Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #1) in Casual Readers

Feb 04, 2012 Cee rated it really liked it

Shelves: time-travel, historical, young-adult, wizardy-magic

I was drawn to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children because of it's intriguing cover art, and the fact that it contains dozens of similar pictures throughout the story. It's a very beautiful book, and I was curious to see how the story itself compared.

It starts off very mysterious; rich kid Jacob's grandpa, a WW2 veteran, gets killed by savage beasts. Grandpa Portman has always told fantastical stories about a children's home off the coast of Wales, where kids lived that could levitate, w I was drawn to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children because of it's intriguing cover art, and the fact that it contains dozens of similar pictures throughout the story. It's a very beautiful book, and I was curious to see how the story itself compared.

It starts off very mysterious; rich kid Jacob's grandpa, a WW2 veteran, gets killed by savage beasts. Grandpa Portman has always told fantastical stories about a children's home off the coast of Wales, where kids lived that could levitate, were invisible, and had other unnatural skills. When Jacob finds a letter from Miss Peregrine, the headmistress, he goes to Wales to find out the truth of his grandpa's life.

The first half of Miss Peregrine's is very atmospheric. It has this dark mood, with the pictures enhancing the weirdness of the book. Who are these children? Did they ever exist? Is Jacob slowly turning insane? I loved this part of the book. The slight hint of mental illness, the creepy pictures... It all was very disturbing, and very awesome.

But once Jacob actually gets on the island, the entire tone of the story changes. It goes from dark and creepy to kind of idyllic bitter-sweet. I will try to keep from spoiling the story to you, but I will say this: it turns into some weird Harry Potter-esque story. And I didn't see that one coming AT ALL. And to be honest I didn't think it fit that well. The second half of the book didn't make that much sense with most of the pictures. It was a completely different atmosphere, that almost felt like it belonged to some other book.

I had quite a few issues with the part that followed, one of which the ease of which the main character thinks of abandoning his parents to do his own thing. This is a fifteen year old. Yet he thinks nothing of leaving his home for an indefinite time. He mentions that he'll probably miss them, but that's it. No regret, no nothing. And the worst thing for me is that the writer tries to justify Jacob's feelings by making his parents not-so-great parents. His mom is very concerned with outward appearances and very much enjoys being rich, and his dad can't finish a project and is kind of like a grown-up teenager. To be honest, if that's the only thing that's wrong with your parents, you should consider yourself lucky. They genuinely love him. They want what's best for him. They didn't neglect him, beat him, abuse him, or were drunk all the time. Yet Jacob just shrugs, "Ungh, parents, whatever", and that's it. It bothers me because, what kind of example is this for teens growing up? That if you feel that your dad said something you didn't quite agree with, you can just walk away? That it's okay to abandon everything when you're just fifteen? I might see too much into this, but it bothers me a lot.

Overall, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is a nice book. It's unique, just the right amount of dark, and an adventure to read. It just happened to rub me the wrong way. ...more

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Aug 11, 2012 guiltlessreader rated it really liked it · review of another edition

loved the concept, so creative! but the story didn't satisfy me .. i wanted more from such a brilliant concept but sometimes it felt just a tad forced. Check out my full review on my blog Guiltless Reading. ...more

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May 17, 2011 Kayla Beck Kalnasy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: paranormal, historical, young-adult, literature, favorites, fantasy

I love the YA genre, but I never thought that I would come across a piece of literary genius in its midst. Ransom Riggs brought one to us.

Jacob is a social outcast from a prominent and wealthy Jewish family. He does not seem to relate very well to anyone in his family, except for his grandfather, Abraham. Abraham always had fantastic stories for Jacob about his growing up at a school in Wales that he attended after fleeing Poland during WWII. All of the stories were extraordinary (in the sense t ...more

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Apr 28, 2012 April rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I try to go into reading a book without any preconceived notions and a neutral opinion, even if someone I know has said that they loved or hated a book because everyone has different tastes.

I'm glad I didn't know much about 'Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children' when I started reading it, and especially glad that I hadn't read all of the bad reviews. I may have missed out on a really intriguing story.

The best way I can think of to describe it is a cross between 'Alice in Wonderland' and ' ...more

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Aug 15, 2011 Elissa rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya

A delightfully bizarre reading experience. I loved the use of the weird old pictures which just added an extra layer of super creepiness. The pacing is really great through around 3/4 of the book before it gets a little rushed feeling at the end. While I appreciate a good cliff hanger ending, I think the story could have benefitted from at least a little more closure.

Overall, I loved it and can't wait for the story to continue. ...more

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Jan 13, 2012 Lauren rated it really liked it

I absolutely loved this book. The only reason I gave it 4 stars is because there were a lot of things unfinished, but that just makes room for the next one!!

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Aug 19, 2011 Kris-10 rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-i-own, signed, book-to-movie

It's currently 3:30 AM and I just finished!! I really enjoyed this book, the story was unique and the vintage photographs added a really cool element to the reading experience. I look forward to the sequel & seeing the upcoming film adaptation!

Actual Rating: 4.5/5 stars ...more

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Apr 12, 2014 Laura rated it liked it

i know I'm a little past the target audience for this book, but it just left a bit for me to be desired. It's so difficult to be specific without spoilers. But the picture thing really didn't work for me. ...more

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