Rating: Summary: Clever, but Complicated Review: The title of this book - 'The Time of the Ghost' is a definite clue as to what themes to expect in this novel - 'time' and 'ghosts'. It begins with an unidentified 'ghost' who has an overwhelming feeling that a terrible accident has occured, though she cannot remember any details. As she travels through a boys boarding school, little bits and pieces of memory come back to her - she suspects she is one of four sisters - Imogen, Sally, Charlotte or Fenella, who through a game they called 'The Worship of Monigan', have brought to life a terrible goddess. The sisters begin to believe that they are being haunted and seek out the ghost's knowledge, while one of the school students Julian Addiman, has a secret adjenda with Monigan himself. The ghost continues to piece together her past, but all the time wondering - who is she? Where is she from? Why is she here? What should she do? If you want the answers to the questions then don't expect to find them at the beginning/middle of the story - you'll have to hang in there till the end. Like all Wynne Jones's stories nothing is what it seems, not even the premise of the story - you may assume that the 'ghost' is a ghost, and that events run in chronological order, but don't be fooled. Reality and assumptions turn themselves upside and round-about on more than one occasion. Whether you like this book or not, you'll have to appreciate the cleverness and complexity of the story that takes a very unique imagination to design. However, this story lacks any explanitory narrative, which deeply confuses the reader, and leaves them confused till the end of the story, or perhaps even until a second read of the book. It would have been so much simpler to have a few 'eye-of-god' paragraphs to just explain to the audience what is going on in a few situations. However this is made impossible, as the viewpoint of this novel is strictly that of the ghost's. The closet we get to explanations are dialouges by other characters as the plot catapults along. This is the typical style of all Diana Wynne Jones's novels, and in my opinion, her downfall. The lack of black and white, clear-cut explanations as to what is going on confuses most readers and prevents her from getting into the league of other fanatasy writers such as J.K. Rowling. This book is a good, memorable one with a clever, well thought out plot. The only problem is that is Wynne Jones gives us no way to appreciate this as we go along, but makes us wait till the very end of the book to explain what was happening the whole time. Therefore, 'The Time of the Ghost' reads like a guessing-game, and you have to piece together the plot as you go, without really knowing whether your holding the right pieces.
Rating: Summary: 'S okay Review: This book is about a ghost who is trying to find out exactly what has happened to her. In the beginning she has no idea whatsoever except that she is utterly convinced that an accident has happened. Slowly she finds out more about herself and that she is one of four sisters (Charlotte, Selina, Imogen and Fenella). The four sisters 'created' a game called Worshipping Monigan, which, or so they believe, is an old doll. In reality Monigan is much more than that and the ghost, along with some friends and her sisters, must find a way to stop her before someone dies. I do not think that this is the best book Diana Wynne Jones has written. It is somewhat slow and boring. The thing that really caught me was because I wanted to know what had happened, but I wasn't very interested beyond that. It's also a highly confusing book. I think it is okay, but not one of the best.
Rating: Summary: woah! Review: this is a wicked book, but boy, is it confusing! it's a story about a girl who finds herself a ghost, and the only thing she can remember is that "there's been an accident!". she goes to the house of a bunch of sisters, who she knows she is one of. i don't want to spoil it, so i won't tell you too much more, but it involves a strange doll seeking revenge (kind of). the ending has always made me cry, but i love it anyhow. however, it's for older readers (well, over 11) and you'll have to read it a couple of times to understand it (it took me 4 times!). read it!
Rating: Summary: woah! Review: this is a wicked book, but boy, is it confusing! it's a story about a girl who finds herself a ghost, and the only thing she can remember is that "there's been an accident!". she goes to the house of a bunch of sisters, who she knows she is one of. i don't want to spoil it, so i won't tell you too much more, but it involves a strange doll seeking revenge (kind of). the ending has always made me cry, but i love it anyhow. however, it's for older readers (well, over 11) and you'll have to read it a couple of times to understand it (it took me 4 times!). read it!
Rating: Summary: This book creeped the heck outta me Review: This was an awesome book. I would give a synopses or something, but I read it a long time ago and don't remember it that well. But I remember, when reading, it, that it was the mental imagery that really had the biggest effect. The descriptions in this book were exceptional, so as you could imagine so perfectly all the settings, the characters, etc. Not only that, but the plot was incredibly creepy, in a really awesome way. I loved the ending. A lot of books are really good, but are then ruined by a stupid ending. This book was not one of those books. So basically, this was an awesome book. It was creepy. It had a very well-developed plot and characters. It was good entertainment, and is definately worth the time it takes to read it.
Rating: Summary: Girl Looses Memory and Goes Between Time Zones Review: When I was reading this book I found the beginning very dull and I couldnt stand it. I'm not much of a person for details so I got impatient with it. However, once you get further into the book..I became addicted. I read most of the book in one sitting. The main charecter, whos identity is a mystery for a good deal of the book, has been in a terrible accident but doesnt remember what has happened to her. In the book, you have to keep track of different time zones that the girl travels through.
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