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51st out of 200 books
—
489 voters
Jasper Jones
by
Craig Silvey
A 2012 Michael L. Printz Honor Book
Charlie Bucktin, a bookish thirteen year old, is startled one summer night by an urgent knock on his bedroom window. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in their small mining town, and he has come to ask for Charlie's help. Terribly afraid but desperate to impress, Charlie follows him into the night.
Jasper takes him to his secret glad...more
Charlie Bucktin, a bookish thirteen year old, is startled one summer night by an urgent knock on his bedroom window. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in their small mining town, and he has come to ask for Charlie's help. Terribly afraid but desperate to impress, Charlie follows him into the night.
Jasper takes him to his secret glad...more
Hardcover, 310 pages
Published
April 5th 2011
by Knopf Books for Young Readers
(first published March 31st 2009)
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I guess when you finish a book that you absolutely loved and you sit down, notebook fill of coherent notes, to start writing a review it’s easy to start using clichés. I find this is especially true when it comes to those Australian authors.
You’ve heard it before, haven’t you?
Is there something in the water Down Under?
Well, I don’t think there is. Nope, not at all. You don’t see me reverting to those tired and ridiculous clichés, do you?
My suggestion as to why these Aussie authors are so ridicul...more
You’ve heard it before, haven’t you?
Is there something in the water Down Under?
Well, I don’t think there is. Nope, not at all. You don’t see me reverting to those tired and ridiculous clichés, do you?
My suggestion as to why these Aussie authors are so ridicul...more
This review is so overdue it’s.. not even funny anymore.
Actually, it wasn’t funny to begin with so there goes my witty opening. Things can only go down from here, really. I warn you.
If I was a liar, I’d say I had left this review space to lie fallow so long because I was taking my time to process and analyse the novel, to think Deep and Meaningful Thoughts, and draft a serious and critical review.
But the honest truth is (a) I can procrastinate like nobody’s business and, (b) I actually found...more
Actually, it wasn’t funny to begin with so there goes my witty opening. Things can only go down from here, really. I warn you.
If I was a liar, I’d say I had left this review space to lie fallow so long because I was taking my time to process and analyse the novel, to think Deep and Meaningful Thoughts, and draft a serious and critical review.
But the honest truth is (a) I can procrastinate like nobody’s business and, (b) I actually found...more
45 likes · like · see review
I'm jumping on a plane tonight to go on holidays for 2 weeks (so farewell for 2 weeks, will you die without me?), so before I go, this is going to be a quick and dirty review! I hope I'm not being disrespectful and anyway, I am sure given all the time in the world, my words will still come out like jdjfoehehmskslks, so please pardon me!
Jasper Jones is the the "bad boy" of a small rural town in Western Australia, who comes and knocks on the window of shy and ordinary Charlie Bucktin one night. Ch...more
Jasper Jones is the the "bad boy" of a small rural town in Western Australia, who comes and knocks on the window of shy and ordinary Charlie Bucktin one night. Ch...more
31 likes · like · see review
The Here and Now
“Jasper Jones” begins badly;
“…the thick heat seems to seep in and keep in my sleepout.”
And a barely a sentence later;
“…the slim slats of my single window.”
The unbearable assonance of the first phrase presumably represents the heat? The thirteen year-old protagonist’s literary pretensions? Or maybe it is an attack on language itself? And surely two of the adjectives in the second could be jettisoned without any loss of meaning, avoiding garish alliteration?
In fairness to Silvey, h...more
16 likes · like · see review
So finally my review of Jasper Jones is done! Ta da:
This novel was so complex and delicate, picking away at the prejudices of one small town and charting Charlie’s coming-of-age in a way that reminds me of a flower blooming. At it’s heart this is a story that lingers long after the final page has been read.
Set in a small country town in Western Australia during the 1960’s the story begins with a visit from the mysterious Jasper Jones. The outlaw of the small town, Jasper startles our young prot...more
This novel was so complex and delicate, picking away at the prejudices of one small town and charting Charlie’s coming-of-age in a way that reminds me of a flower blooming. At it’s heart this is a story that lingers long after the final page has been read.
Set in a small country town in Western Australia during the 1960’s the story begins with a visit from the mysterious Jasper Jones. The outlaw of the small town, Jasper startles our young prot...more
15 likes · like · see review
I'm struggling to finish this book because it's too awesome (how is that a thing?) It's doing my head in.
*********
Crazy huge readalong
(view spoiler)
*********
Crazy huge readalong
(view spoiler)
3 likes · like · see review
Jasper Jones readalong in celebration of it being chosen as an honour book for the Printz award *throws confetti*
(view spoiler)
(view spoiler)
7 likes · like · see review
Aug 11, 2012
Kandise
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
favorites,
contemporary
Wait. So, Country bumpkin ass Australian's exist? Really? Mind. Blown.
Who else's mind kept picturing the kids off of 'Stand By Me'? Anyone?...No?...Yes?
This one made it to my favorites for many many reasons. The first paragraph slaps you smack dab in the middle of Shenanigans. Unfortunately, these aren't the shenanigans that have you sighing, shaking your head while flicking your wrist and saying "oh Char and Jas, you little rascals!" It's far more sinister...
One thing that really stood out is...more
Who else's mind kept picturing the kids off of 'Stand By Me'? Anyone?...No?...Yes?
This one made it to my favorites for many many reasons. The first paragraph slaps you smack dab in the middle of Shenanigans. Unfortunately, these aren't the shenanigans that have you sighing, shaking your head while flicking your wrist and saying "oh Char and Jas, you little rascals!" It's far more sinister...
One thing that really stood out is...more
Nov 20, 2011
Choco
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Choco by:
Mel
Shelves:
0-favourites,
signed
Hoping to grab your attention, I would like to start this review by saying that Craig Silvey is up there with Markus Zusak in awesomeness. This is a rare book, which I can pick up, open any page and feel certain that single page or even a paragraph will make me feel something and satisfy me. It is a rare book in that upon finishing it I had to run out to a bookstore and buy myself my own copy. There is a tangible air around my copy, and every time I open it, the air thickens and fills me with so...more
12 likes · like · see review
This book is amazing. It made me laugh and cry and think and rage. It covers really tough topics - racism, injustice, hypocrisy, jealousy, abuse - but it does so beautifully. It also manages to be a sweet love story and has one of the best friend stories I've read in ages. I got a major kick out of Jeffrey and Charlie's conversations on the audio version.
"I forgot. My dad is cooking dinner tonight because my stupid ma won't come out of their bedroom. Cheeses Christ, it's going to be a nightmare...more
"I forgot. My dad is cooking dinner tonight because my stupid ma won't come out of their bedroom. Cheeses Christ, it's going to be a nightmare...more
Holy motherf**ker! I keep coming across some good ass books as of late! YA no less! It makes me kinda sad to see that only so few people have read this book compared to the likes of the "best-sellers" out there! This book reminded me a lot of one of my other favorite books, The Solitude of Prime Numbers. Craig Silvery was a master of drawing me in deep with his writing and beautifully handled characters and subject matter—suicide. I don't know what to say in reviews about books that I truly enjo...more
6 likes · like · see review
What I liked about Jasper Jones:
Jeffery and Charlie had such a great friendship. Their conversations were funny, and you could still feel how much they cared for each other. It was a good healthy relationship between two friends on equal footing. (And Charlie likes Batman, that makes him my awesome!) I actually felt like this friendship was the number one best part of this story. And, with Jeffery being Vietnamese, this is where you get the fallout of the war that's going on behind the scenes of...more
Jeffery and Charlie had such a great friendship. Their conversations were funny, and you could still feel how much they cared for each other. It was a good healthy relationship between two friends on equal footing. (And Charlie likes Batman, that makes him my awesome!) I actually felt like this friendship was the number one best part of this story. And, with Jeffery being Vietnamese, this is where you get the fallout of the war that's going on behind the scenes of...more
"Jasper Jones" by Craig Silvey is primarily a mystery novel, but as it is narrated through the eyes of a precocious thirteen- year old, it takes a slightly comic interpretation of an otherwise dark situation. Charlie Bucktin,the main character, is a very unlikely hero. He is not the courageous or curious type, and is very engrossed in his books. But one night, the town scapegoat, Jasper Jones, knocks on his window, pleading for his help. Jasper Jones is an older indigenous boy and is infamous fo...more
2 likes · like · see review
I suppose I don't know what to say.
This book was riddled with so much story that my words fail me.
I can say that this coming of age tale had a lot of heart. I really enjoyed the debates that happened between the characters especially the ones on existentialism. It confirmed what I, myself, am constantly trying to get across. Their back and forth was able to sum up my own thoughts exactly. Life "It's what you come with and what you leave with. And that's all I got".
The tangles of story were fab...more
This book was riddled with so much story that my words fail me.
I can say that this coming of age tale had a lot of heart. I really enjoyed the debates that happened between the characters especially the ones on existentialism. It confirmed what I, myself, am constantly trying to get across. Their back and forth was able to sum up my own thoughts exactly. Life "It's what you come with and what you leave with. And that's all I got".
The tangles of story were fab...more
Of the grim/tense category that all these Mock Printz books seem to be, this falls into "tense." I found the writing for this novel very uneven. For example, the story goes along and I'm populating the pictures in my head based on the book and then suddenly it seems that it's the 1960s. Insert record needle scratching off record. What? Really? Huh. This happened several times: the mother seemed to be a normal book mother and then suddenly she wasn't, the love interest had a too-convenient part t...more
3 likes · like · see review
Jasper Jones, written by Craig Silvery, is a well-written mystery. There are endless mysteries and plot twists that won’t allow you to put this book down until you finish it.
The book takes place in a small mining town in Australia in 1965. The main character, Charlie, is described as a moral, well-educated boy. After he gets tangled up in Jasper Jones’s mess, he soon learns how the world actually is. As he and Jasper continue deeper into the mystery of Laura Wishart’s death, the more Charlie be...more
The book takes place in a small mining town in Australia in 1965. The main character, Charlie, is described as a moral, well-educated boy. After he gets tangled up in Jasper Jones’s mess, he soon learns how the world actually is. As he and Jasper continue deeper into the mystery of Laura Wishart’s death, the more Charlie be...more
This is our book club's selection for the month. It reads like teen fiction, but pretty grim material too. His fictional town of Corrigan really is the pits. I note that Craig Silvey is from Dwellingup, so he probably went to the same high school that I did; and the narrator in 1965 is/was very nearly my own age. I should recognise these people in the book, and I don't. Maybe I didn't get out enough. The heat and dust, the boredom, the squalid houses, the racial tension (especially with aborigin...more
I quite liked this. The story sprawls a bit in terms of the writing but ultimately an interesting tale is weft. I can certainly see why it has been likened to "To Kill A Mockingbird". Ultimately though, it is not as derivative as this line of criticism would suggest. The book certainly addresses themes of small-town racism, being an outsider and insularity. But there's no Atticus Finch here. Not really. This is a book of binary opposites & dualities - Charlie Bucktin & Jasper Jones, both...more
I loved it but also hated aspects of it. Getting inside the mind of a teenage boy was very amusing and I enjoyed the writing style and was engrossed in the tension of the story. It was disturbing and the injustices were heart-wrenching. I was torn between reading fast to find out if my predictions were correct and reading slow to enjoy those boys talking to each other. But so many of the main adult characters seemed to be extreme, with their children unnaturally untouched by their nastiness: Cha...more
Jasper Jones started out with a bang and I had great hopes for it...but it stretched out way too long, dwelled on the game of Cricket without a explanation of the game and tied up without the "sleuthing" that was promised!
My Booktalk:
Charlie Bucktin is a 13 year old boy living in a very small town in Australia with his mother and father. He's deathly afraid of bugs and just a little less afraid of his mother! Jasper Jones is a virtually homeless, virtually orphaned boy a year older than Charlie....more
My Booktalk:
Charlie Bucktin is a 13 year old boy living in a very small town in Australia with his mother and father. He's deathly afraid of bugs and just a little less afraid of his mother! Jasper Jones is a virtually homeless, virtually orphaned boy a year older than Charlie....more
This book has a male main character, Charlie Bucktin,
In the 1950's Australian mining town of Corrigan, Charlie Bucktin, an ordinary 14 year old boy, is woken by someone outside his window. It is Jasper Jones, the town's teenage rebel, and he asks Charlie to come with him. Surprised and intrigued, Charlie follows him into the bush, where Jasper shows him something that will shatter his fragile world. The boys are forced to keep the events of that night secret, but as events continue to unfold in...more
In the 1950's Australian mining town of Corrigan, Charlie Bucktin, an ordinary 14 year old boy, is woken by someone outside his window. It is Jasper Jones, the town's teenage rebel, and he asks Charlie to come with him. Surprised and intrigued, Charlie follows him into the bush, where Jasper shows him something that will shatter his fragile world. The boys are forced to keep the events of that night secret, but as events continue to unfold in...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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Feb 07, 2013
Delray Beach Public Library Public Library
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
teens
Jasper Jones is the town’s scapegoat in this small mining town of Corrigan, Australia. If something goes wrong, he is the first one blamed. Charlie Bucktin is your regular thirteen-year-old, smart, a bit socially awkward, not very popular, loves sports but is quite uncoordinated.
In the summer of 1965, Jasper knocks on Charlie’s window in the middle of the night. Charlie is more than a little alarmed to see the infamous Jasper Jones peering in from outside, especially because Jasper has never ev...more
In the summer of 1965, Jasper knocks on Charlie’s window in the middle of the night. Charlie is more than a little alarmed to see the infamous Jasper Jones peering in from outside, especially because Jasper has never ev...more
I really didn't like this book. I had huge problems with the narrator, the writing style and the plot. Not to mention how this novel is billed as the Australian To Kill a Mockingbird.
The narrator Charlie is both unlikeable and unreliable, something that I doubt was the author's intention. I found myself constantly questioning what he was telling me of the story and of himself. Charlie is a 13 year old boy but often reads as much older but more often then not as a brat you'd like to hit. He const...more
The narrator Charlie is both unlikeable and unreliable, something that I doubt was the author's intention. I found myself constantly questioning what he was telling me of the story and of himself. Charlie is a 13 year old boy but often reads as much older but more often then not as a brat you'd like to hit. He const...more
This is a solid book. Look, I honestly found it captivating (and wasn't expecting much from it either) - it's a page-turner. Though people may criticise the simplistic writing style (I think it works - conveying the story effectively without complicating it) and that it's a poor Aussie's version of Huckleberry Finn (I beg to differ - yes there are so parallels and similarities but Jasper Jones stands as a novel on its own), I disagree.
However, I felt at times it was a bit repetitive (perhaps bec...more
However, I felt at times it was a bit repetitive (perhaps bec...more
Dec 04, 2012
Ed
added it
Silvey, C. (2011). Jasper Jones. New York: Knopf/Random House. 312 pp. ISBN: 978-0-375-86666-1. (Hardcover); $16.99.
As a teacher for many years, I regularly see young students who have not learned how to interact with other students. Some call these students bullies and sometimes they are correct. However, there is another side to bullying that is not as often recorded. Students will come tell me about something the bully has done, even when they do not have any direct evidence that proves it. I...more
[Disclaimer: some swearing.]
This book was surprisingly beautiful. It had a whole bunch of trappings, such as fridging, arguable white saviour undertones, and some generally disturbing shit (and that's just what I remember — read this a few years ago now). But, especially for a YA novel, the quality of the prose was pretty high, there was clearly a fair bit of research had been put into emulating sentiments and vernacular from the 60s (such as 'for certains'), and the characters, by and large, di...more
This book was surprisingly beautiful. It had a whole bunch of trappings, such as fridging, arguable white saviour undertones, and some generally disturbing shit (and that's just what I remember — read this a few years ago now). But, especially for a YA novel, the quality of the prose was pretty high, there was clearly a fair bit of research had been put into emulating sentiments and vernacular from the 60s (such as 'for certains'), and the characters, by and large, di...more
This book is amazing. It made me laugh and cry and think and rage. It covers really tough topics - racism, injustice, hypocrisy, jealousy, abuse - but it does so beautifully. It also manages to be a sweet love story and has one of the best friend stories I've read in ages. I got a major kick out of Jeffrey and Charlie's conversations on the audio version.
"I forgot. My dad is cooking dinner tonight because my stupid ma won't come out of their bedroom. Cheeses Christ, it's going to be a nightmare...more
"I forgot. My dad is cooking dinner tonight because my stupid ma won't come out of their bedroom. Cheeses Christ, it's going to be a nightmare...more
Hey kids, let's play a game of "Guess the Setting and Era!!" It's fun! I spent the first quarter of this book trying to figure out where the hell it was taking place and when. Right out of the gate, Charlie used the word "arse," so it wasn't set in the American South, as I originally thought. The UK? But then one of the characters is referred to as a "half-caste," which makes Atticus Finch, er, I mean Charlie's dad, apoplectic. So maybe not the UK? But Jasper kept saying "mate," and "orright" an...more
Sep 24, 2012
Holly Frabizio
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
13 and up
Shelves:
coming-of-age,
death,
friendship,
historical-fiction,
suspense,
young-adult,
mystery-crime,
romance,
multicultural,
vietnam,
australia,
secrets
Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey is like no other young adult novel that I have read in the past. It is full of complicated situations and unique characters. Set in Australia during the Vietnam War, the book is an intimate look at life in the small town of Corrigan, Australia. Charlie Buctin is startled one night by a visit to his bedroom window by the town malcontent, Jasper Jones. Jasper is "bad news" according to most of the adults in the community but Charlie can't help but be drawn to him. Perh...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPOILERS was Laura pregnant? | 3 | 26 | 15 juin 05:27 | |
| Ending(Spoilers, of course) | 6 | 51 | 19 mar. 22:11 | |
| Book Loving Kiwis: Jasper Jones | 7 | 18 | 11 déc. 10:07 |
Craig Silvey is an Australian novelist and musician. Silvey grew up on an orchard at Dwellingup in the south-west of Western Australia. He currently lives in Fremantle.
His debut novel, Rhubarb, was published by Fremantle Arts Centre Press in 2004. In 2005 Silvey was named as one of The Sydney Morning Herald's Best Young Novelists. Rhubarb was selected as the inaugural book for the 'One Book' serie...more
More about Craig Silvey...
His debut novel, Rhubarb, was published by Fremantle Arts Centre Press in 2004. In 2005 Silvey was named as one of The Sydney Morning Herald's Best Young Novelists. Rhubarb was selected as the inaugural book for the 'One Book' serie...more
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“Sorry.
Sorry means you feel the pulse of other people's pain as well as your own, and saying it means you take a share of it. And so it binds us together, makes us trodden and sodden as one another. Sorry is a lot of things. It's a hole refilled. A debt repaid. Sorry is the wake of misdeed. It's the crippling ripple of consequence. Sorry is sadness, just as knowing is sadness. Sorry is sometimes self-pity. But Sorry, really, is not about you. It's theirs to take or leave.
Sorry means you leave yourself open, to embrace or to ridicule or to revenge. Sorry is a question that begs forgiveness, because the metronome of a good heart won't settle until things are set right and true. Sorry doesn't take things back, but it pushes things forward. It bridges the gap. Sorry is a sacrament. It's an offering. A gift.”
—
116 people liked it
Sorry means you feel the pulse of other people's pain as well as your own, and saying it means you take a share of it. And so it binds us together, makes us trodden and sodden as one another. Sorry is a lot of things. It's a hole refilled. A debt repaid. Sorry is the wake of misdeed. It's the crippling ripple of consequence. Sorry is sadness, just as knowing is sadness. Sorry is sometimes self-pity. But Sorry, really, is not about you. It's theirs to take or leave.
Sorry means you leave yourself open, to embrace or to ridicule or to revenge. Sorry is a question that begs forgiveness, because the metronome of a good heart won't settle until things are set right and true. Sorry doesn't take things back, but it pushes things forward. It bridges the gap. Sorry is a sacrament. It's an offering. A gift.”
“I don't understand a thing about this world: about people, and why they do the things they do. The more I find out, the more I uncover, the more I know, the less I understand.”
—
56 people liked it
More quotes…
updated 21 août 02:26
I just want to hug her and be her bestest friend forever and ever.
I completely forgot about that politician thread. I have no idea...more
21 août 14:02