"I'm the one who's left behind. I'm the one to tell the tale. I knew them both...knew how they lived and how they died.
Claire is Ella Grey's best friend. She's there when the whirlwind arrives on the scene: catapulted into a North East landscape of gutted shipyards; of high arched bridges and ancient collapsed mines. She witnesses a love so dramatic it is as if her best friend has been captured and taken from her. But the loss of her friend to the arms of Orpheus is nothing compared to the loss she feels when Ella is taken from the world. This is her story - as she bears witness to a love so complete; so sure, that not even death can prove final."
Compelling yet disturbing, this is a perfect marriage of myth and modern story. It leaves behind all the stereotypes of a young adult novel and it feels much more mature and intelligent than most books in this genre. The characters were original but still mirrored the ancient myth. I am in love with the writing and I think that A Song For Ella Grey outshone many of his previous books, such as Skellig and My Name is Mina.
Ordinary as they may have seemed compared to some of the later scenes in the book, I loved the opening scenes where the group of friends make music and play by the sea; they seemed so real yet with a dream like quality. While I would have liked to have found out more about the minor characters in the group and their lives, I also like the way that this novel has many of the characteristics of a fable, in that it revolves around the central characters, Claire, Orpheus and Ella; most of their friends simply serve as a backdrop for their story. This way of telling the story also shows how, later in the book, Claire becomes worried and almost possessive of Ella, spending less time with the others.
The last chapters concerning the fate of Orpheus I didn't enjoy. I love a dreamlike open to interpretation ending but this pushed it a little too far for me.
This book would not be complete without its stunning cover. It is a rather abstract, artistic design, complete with pieces of metallic blue and amazing detail. I see so many novels with ugly or boring covers that I definitely appreciate books like this when they come my way.
Age Rating I would say 13+. They drink alcohol on a beach and "make love". There is also one gruesome scene at the end which may or may not have actually happened.
"Recasts one of the most fascinating murder cases of all time into an intimate story of a volatile household and a family devoid of love.
On the morning of August 4, 1892, Lizzie Borden calls out to her maid: Someone’s killed Father. The brutal ax-murder of Andrew and Abby Borden in their home in Fall River, Massachusetts, leaves little evidence and many unanswered questions. While neighbours struggle to understand why anyone would want to harm the respected Borden's, those close to the family have a different tale to tell—of a father with an explosive temper; a spiteful stepmother; and two spinster sisters, with a bond even stronger than blood, desperate for their independence.
As the police search for clues, Emma comforts an increasingly distraught Lizzie whose memories of that morning flash in scattered fragments. Had she been in the barn or the pear arbour to escape the stifling heat of the house? When did she last speak to her stepmother? Were they really gone and would everything be better now? Shifting among the perspectives of the unreliable Lizzie, her older sister Emma, the housemaid Bridget, and the enigmatic stranger Benjamin, the events of that fateful day are slowly revealed through a high-wire feat of storytelling."
Hi Guys, I have been in Spain for a few weeks and was so busy I had no time to write any reviews. I had a very interesting time but I am now back safe and sound at home!!
We start our journey with a intense and mildly gruesome scene when the bodies of the Borden couple are discovered. From then on, we move back and forth in time and through the eyes of Lizzie, Emma, Bridget and Benjamin, we try to glue the pieces of a broken family together, to discover the events that led to the bloody murder. Now, this time technique is fascinating, but it also requires serious skills. Schmidt succeeds in this and presents the story in a way that makes you forget you actually know it. The book takes you with it and you cannot help but watching the events unfold with the same trepidation we’d have felt for any novel whose plot was unfamiliar to us.
There is an amazing combination of darkness and a strange tranquillity underlying the book. There are domestic scenes described in realistic detail, moments of family dynamics that are uncomfortable, wild. Bloody images that are never over the top. There is a distinctive aura of Gothic, gritty and primitive at times, but always poetically beautiful. It is difficult to describe. The writing was truly amazing but I found myself at times being slightly bogged down by the description rich dialogue.
The characters are equally well-written. It doesn’t matter whether they are likeable or not.Frankly, ‘’likeable’’ is boring. Most of the times... They are interesting, they drive the plot, providing dark company. Emma and Lizzie, the Borden sisters, couldn’t be more different. Emma is the eldest, sensible one, the daughter who wants to escape the family and yet is still shattered by the murders, despite the fact that her father was cruel and unloving.
Lizzie is the revolutionary, the child that doubts her father’s authority, the one who isn’t willing to compromise, she wants to punish what she considers to be cruelty and injustice. In fact, there were times when this novel was an uphill struggle for me. The one thing that will always stick out to me about this novel is Lizzie’s temperament. Throughout the novel it was eerily strange despite her obviously childlike temperament, menacing just below the surface in a way that was clearly deliberate on the author’s part. Whether she was not in her right mind in a vaguely sociopathic way or in a childlike way hinting at mental retardation I could not fully tell, the whole time I just felt like Lizzie was a sociopath and kept wishing Emma would just stop trying to take care of her.
This is a beautiful, dark book. Attractive, gritty, exciting, emanating a deep sadness for a family that is destroyed by a tyrannical father and ill choices. It also has a truly stunning cover. I agree that this story isn’t for everyone. Please understand that this is not a story about the case. It doesn't read like a crime drama or give you great amounts of info. I think the purpose of this book was to try and get inside and walk around in the skin of these people for little while.
Age Rating 14+. Dark subject matter, creepy vibe and..well...an axe murder. Do I really have to say more.
"I'm the one who's left behind. I'm the one to tell the tale. I knew them both...knew how they lived and how they died.
