I read this on impulse (due to a mix of the praise it received from the Australian book podcasts I listen to, and the library I work for had it availaI read this on impulse (due to a mix of the praise it received from the Australian book podcasts I listen to, and the library I work for had it available).
I'm not sure why it's heaped with praise, it was okay; not sure why it was compared to To Kill a Mockingbird other than some broad similarities to rural settings, young protagonists, and racial issues. JJ is more of a mystery than TKaM (which is more of a pseudo-memoir wrapped up with a trial). I would reread TKaM in the future, but I don't think I'll ever want to reread JJ.
My main problem with the book is that Jasper Jones is not the focus, nor is he even the narrator. Jasper Jones enters the story as plot device and saunters out again so the main character can tell us about his life and his parents and his friends and his town.
Oh, we need plot again! Bring back Jasper Jones!
I really wish the narrator was Jasper and not Charlie Bucktin. I'm not familiar with the racial tensions of 1960s Australia but, considering this type of story has been written many times before--seemingly always from the POV of a character who isn't the minority in question--this feels like a lost opportunity to explore heretofore unexplored territory. Because it's written from Charlie's POV some characters I wish we heard from more feel muted (like Jeffrey's parents). Jeffrey is more annoying than funny, and we get to hear him far more than I think was necessary, so it's kinda strange that we hardly get any dialogue from his mom or even ANY words spoken by his dad. They feel like dressing to bring home thematic points of the story and not much else.
And don't get me started on Charlie's mom. In fact, I don't think there's any female character who is pleasant or free from being abused in some way (except for Charlie's love interest, because: love interest).
JJ might take place in the 1960s but I wish its approach to... everything! were a little more modern.
I like that it evoked a time and place I know nothing about (1960s Australia) but maybe there are better books out there, from a more diverse POV, that might do the same thing. Any suggestions?...more
Michael McDowell has been on my radar for a while (Beetlejuice and Nightmare Before Christmas writing credits!) but I haven't tried his books yet. SinMichael McDowell has been on my radar for a while (Beetlejuice and Nightmare Before Christmas writing credits!) but I haven't tried his books yet. Since I weirdly believe I should always read someone in order, or at least read their first book first, that's what I did here.
I read this fairly quick and enjoyed it overall. There's a lot of detail to be had about this small southern town and its people so there's no first-time-novel lack of anything, but it is a little overwritten. Maybe repetitious is a better word: something happens and we get people talking about what just happened, and people like to repeat things, and we get the details (wrong or right, cuz gossip) a couple times over. It's fine the first few times when we're learning about the town but it tends to read like filler once the story gets going and you just want the flow to be flow-ier.
And don't get me started on the southern-isms and speech patterns. 'Gone' for going to/gonna gets really hard to read, even, or especially, after the 100th use of it.
Writing quibbles aside, a small southern town full of spiteful unlikable people is evoked here pretty well. The number of likable people is minimal, and one of them is the protagonist. The horror fun here is watching the townspeople kill or be killed because of the titular amulet (think of the Nettie and Wilma in Stephen King's Needful Things, just over and over). The grand guignol ending precedes a bit of a tepid ending concerning our heroine and her awful family---the curtain falls before we get see what happens, so I feel a little shorted on that end.
All in all though, it's a fun little horror jaunt for the patient....more
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