Tamsin

Rating:
Summary: World Fantasy Award Nominee
Review: "Tamsin" might best be described as a fantasy for people who don't normally read fantasy. It reminded me very much what Charles de Lint calls "mythic fiction," because it's basically a young adult story about a girl's rite of passage that incorporates elements of myth and folktale. No dragons, here, although there is a Pooka, the billy-blind, the Black Dog, a boggart, the Wild Hunt, and many (almost too many) ghosts.

None of the mythic stuff kicks in until Jenny Gluckstein's mother marries an English biologist and Jenny is forced to relocate from New York City to an ancient, run-down farm in Dorset. She acquires two stepbrothers along with her stepfather, boggart, etc., and meanwhile her beloved Mr. Cat is forced to spend six months in quarantine.

I'd feel the same way Jenny did if I were forced to temporarily swap my cat for something that titters nastily under an ancient bathtub that fills up with burping, sidewalk-colored water-- when the plumbing is working at all. Not to mention having to attend the Sherborne School for Girls where everyone HAS TO WEAR A UNIFORM.

Jenny does settle in, but it's a long grumpy, kvetch. The turning point in her attitude comes during her shift on a boggart patrol in the kitchen (also known as the Arctic Circle) with her young step-brother, Julian. Something has been smashing eggs, making the food in the refrigerator go bad, and generally making a nuisance of itself. Jenny and Julian are deep in a game of Snakes and Ladders when the boggart finally shows up:

"He was dressed like a cross between the Seven Dwarfs [sic] and Robin Hood, in a kind of loose red smock...and heavy little boots, ankle-high." Jenny thought they (the shoes) might be Doc Martens, except she didn't think they made them in boggart sizes.

Jenny and Julian solve the mystery of what the boggart really wants. Mr. Cat comes out of quarantine and falls in love with a ghostly Persian. Jenny makes a really good friend at school, and the ghostly Persian's owner finally makes her appearance.
Now Jenny must solve the deeper, darker mystery of why her ethereal friend, Tamsin who 'stopped' 300 years past, cannot find peace.

All of Beagle's characters are wonderfully human, including Mr. Cat, and most especially grumpy Jenny, and her pesky, lovable stepbrother, Julian. This would make a great read for anyone who is forced to pack up and move away from friends and school, and try to make a new life with a new family. In spite of all of its supernatural goings-on, "Tamsin" is not particularly scary--just Beagle at his most poignant.

I took away one star because the ending was a bit of a let-down. Jenny goes off to Cambridge, and I don't know what happened to Mr. Cat.

Rating:
Summary: World Fantasy Award Nominee
Review: "Tamsin" might best be described as a fantasy for people who don't normally read fantasy. It reminded me very much what Charles de Lint calls "mythic fiction," because it's basically a young adult story about a girl's rite of passage that incorporates elements of myth and folktale. No dragons, here, although there is a Pooka, the billy-blind, the Black Dog, a boggart, the Wild Hunt, and many (almost too many) ghosts.

None of the mythic stuff kicks in until Jenny Gluckstein's mother marries an English biologist and Jenny is forced to relocate from New York City to an ancient, run-down farm in Dorset. She acquires two stepbrothers along with her stepfather, boggart, etc., and meanwhile her beloved Mr. Cat is forced to spend six months in quarantine.

I'd feel the same way Jenny did if I were forced to temporarily swap my cat for something that titters nastily under an ancient bathtub that fills up with burping, sidewalk-colored water-- when the plumbing is working at all. Not to mention having to attend the Sherborne School for Girls where everyone HAS TO WEAR A UNIFORM.

Jenny does settle in, but it's a long grumpy, kvetch. The turning point in her attitude comes during her shift on a boggart patrol in the kitchen (also known as the Arctic Circle) with her young step-brother, Julian. Something has been smashing eggs, making the food in the refrigerator go bad, and generally making a nuisance of itself. Jenny and Julian are deep in a game of Snakes and Ladders when the boggart finally shows up:

"He was dressed like a cross between the Seven Dwarfs [sic] and Robin Hood, in a kind of loose red smock...and heavy little boots, ankle-high." Jenny thought they (the shoes) might be Doc Martens, except she didn't think they made them in boggart sizes.

Jenny and Julian solve the mystery of what the boggart really wants. Mr. Cat comes out of quarantine and falls in love with a ghostly Persian. Jenny makes a really good friend at school, and the ghostly Persian's owner finally makes her appearance.
Now Jenny must solve the deeper, darker mystery of why her ethereal friend, Tamsin who 'stopped' 300 years past, cannot find peace.

All of Beagle's characters are wonderfully human, including Mr. Cat, and most especially grumpy Jenny, and her pesky, lovable stepbrother, Julian. This would make a great read for anyone who is forced to pack up and move away from friends and school, and try to make a new life with a new family. In spite of all of its supernatural goings-on, "Tamsin" is not particularly scary--just Beagle at his most poignant.

I took away one star because the ending was a bit of a let-down. Jenny goes off to Cambridge, and I don't know what happened to Mr. Cat.

Rating:
Summary: Tamsin
Review: A remarkable piece of fine literature! Peter Beagle, an author with whom I was not very familiar with before, seems to possess a gift for telling stories. When I first saw the book, I wasn't prepared for anything wonderful, knowing how cheasy and tacky most "ghost stories" normally come out. But after the first page I was hooked--literally. The writing never sounds cramped and forced, it flows out in a realistic stream of grace and creativity. I enjoyed Beagle's theory of the supernatural through the main character, Jenny. She says: "...feelings like that don't die; memories like Tamsin's memory of Edric and her lost sister don't die. That's why you have ghosts." It's wonderful, simply amazing, how realistic everything comes out. Beagle also has some good mythology in here, as well: the Pooka, the Wild Hunt, and the Lady of the Elder Tree. I highly reccomend this book; it is well worth your time and money.

Rating:
Summary: Time to move to Dorset
Review: Beagle brought me to a place I didn't ever want to leave. Then he created a family I sincerely missed after I turned the last page, and that's only the people who were alive! This story gave me chills, it was so absorbing, and his matter-of-fact descriptions of fey beasties makes me want to believe. I wish with all my heart that I had read this when I was in eighth or ninth grade, when the magic of Beagle's writing would have transported me for days. This is the first Peter Beagle book I ever read, and let me tell you, don't get between me and his books at the library...

Rating:
Summary: Another wonder from Beagle
Review: First of all, Peter S. Beagle is one of my absolutely favorite authors, so I am predisposed to like his works. That, being said, I really enjoyed this book. His writing is extremely lyrical. The people in his books, despite the fantastic situations in which they find themselves, seem very earthy and real. Even the confusion of the ghosts and the way they respond to their circumstances are very believeable which encourages the reader to be sympathetic to their plight. I love Peter's endings, I believe he is one of the masters of the bittersweet ending.

If you are going to only read one book by this author, I would recommend The Last Unicorn, or, for older folks (20s or so) Folk of the Air over this one. However, this is another good book by one of the masters of Fantasy. Keep in mind that I think Peter tends to gear most of his books, including this one, for the young adult audience although most can be enjoyed by readers from 8 to 108.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully Written but Flawed
Review: I am a long-time fantasy lover -- adore the novels of Ursula Le Guin and Terry Pratchett -- but the people in TAMSIN are more gullible than intelligent, falling too quickly into belief in boggarts, ghosts, and billy-blinds. You can forgive the children, but the adults, too? They probably believe in Santa and the Easter Bunny. Their stupidity eroded the novel's verisimilitude and is personally irritating to me. Gullible sympathetic chacters are unwelcome in our sad era of New Age and Fundamentalist nonsense, when far too many people...have lost the commonsense ability to be skeptical.

That cavil aside, once you accept that the characters aren't really very bright, this is a truly well-written and sensitive fantasy, with astonishing insights into the concerns and teenage girls...Furthermore, TAMSIN warmed the heart of this old medievalist. It deals intimately with one of the crucial periods in history, the English Seventeenth Century--and reminds us why England had its Glorious Revolution and Bill of Rights, and why we must stalwartly defend our Constitution and our even better American Bill of Rights...

Rating:
Summary: memories of being 13 years old brought back!
Review: I borrowed this book because I wanted to read a ghost story and because of the setting--Dorset, England. But the first half of the book is consumed by the spoilt angry 13 yr old heroine and made me impatient. Not that it wasn't right on target about children of divorced parents, relocation and the strange importance some things can be when one is 13 years old but I wasn't prepared to go down memory lane just yet. It's tough being 13 and I'm just getting over it! On the other hand, the ghost story (once we finally get into it) is substantial and eerie. Tamsin is a vivid character and the descriptions of the old and present Dorset/farmhouse are realistic. I love the portrayal of the cats and Mr Cat has all the attributes a true cat! (Patting his paws on eyelids, making the questioning 'prrrp' sound) Good book and thank God I am no longer a Young Adult but an aging Woman!

Rating:
Summary: what a heartwarming, wonderful classic
Review: I had been aware of Peter Beagle before actually getting around to reading him. This summer, I came across two of his books, a fine and private place and Tamsin. Tamsin was filled with such warmth, such an understanding of what it is to be young and at times overwhelmed. I love Jenny, her cat Mister Cat and her friend Meena, not to mention the inhabitants of their farm. Few books in recent memory have touched me the way this one did, and I would reccommend it to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: Believe!
Review: I think this could be a true story. Really, I wouldn't be shocked at all is Beagle told me that he'd simply written down a story he overheard one day. Even with the ghosts, bogarts, and that loveable Pooka, you'll feel as if you are reading the true account of a displaced city teen who discovers a home in rural England among the "old weird." Although not as good as some of Beagle's earlier works, such as A Fine and Private Place and The Last Unicorn, Tamsin still has that feel about it that is uniquely Beagle! The dialogue comes to life, especially when it is spoken by one of the old Dorset ghosts. You can hear the accent when you read it! One of the working titles for Tamsin was "Friends in the Night," so I recommend reading it after sundown for an especially effective experience.

Rating:
Summary: Mister Cat!
Review: I wanted a fun read and I had loved The Last Unicorn, so I was happy to find this book (in the Young Adult section, although it really should have been in Fantasy).

I couldn't put it down. I finished it in less than 24 hours, which was both good and bad - good because I really really wanted to see how it was going to end, but bad because the book is so slow and I got frustrated with it.

I would have adored this book when I was in jr high or high school. This would have been my favorite book then. I enjoyed it a lot now, but I did have some problems with it. For one thing, I see lots of reviewers here saying that it's not cliche. Well maybe you didn't read the same books I did, but I read a lot of young adult ghost stories back in the day, and this book follows the formula. It does it very well, yes, but it still follows the formula. Teenager forced against their will to move into a haunted house because a parent remarries, difficult time adjusting to new family, discovers a ghost with a tragic past, get information about the ghost from older, local people, etc. Wait Till Helen Comes for example (which is also a great young adult ghost story) has all of these cliches. So does The Headless Cupid (also excellent). Tamsin is excellent and worth reading, but the formula is there and is obvious if you've seen it before.

I don't want to be too negative, because this really is a good book, and I enjoyed it a lot. I adored Mister Cat! The house itself was creepy and I would have enjoyed more time spent to exploring it (and perhaps less time devoted to Tamsin almost - but then not - telling Jenny things). I got little flashes of The Last Unicorn here and there, such as Tamsin forgetting herself the way Amalthea did, and the Wild Hunt reminded me of the Red Bull (only scarier), especially in the way the Jenny would hear it now and then the way the characters heard the Red Bull moving under the castle. I wanted to know more about the Oakmen too, and that was never really explained.

Where was Tamsin's character? Why was Mister Cat so much more interesting and developed than the title character of the book? I thought it was wonderful that Jenny had a little crush on Tamsin - thank you Mr Beagle for including something which is common for girls but never discussed! However, I just never got that interested in Tamsin because she was boring and not very different from other ghost girls with a tragic past. Julian was much more interesting than Tamsin too. He was really a fun character (even though he acted younger than 10).

Final word: I'm being a little harsh on this book because it's so close to being perfect and because I expected more from the author. This is a great book - if you like the author, or ghost stories, or fantasy, then get this book and enjoy a good (and scary) read! Tamsin is a great book for young adult readers too, and it's so much better than most of the books in that genre. Just make sure you have a day or two free before you start reading it though.