Serafina e a Capa Preta

I loved the Appalachian feel and the details of the Biltmore. It really made me feel like I was there . The story is an interesting look at middle grade horror. It might be a little aspirational in the relationship between servants and masters though.

“Só porque alguma coisa é diferente, não quer dizer que você simplesmente tenha o direito de jogar fora.” (p. 49) É com esse trecho (que se você parar para prestar atenção, perceberá que quer dizer muita coisa) que abro as portas da resenha desse livro que ainda não sei como contar o quanto me surpreendeu de uma forma muito boa.
Vou começar dizendo o que esperava dessa história: quando li a sinopse imaginei que teríamos mais uma garota curiosa que se encontra no meio de uma encrenca enorme e acaba por descobrir alguma coisa muito importante sobre o seu passado. Ou seja, espero por tramas que sejam ótimas para entreter, mas que não tenham nada de novo sob o sol – e geralmente espero que neste “nada novo” haja, no mínimo, um estilo de escrita bom, uma construção de personagens adequada ao mundo proposto e cenas capazes de prender a atenção.
O que encontramos aqui: uma história bem amarrada do início ao fim, com enigmas e surpresas nos lugares certos [e desenvolvimentos inesperados],.personagens bem pensados (ainda que poucos capazes de totalmente ganharem nosso coração) e construídos de forma que cada um tenha suas características bem marcadas e distintivas, uma personagem principal singular cheia de princípios (e pensamentos) e com o coração no lugar certo. Ou seja, temos um instigante começo de série, com a introdução de personagens, temáticas e problemáticas feita de forma mais do que satisfatória. agora vamos aos pontos específicos.
Confesso que demorei um pouco para me afeiçoar ao estilo de narrar de Beatty, principalmente porque suas cenas iniciais são cheias de descrições sobre a mansão Biltmore e seus moradores, mas conforme a história progrediu, suas linhas nos fazem ficar afeiçoados a Sera e Breaden, seu mais novo [e único?] amigo. Me pareceu que sua forma de contar a história vai ganhando força e encorpando conforme Sera vai criando coragem para fazer o que precisa e descobrir o que deve. E isso faz muito sentido porque Serafina é uma personagem ótima: ela pensa criticamente (como podemos ver na primeira linha desta resenha), ela questiona, ela pensa, ela encontra soluções, ela entende e então volta a questionar – e ela lê muito [principalmente como uma forma de conhecer o mundo, mas veja como há um papel importante para a leitura aqui]. Nada está gravado em pedra para essa menina de doze anos.
A trama possui um senso de amizade, amor familiar e apreciação pela individualidade de cada um que eu não esperava – e teve espaço suficiente para ação, drama e humor. Gostei muito da forma como o autor trabalhou a questão de “pertencer” a um lugar ou a alguma coisa, é um tema importante para a idade-alvo da história e perpassa toda a trama sem fazer escândalo, é tratado naturalmente. Ainda que o começo seja devagar, de forma geral é uma história adorável e de leitura fácil. Depois de certo ponto, voamos pelas páginas para descobrirmos tudo o que Beatty planejou para Sera. Ansiedade é uma coisa real nessa leitura. E então, quando a última linha é lida, fica aquele sentimento de felicidade e coração aquecido pela esperança do que pode vir para Sera, seu pai (que eu realmente não me comentei sobre, mas que vale falar que é um persoangem interessante) e seus amigos. São nas últimas linhas também que temos a impressão de que o narrador está falando as linhas finais de um filme épico, que te deixa com uma sensação boa.
O enredo de Serafina e a Capa Preta possui uma simplicidade cativante, a atmosfera de busca pelo Homem da Capa Preta (que me lembrou muito, em alguns aspectos, o Homem do Saco que os pais avisavam aos filhos para tomar cuidado) que permeia todas as páginas fez com que a trama fosse sinistra, encantadora, misteriosa, fascinante, um pouco estranha e de arrepiar (pelo menos os mais jovens, porque esta leitora que vos fala ficou mais ansiosa do que arrepiada) – e agora eu entendo totalmente porque me disseram para não ler na praia [hahaha ooooie, Carina!].
Serafina é o tipo de livro que eu gostaria de utilizar em sala de aula para despertar nos leitores mais novos um sentimento de que cada um tem seu “lugar no mundo”.

I first saw this book on Facebook and thought the cover looked pretty. I was also really was excited that it took place in NC because growing up I never found interesting books that took place there. Plus the Biltmore Estate is a great historical NC landmark to set it. Later I saw the trailer and thought it looked really cool. A lot of people were talking how great it was. I recently got around to reading when I took a weekend vacation to Asheville NC. So, did it live up to all the hype? YES!
(By the way, if you were wondering the trailer give little to nothing away so go watch it)

Serafina secretly lives in the basement of Biltmore Estate in 1899 as a rat catcher. Her pa tells her to stay out of the way, but that all changes when Serafina sees a man in a black cloak capture a child through supernatural means. Bearly able escape with her own life she breaks her pa's rule by joining forces with Braeden Vanderbilt, the young nephew of the Biltmore owners, to uncover the Man in the Black Cloak before all the children vanish.

First off what a great mystery with supernatural elements. Until the very end, you are never sure how much power the Man in the Black Cloak has so it leaves on edge. There is always a list of possible suspects and why they are suspects. Even Mr. Vanderbilt is suspected, so no one is off limits. Oh, boy, Robert Beatty knows how to write a great cliff hanger! Plus I'm always impressed when authors can write in Southern accents in a way people can read. Serafina is charming and I love how she was written. What makes me really happy is there is finally a book in NC that is fun! Beatty incorporates not only history of the Biltmore, but of NC history and lore also the area and town near in and the landscape.

There is one nitpick I have with the book. Other then Serafina and Braeden, the other kids are not developed. There basically red shirts and I could forgive most that except for one part. Braeden and Serafina are riding in a carriage through the woods when they have to stop and the carriage driver has to figure out how to get passed an obstacle. Then suddenly Beatty is like “Oh, by the way, there was also another kid with them that I forgot to mention.” At first, I was confused until the Man in the Black Cloak showed up and I knew that kid was dead. Give the other redshirt kids credit at least you got to know something about them. But this kid gets nothing and if he was just mentioned that he was with them before the attack I wouldn't have much of problem with it.

Honestly, I was so much fun reading this book and I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel.

Fun and sweet.

For some reason I read more and more Middle Grade books this year, not like that is an issue. This one was a bit of a weird one, though, so I guess that makes a bit of a difference. Not gonna lie, at some point I wasn't really sure who were the target audience and to me that wasn't one of the absolutely positive things about it. Lets just take it little by little. Serafina is a weird little girl who lives in the basement of a grand estate with her dad, who is responsible for keeping the machines working. For some reason he is hiding her as she does her things like catching rats and sneaking around, up until kids start to disappear and Serafina has to find a friend in the loner nephew of the estate's owner to find out what is happening to all the children around them. First thing first, I kinda liked the prose. It was pretty sweet at some point, which is something I really appreciate when an author is writing for children. Some, it can be a bit of a challenge for the young ones, but it's something I would encourage if I had any kids; it can be pretty rewarding. At some places I felt the sentences structures were a bit repetitive and some synonyms could have been used in places, but all in all it had good vocabulary and it was a pleasant reading experience. With the plots and the characters things go a bit less than stellar. I understand that this is a short book, really. Still, I felt that the characters weren't particularly deep. Serafina felt plain quirky sometimes with her extraordinary skills and all. When we get an explanation... it's not really that surprising, you could see the parallels between her and some other.... creatures. Could have been done in a slightly more mysterious way. The same goes for the plot. We see that the world of the novel has some interesting things, hidden ideas and creatures, magic all around. We don't see much of it. It's a series, so it can be opened up, but by the end the lack of exploring the world leads to a certain solution of the issue that felt really abrupt. Serafina comes up with a plan that was absolutely bonkers from the beginning with almost no way of working, but of course you just knew that nothing really bad is going to happen to her. It made no sense, because it wasn't properly built up. The villain is the same; you find out ridiculously soon who is behind all and it took a lot of fun out of it for me. For a light read this was fine, I had no negative feelings about it, but it also wasn't absolutely brilliant. Somehow it got pretty bizarre in places and it wasn't really too deep. Was this for kids with rotting, disintegrating humans? Was it for teens with its lack of complex characters and proper story? I don't even know. It was fine. I didn't give it 3 stars because it was bad in any way, more like it lacked in certain ways. With an additional 100 pages or so it could have been coloured in a bit more, it could have been given something more special and more formed. I am not saying I am not reading any more of the series, I just think I would recommend [b:Greenglass House 18222716 Greenglass House (Greenglass House, #1) Kate Milford https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1379952488s/18222716.jpg 25656381] before this one, even [b:The Blackthorn Key 23270216 The Blackthorn Key (The Blackthorn Key, #1) Kevin Sands https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1433428562s/23270216.jpg 42810383]. Good night and keep your eyes on the overdressed people!

Enjoyed the Biltmore details. Other than that, fairly standard middle grade supernatural fantasy. Plodded along at points, especially in the cave scenes which were meant to be climactic.d