The Trokeville Way

Rating:
Summary: Good for ages 10-18
Review: When a young boy takes a bang to his head after getting into a fight, he meets a tramp, sitting on the road. The tramp, (Moe Nagic), sells a jigsaw puzzle to the boy. Moe explains how the puzzle can come alive, and how you can visit the land of Troke. Now it is up to Stevie, to visit the old brudge, and follow the path, that leads to Trokeville.

Rating:
Summary: Trokeville is the bridge to Fremder's terrifying 'otherness'
Review: With no US company willing to publish an adult book by Hoban, it has become increasingly difficult to follow the path of his creative wanderings. With each book he seems to proceed further, but as to the destination of that motion, who can say? After Hoban's `The Medusa Frequency' it seems we have a long space of blackness before `Fremder' turns up, only published in the UK. But before `Fremder', he apparently wrote the children's book 'Trokeville' which along with Robert O'Brien's Silver Crown is probably one of the most disturbing books I have read in the genre. Of course, Hoban admits that children need to be challenged, and he really doesn't pull any punches with Trokeville. In a sense, this harkens back to `Mouse and his Child' which he did not write for children, but became marketed as a children's book. To me at least, `Trokeville' also reads like a book Hoban simply found in his head, and which subsequently was marketed for kids. People who do not understand Hoban (such as the review provided by Amazon that compares `Trokeville' to `The Princess Bride') will mistake `Trokeville' as simply a very dingy fantasy with a lot of humor that doesn't work, but a reading of anything Hoban has written since (and including) Riddley Walker will give firm evidence that this is not the case. Hoban is once again writing about consciousness and the consciousness that lies outside of the realms of the limited consensus of reality. He is writing about fear, and the whole duality of beauty emerging out of fear that he described so wonderfully in the `Medusa Frequency'. I do not know if this is really a very good book for kids, yet here is this danger of underestimating children (or teens). I have given the book a four star rating because that is where it stands with me, the feeling being one of an intermediate step between his serious books. If you are a Hoban fan this is definitley worth a read, especially at the cheap domestic price. For those who don't know anything about Hoban, find `Mouse and his Child' if you can (for young readers--though I like it too) or any of his adult books which I prefer to `Trokeville'.

Rating:
Summary: Trokeville is the bridge to Fremder's terrifying 'otherness'
Review: With no US company willing to publish an adult book by Hoban, it has become increasingly difficult to follow the path of his creative wanderings. With each book he seems to proceed further, but as to the destination of that motion, who can say? After Hoban's 'The Medusa Frequency' it seems we have a long space of blackness before 'Fremder' turns up, only published in the UK. But before 'Fremder', he apparently wrote the children's book 'Trokeville' which along with Robert O'Brien's Silver Crown is probably one of the most disturbing books I have read in the genre. Of course, Hoban admits that children need to be challenged, and he really doesn't pull any punches with Trokeville. In a sense, this harkens back to 'Mouse and his Child' which he did not write for children, but became marketed as a children's book. To me at least, 'Trokeville' also reads like a book Hoban simply found in his head, and which subsequently was marketed for kids. People who do not understand Hoban (such as the review provided by Amazon that compares 'Trokeville' to 'The Princess Bride') will mistake 'Trokeville' as simply a very dingy fantasy with a lot of humor that doesn't work, but a reading of anything Hoban has written since (and including) Riddley Walker will give firm evidence that this is not the case. Hoban is once again writing about consciousness and the consciousness that lies outside of the realms of the limited consensus of reality. He is writing about fear, and the whole duality of beauty emerging out of fear that he described so wonderfully in the 'Medusa Frequency'. I do not know if this is really a very good book for kids, yet here is this danger of underestimating children (or teens). I have given the book a four star rating because that is where it stands with me, the feeling being one of an intermediate step between his serious books. If you are a Hoban fan this is definitley worth a read, especially at the cheap domestic price. For those who don't know anything about Hoban, find 'Mouse and his Child' if you can (for young readers--though I like it too) or any of his adult books which I prefer to 'Trokeville'.