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Jun. 4th, 2010 11:42 am![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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shati and I sometimes play a game in bookstores when we look at the spines of YA books and attempt to guess genre/plot from the font of the title. We have a reasonable percentage of accuracy. However, we might have been thrown by the cover of Frances Hardinge's Well Witched. If you look at this cover, you will probably think to yourself: oh, I know what this is! A cheery middle-grade novel about plucky kids who have comical, slightly spooky witching adventures!
You will probably not think to yourself: oh, I know what this is! This is a book in which an ill-advised wish leads to a woman getting trapped in her house going slowly insane, an elderly grandmother type attempts to murder a child by withholding her inhaler during an asthma attack, and a terrified eleven-year-old grows TINY CREEPY EYES ON HIS KNUCKLES.
Unless you do, in which case you are way better at guessing than I.
Uh, terror aside, I would actually really highly recommend this book! At the start, preteens Ryan, Chelle and Jack steal some coins from an old wishing well; the INCREDIBLY CREEPY being at the bottom of the well then compels them to fulfil the wish that goes with each coin. To help with this, Jack (a daredevil who wears Cool Glasses even when he doesn't need to) gets the power of manipulating electricity, Chelle (who talks so much that nobody ever listens to her) starts babbling out the thoughts of other people, and Ryan, the viewpoint character, gets the aforementioned CREEPY EYES ON HIS KNUCKLES. At first they are creeped out, but basically figure, hey, fulfilling wishes might be fun! Except, while fulfilling the bored soda fountain guy's wish for a Harley Davidson might be mostly made of hijinks, what about the people who wish for revenge, or for something that's bothering them to just disappear, or just to disappear themselves?
The book goes pretty dark pretty quickly - but at the same time, the real emphasis of the story is that even weak or damaged or hateful people deserve a chance to change and a change for happiness. Hardinge's books are full of flawed and complicated people. One of my favorites is Ryan's mother, who might not be exactly an awesome person - she's one of those celebrity stalkers who writes unauthorized biographies - but her flaws are also some of the same things that make her an amazing mom. I also really really love Chelle and Ryan's development; both of them are shy awkward kids with low self-esteem (that manifests itself in different ways) who rely on Jack to give them purpose and direction, and have to learn to stand on their own feet, which you know is one of my favorite things.
So basically: I totally encourage everyone to read it, but know what you are getting into; this is not fluff. Speaking of, if you guys have any particularly egregious stories about misleading book covers: share!
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Date: 2010-06-04 03:57 pm (UTC)Oddly enough, I want to read that book now. Because it sounds like creepy fun!
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Date: 2010-06-04 04:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-04 04:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-04 05:34 pm (UTC)that I read too many of when I was twelve.Terrible cover or not, though, I totally need to read that one at some point.no subject
Date: 2012-08-01 05:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-01 05:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-04 06:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-04 06:41 pm (UTC)long version: I am really glad I went to see the show, because I don't think I'd have appreciated it anywhere near as much off a computer or an iPod - just because the style is not as much my thing, in terms of aurals (I don't know if that's the word I want! Like visuals, but for ears?) that appeal to me. But seeing and hearing it live was amazing.
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Date: 2010-06-04 10:44 pm (UTC)And fff I have to say I was SO CURIOUS to hear both what you thought about it and how it went over for an audience full of (presumably) Yankees and transplants. Because it really, really, really does make SO much difference in understanding how Americana in general and bluegrass in particular works when you can see what they do and how they do it, and Dave Rawlings Machine especially typifies how amateur bluegrass players play with each other at festivals, and I will save the tl;dr for somewhere else BUT IF YOU EVER WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT I am totally curious!
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Date: 2010-06-05 02:30 am (UTC)And yeah - not having a grounded backround at all in the tradition of that style of music, what I definitely got out of it the most (aside from the sheer joy-in-strings that I get from being a former string musician and having a good friend who's an amateur fiddler) is watching the energy between the players, and with the music.
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Date: 2010-06-04 09:36 pm (UTC)Iiiii can't say the fact that it's pretty much just about two Hungarian guys talking came as much of a surprise.
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Date: 2010-06-05 02:30 am (UTC). . . I would have been surprised! :O
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Date: 2010-06-04 10:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-05 02:32 am (UTC)