This book is a mystery. Specifically, it's a Samantha mystery, which means it's an American Girl mystery in the Samantha series (set in 1904). This factors into the plot in a lot of ways, some of which are very annoying. Very annoying indeed. (One of which is also that Samantha is the main character.)
And on that cheery note, let's get into the story itself. It starts when Samantha's family has to temporarily move into a giant apartment building/hotel/thingy. (The back of the book calls it an "apartment-hotel".) Which is called... can you guess? Ravenscourt! And because it's called Ravenscourt, and the name of the book is The Curse of Ravenscourt, said court of ravens must be cursed.
Couple with that, if you please, the fact that Samantha's adopted sister Nellie is initially apprehensive of the giant carved ravens all over Ravenscourt (interesting sense of decor, but I can't really blame them), and you have the start to what is quite an interesting book.
And then weird stuff starts happening, some of which is actually fairly creepy. Someone or something paints a red "13" on the elevator's level plaque, and then other stuff ensues. The "13" is talked up to make it sound somewhat like it's painted in blood, which makes it creepier than if someone had just remarked something like "someone painted a red 13 on the wall, oh dear let's wash it off".
I have a weird tangent for you all, by the way. How would you pronounce the name "Winthrop"? I'd always read it "Win-thrawp" in my head before, but when Daddy was reading it out loud he said "Win-thrope". Which, if either, would you say?
I didn't like the ending much. I mean, the curse is cool and all, but... with regards to the curse, what conclusions can be drawn from the fact that it's from American Girl? Nothing remotely magical or supernatural is going to be in an American Girl book. The ending is why I gave it the rating I did.
If this was a movie, I would rate it PG--there is some fairly creepy stuff in it, honestly.
This book, like Everything on a Waffle, gets a rating of three stars. As I said before, I didn't like the ending. There really aren't any other reasons why I didn't like it, just the ending. It was kind of meh overall.
Favorite Lines:
Samantha thought that servants might like sunlight as much as anyone else would, but she said nothing.
Page 22.
(for background, this is Jenny, another of Samantha's adopted sisters, talking on a telephone)
"Hello?" said Jenny, trying to talk into the earpiece.
Page 87.
"Hello?" said Jenny, trying to talk into the earpiece.
Page 87.
I would say WIN-thrup.
ReplyDeleteSamantha was always my favorite American Girl, so I guess I'm not surprised she's not a favorite of yours ;-)
Win-thrup is also a valid pronunciation. Didn't cross my mind when I was writing the post, though.
DeleteNormally, I don't have anything against Samantha; I just didn't like the book's ending.
Also, could you clarify your second sentence? I don't really see any reason why being your favorite would mean she isn't one of mine.
Ahhh! I thought that this:
DeleteThis factors into the plot in a lot of ways, some of which are very annoying. Very annoying indeed. (One of which is also that Samantha is the main character.)
meant that Samantha being the main character was one of the things that was very annoying.
You tend to refuse to read any book that I say "Oh, I love that book!" about, or even say, "I really liked this and I think you would too." Or even, "Hmm, this looks interesting -- don't you think so?" So I've come to expect that if it's a favorite character/book/movie of mine, it's not going to be a favorite of yours.
Yeah, I see how that bit could be taken the wrong way. What I meant by "some of which are very annoying. Very annoying indeed." was A. the ending, and B. the fact that people would not necessarily make super safety-minded decisions when it comes to investigating the curse or whatever else the mystery is about.
DeleteAnd yes, normally I do refuse to read things you suggest to me, at least for a while anyway. (I have on occasion just been too proud to accept advice and surreptitiously taken the book at a later time.)
Hmmmm. Interesting interplay between mother and son! It reminds me of my interactions with your Uncle John when he was 13 :-) All the creepiness seems a bit out of character for the American Girl books I remember reading. They've obviously changed in tone somewhat since then.
ReplyDeleteIt's not super creepy. Samantha and Nellie think it's someone trying to scare people by exploiting the curse legend fairly early on, but that doesn't stop more curse-related stuff from happening. (This comment was hard to write without spoiling anything.)
Delete