**SPOILERS**
"Jeremy Johnson Johnson hears voices. Or, specifically, one voice: the ghost of Jacob Grimm, one half of The Brothers Grimm. Jacob watches over Jeremy, protecting him from an unknown dark evil whispered about in the space between this world and the next.
But Jacob can't protect Jeremy from everything. When coltish, copper-haired Ginger Boultinghouse takes a bite of a cake so delicious it’s rumored to be bewitched, she falls in love with the first person she sees: Jeremy. In any other place, this would be a turn for the better for Jeremy, but not in Never Better, where the Finder of Occasions—whose identity and evil intentions nobody knows—is watching and waiting, waiting and watching. . . And as anyone familiar with the Brothers Grimm know, not all fairy tales have happy endings." (McNeal)
Far Far Away was a brilliant dark tale about a boy, a ghost, and a jolly baker who ended up being not-so-jolly in the end.
It started out as an almost cutesy contemporary story about a girl, Ginger, eating magic cake that makes her fall in love with the first person she looks at, which happened to be the lovely and weirdly lonely yet not lonely Jeremy. Then, it went dark. Super, super dark. This novel did not just hit on dark subjects it became its own dark subject. McNeal took the whole careful who you trust thing to a whole other level!
One thing I liked about this novel is that it was not narrated by the person the things were happening to, it was narrated by a ghost, whom at first seemed untrustworthy but then gained the audience's trust as the story developed. The narrator, Jacob Grimm of the brothers Grimm, was not biased in any way shape or form, he told the truth like he saw it and he was able to leave Jeremy's side, making him able to find certain things out.
Another thing I liked about this novel is that everything happened for a reason. Nothing happened just so it could happen. Jeremy sneezed so Ginger could look at him, the sheriff ignored the other kids missing so it could emphasize his concern for when Ginger goes missing, the sheriff convincing everyone to hate Jeremy so when the baker was nice to him Jeremy would trust him, THE BAKER MAKES THE SHERIFF LET JEREMY GO SO HE COULD KIDNAP HIM! That was one of the biggest plot twists of all. The jolly baker, the only person who didn't shun Jeremy, the person to kidnap him.
The second biggest plot twist was the sheriff's love for Ginger. It did not make me feel uncomfortable since I have read darker than that, (Lolita, anyone?) but it was a pretty big twist considering he thought she was a whore. Maybe that's why the sheriff hated Jeremy so much because his secret love was in love with Jeremy.
I enjoyed this story very much and I would recommend it to anyone out there! I do have to warn, though, the story does get very dark and you should only read it if you can handle it. I give this book four out of five stars because it was brilliant and I loved it, but to get a full five stars, it needs to surpass my expectations. (Which it did on some levels).
One thing I liked about this novel is that it was not narrated by the person the things were happening to, it was narrated by a ghost, whom at first seemed untrustworthy but then gained the audience's trust as the story developed. The narrator, Jacob Grimm of the brothers Grimm, was not biased in any way shape or form, he told the truth like he saw it and he was able to leave Jeremy's side, making him able to find certain things out.
Another thing I liked about this novel is that everything happened for a reason. Nothing happened just so it could happen. Jeremy sneezed so Ginger could look at him, the sheriff ignored the other kids missing so it could emphasize his concern for when Ginger goes missing, the sheriff convincing everyone to hate Jeremy so when the baker was nice to him Jeremy would trust him, THE BAKER MAKES THE SHERIFF LET JEREMY GO SO HE COULD KIDNAP HIM! That was one of the biggest plot twists of all. The jolly baker, the only person who didn't shun Jeremy, the person to kidnap him.
The second biggest plot twist was the sheriff's love for Ginger. It did not make me feel uncomfortable since I have read darker than that, (Lolita, anyone?) but it was a pretty big twist considering he thought she was a whore. Maybe that's why the sheriff hated Jeremy so much because his secret love was in love with Jeremy.
I enjoyed this story very much and I would recommend it to anyone out there! I do have to warn, though, the story does get very dark and you should only read it if you can handle it. I give this book four out of five stars because it was brilliant and I loved it, but to get a full five stars, it needs to surpass my expectations. (Which it did on some levels).
Disclaimer: None of the pictures used in this post are mine, all rights reserved to their creators.
No comments:
Post a Comment