Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
Ratings769
Average rating3.7
Good story, but lacking in many ways and told from a depressing viewpoint. Until the last chapter I found myself wanting the book to end.
Interesting approach to a story. I loved the photos throughout. Sort of lost me with the feeling that it was a mash-up of too many genres, times, etc. But I still wanted to know what happened, so generally I enjoyed it.
The last few chapters have very weak plotlines. But overall, it still remained to be a good series. The cliffhanger was just right as well :)
OFF TO THE SEQUEL!
I've been meaning to get around to reading this thing for at least a year. It's not bad, but I'm not sure it deserved the acclaim that it got. It felt pretty derivative to me (which, I mean, it's a book for kids– derivative is okay since most kids haven't read quite as much as a thirty year old librarian), but despite the fact that everything I saw said that the plot and characters where amazing, the only really interesting twist was the use of “vintage” photos. It felt like an X-Men story with a couple elements from the Supernatural tv show. Which is not to say it was all bad– the characters are pretty believable, minus the romance plot where the main character falls in love with his grandfather's eternally 15 childhood sweetheart, and the subplot about the fact the grandfather living through WWII as a young Jewish kid with powers was fascinating. But a lot of the loose ends are never tied up, and the end seemed really rushed.
I might be more satisfied with it if I read the sequel that came out in January, but it didn't hook me anywhere near enough to make me go out of my way like that.
Oh... huh. Well, I think I'm one of the last people left who hadn't read this yet. I don't really know what to say about it. I dug it, but it felt maybe a little overhyped by the time I got around to it? I did enjoy the found photography aspect of it for sure. I waffled between 3 and 4 stars on this. I guess I went with 4 because the photos were cool? I kind of wasn't that invested in the story, but the last 25% or so was a page turner.
This book was very average. For some reason I couldn't get into the world that Jacob discovers. I found myself skimming some parts and wanting it to end quickly. Although the idea of the book being crafted from those found photos was cool in theory, in practice I found the photos distracting. Especially since I was reading this book in a couple different places. One of which was the smaller screen of my phone. Overall, decent book but I won't be rushing to read the next installment.
I'm always up for something different, and this book certainly was. It was recommended to me by a fellow Goodreads member. It was the photos that intrigued me the most. They were quirky to say the least. As to the story itself, it started off promising enough but seemed to lose steam midway. That said, it was an interesting read for a rainy afternoon. I don't think I'll be getting the sequel though.
I'm surprised at how many people read this book and wrote reviews saying it was disappointing. I'm suppose if you are wanting a gruesome, bloody, type of horror book, you'd be disappointed. But nothing about this book gave me the impression that it was that kind of book.
I personally find the inspiration behind this story (all those old, strange, anonymous, yet real pictures) refreshingly unique! It's nice to read a story that came about in an unconventional way. I look forward to reading the sequel, hoping for growth in the author and the characters.
Definitely inspires imagination and creativity, if nothing else. :)
I think Riggs has potential as an author, as I really thought the beginning was very well-written, but I felt like the book was a bit too forced. The pictures are interesting, but it seems like the story was written to fit in with the pictures rather than the pictures fitting in with the story. I suppose he probably was inspired by the photographs, but it just didn't go together as smoothly as I would have liked. It was interesting, but I don't think I'll be inclined to read any sequels, which the ending foreshadows are yet to come.
At the beginning I hoped all Grandfather Portman's stories were true. And it is and I am glad I was able to meet these wonderful peculiar children. I have read a lot of reviews saying that this is somehow like Xmen. No. It's completely different and indeed is peculiar. This is just the story I needed, it's like a refresher of my childhood reading. I love this. I like how the story goes and that it is new. Kind of sad at the end. Peculiar. But I mean it as a compliment. Good job Ransom Riggs.
This was a strange book. But I enjoyed it. I wasn't crazy about how it ends. Sort of a major cliffhanger. I wonder if Miss Peregrine will ever be able to turn back into a bird, or is it because she is hurt and it is better to heal as a bird. I never saw the Dr. Golan to be the bad guy until close to the end. With the U-boat coming up does that mean the Nazi's are involved with the Hollowmen? Too many questions LOL Looking forward to the new book due out Jan 2014.
Could not finish it. The main character is very annoying. He keeps stopping and asking himself banal questions, and by the time he finally figures out whatever quandary of emotion or plot he is trying to unravel I am banging my head on the desk, since the author makes it quite obvious to the reader what is happening in the plot. I'm not a fan of this style of exposition where the character's thoughts are things like-“Wow, the weather here sure does change fast!” And “Hmmm I wonder how I missed all of these footprints on the path earlier. I'm sure that means absolutely nothing.” I exaggerate, but you really are left with the feeling that the story is being told through the point of view of someone who is quite dim-witted.
It's a shame, it started off so well, and I really enjoyed the creepy feel of a ghost story. About half way through I am starting to lose patience with it though. I find it incredibly bizarre that the author chose a new passion for ornithology as Jacob's dad's excuse for them taking that trip. It seems like she could have come up with just about anything else. Maybe Jacob is 18 and tells his parents he is going to backpack around Europe with friends or something. Maybe his dad is an anthropologist and wants to interview isolated island people. Maybe he just likes British beer. There's a scene after Jacob and his dad arrive on the island, where they go for a hike and stumble upon the nesting grounds of some sort of supposedly rare seagull. Jacob's dad immediately becomes entranced and wants to spend hours staring at them, conveniently leaving his mentally unstable son free to wander around by himself. Really? Doesn't it seem weird that he suddenly develops an overwhelming passion for birds?
I was listening to the audiobook, which is also part of the problem. He speaks too slowly and overly enunciates. He is also very bad at accents, it is quite distracting when he attempts to do Welsh and other British accents.
I was on a journey that I never would have expected. I felt so tense while reading the book, it was as if I was there. I never knew what was going to happen next. The book started off at a slow pace, but then things sped up about 100 pages in and I could not put the book down. This is one of my favorite books that I have read and I cannot wait to read more of Ransom Riggs books.
“Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children” is a fantastic book. This book by Ransom Riggs is a very unique book in which the story is intertwined with vintage photographs. These photographs are all in black and white and the actual color of these photographs are left to the readers imagination. These photographs enhance the story a lot more, then if Ransom Riggs would have just placed the words in the book without the photographs. When reading “Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children” the reader is taken on a journey that the reader may not expect.
The book is very different from a lot of books that are categorized in the young adult (YA) genre of books because there is a great story that Ransom Riggs created that is alined with vintage photographs. The ending of “Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children” is a cliffhanger and it leads the reader to want to read Ransom Riggs next novel within this series which is titled “Hollow City: The Second Novel of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children”. Even though this book starts out a little bit slow, once the reader gets to the first 100 pages the story really gets interesting and the reader is emerged in the story. Overall, “Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children” takes the reader on an adventure that will make them look at the world differently and will peak their imagination.
I didn't understand all the hype behind this book. The pictures included with the story line were pretty cool, but otherwise the story itself was a letdown. The peculiar-ness of the children was intriguing but there was no real character development. I did not feel particularly attached to any of the characters and didn't really care when the end of the book was sort of cliffhanger.
I really enjoyed this book and was sad when it ended. I would love to read a follow up to know what happens to the children.
What a wonderful novel! I loved the story line from the beginning. There were times when the narrator seemed particularly dense and I figured it out before him. However, I think that is realistic considering the narrator was discovering this was no science fiction novel, but his real life.
The pictures added so much to the novel. He would find a picture and describe it. Then we would get to see it. The characters had faces and their experiences were there for everyone to see. It made the whole book seem more real and plausible.
I can't wait for the next one to see what happens next!
This was an okay book. Not really sure what I was expecting when reading the synopsis, but this was unexpected. Not sure if I would read the sequel because I wasn't invested in the characters.
Creepy and Weird
Sometimes the story is hard to follow and the romance is...almost incestuous. But it's still fun to travel with Jacob and learn that the fairy stories he believed as a child were real. There were a few times I had to turn over in bed so my back could be next to a pillow and I could see the door (things I do when I'm creeped out).
The pictures are amazing. I was always looking forward to the next one. They add a good number of the creep factor and make up for characterizations the plot does not handle. There are so many characters that it is hard to keep track of who is whom, but the pictures make that a little easier.
I feel bad for not really having anything else to say about this book. It's good, but not amazing. It's creepy but not scary. It is very, very weird, though. So, there's that. Looking forward to the next one, but not falling out of my chair to buy it.
What starts out as a charming enough idea–the author using vintage photographs to create a fantastical YA story–sadly very quickly becomes trite. I wanted to like this book, I did. But I couldn't get into the main character. I wanted more of his grandfather, who was cool. But, in the end, the story is a hash of Bleach, X-Men, and too many other things to name. The characters were fairly flat, except for a couple, and they weren't the most original characters. It was all a bit too forced.
Short Review: If you love Tim Burton and his gothic creepy style, you will like this book. Burton luckily agrees and has optioned the movie and has hired the screen writer from X-men: First Class to adapt the screen play. This is a book that is better if you don't know much about it. It is slightly creepy young adult book about a teen boy in search of his grandfather's past. It ends with a cliff-hanger that is certain to spawn a series of books. Well worth reading. I listened to it, but many other reviews recommend actually reading it because the pictures do so much to accent the story. I saw many of the pictures, but did not see them as the story unfolded. The audio was very well done, however.
My full review is on my blog (with a great book video trailer) at http://bookwi.se/peregrine/