Far Far Away Author: Tom McNeal | Language: English | ISBN:
B00AP2VRAA | Format: PDF
Far Far Away Description
A National Book Award FinalistAn Edgar Award Finalist
A dark, contemporary fairy tale in the tradition of Neil Gaiman. Jeremy Johnson Johnson hears voices. Or, specifically, one voice: the ghost of Jacob Grimm, one half of The Brothers Grimm. Jacob watches over Jeremy, protecting him from an unknown dark evil whispered about in the space between this world and the next.
But Jacob can't protect Jeremy from everything. When coltish, copper-haired Ginger Boultinghouse takes a bite of a cake so delicious it’s rumored to be bewitched, she falls in love with the first person she sees: Jeremy. In any other place, this would be a turn for the better for Jeremy, but not in Never Better, where the Finder of Occasions—whose identity and evil intentions nobody knows—is watching and waiting, waiting and watching. . . And as anyone familiar with the Brothers Grimm know, not all fairy tales have happy endings.
Veteran writer Tom McNeal has crafted a young adult novel at once grim(m) and hopeful, full of twists, and perfect for fans of contemporary fairy tales like Neil Gaiman's
The Graveyard Book and Holly Black's
Doll Bones. The recipient of five starred reviews,
Publishers Weekly called
Far Far Away "inventive and deeply poignant."
From the Hardcover edition.- File Size: 1737 KB
- Print Length: 384 pages
- Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (June 11, 2013)
- Sold by: Random House LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00AP2VRAA
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #56,174 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #68
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Fairy Tales & Folklore
- #68
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Fairy Tales & Folklore
Ah Fairy Tales....I love them for all their weirdness and beauty and timelessness and did I say weirdness. Yes, this one starts out very weird. I thought it was too literary for me to enjoy. The stuffy Jacob Grimm narrates and he waxes prosaic about his lost brother and his time in the world after his death trying to find his way to his brother. Yes, I thought it was just going to be a little too much for me. I was wrong. Very wrong. Jacob Grimm basically lives one of his own fairy tales as an almost silent observer.
The characters in this story are numerous but only a few stand out. I will limit who I describe to Jeremy Johnson Johnson and Jacob Grimm.
Jeremy is a bit nerdy because all he does is study. But when you have a ghost telling you "studies, studies" all the time and you know your only ticket out of town is college and a scholarship, then you know you should study. And he's weird because he once told someone he hears voices. But he does and we know he does because we can hear Jacob Grimm talking to him throughout the novel. But, unfortunately, Jeremy has a tendency to talk to Jacob out loud and that makes him look even weirder. And Jeremy lives with his father in the back of the Two Book Bookstore which, as you may have guessed, sells only two books, the first and second volumes of Jeremy's grandfather's life story. Business isn't good. And, as if you need more to make a boy look weird, Jeremy's father stays in his room all day watching t.v. since Jeremy's mother left him. Life has not been kind to Jeremy. But he's a good boy, studies hard, is kind to everyone, friendly, wary, industrious (he has a lawn service business) and he takes care of his father.
Jacob Grimm's Ghost- Jacob's Ghost somehow got stuck on Earth after he passed away.
A teenage boy shares an extraordinary relationship with a ghost and slowly develops a special friendship with a girl in his class. The two teens become one another's confidantes and partners-in-crime. When the bank threatens to evict the boy and his widower father for lack of payment, the girl and the boy try to figure out a way to save the house. What becomes a noble goal turns into a modern-day fairy tale in Tom McNeal's whimsical, charming Far Far Away aimed at middle-grade readers.
Jeremy Johnson Johnson and his father live in Never Better, a place representing typical American small-town life. Everyone knows everything about everyone, and everyone takes a keen interest in the business of others. So the fact that Jeremy can keep a big secret represents an amazing feat. No one knows that Jeremy can hear the voice of long-dead Jacob Grimm of the Brothers Grimm.
Jacob narrates the story in first person and slowly reveals how he traversed the world from Germany after his death looking for his brother's spirit. Jacob travels for decades asking other spirits about Wilhelm, and eventually he meets one that says he has heard of a special boy. A boy who believes in fairy tales and who lives in a small town--a village--that "can be seen only from the corner of the eye." A boy who can hear those who exist in the spirit world. But the Finder of Occasions also lives in this town and will eventually harm the boy if no one can stop him. Jacob decides to help this boy; maybe helping the boy will somehow lead him to other spirits that can lead him to Wilhelm.
He becomes Jeremy's friend and tutor but when Ginger Boultinghouse starts showing an interest in Jeremy, Jacob becomes skeptical. An innocent prank turns into big news, solidifying Jacob's suspicion.
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