George Davies has sought professional help for a troubling problem. He cannot bring himself to hold his infant son. He admits to his therapist that this is not his first time to sit in a therapist's chair.
The doctor gives George a set of blank notebooks to journal in and a terrifying story emerges of an eleven year old boy who meets a Friend no one else can see who tells him things no one else can hear. Is this troubling past merely the result of his father's recent death, the bullies at school, or is something more sinister at work?
A Good and Happy Child came very, very close to scaring me, but overexplanation ruined it for me in the end and I found myself slightly disappointed again. Zippy recommended this to me because she loved it so much. I have no idea why I wasn't scared out of my wits other than there was too much discussion of the events and not enough action. My imagination didn't have enough to go on since the author supplied so much backstory and explanation of the phenomena. Has anyone else encountered this problem? Show me the monster, and chances are good that I lose interest. Let me imagine the monster for myself and I will be up the rest of the night.
I hope I have not given the impression that I did not like this book because that is not true! It definitely gave me the fantods on several occasions and I basically read it in one sitting, finishing up around midnight. While I didn't really have any problems going (and staying) peacefully asleep, I don't recommend this method :-) AGAHC is a great first effort and I will most definitely read his next book! Justin Evans is one to watch!
2 comments:
Looks like you've found some good reads again. Thanks, I'll probably try AGAHC. Also, congrats on the weight loss.
BWS
It's definitely worth a read and I'll be suggesting it heavily as people come in to the library looking for some spooky reads!
Thanks Beth, I'm still workin' hard!
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