Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Jacob has always been in awe of his colorful Grandpa Portman, who told him stories about his fabled childhood in a faraway island where he lived in order to hide from monsters. Jacob first believed in his grandfather's extraordinary tales of his friends, strange orphans with magical abilities, especially since his grandfather had photographs as proof of their existence. However, as he grew older, Jacob began to doubt that the stories, the orphans, or the photographs, were real...until his grandfather's cryptic last words and a letter from a mysterious Miss Peregrine spur Jacob to search for his grandfather's childhood home, which turns out to be in a small island off the coast of Wales. What he finds there is completely unexpected.

“The trees parted like a curtain and suddenly there it was, cloaked in fog, looming atop a weed-choked hill. The house. I understood at once why the boys had refused to come.

“My grandfather had described it a hundred times, but in his stories, the house was always a bright, happy place—big and rambling, yes but full of light and laughter. What stood before me now was no refuge from monsters, but a monster itself, staring down from its perch with vacant hunger. Trees burst forth from broken windows and skins of scabrous vine gnawed at the walls like antibodies attacking a virus–as if nature itself had waged war against it—but the house seemed unkillable, resolutely upright despite the wrongness of its angles and the jagged teeth of sky visible through sections of collapsed roof.

...

“I gathered up what scrawny courage I had and waded through waist-high weeds to the porch, all broken tile and rotting wood, to peek through a cracked window. All I could make out through the smeared glass were the outlines of furniture, so I knocked on the door and stood back to wait in eerie silence, tracing the shape of Miss Peregrine's letter in my pocket. I'd taken it along in case I needed to prove who I was, but as a minute ticked by, then two, it seemed less and less likely that I would need it.”

What happened to the inhabitants of this devastated ruin and how was Grandfather Portman involved? Jacob's investigation turns from creepy to heart-palpitatingly scary, then poignant. Where the story went truly surprised me, not only delivering on its promise of eccentric and dark but inventing a rich and magical other world of “peculiar” children and monsters that's convincingly woven with real history.

The writing is so descriptive and evocative that I now question if the vintage photographs interspersed throughout the narratives are even necessary to the enjoyment of the story. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children was apparently inspired by these weird photographs the author found, each with something so off-kilter about them that they can inspire multiple fantastic stories on their own. While I loved the photographs, they were a bonus rather than essential.

4.5/5 Stars

First off I want to start by saying I gave this book 4.5 stars because I had high expectations for it because of all the hype it has gotten and for me it didn't live up to the hype. That being said though I really did enjoy the book. It was a little slow going and noting much really happened throughout the book. That is until the last 3 chapters or so and that is when it picked up for me. What happened in the last few chapters is kind of what I was expecting for the whole book. All the pictures that are included all throughout the book made the reading experience that much more interesting to me. It was a cool aspect to add for readers to be able to see pictures of what was being described in the book. The pictures added a whole new level of creepy to the book. That ending left me wanting more so I will definitely be carrying on with this series.

I'm confused.. At the end of this book, it shows snapshots from the movie. Emma is in the air being held by a rope to the ground by Jacob - not Olive. Is that so..?

Regardless.. I am emotionally invested in these characters. I have not experienced this in such a long time that I don't know what to do with myself.

Great book, I will definitely be reading more in the near future.

First read: July 5th-July 6th, 2015
Second read: September 27th, 2016

5/5 stars “I had just come to accept that my life would be ordinary when extraordinary things began to happen.”

In preparation of a movie I have too high expectation for, I reread a novel I love so much that I found a way to include it into a homework assignment about “What makes me a writer?” And in celebration of Loop Day, I am finally getting around to posting my review. Fortunately, I did reread it, because, unfortunately, I had forgotten why I loved it so much to begin with.

It's a story of a boy trapped between two worlds: one where he is accepted and one where he is not. A boy who loves his grandfather so much that he travels across the world for him. A boy whose family thinks he's going crazy, when in reality he's just peculiar.

It's not the vintage pictures that tell this story, nor the elegant words that decorate every page, but instead the unique characters that bring the story to life. Each child has a distinctive personality that shines through the dialogue and descriptions. I feel as if I know everyone as if I was one of them. In fact, Jacob may be one of my favorite fictional characters of all time. You know, if I ever sat down and tried to make a definitive list. Though he's an extraordinary kid, he's still just ordinary. He has overprotective parents, he had a job, a family he loves but secretly hates. He's so for the reader to relate to, that it's hard to not love him.

If you are one of the only people in this world who haven't read Miss Peregrine's, then stop what you are doing, open your mind, and just read. Don't go in expecting something creepy, but instead something peculiar.

This had an interesting concept, but the pacing felt very off to me. There's far too much exposition and background, and then the adventure seems rushed and truncated. Yet despite a boatload of setup, the main character still felt underwritten, as do most of the characters.

When I got to the end of the book and discovered that it was written around real vintage photos, it made a lot of sense. That's an interesting idea, but it seems like this needed better editorial guidance to turn it into a functioning story.

I'll be really interested to see if the movie manages to clean up the pacing and make the story more engaging. I adore Eva Green, and the upcoming movie is what inspired me to read this. I suspect this is one of those cases where translating to the screen may improve the storytelling.

I was fooled by the appearance of this book. Given the cover and the description, I was expecting a little more.

It's a mildly entertaining time travel adventure and that's about all.

I was expecting something edgier, creepier, a bit more chilling. The pictures were a cool idea but the book never lived up to the weirdness they promised.

I know it's for young adults but there are young adult books out there that offer more depth.

I just couldn't finish this book. I enjoyed the beginning but by the sixth chapter I was over it. I usually enjoy ya but this was a tad to whimsical for me.

Eerie. Honestly, the pictures found in this book give such an eerie feeling, especially since they are all authentic pictures that were found by different collectors. I love the idea of the story line, and will be looking forward to read more about Jacob and his peculiar friends. I did have a few moments of confusion while reading that were caused by the author's writing, but it was still enjoyable to read. (3.89 stars)

read this some time during elementary school. i think it was required. it was alright i think, but my only core memory of it was reading it in the backseat of my dads little truck. it is now my little truck. this book is very peculiar. i remember being cold while reading it.

Gostei bastante desse livro, o que não o fez deixar de ser 3 ⭐. Confuso?
A estória é muito interessante, e percebemos no final que o grande intuito de tudo é a viagem no tempo (e não a peculiaridade apenas).
Gostei muito da relação do Jake com seu avô (o que fez lembrar do meu). Jake é uma personagem que vai se desenvolvendo enquanto enfrenta seus medos e, termina o livro muito mais ciente de seus atos.
Não gostei, no entanto, de nenhuma das personagens femininas (talvez Olive se salve do julgamento). Emma é irritante e metida a saber de tudo. E o “romance” entre ela e o avô teria sido mais valioso (não sei palavra melhor) se ela não tivesse trocado pelo neto na cara larga. É bem raso e o livro teria passado muito bem sem ele e os beijos sem motivo (essa coisa de pegar pessoas da mesma família de gerações diferentes, mas mesma linha genética me lembrou o filme The Age of Adeline, ainda dá um sentimento estranho de “Ahn?!!”). E a senhorita Peregrine, esperava uma matriarca forte e sabia... Mas não achei isso. Ela parecia mais uma mulher com medo e receosa de encarar o mundo, escondendo suas crianças num ciclo eterno, e não as treinando para a vida em si. Fiquei um pouco decepcionada.
Quanto aos “mistérios” não foram tão surpreendentes. Para um leitor menos acostumado a ideia de “vilões inesperados”, aí sim, pode ser considerado uma boa entrelaçamento da vida do Jake com o “perigo”.
Continuarei com a série mas não achei tão “OH” quanto a hype gerada. É um bom entretenimento.

Not the book I was expecting. I guess when I heard about Miss Peregrine's I thought I would find a light hearted novel about peculiar children, but there is much more to the story. Creep factor? Major, and the photographs strewn through out the novel gave me chills. The first chapter alone made me reconsider what the focus was going to be about. Not only do we have the children, but entities that have been stalking our world murdering animals and humans alike. The story wasn't action packed, or intense, but it was a steady build up of what I found to be gothic literature. Of course there is the light hearted side of things thrown in as well for balance, so don't fear that all you will hear about is darker undertones and there is a little action towards the end. I enjoyed it, not many books can unsettle me, but this one certainly did.

Thought it was ok. I think the pacing for the book was slow in places, which made the story drag for a few pages. The parts where they had to stop and explain what is happening , and what the rules for the peculiars are, and each child's peculiar power and it worked.

A surprisingly good read. I was hesitant at first, I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but it grabbed my attention and kept it. I thought it was going to be much more of a horror than it turned out to be. I wouldn't recommend this for young children still.. as it does have a major creepy factor going on sometimes. But overall, in my opinion, it was more of a paranormal adventure.

A very good book :) it came into my want to read list while checking the books that are turning into movies in 2016.

It is a good story - fantasy and children like, but very well constructed overall.. The characters afçre rich and it is a very entertaining story :) made me wanna read numbers 2 and 3 of this trilogy :)

This was pretty good, but it wasn't scary at all. The creepy pictures are the best thing in the entire book, in my opinion. I'd give it a try, you may like it, but I didn't.

This is a very unique book. It's intriguing and interesting, the photographs make this quite special also. Definitely worth a read!

The beginning was interesting but the further into the book i got the less interesting it became.

First, thanks to Kersi for getting me this book for Christmas.
I'd really like the story of this book, I also enjoyed the writing style of Ransom Riggs. I couldn't stop reading, I had to continue in order to find out more and more about the island and its inhabitants. The author knows how to bound readers onto his book, by never letting them know what happens next. Also, the story wasn't common, not usual at all.
The pictures underlined the story very well and helped me to understand the mystery beyond the story.
I can give this book the full rating, 5 stars.

Ik had dit boek al gelezen, ergens in 2013 of 2014. Maar ik was vergeten hoe goed het was. Wat een boek!

I lost count of the number of times while wandering through Barnes and Noble, I stopped and looked at this book. The cover was intriguing. The title was curious. The blurb on the back sounded decent enough. But every time, for one reason or another, I put it back. Maybe it was a subconscious warning me away. A slight fear of all those things listed above ending up not living up to expectations. After having the chance to sit down and read this, it appears my subconscious was correct.

Take away the odd photographs that are said to have inspired the story and what's left? A mediocre at best story that can't quite seem to find its focus. Is the focus supposed to be on Jacob and be a coming of age type story? Is it supposed to be time travel? Is this focus supposed to be the children in the time loop who are alive but don't really live? Is it supposed to be an adventure that focuses on the “scary” (not a word I would use to describe this book ever) kidnapping, evil beings out to take over/destroy the world? Actually I'm not sure what the scary, evil, vague enemy group really wants to do. Maybe they want to take over the universe. Or just Antartica and form their own Shangri-La. And yes, I know a book can be all of those things at once, but it can't do that when the narrative is disjointed and all over the place like it is here.

Jacob, our narrator, is supposedly sixteen. Great. A pretty normal age for a main character in a ya novel. Except that I had to keep reminding myself that he WAS 16 every couple of pages. Most of the time he read like he was 10 or 11. Maybe 12 at the oldest. On top of that, he wasn't likable. He had no charm. He was a rich kid, with rich parents, who went out of his way to whine about everything and anything. There wasn't anything to make him complex. There wasn't anything that made me thing, ok I don't like him but I can kind of see why he's acting this way. Nope. He was just a brat. The entire length of the story was just Jacob on a teeter-tottering between giving a damn or not (most of the time, the answer was not).

There was no rhyme or reason to the peculiars or why they were there, what they were doing. It was like the author had the stack of photographs on his desk and as he went through them, made up a story about each one and added it to the book. Didn't matter that it didn't flow narratively, that the photo didn't match the character age-wise or that the story itself was weak. It was more about look how creative I am, wink, wink.

I wish the there had been more and better explanations about the loops. are they all 24 hour cycles? If a loop stops working or is sealed, how does that affect real time? Does anything change? If a loop is sealed, how does another group inhabit in the future?

All of that doens't make for a good story. All it makes is a big mess.

Much darker than i'd hoped, more creepy and dramatic than delightful. Caveat emptor, also the Audible reader is terrible at accents. :/

Original rating: 4 ⭐
New Rating: 3 ⭐

My rating did drop one star. When I was younger it was more interesting for me. Now I was thoroughly annoyed by the MC. His gift was the lamest. Yes he can see monsters but still does little to help. I will go on to read the rest of the series but I don't believe I'll try to read this book again any time soon.

Interesting and creative novel

Absolutely love all the different ways to tell a story Riggs is mixing. The first book in a while to make me excited about reading. I went out and bought the next one right after I finished this one.

I really enjoyed this story it was imaginative and fun. I didn't really like that it's a children's/adolescent book and it has a lot cuss words in it. I know kids hear worse everyday, but they don't need it in the books they read.