls in love with Titus Oates who was a member of the doomed expedition, and converses with him in her mind. Sym doesn’t exactly fit in with her peers, and believe...more
The author draws upon historical facts and figures in regards to exploration of the Antarctic throughout the book. The main character, Symone or “Sym”, grows-up emersing herself in information about Arctic exploration, and is most fascinated by Captain Scott’s expedition to the South Pole in 1910. She specifically idolizes and falls in love with Titus Oates who was a member of the doomed expedition, and converses with him in her mind. Sym doesn’t exactly fit in with her peers, and believe...more
Feb 02, 2009
Beth
rated it
1 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Antarctic finatics
Recommended to Beth by:
Printz awards
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Symone is fourteen years old, hearing impaired and friendless. Sym is obsessed with Antarctica and even shares a “friendship” with the long, dead Titus Oates who was part of Robert Scott’s doomed Antarctica expedition in 1912. When, family friend, “Uncle” Victor takes her on a polar expedition to Antarctica she is thrilled and ignores all the signs that something is not quite right about the journey until it is too late. Victor is insane; obsessed with finding the entrance to Symmes Hole a mythi...more
A social outcast, deaf, with an imagined relationship with the deceased explorer Titus Oates, Sym is not an ordinary teenager. Living with her mother and uncle after her father’s death, Sym idolizes her Uncle and absorbs his obsession with the Antarctic. When Sym’s mother’s passport mysteriously disappears before she, Sym and Uncle Victor are able to board the train for a vacation to Paris, Sym is launched into her Uncle’s obsession with discovering an opening into the inner layers of the Earth...more
I don't like The Guardian much but I find it absolutely impossible to disagree with their verdict of this book - summed up in one word: "astonishing".
This is truly an astonishing story. Not only is it an amazing feat of imagination - just getting our fourteen year old protagonist to the Antarctic in the first place, without the permission of her mother - but, even more surprisingly, it is a very credible story. One finds oneself buying into Uncle Victor's madness and the reality of the voice of...more
This is truly an astonishing story. Not only is it an amazing feat of imagination - just getting our fourteen year old protagonist to the Antarctic in the first place, without the permission of her mother - but, even more surprisingly, it is a very credible story. One finds oneself buying into Uncle Victor's madness and the reality of the voice of...more
Oct 31, 2012
Mary Hohman
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
children-s-literature
The White Darkness is contemporary realistic fiction novel written by Geraldine McCaughrean. This novel won a Michael L. Printz award. The intended age group for this book are advanced ages 12 – 18 years old. This novel is about a 14 year old girl named Symone who feels out of place, at home, and at school. Symone had a bad relationship with her dad before he died, and looked for advice from her father’s business partner “Uncle Victor”. Victor gave Sym many books, and DVD’s about Antarctic. Sym...more
Sym has always had an interest in the Antarctic and the explorers that were lost there long ago. She even has an imaginary friend in the form of Captain Oates who is a far better friend to her than anyone else. Her father died a few years ago and since then, she and her mother have been taken care of by her "uncle," her father's old business partner and friend. One day, her uncle decides that they're all going on a vacation to Paris, which somehow turns into a vacation with just Sym and her uncl...more
Imagine going on the dream vacation of a lifetime, to a place you’d dreamed of and studied for years. You would probably believe just about anything in order to achieve your dream. But what if that dream vacation became your worst nightmare? For Sym, Antarctica is the place she’s always wanted to go. She’s read and researched and knows everything there is to know about the first expeditions to “The Ice.” When Uncle Victor decides to take a holiday to Paris, she’s excited to see the Eiffel Tower....more
This is a novel about a fourteen year-old girl with no friends other than her imagination,. Sym, a fourteen year-old girl, is obsessed with the Antarctic regions and the story of Captain "Titus" Oates, an Antarctic explorer from the 1800s. Because Sym is socially awkward, Titus has become her constant companion, filling her imagination as he accompanies her everywhere. When Sym's uncle takes her to Antarctica, Sym is thrilled. But she'll soon discover that things are not always as they seem.
This...more
The story of fourteen year old Symone’s trip to Antarctica, and how everything goes horribly wrong, is an exciting adventure in its own right. But what I really love about this book is the relationship between Sym and Titus.
Captain Lawrence "Titus" Oates was an Antarctic explorer who went to the South Pole with Robert Falcon Scott. He lives on in the present day in Sym’s head. And who wouldn't want an imaginary friend like Titus? He’s charming and witty and chivalrous, the kind of friend any gir...more
Captain Lawrence "Titus" Oates was an Antarctic explorer who went to the South Pole with Robert Falcon Scott. He lives on in the present day in Sym’s head. And who wouldn't want an imaginary friend like Titus? He’s charming and witty and chivalrous, the kind of friend any gir...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solano County Lib...: The White Darkness | 1 | 4 | Dec 10, 2011 03:15pm | |
| Censorship? | 2 | 46 | Jun 18, 2008 09:34am |
Geraldine McCaughrean was born in 1951 and brought up in North London. She studied at Christ Church College of Education, Canterbury and worked in a London publishing house for 10 years before becoming a full-time writer in 1988. She has written over 120 books, 50 short plays for schools, and a radio play.
Her adult novels include Fires’ Astonishment (1990) and The Ideal Wife (1997), but she is bes...more
More about Geraldine McCaughrean...
Her adult novels include Fires’ Astonishment (1990) and The Ideal Wife (1997), but she is bes...more
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“It's true: Everyone needs a reason to stay alive -- someone who justifies your existence. Someone who loves you. Not beyond all reason. Just loves you. Even just shows an interest. Even someone who doesn't exist, or isn't yours. No, no! They don't even have to love you! They just have to be there to love! Target for your arrows. Magnetic Pole to drag on your compass needle and stop it spinning and tell you where you're heading and...Someone to soak up all the yearning. That's what I think.”
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18 people liked it
“If you want to please me very much, you will fall down when I shoot you," -Oates
The White Darkness”
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