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La vera storia del mostro Billy Dean
Billy Dean, figlio di un amore proibito, amato in modo singolare, vive per molti anni chiuso in una camera murata, protetto e tenuto segreto a tutti. Quando finalmente potrà uscire si ritrova sopraffatto da una realtà che non capisce, violenta e terribile. Poi, grazie all'aiuto delle persone che lo amano, scopre di avere un dono speciale, che però si trasformerà in una nuova forma di prigionia... La storia magnetica e assoluta di una rinascita minacciata dalla indescrivibile violenza del mondo. Una storia in prima persona che vibra della forza dirompente delle parole, perché per raccontarla Billy Dean usa la sola lingua che ha imparato a conoscere. Il primo libro di David Almond per lettori maturi non è solo drammatico ed emotivamente ricco di suspense, ma anche disegnato vividamente, come ci si potrebbe aspettare da un maestro narratore. È denso di momenti toccanti e scene comiche e solleva inquietanti interrogativi su ciò che accade all'innocenza in un mondo dove tutti vogliono qualcosa. (The Guardian)
272 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 1, 2011
33 people are currently reading
1181 people want to read
About the author
David Almond
122 books824 followersDavid Almond is a British children's writer who has penned several novels, each one to critical acclaim. He was born and raised in Felling and Newcastle in post-industrial North East England and educated at the University of East Anglia. When he was young, he found his love of writing when some short stories of his were published in a local magazine. He started out as an author of adult fiction before finding his niche writing literature for young adults.
His first children's novel, Skellig (1998), set in Newcastle, won the Whitbread Children's Novel of the Year Award and also the Carnegie Medal. His subsequent novels are: Kit's Wilderness (1999), Heaven Eyes (2000), Secret Heart (2001), The Fire Eaters (2003) and Clay (2005). His first play aimed at adolescents, Wild Girl, Wild Boy, toured in 2001 and was published in 2002.
His works are highly philosophical and thus appeal to children and adults alike. Recurring themes throughout include the complex relationships between apparent opposites (such as life and death, reality and fiction, past and future); forms of education; growing up and adapting to change; the nature of 'the self'. He has been greatly influenced by the works of the English Romantic poet William Blake.
He is an author often suggested on National Curriculum reading lists in the United Kingdom and has attracted the attention of academics who specialise in the study of children's literature.
Almond currently lives with his family in Northumberland, England.
Awards: Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing (2010).
His first children's novel, Skellig (1998), set in Newcastle, won the Whitbread Children's Novel of the Year Award and also the Carnegie Medal. His subsequent novels are: Kit's Wilderness (1999), Heaven Eyes (2000), Secret Heart (2001), The Fire Eaters (2003) and Clay (2005). His first play aimed at adolescents, Wild Girl, Wild Boy, toured in 2001 and was published in 2002.
His works are highly philosophical and thus appeal to children and adults alike. Recurring themes throughout include the complex relationships between apparent opposites (such as life and death, reality and fiction, past and future); forms of education; growing up and adapting to change; the nature of 'the self'. He has been greatly influenced by the works of the English Romantic poet William Blake.
He is an author often suggested on National Curriculum reading lists in the United Kingdom and has attracted the attention of academics who specialise in the study of children's literature.
Almond currently lives with his family in Northumberland, England.
Awards: Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing (2010).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 158 reviews
May 1, 2020
another bleak offering from candlewick, god bless 'em.
to begin - this book is written in the voice of billy dean, a boy who spent the first thirteen years of his life secreted away in the back room of an apartment in a war-torn world, with only three people knowing of his existence: his mother, his priest father, and the woman who delivered him into the world on the very day their town of blinkbonny was bombed. his father, when he bothers to stop by for a visit and a tumble with billy's mother, fills his head with stories from the bible as well as fairy tales, tries to teach him to read and write with limited success, and this is the extent of his education. as such, the book is written like this:
I wos a secrit shy and tungtied emptyheded thing. I wos tort to read and rite and spell by my tenda littl muther & by Mr McCaufrey the butcha & by Missus Malone and her gosts. So I am not cleva, so please forgiv my folts and my mistayks. I am the won that glares into your harts & that prowls insyde yor deepist dremes.
the insistence on writing this phonetically seems more of an author's caprice than a real narrative necessity. it just doesn't seem to ring true, considering how much of billy's later life involves reading and writing, the number of comparatively difficult words he is able to spell correctly, his intelligence in other areas, and the fact that this book is written many years after the action in the book. it doesn't read like dyslexia, where there is simply an obstacle to orthography in an otherwise-intelligent individual, this seems like an author trying to reinforce the idea of billy as "other;" as having been so wholly sheltered that his isolation has prevented him from ever being able to absorb the rules of language despite that same isolation somehow not preventing his overdeveloped emotional intelligence.
and i do not have a problem with books written phonetically, or in dialect. some of my favorite books (The Book of Night Women, and And the Ass Saw the Angel, etc) are written this way. so while i understand and appreciate the intention, i just don't think the decision holds up under scrutiny in this case.
billy's childhood was spent absorbing stories of death and magic, accepting his small world, being doted on by his mother and alternately roughly loved and savagely berated by his father, who feels guilt over billy's very existence but sees prophetic import in his having been born the day blinkbonny was bombed and the world changed forever. he keeps searching billy for signs of divine powers, but is frustrated by his seeming inability to learn how to write. for his part, billy is gifted with an endless capacity for love, and he wants nothing more than his father's love and pride. his world-knowledge is spotty and largely antiquated, so his greatest achievement comes in skinning the mice caught in the room's traps and drying the skins out into a kind of parchment upon which he writes in his own blood with the feather of a bird who flew through the window into the room and died. when left to his own devices, his play resembles that of a vengeful god - deciding which of his toy animals gets to live through the floods he brings, even when he is unsure of what they are actually called. billy is the center of his own universe, raised on the magic of the old testament, and helplessly desperate to live up to his father's expectations.
when he is finally brought out into the greater world, it soon comes to light that he does, indeed, have special gifts: the power to channel the dead and the power to heal. in a harsh post-apocalyptic reality, these are magnificent gifts - they bring hope to the survivors and billy becomes known as the "aynjel chylde."
and things always go well for innocents with messianic powers, right?
in the early scenes, where billy was playing god by himself in his room with his animals, i thought (hoped) this was going to be the junior version of And the Ass Saw the Angel- a dark and powerful story of misconstrued angelic visions leading to operatic destruction. and there are definitely horrible things that happen here, but not because of billy. not directly. billy emerges not the world (seemingly without difficulty or sensory overload, but i guess that's another one of his gifts) and is nothing but open arms, curiosity, and love. he becomes increasingly horrified by the attention he gets from the services he provides, but he is nothing but benevolent.
and again - no harm ever follows the benevolent.
if you can get past the writing choice, and the unnatural effortlessness of billy's transition from "boy hidden in room" to "star of the village," there is a good story here, filled with some very lovely moments. i just didn't see a whole lot of deeper message on display here, and i was a little disappointed with the ending, which seemed to be more spectacle than story-earned conclusion.
come to my blog!
to begin - this book is written in the voice of billy dean, a boy who spent the first thirteen years of his life secreted away in the back room of an apartment in a war-torn world, with only three people knowing of his existence: his mother, his priest father, and the woman who delivered him into the world on the very day their town of blinkbonny was bombed. his father, when he bothers to stop by for a visit and a tumble with billy's mother, fills his head with stories from the bible as well as fairy tales, tries to teach him to read and write with limited success, and this is the extent of his education. as such, the book is written like this:
I wos a secrit shy and tungtied emptyheded thing. I wos tort to read and rite and spell by my tenda littl muther & by Mr McCaufrey the butcha & by Missus Malone and her gosts. So I am not cleva, so please forgiv my folts and my mistayks. I am the won that glares into your harts & that prowls insyde yor deepist dremes.
the insistence on writing this phonetically seems more of an author's caprice than a real narrative necessity. it just doesn't seem to ring true, considering how much of billy's later life involves reading and writing, the number of comparatively difficult words he is able to spell correctly, his intelligence in other areas, and the fact that this book is written many years after the action in the book. it doesn't read like dyslexia, where there is simply an obstacle to orthography in an otherwise-intelligent individual, this seems like an author trying to reinforce the idea of billy as "other;" as having been so wholly sheltered that his isolation has prevented him from ever being able to absorb the rules of language despite that same isolation somehow not preventing his overdeveloped emotional intelligence.
and i do not have a problem with books written phonetically, or in dialect. some of my favorite books (The Book of Night Women, and And the Ass Saw the Angel, etc) are written this way. so while i understand and appreciate the intention, i just don't think the decision holds up under scrutiny in this case.
billy's childhood was spent absorbing stories of death and magic, accepting his small world, being doted on by his mother and alternately roughly loved and savagely berated by his father, who feels guilt over billy's very existence but sees prophetic import in his having been born the day blinkbonny was bombed and the world changed forever. he keeps searching billy for signs of divine powers, but is frustrated by his seeming inability to learn how to write. for his part, billy is gifted with an endless capacity for love, and he wants nothing more than his father's love and pride. his world-knowledge is spotty and largely antiquated, so his greatest achievement comes in skinning the mice caught in the room's traps and drying the skins out into a kind of parchment upon which he writes in his own blood with the feather of a bird who flew through the window into the room and died. when left to his own devices, his play resembles that of a vengeful god - deciding which of his toy animals gets to live through the floods he brings, even when he is unsure of what they are actually called. billy is the center of his own universe, raised on the magic of the old testament, and helplessly desperate to live up to his father's expectations.
when he is finally brought out into the greater world, it soon comes to light that he does, indeed, have special gifts: the power to channel the dead and the power to heal. in a harsh post-apocalyptic reality, these are magnificent gifts - they bring hope to the survivors and billy becomes known as the "aynjel chylde."
and things always go well for innocents with messianic powers, right?
in the early scenes, where billy was playing god by himself in his room with his animals, i thought (hoped) this was going to be the junior version of And the Ass Saw the Angel- a dark and powerful story of misconstrued angelic visions leading to operatic destruction. and there are definitely horrible things that happen here, but not because of billy. not directly. billy emerges not the world (seemingly without difficulty or sensory overload, but i guess that's another one of his gifts) and is nothing but open arms, curiosity, and love. he becomes increasingly horrified by the attention he gets from the services he provides, but he is nothing but benevolent.
and again - no harm ever follows the benevolent.
if you can get past the writing choice, and the unnatural effortlessness of billy's transition from "boy hidden in room" to "star of the village," there is a good story here, filled with some very lovely moments. i just didn't see a whole lot of deeper message on display here, and i was a little disappointed with the ending, which seemed to be more spectacle than story-earned conclusion.
come to my blog!
December 17, 2017
A strange story about a boy who grows up in a room by himself. Through his extreme isolation, he discovers he has powers beyond that of a normal boy. There is a mystery surrounding his parentage and also about the world outside the only room he has ever known. The boy's name is Billy Dean and this is his tale.
This pseudo-memoir is written mostly phonetically and with intentional misspellings, which was incredibly annoying at first, but you find yourself getting used to it. "This tale is told by 1 that died at birth by 1 that came into the world in the days of endles war & at a moment of disaster. He grew in isolayshon wile the enjins of destruchshon flew & smoke rose over the sitys & wile wilderness & waste crept all acros the world." pg 1, ebook.
David Almond was attempting to capture Billy Dean's innocent but uneducated voice through the misshaping of the words. I get what he was going for, but felt it did a disservice to the story.
Which wasn't that good. It could have been though and that was disappointing.
Take this intense moment when Billy Dean's father tells him that he should have killed his son the moment he was born: "Wilfred O bliddy Wilfred shud hav killd the monster in the woom. .... He grabbd me by the throte. Shudnt he? he yelld at me. Anser me you cretin! Tel me I shud have ended it befor it had bluddy begun. Tel me yes you shud hav Daddy!" pg 32, ebook.
It just doesn't have the impact it could have, does it.
Or this moment, when Billy Dean is comforting his mother: "Im so sory" she wispers. "It was all supposed to be so different." ... "Its lovely Mam" he grones at her. "Its byutiful." And all this nite he wil not slepe for the aykin of his mussels & the stingin of his bones & the thumpin of his hart & the byuty & the wunder of this world. pg 87
Beyond my issues with how the author chose to present his story, I felt that the magical part of the story was misshandled, especially when it comes to the child Billy Dean.
It made the timing of events feel strange. Nothing would happen, then this huge unexplained thing would roll out and the reader would be expected to accept that as the new normal and go on.
Perhaps Almond was trying to express the inexplicable nature of existence?
This book left me with a lot of unanswered questions, but not in a good way. I can't recommend it.
This pseudo-memoir is written mostly phonetically and with intentional misspellings, which was incredibly annoying at first, but you find yourself getting used to it. "This tale is told by 1 that died at birth by 1 that came into the world in the days of endles war & at a moment of disaster. He grew in isolayshon wile the enjins of destruchshon flew & smoke rose over the sitys & wile wilderness & waste crept all acros the world." pg 1, ebook.
David Almond was attempting to capture Billy Dean's innocent but uneducated voice through the misshaping of the words. I get what he was going for, but felt it did a disservice to the story.
Which wasn't that good. It could have been though and that was disappointing.
Take this intense moment when Billy Dean's father tells him that he should have killed his son the moment he was born: "Wilfred O bliddy Wilfred shud hav killd the monster in the woom. .... He grabbd me by the throte. Shudnt he? he yelld at me. Anser me you cretin! Tel me I shud have ended it befor it had bluddy begun. Tel me yes you shud hav Daddy!" pg 32, ebook.
It just doesn't have the impact it could have, does it.
Or this moment, when Billy Dean is comforting his mother: "Im so sory" she wispers. "It was all supposed to be so different." ... "Its lovely Mam" he grones at her. "Its byutiful." And all this nite he wil not slepe for the aykin of his mussels & the stingin of his bones & the thumpin of his hart & the byuty & the wunder of this world. pg 87
Beyond my issues with how the author chose to present his story, I felt that the magical part of the story was misshandled, especially when it comes to the child Billy Dean.
It made the timing of events feel strange. Nothing would happen, then this huge unexplained thing would roll out and the reader would be expected to accept that as the new normal and go on.
Perhaps Almond was trying to express the inexplicable nature of existence?
This book left me with a lot of unanswered questions, but not in a good way. I can't recommend it.
April 18, 2017
Did not finish.
Reading this book is making me stupider and giving me a headache. I can't stand the spelling.
I know it's deliberate, but that doesn't make it any better.
Reading this book is making me stupider and giving me a headache. I can't stand the spelling.
I know it's deliberate, but that doesn't make it any better.
October 25, 2011
Hmm, this book was a bit of a puzzle for me. I feel like I was supposed to glean some deeper meaning and understanding of...something. But I didn't. That may be because I am quite a simple soul and anything beyond the actual story is lost on me. I don't like dissecting stories, it kind of sucks all the fun out of reading.
At face value this was OK. I almost didn't read it when I found out that Almond wrote the story in a completely phonetic style, which made the whole reading experience quite painfully slow, as I'm so used to seeing a word spelt a certain way that, even when spelt the way it sounds, it took my brain a few more seconds to figure out what the word actually was. I'm not a particularly fast reader anyway, so that didn't really help.
The reason I decided to persevere was that 'Skellig' is so widely regarded that I thought it was about time I gave Mr. Almond a try and when a copy of this this landed in my lap, I couldn't resist. I have to say that, spelling aside, he does have a wonderful storytelling style that really does draw you in. It's quite an understated tale, more a study of relationships and how we perceive ourselves than anything really garish, but the focus he puts on his characters is enough to carry you along, as you glimpse the changes that occur in Billy as grows up and his perceptions alter. It really is quite something!!!!!
At face value this was OK. I almost didn't read it when I found out that Almond wrote the story in a completely phonetic style, which made the whole reading experience quite painfully slow, as I'm so used to seeing a word spelt a certain way that, even when spelt the way it sounds, it took my brain a few more seconds to figure out what the word actually was. I'm not a particularly fast reader anyway, so that didn't really help.
The reason I decided to persevere was that 'Skellig' is so widely regarded that I thought it was about time I gave Mr. Almond a try and when a copy of this this landed in my lap, I couldn't resist. I have to say that, spelling aside, he does have a wonderful storytelling style that really does draw you in. It's quite an understated tale, more a study of relationships and how we perceive ourselves than anything really garish, but the focus he puts on his characters is enough to carry you along, as you glimpse the changes that occur in Billy as grows up and his perceptions alter. It really is quite something!!!!!
May 3, 2024
Waarschuwing voor iedereen die besluit om dit boek te gaat lezen: het staat (opzettelijk) vol met spelfouten. Het idee is dat het geschreven is door een niet zo snugger personage die niet zo goed is in spellen (ook omdat hij ongeveer zijn hele jeugd is opgesloten en dus niet naar school is geweest). Dus veel woorden zijn geschreven zoals ze klinken, dus dat was zeker even wennen. Ook weet hij niet van het bestaan van aanhalingstekens en komma's, maar dat was een minder groot probleem.
Ik ben wel blij dat ik het boek in het Nederlands heb gelezen en niet in het originele Engels, want ik weet niet hoe goed ik dan de verkeerde spelling had kunnen begrijpen. Ook was de noot van de vertaler achterin het boek leuk, omdat ook stond hoe ze het had aangepakt met de verkeerd gespelde woorden.
Voor de rest was het best een prima boek.
Ik ben wel blij dat ik het boek in het Nederlands heb gelezen en niet in het originele Engels, want ik weet niet hoe goed ik dan de verkeerde spelling had kunnen begrijpen. Ook was de noot van de vertaler achterin het boek leuk, omdat ook stond hoe ze het had aangepakt met de verkeerd gespelde woorden.
Voor de rest was het best een prima boek.
May 14, 2021
David Almond is one of the children’s writers whose works win prizes in children’s literature. And ‘The True Tale of The monster Billy Dean isn’t an exception. This time he has written a story not only for children, but also for adults. It’s a gripping, mysterious and emotional story full of unanswered questions the good and evil, faith, religion, war and peace..
One of the unusual features of the novel is that this novel is written phonetically and that is why phonetic spelling makes reading challenging for learners of English as the second language.
As you may probably guess Billy, the main character, narrates his story with spelling’s mistakes. 'He grew up with the birds &mise as frends. He wos tort to read &rite &spel by his tender little muther…So he is not cleva so plees forgiv his folts & his mistayks.’Billy is illegitimate child whose mother is a hairdresser and father is a priest. He has been hidden from people till he is 13 in his room. Billy is gifted with an endless capacity for love but the world hurts him. People hope that Billy can heal everything and they ask him to talk to the dead. It doesn’t really matter for them how hard it can be for a poor boy.
This novel is thought-provoking and profoundly moving. The ideas of the novel challenge the reader to think about past and future, life and death, real and mystical world. I found this novel a bit spine-chilling at times but I couldn’t put it down.
I would recommend this book to anyone who won’t be frightened to spend more time reading this novel because of the spelling mistakes. It is like a jigsaw puzzle and I am sure it is worth it. Only when I finished the last chapter, I realised that listening audiobook would be much easier but would it be the same story? The magic of this novel could disappear.
One of the unusual features of the novel is that this novel is written phonetically and that is why phonetic spelling makes reading challenging for learners of English as the second language.
As you may probably guess Billy, the main character, narrates his story with spelling’s mistakes. 'He grew up with the birds &mise as frends. He wos tort to read &rite &spel by his tender little muther…So he is not cleva so plees forgiv his folts & his mistayks.’Billy is illegitimate child whose mother is a hairdresser and father is a priest. He has been hidden from people till he is 13 in his room. Billy is gifted with an endless capacity for love but the world hurts him. People hope that Billy can heal everything and they ask him to talk to the dead. It doesn’t really matter for them how hard it can be for a poor boy.
This novel is thought-provoking and profoundly moving. The ideas of the novel challenge the reader to think about past and future, life and death, real and mystical world. I found this novel a bit spine-chilling at times but I couldn’t put it down.
I would recommend this book to anyone who won’t be frightened to spend more time reading this novel because of the spelling mistakes. It is like a jigsaw puzzle and I am sure it is worth it. Only when I finished the last chapter, I realised that listening audiobook would be much easier but would it be the same story? The magic of this novel could disappear.
November 14, 2011
I was intrigued as soon as I read about The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean.
A crossover book, marketed to both children and adults. A book written by an award-winning author of books for children. I’d read a couple of them and I’d liked the mixture of reality and magic, earthiness and airiness. This new book had the potential to be something rather special.
I was a little worried though when my copy arrived and I discovered that the spelling was phonetic and that the use of language was colloquial and idiosyncratic. I can cope with such things, but I do find them a little distracting, and its easy to resent having to put extra work in just to work out what is being said.
To be fair though, I have to say that there was a good case for the choice of style.
The young Billy Dean, who tried and tried but could never get to grips with reading and writing, tells his own story.
“I wos a secrit shy and tungtied emptyheded thing. I wos tort to read and rite and spell by my tenda littl muther & by Mr McCaufrey the butcha & by Missus Malone and her gosts. So I am not cleva, so please forgiv my folts and my mistayks. I am the won that glares into your harts & that prowls insyde yor deepist dremes.”
Billy Dean was born in a small village in a country torn apart by war. And his mother raised him in secret, in a back room. The only other people who know he is there are his father and the woman who delivered him into the world. Three people conspire to keep Billy Dean a secret.
And he accepts, of course, the only world and the only way of living he has ever known.
But he can’t be hidden for ever. Eventually the world will see Billy Dean, and Billy Dean will see the world. The reactions, on both sides, are intriguing. And the consequences are extraordinary.
This is, at heart, a coming of age story, but it is much more that. It’s a book about manipulation, about perception, about faith, about what makes us human, about so many things.
Themes and idea are introduced gradually. Little hints are dropped. And a much older story is echoed. There’s plenty to think about as the story builds.
And, though his situation and his story were extraordinary, Billy Dean’s voice rang true. I could see the world through his eyes.
And that made the prose style all the more infuriating. It was an interesting idea, but I wish I could have been freed from working so hard to understand the words to think more about what they conveyed.
I kept going because I could never be quite sure where the story was going. And I did want to know.
And now I do. And I’ll be thinking about it for quite some time.
A crossover book, marketed to both children and adults. A book written by an award-winning author of books for children. I’d read a couple of them and I’d liked the mixture of reality and magic, earthiness and airiness. This new book had the potential to be something rather special.
I was a little worried though when my copy arrived and I discovered that the spelling was phonetic and that the use of language was colloquial and idiosyncratic. I can cope with such things, but I do find them a little distracting, and its easy to resent having to put extra work in just to work out what is being said.
To be fair though, I have to say that there was a good case for the choice of style.
The young Billy Dean, who tried and tried but could never get to grips with reading and writing, tells his own story.
“I wos a secrit shy and tungtied emptyheded thing. I wos tort to read and rite and spell by my tenda littl muther & by Mr McCaufrey the butcha & by Missus Malone and her gosts. So I am not cleva, so please forgiv my folts and my mistayks. I am the won that glares into your harts & that prowls insyde yor deepist dremes.”
Billy Dean was born in a small village in a country torn apart by war. And his mother raised him in secret, in a back room. The only other people who know he is there are his father and the woman who delivered him into the world. Three people conspire to keep Billy Dean a secret.
And he accepts, of course, the only world and the only way of living he has ever known.
But he can’t be hidden for ever. Eventually the world will see Billy Dean, and Billy Dean will see the world. The reactions, on both sides, are intriguing. And the consequences are extraordinary.
This is, at heart, a coming of age story, but it is much more that. It’s a book about manipulation, about perception, about faith, about what makes us human, about so many things.
Themes and idea are introduced gradually. Little hints are dropped. And a much older story is echoed. There’s plenty to think about as the story builds.
And, though his situation and his story were extraordinary, Billy Dean’s voice rang true. I could see the world through his eyes.
And that made the prose style all the more infuriating. It was an interesting idea, but I wish I could have been freed from working so hard to understand the words to think more about what they conveyed.
I kept going because I could never be quite sure where the story was going. And I did want to know.
And now I do. And I’ll be thinking about it for quite some time.
October 21, 2012
I love David Almond's Young Adult novels, so I was keen to see what he turned out for adults, and whether it would have the same hallmarks or go off in completely new territory. Having read the book, I'm not sure it is a book especially for adults at all. It still feels YA to me because I think teens can related to the majority of the story, but like the best YA books, there are depths here that only mature readers will notice.
And yes, it does have the David Almond hallmarks. It's never pinned down where it's set, but if you live in the north-east, you shouldn't have trouble spotting the clues. It has a believable child's perspective, often focussing on the smaller details, the bugs and stones and things closer to the earth. And it has that twisted sense of reality, merging into fantasy that readers of Skellig, Clay, Heaven Eyes and The Savage will love.
The book takes a bit of a risk with phonetic spelling, used throughout, and possibly alienates younger readers. Generally, I hate phonetic spelling because usually it's used to show accents. This is different, and kind of endearing, used to reflect the naivety of the author who can't spell. I began to get the feeling that the spelling was improving as time went on and wondered if, by the end, it would perfectly legible. But that didn't happen.
I haven't put anything about the story because I came to this book knowing nothing. The blurb doesn't give too much away and that's a good thing. The best stories carry you along to somewhere unexpected, and that's just what this did.
And yes, it does have the David Almond hallmarks. It's never pinned down where it's set, but if you live in the north-east, you shouldn't have trouble spotting the clues. It has a believable child's perspective, often focussing on the smaller details, the bugs and stones and things closer to the earth. And it has that twisted sense of reality, merging into fantasy that readers of Skellig, Clay, Heaven Eyes and The Savage will love.
The book takes a bit of a risk with phonetic spelling, used throughout, and possibly alienates younger readers. Generally, I hate phonetic spelling because usually it's used to show accents. This is different, and kind of endearing, used to reflect the naivety of the author who can't spell. I began to get the feeling that the spelling was improving as time went on and wondered if, by the end, it would perfectly legible. But that didn't happen.
I haven't put anything about the story because I came to this book knowing nothing. The blurb doesn't give too much away and that's a good thing. The best stories carry you along to somewhere unexpected, and that's just what this did.
November 30, 2014
Billy Dean is born in the town of Blinkbonny, just outside Alnwick, the day the bombs explode razing his town and plunging his country into war. He grows up knowing only the walls of the tiny flat where he and his mother live, and the face of his father who is an occasional visitor, preaching hellfire and teaching his son Bible stories. At the age of 13 his mother takes him out into the post apocalyptic landscape of rubble for the first time and he becomes a phenomenon, can speak to the dead and heal the living. As his father returns and the truth of his birth and the reasons he was shut away come to light the narrative comes to a climax involving redemption and the holy island of Lindisfarne.
Almond has written almost the entire book in Dean's own demotic, a sentence structure that is coherent and complex but often childlike, and words written phoenetically much as a 7 year old child would write. This makes it perhaps a little harder to read but also compelling and with a sense of authenticity as a boy who was shut away from the world for 13 years, knowing nothing of rivers, bombs, hills, wind or rain struggles to narrate his own history
Almond has written almost the entire book in Dean's own demotic, a sentence structure that is coherent and complex but often childlike, and words written phoenetically much as a 7 year old child would write. This makes it perhaps a little harder to read but also compelling and with a sense of authenticity as a boy who was shut away from the world for 13 years, knowing nothing of rivers, bombs, hills, wind or rain struggles to narrate his own history
January 26, 2022
What a strange book — worth the difficulty! "My final writing is a simple hope in simple words in a simple place. Let the wars be done. Let us continue. Let my child grow. I wave to him. I call his name. “John!” He turns and waves to me. He calls me. I put down the paper the pencil and the knife. I go to play in the water with my son."
May 2, 2018
An odd little tale, though one I liked. Written in disjointed English, the narrator, Billy Dean, not having been taught to read or write until quite late in his childhood. "Telt by Hisself" is how the whole book is written. It was a little distracting at first, but didn't notice it much throughout the majority of it. I didn't like this book of David Almond's as much as I did the others I have read.
December 22, 2014
I don't really want to start this review by talking about the phonetic spelling, but it so colors the whole reading experience that I feel I really must get it out of the way.
The whole book is written phonetically, and inconsistently phonetically (sometimes one is spelled "won," sometimes 1"). That inconsistency didn't actually bother me because I think when someone is unsure how to spell something, they don't necessarily spell it wrong the same way every time. And while the phonetic spelling is supposed to capture Billy Dean's unique voice, a voice that is mostly untainted by the outside world, it felt a little gimmicky to me. Because even though Billy Dean lived the first 13 years of his life totally secluded from the outside world, that didn't necessarily keep him from seeing books and learning to "write proper-like." I think the voice was meant to make Billy Dean seem a little "otherworldly," which it did, but I'm not sure it was worth the price: the price being that the book was a lot more difficult to get through than it would have been otherwise, and that a lot of readers give up on it altogether. (I kept hoping that as the book went on, Billy Dean would learn more about writing and spelling and the spelling would get more uniform, but no such luck.)
Still, this voice is one of the book's most powerful features, and I actually think just Billy Dean's turn of phrases would have been enough to keep that resonance. He is raised in isolation in what seems to be a basement apartment, only ever seeing his mother and his father who visits occasionally (and who is a priest -- I'm pretty sure that's how this book ended up on my to-read list in the first place). He was born in the midst of a bombing blitz, so only his parents and the woman who delivered him knew of his existence. The story is mostly divided into two parts -- his experience of isolation, and his tentative stepping out into the world.
I found the isolation chapters at the beginning to be more compelling, the way that Billy Dean tried to learn about the world with so little access to it haunting. The book is post-apocalyptic, so there's a bit of that haunting feeling remaining once Billy emerges, but it's not quite as pervasive. There's a lot of magical realism and ambiguity, which seem to be hallmarks of Almond's books from what I've read.
I liked the religious themes, and this book has so many strange, powerful images that I think it could make a really haunting movie. And while it's clearly a masterful work, I'm still not quite sure exactly what to make of it. Except that Billy Dean probably should have gotten an editor before he published. ;)
The whole book is written phonetically, and inconsistently phonetically (sometimes one is spelled "won," sometimes 1"). That inconsistency didn't actually bother me because I think when someone is unsure how to spell something, they don't necessarily spell it wrong the same way every time. And while the phonetic spelling is supposed to capture Billy Dean's unique voice, a voice that is mostly untainted by the outside world, it felt a little gimmicky to me. Because even though Billy Dean lived the first 13 years of his life totally secluded from the outside world, that didn't necessarily keep him from seeing books and learning to "write proper-like." I think the voice was meant to make Billy Dean seem a little "otherworldly," which it did, but I'm not sure it was worth the price: the price being that the book was a lot more difficult to get through than it would have been otherwise, and that a lot of readers give up on it altogether. (I kept hoping that as the book went on, Billy Dean would learn more about writing and spelling and the spelling would get more uniform, but no such luck.)
Still, this voice is one of the book's most powerful features, and I actually think just Billy Dean's turn of phrases would have been enough to keep that resonance. He is raised in isolation in what seems to be a basement apartment, only ever seeing his mother and his father who visits occasionally (and who is a priest -- I'm pretty sure that's how this book ended up on my to-read list in the first place). He was born in the midst of a bombing blitz, so only his parents and the woman who delivered him knew of his existence. The story is mostly divided into two parts -- his experience of isolation, and his tentative stepping out into the world.
I found the isolation chapters at the beginning to be more compelling, the way that Billy Dean tried to learn about the world with so little access to it haunting. The book is post-apocalyptic, so there's a bit of that haunting feeling remaining once Billy emerges, but it's not quite as pervasive. There's a lot of magical realism and ambiguity, which seem to be hallmarks of Almond's books from what I've read.
I liked the religious themes, and this book has so many strange, powerful images that I think it could make a really haunting movie. And while it's clearly a masterful work, I'm still not quite sure exactly what to make of it. Except that Billy Dean probably should have gotten an editor before he published. ;)
January 7, 2014
I have read a number of David Almond books and really enjoyed them. My favorite of his is The Skellig, but I also really enjoyed Heaven Eyes. I was excited to get this book for review, until I started reading it and realized the whole book is written phonetically and is very hard to read.
Billy Dean is a secret boy. His mother and father keep him hidden away in a room for most of his life. Then one day his father goes away and his mother brings him out into the town of Blinkbonny. At some time Blinkbonny was devastated by bombing and the citizens there see Billy as a sign of hope. They hope he will be able to do magical things like talk to the dead and heal the living. No one has really ever asked Billy what he wants though.
I would have liked this book more if it had been written in a way that was a bit easier to read. The whole book is written phonetically (words are written how they sound, not how they are actually spelled).
If you can get past the lack of correct spelling and struggle through the mangled words, this is an interesting and eerie story of a boy raised in isolation after a city has been bombed. People think he is special, an Angel Child.
The story is told from the boy's point of view. He is very underdeveloped for his age and comes across as having some sort of developmental disorder. Because of this the story is told in a stark and simple way. Despite his simplicity the boy has excellent insight into the beauty of the world as he sees it. It is interesting and refreshing to see the world through his eyes, since he is incredibly naive.
He doesn’t really ever see bad in the people around him. Despite the fact that his father was abusive and the people in Blinkbonny all want to use him for something. He doesn’t really seem to have capacity for anger either. He’s an interesting character and the mystery around Blinkbonny is an interesting one too.
I would have enjoyed the book a lot more if I hadn't had to read half of it outloud to figure out what the words were. The written is strangely beautiful and haunting (again if you can read it).
Overall a haunting and intriguing story plagued by a stylized phonetic writing that is very hard to read. I would recommend skipping this book just because it really is absolutely no fun to read. The story is good, but not good enough to make up for the struggle of reading it. Check out The Skellig by Almond instead or any of the other Almond books out there, I am guessing they are all better than this one.
Billy Dean is a secret boy. His mother and father keep him hidden away in a room for most of his life. Then one day his father goes away and his mother brings him out into the town of Blinkbonny. At some time Blinkbonny was devastated by bombing and the citizens there see Billy as a sign of hope. They hope he will be able to do magical things like talk to the dead and heal the living. No one has really ever asked Billy what he wants though.
I would have liked this book more if it had been written in a way that was a bit easier to read. The whole book is written phonetically (words are written how they sound, not how they are actually spelled).
If you can get past the lack of correct spelling and struggle through the mangled words, this is an interesting and eerie story of a boy raised in isolation after a city has been bombed. People think he is special, an Angel Child.
The story is told from the boy's point of view. He is very underdeveloped for his age and comes across as having some sort of developmental disorder. Because of this the story is told in a stark and simple way. Despite his simplicity the boy has excellent insight into the beauty of the world as he sees it. It is interesting and refreshing to see the world through his eyes, since he is incredibly naive.
He doesn’t really ever see bad in the people around him. Despite the fact that his father was abusive and the people in Blinkbonny all want to use him for something. He doesn’t really seem to have capacity for anger either. He’s an interesting character and the mystery around Blinkbonny is an interesting one too.
I would have enjoyed the book a lot more if I hadn't had to read half of it outloud to figure out what the words were. The written is strangely beautiful and haunting (again if you can read it).
Overall a haunting and intriguing story plagued by a stylized phonetic writing that is very hard to read. I would recommend skipping this book just because it really is absolutely no fun to read. The story is good, but not good enough to make up for the struggle of reading it. Check out The Skellig by Almond instead or any of the other Almond books out there, I am guessing they are all better than this one.
December 29, 2013
I've been thinking about this one for the past few days since I finished it, and I wasn't sure what to really write about it.
I'm a huge David Almond fan, as I'm pretty sure I've read almost every single one of his novels and shorter works and loved them all. He's one of my favorite authors--if not THE favorite--as his writing style is so simple and wonderful and beautiful.
However, this one is odd... I know that's vague, but it's the best way to put it. It's both very much an Almond story and also very different from his norm. I think, for me, it's that we're much more in Billy Dean's head than his other characters, as Billy isn't able to be out and about as much and lives in his head much more. This, I think, is what causes many problems for readers as, yes, there's not much of a through line for this one. A few things happen here or there, but mostly, it's the story about a boy trying to figure out this broken world and understand the concepts of good and evil, right and wrong, angles and monsters. This definitely makes it one of the weaker of Almond's books by way of plot. That being said, I think it more than makes up for it in theme.
I'll admit, I wasn't fully sold on how everything played out in the novel, but the ideas here are some of the deepest yet from Almond, and, once again, he tells the story in such a beautiful way that the natural world becomes something "other," something too magical for anyplace outside the pages of a book.
In short, it's definitely not for everyone. In particular, this one isn't really for kids--and I can't even begin to imagine how the "children's edition" even works as a novel at all. But there is depth and a heartfelt emotion that still allows Almond's beautiful storytelling to shine through. As always, I'm left wanting the next novel and impatient to wait for it for however long it takes...
I'm a huge David Almond fan, as I'm pretty sure I've read almost every single one of his novels and shorter works and loved them all. He's one of my favorite authors--if not THE favorite--as his writing style is so simple and wonderful and beautiful.
However, this one is odd... I know that's vague, but it's the best way to put it. It's both very much an Almond story and also very different from his norm. I think, for me, it's that we're much more in Billy Dean's head than his other characters, as Billy isn't able to be out and about as much and lives in his head much more. This, I think, is what causes many problems for readers as, yes, there's not much of a through line for this one. A few things happen here or there, but mostly, it's the story about a boy trying to figure out this broken world and understand the concepts of good and evil, right and wrong, angles and monsters. This definitely makes it one of the weaker of Almond's books by way of plot. That being said, I think it more than makes up for it in theme.
I'll admit, I wasn't fully sold on how everything played out in the novel, but the ideas here are some of the deepest yet from Almond, and, once again, he tells the story in such a beautiful way that the natural world becomes something "other," something too magical for anyplace outside the pages of a book.
In short, it's definitely not for everyone. In particular, this one isn't really for kids--and I can't even begin to imagine how the "children's edition" even works as a novel at all. But there is depth and a heartfelt emotion that still allows Almond's beautiful storytelling to shine through. As always, I'm left wanting the next novel and impatient to wait for it for however long it takes...
January 12, 2015
I'm not sure there are words or stars to really explain this one to you. I found it somewhat painful to read for at least half, and then somehow fell into a rhythm with it - I think if you have the option you should probably go audio with this one. It's meant to be an oral story in my opinion. This is the story of Billy Dean, a child who is secreted away by his priest father and hairdresser mother after his hidden birth on the day that the town of Blinkbonny is blasted to smithereens. The story is told in a phonetically spelled way that is somewhat maddening - I get that Billy is supposed to be somewhat illiterate, but I fell that it was untrue to to the evolution of Billy by the time he is supposed to be writing his tale. That said, there are wonderful moments in the story - moments of truth and beauty in the midst of ugliness and pain (hmmm, reading the story is that way just like life in Blinkbonny.....).
One point I do have - I'm not sure this is really a YA story - it will be the rare reader of that age group who will stick with it. I think it's probably better suited to adults - not because of inappropriate content by any means, but simply it is a story that must be worked at and i think the complicated themes of destruction, religion, etc might be better understood and appreciated by an adult audience.
Should any of ya'll listen to this in audio - do let me know. I'm curious on how that experience goes. I may have to track it down myself to hear it in the author's voice.
One point I do have - I'm not sure this is really a YA story - it will be the rare reader of that age group who will stick with it. I think it's probably better suited to adults - not because of inappropriate content by any means, but simply it is a story that must be worked at and i think the complicated themes of destruction, religion, etc might be better understood and appreciated by an adult audience.
Should any of ya'll listen to this in audio - do let me know. I'm curious on how that experience goes. I may have to track it down myself to hear it in the author's voice.
March 31, 2016
'The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean Telt by Hisself' by David Arnold is a bit of a struggle to read. It's written by a largely uneducated main character who seems to prefer spelling phonetically.
Billy Dean is born in the town of Blinkbonny sometime after the bombs have fallen. All we know is there has been some sort of war, that may still be going on. Billy Dean spends his early years locked away in a room with his mother nearby and he gets occasional visits from his father. When he gets a chance to finally see the world, he discovers that he has certain ways about him that set him off from others, but also can help them.
I'm not sure why he calls himself a monster. I also kept hoping his writing style might improve as he learned more and as the story went along, but it doesn't. You do get used to the pattern of speech and writing, but by the end, I was tired of sorting it all out. The character is interesting, and it seems to lead somewhere, then kind of fizzles. Another puzzling thing are the chapters done in third person. They don't fit with the kind of world education Billy is getting. Overall, I liked it. Maybe I wouldn't have liked it as much had it been written conventionally, but maybe I would have liked it more if it had.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Candlewick Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
Billy Dean is born in the town of Blinkbonny sometime after the bombs have fallen. All we know is there has been some sort of war, that may still be going on. Billy Dean spends his early years locked away in a room with his mother nearby and he gets occasional visits from his father. When he gets a chance to finally see the world, he discovers that he has certain ways about him that set him off from others, but also can help them.
I'm not sure why he calls himself a monster. I also kept hoping his writing style might improve as he learned more and as the story went along, but it doesn't. You do get used to the pattern of speech and writing, but by the end, I was tired of sorting it all out. The character is interesting, and it seems to lead somewhere, then kind of fizzles. Another puzzling thing are the chapters done in third person. They don't fit with the kind of world education Billy is getting. Overall, I liked it. Maybe I wouldn't have liked it as much had it been written conventionally, but maybe I would have liked it more if it had.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Candlewick Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
February 7, 2014
Though this book sounds promising, its execution prevents it from being an enjoyable read. It’s a struggle to get through this book. It is written semi-phonetically, but inconsistently (“one” is written as both “1” and “won”) and this choice is so alienating. Here’s an example of one of the sentences: “Mebbe non of us think that standin & warkin on the world is enuf for us.” The beginning relays that this is a retrospective story, and since there are so many other literate people in Billy’s life, it makes little sense that the entire novel is written in this fashion. The style is so cumbersome and overwhelming that it makes it hard to focus at all on the story buried beneath this clunky style.
It is a dark and quite adult YA book aside from the childish spellings set in a post-apocalyptic world that would be interesting if more time had been spent on it. Billy is at first hidden away from the world, and then thirteen years later he emerges with surprising smoothness to the outside world. As the nurse who served as the midwife to his birth - and his priest father - predict, Billy has special powers. He soon begins channeling the dead and healing pilgrims.
The ending feels rushed and the religious elements to the story may offend some readers. Ultimately, nothing redeems the book from its overbearing style choice. It is difficult to connect with any of the characters. The style just spoils the entire reading experience.
It is a dark and quite adult YA book aside from the childish spellings set in a post-apocalyptic world that would be interesting if more time had been spent on it. Billy is at first hidden away from the world, and then thirteen years later he emerges with surprising smoothness to the outside world. As the nurse who served as the midwife to his birth - and his priest father - predict, Billy has special powers. He soon begins channeling the dead and healing pilgrims.
The ending feels rushed and the religious elements to the story may offend some readers. Ultimately, nothing redeems the book from its overbearing style choice. It is difficult to connect with any of the characters. The style just spoils the entire reading experience.
March 8, 2015
Review written for WASHYARG (Washington Young Adult Review Group).
Billy Dean has lived in the same room since he was born. His only view of his little town of Blinkbonny is a tiny square of sky through the skylight. He only ever sees his mother and father, and the only animals he’s seen in person are birds and mice. Because of his limited view of the world, Billy’s upbringing is strange, to say the least. It is only when Billy turns 13 and his mother decides that it is time for him to see the world outside that he learns the terrible history of his surroundings, and begins to learn about himself. Because the book is from the point of view of Billy Dean, who has never been formally taught to read and write, readers will quickly notice that the entire novel is written phonetically and in dialect. While this is difficult to get used to at first and could be a barrier to some audiences, those who can acclimate to the style will quickly realize that this is an exquisitely written, philosophical, post-apocalyptic tale. As Billy learns about the bombing of his town and his own ability to speak to the dead and heal people, readers will come face-to-face with questions of morality, the nature of good and evil, and a surprisingly complex coming of age story. This might be a hard sell for struggling readers, but the sophisticated narrative is thought-provoking and great for discussion.
Billy Dean has lived in the same room since he was born. His only view of his little town of Blinkbonny is a tiny square of sky through the skylight. He only ever sees his mother and father, and the only animals he’s seen in person are birds and mice. Because of his limited view of the world, Billy’s upbringing is strange, to say the least. It is only when Billy turns 13 and his mother decides that it is time for him to see the world outside that he learns the terrible history of his surroundings, and begins to learn about himself. Because the book is from the point of view of Billy Dean, who has never been formally taught to read and write, readers will quickly notice that the entire novel is written phonetically and in dialect. While this is difficult to get used to at first and could be a barrier to some audiences, those who can acclimate to the style will quickly realize that this is an exquisitely written, philosophical, post-apocalyptic tale. As Billy learns about the bombing of his town and his own ability to speak to the dead and heal people, readers will come face-to-face with questions of morality, the nature of good and evil, and a surprisingly complex coming of age story. This might be a hard sell for struggling readers, but the sophisticated narrative is thought-provoking and great for discussion.
May 4, 2014
Well, this got my attention. David Almond, why did you write your entire book this way?
"Ther was a shaft of lite farlin on him ther was a million bits of dust dansin spinnin glitterin in that shaft of lite. He lit a blak sigaret & the smoak swirld rownd him with the dust."
It seems like it has annoyed most readers, and it certainly makes the book challenging to read (it probably took me twice as long as a normal book of its length). But I think it was worth it! The language and phonetic spelling gave me the sense of waking up to the world just like Billy Dean, a sense of confusion and having to think everything over, not letting your brain skim and take shortcuts. I don't think this book is necessarily meant to be a pleasurable read. But it is one I could revisit and certainly get something new out of on a second reading.
I have so many questions! I want to talk to someone who has read this book right now! And I think the book could provide answers, if I mulled it over enough. In my mind, that's one measure of greatness, and it's more important than how easy it was to read a book.
"Ther was a shaft of lite farlin on him ther was a million bits of dust dansin spinnin glitterin in that shaft of lite. He lit a blak sigaret & the smoak swirld rownd him with the dust."
It seems like it has annoyed most readers, and it certainly makes the book challenging to read (it probably took me twice as long as a normal book of its length). But I think it was worth it! The language and phonetic spelling gave me the sense of waking up to the world just like Billy Dean, a sense of confusion and having to think everything over, not letting your brain skim and take shortcuts. I don't think this book is necessarily meant to be a pleasurable read. But it is one I could revisit and certainly get something new out of on a second reading.
I have so many questions! I want to talk to someone who has read this book right now! And I think the book could provide answers, if I mulled it over enough. In my mind, that's one measure of greatness, and it's more important than how easy it was to read a book.
July 31, 2025
ho prenotato questo libro sul book depository prima che fosse disponibile per la spedizione - molto prima - perché avevo letto skellig e mi era piaciuto, ma senza leggere recensioni. qualche settimana fa, me n'ero anche dimenticata, mi arriva un mail che dice: ehi, guarda che te lo spediamo. così ecco billy dean. lo apro e leggo, nella prima pagina:
he wos tort to read & rite & spel by his tenda littl muther.
sfoglio qua è là - è tutto scritto così.
billy dean è un po' kaspar hauser e un po' pudd'nhead wilson, e ci vuole un momento per abituarsi. io ho capito cosa intende con "creechers" dopo vari capitoli, per dire. mi consola aver visto che un critico anglofono lo definisce non proprio facile da leggere. la storia mi è piaciuta molto, forse moltissimo. secondo me non verrà mai tradotto, ma se dovesse esserlo mi piacerebbe vedere il risultato.
he wos tort to read & rite & spel by his tenda littl muther.
sfoglio qua è là - è tutto scritto così.
billy dean è un po' kaspar hauser e un po' pudd'nhead wilson, e ci vuole un momento per abituarsi. io ho capito cosa intende con "creechers" dopo vari capitoli, per dire. mi consola aver visto che un critico anglofono lo definisce non proprio facile da leggere. la storia mi è piaciuta molto, forse moltissimo. secondo me non verrà mai tradotto, ma se dovesse esserlo mi piacerebbe vedere il risultato.
September 22, 2013
David almond is a master storyteller, and tales are beautiful writen .
It's gripping, truly original, mysterious and affecting . This book is like some beautiful people who intrig you, who you will treads with delicate certainty .
It's gripping, truly original, mysterious and affecting . This book is like some beautiful people who intrig you, who you will treads with delicate certainty .
April 8, 2020
Disclaimer: I wrote this review past midnight almost a month into the corona quarantine. I cannot guarantee this will make any sense to anyone but 8/9 April 2020 me. Also, my great dislike for this book did not motivate me whatsoever to write a coherent review, so here's the brain dump of why I hated this book.
I hated this book.
This is the second book in a row that I chose at random from my bookshelf during the COVID 19 quarantine that centres around themes like loneliless, confinement, isolation, fear, etc. Can someone tell me why it seems to be the case that I'm only able to pick books about loneliness, confinement, isolation, etc. during these depressing, lonely times?
I hated this book.
This is the second book in a row that I chose at random from my bookshelf during the COVID 19 quarantine that centres around themes like loneliless, confinement, isolation, fear, etc. Can someone tell me why it seems to be the case that I'm only able to pick books about loneliness, confinement, isolation, etc. during these depressing, lonely times?
March 10, 2021
I really wanted to love this book, but the more I read, the less interested I became. For me there are too many gaps. I'm all for leaving a bit to the imagination but with this I'd have to practically write a book to fill in the blanks.
What did I like? Well I liked the idea of the book. It sounds different and has a different writing style and an innocence. The characters had potential, and there was a fair bit going on. But for me it was more a potentially good book. First off we don't t know anything about the war. It seems there were some terrorist acts but this didn't account for the place being deserted. There wasn't a nuke but most people seemed to have left. There were hints about boys being forced to fight, but in reality, this wasn't explored. It's possibly a world war, but who really knows. The Priest hints that the people are now bad, but again, there is no evidence of this. Billy is told to be weary of people but in the end no one is spying or turning people in. It's all just a hint. The next week issue for me was who the hell wants their hair done if the place is meant to be so bad they have hidden a kid for 13 yrs? And where is the butcher getting all the animals? These small details coupled with the lack of explanation regarding the war made me wonder whether the author had actually decided himself what was going on. The Priest was probably the best character. He had a sinister edge to him, but once again this was incomplete. All I know I'd he slept with most everyone in a skirt. Billy was just weird. Was he meant to be special as one minute he's watching his future self then he's stuck in that story. He can't read then can, he chops up dead animals with scissors and writes random crap all over the bloody walls. It was all just too much. They were setting him up to be some psycho and again, nothing really comes of it. He communicates with the dead, finds Mrs Ms daughter and walks around with a mini entourage. And this is meant to be a dumb kid whose been locked away for 13 years.
Sorry but for me it was weird in a ruin the story type of way. Alot of people have commented on the phonetic writing. I didn't like it. I'm an eng teacher and it wasn't consistent and not really how a person would spell phonetically. And then suddenly the last 3 pages it got alot better. I agree with others who said it didn't add anything to the story. Tbf it's a story I'd have preferred to hear from his dad's side or multiple angles.
Not a fan of this one I'm afraid. Some great ideas but not executed. Sorry.
What did I like? Well I liked the idea of the book. It sounds different and has a different writing style and an innocence. The characters had potential, and there was a fair bit going on. But for me it was more a potentially good book. First off we don't t know anything about the war. It seems there were some terrorist acts but this didn't account for the place being deserted. There wasn't a nuke but most people seemed to have left. There were hints about boys being forced to fight, but in reality, this wasn't explored. It's possibly a world war, but who really knows. The Priest hints that the people are now bad, but again, there is no evidence of this. Billy is told to be weary of people but in the end no one is spying or turning people in. It's all just a hint. The next week issue for me was who the hell wants their hair done if the place is meant to be so bad they have hidden a kid for 13 yrs? And where is the butcher getting all the animals? These small details coupled with the lack of explanation regarding the war made me wonder whether the author had actually decided himself what was going on. The Priest was probably the best character. He had a sinister edge to him, but once again this was incomplete. All I know I'd he slept with most everyone in a skirt. Billy was just weird. Was he meant to be special as one minute he's watching his future self then he's stuck in that story. He can't read then can, he chops up dead animals with scissors and writes random crap all over the bloody walls. It was all just too much. They were setting him up to be some psycho and again, nothing really comes of it. He communicates with the dead, finds Mrs Ms daughter and walks around with a mini entourage. And this is meant to be a dumb kid whose been locked away for 13 years.
Sorry but for me it was weird in a ruin the story type of way. Alot of people have commented on the phonetic writing. I didn't like it. I'm an eng teacher and it wasn't consistent and not really how a person would spell phonetically. And then suddenly the last 3 pages it got alot better. I agree with others who said it didn't add anything to the story. Tbf it's a story I'd have preferred to hear from his dad's side or multiple angles.
Not a fan of this one I'm afraid. Some great ideas but not executed. Sorry.
March 18, 2021
The day Billy Dean wos born wos a day of great destrucshion for his town of Blinkbonny. Kept in secrit and seeing only his butyful yung mam Veronica and, on his rare visits, his daddy, Billy nos little of the world he has been born into. At the age of thirteen when his daddy disapperes it seems for good his mam introduses Billy to the world, and the devastashion that has remained almost unchanged since his birth. While virchewally uneducated and ignorant of the world at large there are thoos who have great expectashions of Billy, namely the older Missus Malone, and the cheerful Mr McCaufrey the local bucher who is like a farther figer to Billy while Missus Malone encurages Billy to develop and make use of the great powers she beleves are his.
Living in a word possibly in the near futur, these are difficult seemingly lawles times, the war has raged at leest since Billys birth, and is still raging when he cums out into the world at the age of thirteen. What futur there is for the world is unsertain, all that is sertain is that Veronicas one gole is to escape Blinkbonny and take Billy with her to live on the butyiful not too distant little island pitchured on her wall.
Eventually nuws gets arownd of Billys abilitys, but there are danjers ahead for him and for those who care for him in this unsertain world, but there is also hope.
Billy tells his own story, peecing together his life since birth, but there is a problem, he dus not no how to rite, and so he does what he can; he rites foneticly (sum seen to think this a problem - I dont understand that) This conveys butyfully much of the deliteful character of Billy, his charm, onesty and innosence; and it is surprisingly easy to read, it takes but a paje or to and 1 is akustomed to his unusual - yet logical - spelling.
The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean is a most appealing story, there are many mysteries along the way not all of wich are ansered, and it is filled with little insidents and amewsing events from Billys growing years. It is an unusual, engajing and at times moving story.
(and don't wurry, take my wurd for it, reading this book wont affect your own use of the English langwij)
(pre-publication review copy - maybe it just needed proof-reading!)
Living in a word possibly in the near futur, these are difficult seemingly lawles times, the war has raged at leest since Billys birth, and is still raging when he cums out into the world at the age of thirteen. What futur there is for the world is unsertain, all that is sertain is that Veronicas one gole is to escape Blinkbonny and take Billy with her to live on the butyiful not too distant little island pitchured on her wall.
Eventually nuws gets arownd of Billys abilitys, but there are danjers ahead for him and for those who care for him in this unsertain world, but there is also hope.
Billy tells his own story, peecing together his life since birth, but there is a problem, he dus not no how to rite, and so he does what he can; he rites foneticly (sum seen to think this a problem - I dont understand that) This conveys butyfully much of the deliteful character of Billy, his charm, onesty and innosence; and it is surprisingly easy to read, it takes but a paje or to and 1 is akustomed to his unusual - yet logical - spelling.
The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean is a most appealing story, there are many mysteries along the way not all of wich are ansered, and it is filled with little insidents and amewsing events from Billys growing years. It is an unusual, engajing and at times moving story.
(and don't wurry, take my wurd for it, reading this book wont affect your own use of the English langwij)
(pre-publication review copy - maybe it just needed proof-reading!)
January 19, 2018
I've been a huge fan of David Almond ever since I encountered his debut novel Skellig back when it all began in 1998. He is a prolific author and I always discover after the event that he has produced another. Such was the case with this book - his fifteenth novel - and (as it turns out) his first for adults. His first novel for adults it may be but it is still unmistakably Almond here, and I would recommend it to any of his younger readers.
David Almond's books have a distinctive style about them. I like to say they are deftly written; sparse but effective language to carry a powerful, often hard-hitting story. This is a story that is probably as powerful and hard-hitting as they come. The title character of the book, the Monster Billy Dean, is anything but a monster. He is a boy born on the same day as a devastating terrorist attack.
The book, is one of two halves with a short epilogue. The first, and best half is almost entirely shut away in the house where Billy lives with his mother, with night-time visits from his father, a priest. It's a story of child- and domestic-abuse and is unflinching in its portrayal. Billy Dean is illiterate, and as this story is his story, written through his eyes, they are his words. I opened the book up to page one and thought I was reading Chaucer for it is written, not just in phonetic English, but Geordie Phonetic English. I thought that this was going to be a book that was going to be hard-going, but once you get used to it (surprisingly quickly), it is actually really easy to read.
The second half of the book sees Billy coming out in the world, transformed by the bombings and we are introduced to more characters. Here, in this world, Billy is seen as a messiah-like figure to heal people, and the book takes on the nature of religion and faith.
David Almond's books have a distinctive style about them. I like to say they are deftly written; sparse but effective language to carry a powerful, often hard-hitting story. This is a story that is probably as powerful and hard-hitting as they come. The title character of the book, the Monster Billy Dean, is anything but a monster. He is a boy born on the same day as a devastating terrorist attack.
The book, is one of two halves with a short epilogue. The first, and best half is almost entirely shut away in the house where Billy lives with his mother, with night-time visits from his father, a priest. It's a story of child- and domestic-abuse and is unflinching in its portrayal. Billy Dean is illiterate, and as this story is his story, written through his eyes, they are his words. I opened the book up to page one and thought I was reading Chaucer for it is written, not just in phonetic English, but Geordie Phonetic English. I thought that this was going to be a book that was going to be hard-going, but once you get used to it (surprisingly quickly), it is actually really easy to read.
The second half of the book sees Billy coming out in the world, transformed by the bombings and we are introduced to more characters. Here, in this world, Billy is seen as a messiah-like figure to heal people, and the book takes on the nature of religion and faith.
October 26, 2020
This is a beautifully unsettling piece of fiction. It can be forceful as a windstorm eroding rock or as soft as a breath, barely flickering a candle flame. Billy Dean, the shut-in child of a priest and a hairdresser in a place of bombed out despair, a town in decay. In his narrative, we piece together that he was hidden due to shame, yet the date of his birth ends up being the beginning of a dystopia. We see his world expand from the narrow four walls to the broader town when he is at last set free - or perhaps unleashed.
As others have said, this can be a difficult read for a few reasons. Our narrator is the long hidden away protagonist and thus writes in his way. If you want a grammar precise work, perhaps look elsewhere, but here you will find a seemingly lyrical playing of phonetics. Likewise, Billy Dean does a few monstrous things while in seclusion - animals are killed to make a rough book. These things may be troublesome for different reasons for different readers, but these choices fit well in the world of Billy Dean.
The story itself is of Billy, hidden since birth and locked away until his release. Throughout his life, he is called many things - a monster, a beast, the angel child, a speaker to the dead, and other things - but to say more would be perhaps too close to a spoiler. Billy’s tragic beginnings and origins, as well as the nebulous beginning of his destroyed surroundings perfectly frame a story of a young man who has titles and expectations foisted upon him but moves slowly toward becoming more of himself. The title itself is telling- ultimately, his story will be “tolt by hisself” and no one else. Playing with elements of drama, tragedy, hints of war and supernatural, and eventually a story that is ultimately human, this was worth a read.
As others have said, this can be a difficult read for a few reasons. Our narrator is the long hidden away protagonist and thus writes in his way. If you want a grammar precise work, perhaps look elsewhere, but here you will find a seemingly lyrical playing of phonetics. Likewise, Billy Dean does a few monstrous things while in seclusion - animals are killed to make a rough book. These things may be troublesome for different reasons for different readers, but these choices fit well in the world of Billy Dean.
The story itself is of Billy, hidden since birth and locked away until his release. Throughout his life, he is called many things - a monster, a beast, the angel child, a speaker to the dead, and other things - but to say more would be perhaps too close to a spoiler. Billy’s tragic beginnings and origins, as well as the nebulous beginning of his destroyed surroundings perfectly frame a story of a young man who has titles and expectations foisted upon him but moves slowly toward becoming more of himself. The title itself is telling- ultimately, his story will be “tolt by hisself” and no one else. Playing with elements of drama, tragedy, hints of war and supernatural, and eventually a story that is ultimately human, this was worth a read.
September 14, 2018
I did not finish this. I found the way it was written too hard to read. I felt like I was reading first drafts of student’s work - students who couldn’t write or spell correctly. I know this is the author’s attempt at something, but it made it hard on the reader and gave me a headache.
This type of writing worked for Daniel Keyes in Flowers For Algernon because it allows the reader to see the changes in the character. But to read an entire book with phonetic spelling is just too much to ask of the reader.
I found one quote I liked. Page 15 “We are brout into the world to heal woonds not to make them.” The spelling is what is in the book and this sentence is one of the better ones.
I loved Skellig and Kit’s Wilderness and appreciate Almond’s attempt in this book, but no, it doesn’t work.
This type of writing worked for Daniel Keyes in Flowers For Algernon because it allows the reader to see the changes in the character. But to read an entire book with phonetic spelling is just too much to ask of the reader.
I found one quote I liked. Page 15 “We are brout into the world to heal woonds not to make them.” The spelling is what is in the book and this sentence is one of the better ones.
I loved Skellig and Kit’s Wilderness and appreciate Almond’s attempt in this book, but no, it doesn’t work.
July 11, 2021
I liked the book. The narrator, the story and the world all appealed to me. I found the spelling somewhat annoying; it wasn't too hard to read once I'd gotten through a few pages and was in the right mindset, because it's all written to look like it's said, and it did make a difference to how the narrator came across, but I still got tired of it. The story felt quite unbalanced in terms of pacing. The beginning was really slow, with lots of little details and tangents, whereas the second half was comparatively sparse on detail and a lot of information was piled on. I get the feeling that was deliberate, but I'm not sure it helped. The slow pacing at the beginning meant that learning about the world in the second half was more surprising, but it felt as though the events that occurred in the second half didn't really matter much.
May 30, 2018
I have to be honest I only read the first couple of pages before I put the book down. Because the book is written by a young boy, most of the words are spelled wrong. It's hard to read, and I feel like I can't get lost in the words because my brain is constantly trying to figure out what the words mean.
Here's an example : "He sees a mows runnin along the bottom of the warl. Then anotha. He poynts he wayvs he sqweeks he laffs."
Another: "I go closer as I rite. Its lyke seein a gost of myself. Its lyk bein in the afterlyf & tryin to contact a spirit & bring it bak agen. I cud almost tuch myself."
It's a neat idea but impossible to read.
Here's an example : "He sees a mows runnin along the bottom of the warl. Then anotha. He poynts he wayvs he sqweeks he laffs."
Another: "I go closer as I rite. Its lyke seein a gost of myself. Its lyk bein in the afterlyf & tryin to contact a spirit & bring it bak agen. I cud almost tuch myself."
It's a neat idea but impossible to read.
June 29, 2018
The story of a strange child locked in a room... and some more content which I don't remember. I only remember the intentional lack of spelling and punctuative coordination being far too distracting for me to get anywhere. I did not finish. (But maybe if I read it now, I'll change my mind. Who knows?)
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