Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children Book Review

 

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Book Review

 (5 stars)

Have you ever watched Tim Burton’s movie, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children? Well, it was based on a young adult/dark fantasy novel - written in 2011 by the author, Ransom Riggs. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is the first book in a series of six. It is a chilling fantasy based in modern day Florida and written in the first person. It follows the life of sixteen year old Jacob Portman who witnesses his grandpa’s death, not before he shares his final last words, “Find the bird in the loop. On the other side of the old man’s grave. September 3^rd, 1940.” After hearing this cryptic message, Jake sees a monster from childhood stories looming in the distance - ready to attack again. Was it really there? Was this his grandpa’s killer? As a child, Jake’s grandpa would tell him stories of children with supernatural abilities, their headmistress Miss Peregrine, who could transform into a bird – and shadow creatures with tentacles for tongues that hunted them. Believing he is maddened by grief, his parents enlist the help of a psychiatrist who attempts to convince Jake that the trauma had caused him to imagine this creature.  After finding an old letter addressed to his grandpa, dated 1940 signed ‘Alma Peregrine’, along with some mysterious photographs, Jake starts to wonder whether his grandfather’s crazy stories weren’t so crazy at all. He decides to go to Wales to try and contact Miss Peregrine and see the children’s home his grandpa grew up in. Arriving at the children’s home in Wales, he finds it destroyed by a bomb in WW2 and the residents surely long dead.  Jake searches the wrecked old house for any clue – any hint explaining his grandpa’s murder – but as he walks through each passageway and bedrooms it seems – impossible as it may be – that the children are still alive...

I enjoyed reading this book and I found it both exciting and bloodcurdling. The book contains many creepy vintage photos and gradually reveals more about Jacob’s grandpa’s character (Abe Portman) – unveiling more and more secrets throughout the book. I disliked Jake’s personality from the very start and found him ungrateful, rude, and overall, a big pain. However, I think that the plot deserves five stars as it really keeps you on tenterhooks, wondering what’s going to happen next. Despite the amazing aspects of the book, I have rated it only four stars because the language used is terrible. Swear words and cursing is common throughout the first half but I connect this to the fact Jake is lonely and it becomes less frequent after his circumstances change. Ransom Riggs excels in describing character’s feelings but lacks in any description of appearances which leaves the reader to decide themselves what characters look like. I would recommend this book to people who have previously read Sherlock Holmes or enjoy thriller and murder mystery.