Book Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

I am always fascinated when authors work different medias in their work. As a fan of graphic novels, I am always pleased to find an author who is not afraid to integrate visual material into his or her storytelling. Even more impressive, are those are able to do so without crossing over into another genre. I believe that Ransom Riggs does just that. The brings in photographs and uses them to help tell his story without making it a graphic novel or art book. Instead, the images supplement his story and add a dimension that is both enchanting and at times frightening. Some may say that a great author should be able to tell without showing, however, some of the photographs that Riggs shows the reader are so peculiar that it would be nearly impossible to adequately describe them. By adding in this medium, Riggs walks a fine line between making a unique novel and tripping over into being gimmicky. Fortunately, Riggs spends most of his time on the former side of the line. Still, the novel is not without its faults. Though as a first novel, I am quite impressed!
The story begins with a 16 year old boy named Jacob who is an outsider in his town, school, and his own family. The only person with whom he feels a connection is his grandfather who weaves magnificent stories about an orphanage on an island that was home to children with bizarre talents. When Jacob was younger, he relished his grandfather’s fairy tales but teenaged cynicism stopped him from believing. When Jacob finds his grandfather brutality murdered in his own backyard, Jacob begins to wonder if the stories he was told as a child not actually be true. He travels to the island to find the orphanage in hopes to gaining some insight into his grandfather’s life and death. What he finds there is amazing, frightening, and leads Jacob to more questions than answers as he realizes not only are these legends true…but the peculiar children might still exist.

It should be known, that there are definitely elements of science fiction or the supernatural in this novel. So if your mind does not wander to the odd and possible fantastic, this is definitely not the book for you. I love that the novel is peppered with photographs of these children which helps the reader visualize some of their talents. However, at times it felt like the story was just a connect the dots linking up the various interested images. I found the first few chapters to be breathtaking and Riggs insight into Jacob’s troubled mind after the death of his grandfather was touching and real. Yet, Jacob climbed deeper and deeper into the island’s past, I felt myself losing interest. I thought that his relationships were superficial and therefore I questioned some of the decisions that he made. If this novel is geared towards young adults, I think that it will do well. But for adult readers, I think it leaves a bit to be desired. That said, I look forward to Riggs’ development as an author as I think he has some incredibly interesting and perhaps groundbreaking ideas.

-DLP