This is my very first audio book, and subsequently my first review of an audiobook.
Firstly, listening to an audio book is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time but wanted to give it my full attention. My first thought was that it was incongruous with my “reading” needs. As the narrator started reading, I was visualising the words in the air, trying to marry the narrator’s voice with my own imagination. It was exhausting. I soon realised that I was fighting the natural flow of the reading – I was still trying to see the words, something I enjoy and hadn’t realised was part of my reading experience. The formation of words in various fonts is magical to me, and where books use typographical techniques to bring the story to life, I find it enchanting. It took the entire 44 minutes and 23 seconds of Chapter 1 to break this fight and finally, sweetly, allow myself to be immersed in the sounds of the words instead.
“We were like astronauts floating in a starless universe…”
Miss Peregrine’s is not what I thought it was! As with the likes of Harry Potter, I’m not too sure who the intended audience are, but as an adult, I thoroughly enjoyed it. This supernatural tale of different worlds, a mystery to be solved like a treasure hunt, family issues and ghost stories, is an enchantment. Jacob is a 15 year old American boy who is close to his grandfather who he assumes rather sweetly to be bonkers. This is because of the fairytales his grandfather has told him whilst growing up. But then, Jacob witnesses something that he can’t quite explain, and the journey begins. Of course Miss Peregrine’s Home is a very Welsh ghost story – cairns and bogs, mist and drizzle, easy for a British girl to imagine.
I’m going to pursue the rest of this atmospheric series by Ransom Briggs. Welcome all if you enjoy supernatural stories, freaks, carnivals, travelling shows, magic and time travel. Roll up, roll up!
Thankfully the movie has been made by the wonderful Tim Burton …
Appletree Books 