Karen's review

[close]

blog this review

Copy/paste the text below into your blog. <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/84981.Tuck_Everlasting?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Tuck Everlasting" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1171058527m/84981.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/84981.Tuck_Everlasting?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Tuck Everlasting</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1954.Natalie_Babbitt">Natalie Babbitt</a><br/><br/> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17783581?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a> rating: 5 of 5 stars<br/>I've seen the movie and saw this at the library. I'm in a young adult kick that's two books long. I liked the movie well enough for watching it on cable with commercials and probably edited. I have high hopes for the book. I'm only on chapter four and there have been some charming turns of phrase. <br/> <br/>Unlike [i]Midwife's Apprentice[/i], this one is being established from the very beginning like a fable and it feels magical. I expect I shall find fable all the the way through. <br/> <br/>UPDATED March 30 <br/>OK, I really did like this book. It did stay fable all the way through. I don't really want to do an intensive close-reading of the story, so I'll just point out some of the themes that caught my eye: <br/> <br/>Temptation <br/>Loneliness <br/>Love <br/>Chaos v. Order <br/> <br/>I think the theme of Chaos v. Order was the most complex in the book. Not that it was hard to spot or that the other themes were simplistic, but chaos and order permeated everything, from the fenced yard to the cabin in the forest, to the messy house, to the consequences of falling out of your place in the universe. There's the idea, too, that the girl whose name I can't believe I have forgotten, can't make friends until she drops some of the order out of her life (although the Tucks can't find friends within the chaos that they live). I think I have a new favorite literary line, too (which I'll have to look up to be exact); it's the one where they are saying how they are simple folk and don't know what they did to be blessed or cursed in this way. <br/> <br/>All around a fantastic little book, that never resorts to preaching or lecturing about the life cycle and being thankful for what you have. <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/891651?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>