Aunt Maria

Rating:
Summary: The Ties That Bind
Review: Aunt Maria is an independent fantasy novel. Mig Laker is a girl with a problem. Ever since her father was reported missing from his car after it plunged into the sea, his Aunt Maria (Ma-rye-ah) has been calling the family to invite them to Cranbury-on-the-sea. Her mother Betty often works late and her brother Chris refuses to answer the phone when Aunt Maria calls (he somehow always knows it is her). When no one answers the phone, Aunt Maria suspects foul play and calls all their friends and acquaintances to locate them. So Mig has to answer the phone and make excuses why they can't go to Cranbury right then.

In this novel, Betty Laker came home early one evening and answered the phone when Aunt Maria called. Unfortunately, she agreed to spend the Easter holiday in Cranbury. So off they go in their little slow car over the winding road, past the place that Greg Laker had gone over the side, and down into Cranbury. Aunt Maria was home, but Lavinia, her caretaker, wasn't. Moreover, the cupboards and refrigerator were almost empty, so they had a sort of nut scrambled eggs for supper and then put up their things and went to bed.

The next day, Mig starts learning that strange things are going on in Cranbury. The commuters are gray-suited zombies, the orphans are clones, and somebody is driving their Dad's car with different license plates. Moreover, Chris discovers that he has a ghost in his room, Betty notices that the cat hanging around the place looks like the missing Lavinia, and the next door neighbor starts acting like Aunt Maria's chief of police.

In this story, Aunt Maria has a way of manipulating everybody by evoking guilt. She surrounds herself with a coterie of ladies who cater to her every whim. Moreover, the whole town seems to follow her orders, with the exception of the Phelps siblings across the street in number 12.

Nathaniel Phelps is an old man with white hair and a dislike for women. His sister Amaryllis is a nice old lady who is subject to falling down unexpectedly. When Mig and her mother visit in spite of Aunt Maria, Miss Phelps is very kind, but refuses to discuss the situation at that time. However, they are both very helpful later.

While Mig is miserable in Cranbury, things become even worst when Chris is transformed to a wolf. Now Betty begins to forget Chris and refuses to listen to any rubbish about him being turned into a wolf. Then Chris gets into the house and disrupts Aunt Maria's afternoon tea party and the town starts organizing a wolf hunt.

This story is about an awful woman with great power and unshakable faith in her own righteousness. She is brought face to face with her sins and she denies any wrongdoing. Something drastic has to be done to eliminate her stranglehold on the inhabitants of Cranbury.

Recommended for Jones fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of young people struggling for freedom from the tyranny of relationships.

Rating:
Summary: The Ties That Bind
Review: Aunt Maria is an independent fantasy novel. Mig Laker is a girl with a problem. Ever since her father was reported missing from his car after it plunged into the sea, his Aunt Maria (Ma-rye-ah) has been calling the family to invite them to Cranbury-on-the-sea. Her mother Betty often works late and her brother Chris refuses to answer the phone when Aunt Maria calls (he somehow always knows it is her). When no one answers the phone, Aunt Maria suspects foul play and calls all their friends and acquaintances to locate them. So Mig has to answer the phone and make excuses why they can't go to Cranbury right then.

In this novel, Betty Laker came home early one evening and answered the phone when Aunt Maria called. Unfortunately, she agreed to spend the Easter holiday in Cranbury. So off they go in their little slow car over the winding road, past the place that Greg Laker had gone over the side, and down into Cranbury. Aunt Maria was home, but Lavinia, her caretaker, wasn't. Moreover, the cupboards and refrigerator were almost empty, so they had a sort of nut scrambled eggs for supper and then put up their things and went to bed.

The next day, Mig starts learning that strange things are going on in Cranbury. The commuters are gray-suited zombies, the orphans are clones, and somebody is driving their Dad's car with different license plates. Moreover, Chris discovers that he has a ghost in his room, Betty notices that the cat hanging around the place looks like the missing Lavinia, and the next door neighbor starts acting like Aunt Maria's chief of police.

In this story, Aunt Maria has a way of manipulating everybody by evoking guilt. She surrounds herself with a coterie of ladies who cater to her every whim. Moreover, the whole town seems to follow her orders, with the exception of the Phelps siblings across the street in number 12.

Nathaniel Phelps is an old man with white hair and a dislike for women. His sister Amaryllis is a nice old lady who is subject to falling down unexpectedly. When Mig and her mother visit in spite of Aunt Maria, Miss Phelps is very kind, but refuses to discuss the situation at that time. However, they are both very helpful later.

While Mig is miserable in Cranbury, things become even worst when Chris is transformed to a wolf. Now Betty begins to forget Chris and refuses to listen to any rubbish about him being turned into a wolf. Then Chris gets into the house and disrupts Aunt Maria's afternoon tea party and the town starts organizing a wolf hunt.

This story is about an awful woman with great power and unshakable faith in her own righteousness. She is brought face to face with her sins and she denies any wrongdoing. Something drastic has to be done to eliminate her stranglehold on the inhabitants of Cranbury.

Recommended for Jones fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of young people struggling for freedom from the tyranny of relationships.

Rating:
Summary: "I Do Apologise! This is *Brought Cake*!"
Review: Diana Wynne Jones once again combines eccentric characters, moral ambiguity, magic, time travelling, shapeshifting and an uncanny ability to portray human behaviour in one of her best books: "Aunt Maria". With all the twists and turns that we expect from Wynne Jones, "Aunt Maria" is one of the most re-readable and enjoyable books in her vast collection.

After the accidental death of their father, Naomi "Mig" and Chris Laker are reluctantly taken to Cranbury-on-Sea by their mother to visit Aunt Maria. Maria appears to be a cuddly old lady (though is constantly ringing up and meddling in their lives), but once they get to their house the siblings find that she is much worse. Behind her compliments and manners is an old lady determined to get her own way - for instance, when she says "I won't bother with breakfast, now Lavinia's not here to bring it to me in bed," she means: "I demand breakfast in bed."

Cranbury itself is just as bad: the women flock around Maria in daily tea-parties like she's their Queen-bee, whilst the men work like zombies and the clone-like children spend their days in an orphanage. Enigmas pile up on all sides: who is the ghost haunting Chris's room? What happened to the previous maid Lavinia? Why does Maria despise the elderly Phelp neighbours? What is contained within the beautiful green box Mig finds? And could it be possible that the children's father actually reached Cranbury on the day he supposedly died?

All the answers to these mysteries are brought together beautifully as the book progresses - but not before Mig must deal with the battle of the sexes in the town, the fact that her brother has been turned into a wolf, the mind-manipulation being dealt upon her mother, and Maria's own sinister designs for her! For such a slim volume it is jam-packed full of interesting ideas, plot revelations and clever ideas.

Diana Wynne Jones usually prefers males as her protagonists, but after reading Mig I hope that in the future she creates more female ones, as she's one of the funniest, sympathetic, self-aware and utterly helpless heroines I've ever read - and despite her complete lack of doing hardly anything proactive or helpful throughout the book, she's an utter delight. Also on hand is her brother Chris who is far more outspoken than she, and doesn't hesitate to insult anyone he pleases. Throughout the story the bond between the siblings is strong, realistic and immensely touching - as when the transformed Chris seeks out comfort from his sister.

Mrs Laker is also nicely created, as is the sinister Elaine, but of course the centrepiece of the story is Maria herself. Self-righteous, self-pitying, hypocritical, intensely annoying, and yet a pleasure to read about, this is one character that's impossible to describe: you'll have to read in order to really appreciate what Wynne Jones has created. The family's way of handling Maria is the author at her hilarious best, and the closest another author has come to capturing the sheer loathsomeness of Maria is J.K. Rowling (who by the way, has almost certainly read this book) and her own villainess Dolorous Umbridge.

As well as this is the intricate and well-paced plot, which includes a huge number of characters, events, magical implements and ideas. The time-travel sequence in particular is marvellously created, and I'm certain it was the inspiration for Harry Potter's similar experience in "The Prisoner of Azkaban." Most wonderful of all is her ability to take human relationships and explore them in depth - in this case it is the way some use guilt and the rules of manners in order to get their way.

I would say that "Aunt Maria" is my favourite Diana Wynne Jones book out there, but so many great titles are out there that I wouldn't want to limit myself to just one. In any case "Aunt Maria" an immensely enjoyable book - and if there are any film-makers out there, it would also make a brilliant movie: hint, hint.


Rating:
Summary: Got Magic?... REAL Magic?
Review: I don't know why reviewers persist in synopsizing the story for you - do they think they are retelling it? (Doesn't it bother you to have your own experience spoiled a bit by that?) Do they think the author didn't do a good enough job, that someone wants the Cliff's Notes' version?

Do they think (do you think) that a good story is just plot?

Well, fans of this great writer, Diana Wynne Jones, know she puts enough twists in each of her plots to fill a dozen lesser writers' books. What Jones always brings are qualities of character and inventive storytelling. (Her epic Dalemark Quartet leaves me spellstruck, still, decades later.) And you get that here, in spades. She deals with themes most other writers would treat as horror, melodrama.

Readers of her books know they will subtly learn something about the way the world works - call it psychology, philosophy, or call it magic. In "Aunt Maria," we explore broken families and how it goes over kids heads (& straight to the heart). It looks at the subjective differences between men & women, and how exploitation of both is surely taught. And, mostly, how we learn manipulation... and how that can be dealt with. Heavy things for "simple fantasy," eh?

That's Jones, for you. She always, ALWAYS gives more than you expect, more than she has to in a story. She works harder than anyone I know to put so much so carefully into a story. It's like reading a prismatically colorful Persian rug or Medieval tapestry, getting caught up in the workings of the threads. Watching the world unravel around you and then be woven whole again. You're in new cloth when you come to.

Read Diana Wynne Jones to learn what REAL magic is all about. Amazingly, one finishes a book of hers with ones' own magic increased. You might shrug it off as just the sense of wonder, the imagination. No matter, it's still powerful stuff to be passing on to us. Thanks, Diana.

Rating:
Summary: Gripping beginning, breathtaking middle, flat ending
Review: I have to admit, the ending ruined the entire book for me. I love Diana Wynne Jones' books. I've read everything I could get my hands on. The beginning and middle of this book really had my heart--a real page-turner. The characters' plight is gripping, and Aunt Maria is the most hateful villain I've had the pleasure of reading. The main characters are very self-determined when they get motivated. When the mother stops remembering her own son, my heart was broken. But the ending felt horribly rushed, and what happens to Aunt Maria doesn't really resolve anything.

I wanted to like this book more. I would recommend this to any Diana Wynne Jones fan, but if this is your first time reading such a splendid writer, you'd be better off sampling some of her best books first and returning to Aunt Maria later. I'd recommend Archer's Goon, Howl's Moving Castle, Dark Lord of Derkholm, any of the Chrestomanci novels, or Hexood instead. By all means dive into this prolific and imagintive author! But try her other works first.

Rating:
Summary: Engrossing and creepy, but fine for the younger set.
Review: I made the mistake of starting this book the night before I was to start a new job in the morning. It was only through dint of mighty effort that I was able to put it down without finishing it. This is EXACTLY the sort of thing I was looking for when I scoured the library shelves as a child. (Fine for the older set, too!) I loved Charmed Life also. I'm looking for more of her books.

Rating:
Summary: Teens shake up town engaged in unseen but deadly civil war.
Review: In an interview with Diana Wynne Jones she describes how it felt to be a child during the war: "One didn't know that all those bizarre, and horrible, and mad things were going on, except there was a feeling all the time that something WAS bizarre, and horrible, and mad." That is the feeling I get when reading Black Maria. The two teenage protagonists, Mig and Chris, arrive in Cranbury-On-Sea after their father's disappearance, to spend Easter with their frail and manipulative Aunt Maria. (The British title implies that it should be pronounced in the old-fashioned way, "Ma-righ-a", and NOT as in West Side Story!) The town seems to have no children except the residents of the local orphanage, who all behave so much alike that they could be clones, and the men of the area are like zombies in boring grey suits. Mig and Chris joke about these things at first but they soon seem more serious. They also wonder who the ghost in Chris's room is and what he is looking for, whether the cat that Aunt Maria hates could really be human, and above all, what really happened to their father and his car. It seems that Aunt Maria and the respectable, devoted women who come to her daily tea parties know the answers, but neither they nor anyone else in Cranbury are willing to tell.

Forced to conform to the community's rigidly conservative ideas about male and female roles, Mig is somewhat overwhelmed at first, while her brother Chris rebels by becoming involved in the schemes of unfriendly Mr Phelps across the street. When Chris foolishly goes too far and Aunt Maria turns him into a wolf, Mig is left alone to find a way to get him turned back, and to release her family from her aunt's suffocating grip.

This is a complex book in the best tradition of Diana Wynne Jones, and is worth reading more than once to get the full impact out of it. What struck me most about this book is something that should never be mentioned in reviews, as it comes too near the end. But I would like to say ! that the subject is treated more effectively here than in any other book I know. In fact this section is in danger of overpowering the rest of the story, making the book much darker than the blurb would have you believe. But, if anything, that makes the book better. If you want an unconventional, thought-provoking read and are willing to involve yourself completely in the story, then I thoroughly reccommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: a little scary for the younger set
Review: Mig and Chris are 2 of the main characters in the story. Their father has disappeared and they go to live with their Aunt Maria in rabury on Sea. Their mother keeps the house for her and takes care of Aunt Maria. Mig and Chris start to see lots of strange things going on around them. What children they see seem like zombies and they see a ghost too. Could Aunt Maria be at the bottom of all these happenings?

Rating:
Summary: Everyone has one
Review: One of Diana Wynne Jones's funniest and most chilling, this is a delightful darkish story full of wry wit and excellent characters that will hit every perfect note.

Mig's parents have just split up, and her father vanishes in a sudden, strange car accident. Her guilt-ridden mother takes Mig and her teen brother Chris to stuffy Cranbury-on-Sea to spend some time with Aunt Maria, a picky, weird old lady. At first Mig thinks that things are normal, except for Aunt Maria's many and varied eccentricities.

But then she sees her father's car, belonging to a stranger. Chris says that there's a ghost in his bedroom. A mysterious cat appears, that strongly resembles Aunt Maria's former companion. And Mig notices that the people in Cranbury-on-Sea are very odd: Everything revolves around tea parties, usually headed by friends of Aunt Maria's, while the men and kids are all zombies. All except a very odd brother and sister down the road, and a person from the past who may hold the key to stopping the sinister aunt Maria...

Everyone has a relative like Aunt Maria: she's picky, nosy, feigns self-sacrifice to "guilt" adults into doing what she wants, wallows in gender stereotypes and inflicts those stereotypes on kids, plays favorites, complains constantly about noise, insists on everything being home-cooked, has a flock of weird old friends, calls you by your full first name, and is horrified if everything isn't completely clean. The main difference is that in this book, she's a malevolent witch who doesn't think twice about turning people into animals.

Usually Jones' female heroes are not quite as interesting as her male ones, but Mig was excellently written: smart, funny, sympathetic, understandable, poignant, and very pleasant. It's hard not to sympathize with her frustration over Aunt Maria, and her increasingly helpless position in a town of witches and zombies. Mum is nicely written, for what there is of her; she's less of a presence than the others are. Chris really steals the book: He's funny, disruptive, charming, smart (to a point) and sometimes needs to have his mouth taped shut. Antony Green is also nice, a smart and well-written character; Elaine is, with a minimum of effort, utterly creepy; Mr. and Miss Phelps are funny, very funny, making me wonder if they were used to add a slightly lighter note to an otherwise darker book.

The book is very evocatively written -- it's in diary form, but this doesn't make the narrative awkward as it is in many books. Jones shows that she's apparently had experiences with such relatives: the mother's guilty acceptance of Maria's demands is well-written, as are the kids' chafing and Maria's incessent demands and self-sacrificial selfishness.

A treasure, that is currently available only in the UK. Hopefully it will be reprinted soon in the US, so that more readers can enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: Fun and Creepy
Review: Set more in the "real world" than many of this author's books, this was a very fun book that follows the narrator to the creepy neighborhood of her Great-Aunt (pronounced Mar-eye-ah). Filled with passive-agressive old ladies, it seems like your normal vacation-from-hell... until the narrator realizes that there's more going on in this sleepy town than it seems. You have no idea how weird this book will get until you get there.

(...)