"Like that card game, where the one who wins the Queen of Spades loses the game." Not a sentence i would think very relevant until now. Starting the book, i was having the hardest of times finding just what the point was. Diana Wynne Jones is a great writer, but lord does she take forever to explain the situation. Once the scene was set, and you were thoroughly annoyed by Aunt Maria, you then become utterly confused by what is going on with this town. Eventually it all starts to click into place as the events of the town unfold and clues fall into place. I really liked this novel because of its mystery and confusing aspects, which actually surprised me. Although I am not a lover of Science Fiction, I must say i do enjoy the magical. As a die-hard fan of the Harry Potter series, I found myself relating all of the details of Ms. Jones book to that of J.K. Rowling's.
I need to reread this story unfortunately, not only because i know i missed key points as I read through the book in rather a rush (I am not used to finishing a book in a weeks time), but because I know i will understand some of the pretext better having found out about the real purpose of the story. I'm not sure if that makes it a good novel or not, but finding out the very last second what the heck you were just reading for 300 pages is an interesting idea to me. I hated it while i was reading, that is for sure. but looking back at the book as a whole it defiantly worked.
I felt connected with Naomi, one of the main characters, who is constantly writing in her diary which is the book we are now reading. not only weirded out by the situation, but in the same boat as her. With a brother, who is as annoying as Chris, and far off family members, i somehow made connections and for a quick second pretended my Aunt was a powerful witch. I pretended she was a little nicer, and could walk, but never-the-less the same. With the same strong personality and stubborn nature as Aunt Maria, it wasn't difficult to make the connection.
Now I am not one to go into deep interpretation of novels, and I don't think I will ever be able to. Speaking with authors from all different genres, maybe 10% out of the grouping (I have met a good number of authors, so my personal statistics may not be totally accurate, but for the purpose of this blog posting, they are perfect) thought about the meaning behind certain aspects which were supposed to make the reader read between the lines. The rest of the creatives told me they thought language arts teachers (mind you I was in high school when I asked this question) where ridiculous and they chose those "key" points or specific colors because they liked them or thought they were pretty. There was no in depth hidden meaning behind the blue curtains, they just made the room feel big. I think the same thing applies to Aunt Maria, although I do think their was reason behind the specific animal types she transforms people into, as well as color of the outfits to accent the mood of the scene. This book was merely meant to entertain, and for me confuse, the audience. This strange world and euphoric town was chosen for just that.
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