Monday, May 23, 2011

Review: The Girl Who Would Speak for the Dead - Paul Elwork

Where I got it: Library
Rating: 2 stars
Cover Rating: 4 stars (Creepy)
Genre: Adult
Publication Date: March 31, 2011
Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam
Page Count: 308 p.

Michael and Emily are thirteen-year-old twins. When Emily shares with her brother that she can make a haunting knocking sound with her ankle without visibly moving it, he starts to think they could use this talent for something. So they start small "communing to the dead" in front of some of their friends; then to some older ladies who find them a complete delight. All too soon though, Emily sees that there may be repercussions for pretending to speak for the dead.

This books didn't really seem to be about a whole lot. Maybe I just didn't get it, I don't know. I mean it was fascinating that Michael and Emily did this whole spiritualist thing and all. I feel like this book was pretty much just about dead people being dead and some of the terrible ways they died. I mean no one ever actually sees any ghosts throughout the whole book and no one talks to them. It was very disappointing. I just expected it to be a lot creepier and ghosty. I know that it's based loosely on the Fox sisters, and they never saw any actual ghost, but still. I did like the twins and how odd they were. Emily's internal dialog and curiosity were fascinating at times. I wish there was something more shocking in their family history or anything at all. It was interesting learning about the little snippets, but ultimately lackluster. Mostly the whole time I was reading this I was waiting for something to happen. Some things did happen, but none worthy of my intrigue. All in all this book was a huge disappointment for me.

First Line:
"The girl who would speak for the dead stood alone on the cobblestone drive after the rain."


Favorite Line:
"For all she could see, the trees may as well have sprawled away from the Delaware in a vast and continuous forest out to the Atlantic Ocean, a forest full of all the stories told by people leaving broken arrowheads along the river; living stories that clung to the trees in the same way things waited in the earth; stories upon stories falling backward in time to the sea."

3 comments:

  1. I'd be disappointed too. I was going to comment and say the cover is creeptastic but after reading your review, i think it's just false advertisement lol!

    xo,
    Lah @ Lazy Girl Reads

    ReplyDelete
  2. I see another book that I'll be adding to my TBR list soon, because your review has now made me want to get my own copy! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I will add it to my to-buy-list. Even you said it's not that good still I want to read it.

    I love your favorite line; it's really inspiring.

    ReplyDelete

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