Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #1) in 2015 Reading Challenge

Oct 11, 2016 Paula Vince rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics, fantasy-and-sci-fi-stories, young-adults-fiction

I saw this book in K-Mart and knew it was being released as a movie soon, so made an impulse buy. Wow, it blew me away in many ways. To start with, it's a sort of cross between Peter Pan and Groundhog Day, but unique in its own way, with the help of 50 very creepy vintage photos used as text illustrations. Here's a quick rundown of what happens.

Jacob Portman's grandfather always told him stories about a strange orphanage-like place he attended when he was young. Everyone assumes his tales are ma I saw this book in K-Mart and knew it was being released as a movie soon, so made an impulse buy. Wow, it blew me away in many ways. To start with, it's a sort of cross between Peter Pan and Groundhog Day, but unique in its own way, with the help of 50 very creepy vintage photos used as text illustrations. Here's a quick rundown of what happens.

Jacob Portman's grandfather always told him stories about a strange orphanage-like place he attended when he was young. Everyone assumes his tales are made-up, but then he's savaged by a fierce monster which only Jacob manages to glimpse. With his dying breath, Abe Portman gives his grandson a cryptic plea to discover his old home and speak to the proprietress, because the safety of the world might be at stake. Jacob's parents believe he has PTSD and refer him to a psychiatrist. He even begins to doubt the evidence of his own senses, but finds a way at last to track down his grandpa's past.

Miss Peregrine's children take giftedness to whole new level! Maybe her own special talent is up there with the best of them. 'No one here is embarrassed of their gift,' is her firm rule, and the non-judgmental, all inclusive generosity of her establishment is fun to read. There are kids with potentially useful gifts, like invisible Millard, strong girl Bronwyn and Emma with her fire hands. But then there are odder ones, like Hugh , who has bees swarming inside of him, and Claire, with mouths on both sides of her head. They are all just part of a happy gang thrown together as family.

I found these children so compelling and lovable. Although they know the world would consider them freaks, they are all just innocent, affectionate kids who respond to friendliness and demonstrate team work when necessary. We can't help wondering about Jacob himself. Does he have to have a special gift to even manage to get there? He's told it's the same gift as his grandfather's, and we're left to figure out what that means for a while.

Manipulation of time in stories is always a drawcard for me, and the time loop Miss Peregrine manages to keep her charges safe is fascinating. So are the deeper questions it raises. Is it possible to get sick of perfection if you experience too much? The restrictions of science prevent them from leaving without dire consequences even if they want to. Is a pleasant, heavenly, predictable prison still a prison nonetheless? There are so many dystopian novels around, and this one is sort of utopian in its own way.

However, evil forces are at large, based on the same motives they always have been, excessive ambition, power hungry pride and a thirst for immortality. Jacob finds out that he arrived in the nick of time, to offer his assistance to Miss Peregrine and her peculiar children.

In the interview at the end, I found out that the author Ransom Riggs shares one of my interests, which is old photos. I like to stare at them with a surreal feeling of wishing I knew all about the subject. He actually collects them from old antique shops, and chose 50 of them to build his story around. An interesting way of getting inspiration.
Find more reviews at my blog, http://vincereview.blogspot.com.au/
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