Customer Reviews

Behind the Attic Wall (Avon Camelot Books)

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read this book for the first time when I was 12, and loved it... to this day it is one of my all time favourites!
It is a heartwarming, wonderful story, beautifully written, with very well developed and believable characters (hard to find in kids books), an excellent plot and a magical ending!!... All in all a Masterpiece for Children!

Maggie is a 12 year old girl, who is sent to live with her two very strict and conservative great aunts after she was thrown out from yet another boarding school.
They and her uncle Morris are her only living relatives.
When she arrives to their house she wants to immediatly leave; they are not nice, they are very strict and they do not love her or want her there.
Then one day, she began hearing whisperings and voices coming from the other side of the closet, and when she finally discovered to whom those voices belonged to, she found her own private fantasy and magical world and felt for the first time that she was loved and that she belonged.

If there was a chance to put six or seven stars, this is one of the few books that would get them! (5 SOLID stars)

I first read this book when I was 18, and now at twenty I have my own copy. this story is beautiful, engaging touching and mysterious. When an orphan, Maggie, is sent to live with two aunts she has given up on life. She has been hurt so many times she rejects others before they can reject her. When she meets two dolls that live in the attic of the house, she finally learns to use her imagination and is loved. More importantly, she learns how to love others, and finds a reason to live. A beautiful story for kids of all ages. Destined to be a classic.

This is an interesting story that features a young girl who is at first very depressing, but then gradually becomes less withdrawn. I kept wanting her to wake up and realize that people were willing to help her. For example, early in the book when she is given a gift, she tosses it on the floor, which was a bit too ungrateful for me. Although the long descriptions of her imaginary friends became a bit tiresome, and the Prologue left me more confused than engrossed, overall this is a great childrens' story (readers in age group 12+), with well developed characters and excelent descriptions.

As a reader who enjoys a well told story, regardless of the genre and age group, I found this story both intriguing and expertly crafted. Wild Bill recommends this book for adults and children, although the story content and character motivation would probably appeal to young women more than the guys.

I loved this book. I looked it up on Amazon just to see if it was still around. This book helped me fall in love with the magical world of reading.

Like so many others, I too read this first as a child of about 10, and then found it again as an adult (I'm 28 now). This book exemplifies what people are just now rediscovering with the Harry Potter books, that the themes and simple yet elegant prose found in children's literature resonates for all ages. Maggie is a loner, shuffled from place to place all her life. When she's finally kicked out of the last boarding school and given to her great aunts' custody in drafty old Adelphi Hills, it's just another temporary place to her. And then the voices start, and like any heroine from a Gothic novel, she goes exploring to find out the secret behind the walls.

The characters in this book jump from the page, and go home with the reader. Who could forget Miss Christabel or Timothy John, or mad Uncle Morris? When Maggie finally discovers their secret, it is not a great shock to the reader, but more a fulfillment of expectation. The greater secret is at the end, which affects me every time I reread the book. It's a must-have for anyone with children.

A book's success is decidedly determined by it's staying power. In viewing previouly written reviews, I find that I am not the only woman in her mid-twenties, who has enjoyed this book repeatedly. I, too, first read this story as a young girl. I, too, have a copy stashed away with 'my favorite things' from childhood. I am 27 years old, now, with two children of my own. The box of 'favorite things' was long ago buried beneath old baby cribs, kid's clothes, and holiday decorations. On a recent trip to the juvenile section of the local library, to make a few selections for my youngsters, I spotted "Behind the Attic Wall". I checked it out, and delightedly took the journey to 'Maggie's world', once again.

Maggie has been described as "bad", but I believe a more correct description is 'hardened'. She has suffered a great deal, in such a short lifetime, with virtually no guidance. She is constantly told what she SHOULD NOT do, and rarely instructed on what she SHOULD do. I believe that most of us have experienced this unfortunate method of child-rearing, doomed to continue making mistakes until we stumble upon the 'correct' way to do things. When Maggie IS told what she should be doing, it is frequently coupled with insults regarding her intelligence or personal appearance. Again, especially for young girls, this sort of child-rearing is devastating to one's self esteem. I believe the author did a wonderful job portraying the human heart, and all of its weaknesses and strengths. Maggie is 'hard' because she is fighting to love herself. She allows herself to be caught-up in a world of daydreams, because the real world is often cruel and bleak.

This story is one of wonder, heartache, and joy. A lost little girl, an enormous empty world, and a mysterious secret that would release her from herself. I highly recommend it, no matter what your age.

I'm 24 now and still remember this book...we had to pick a book to read in 4th grade and I chose this one instead of "Dolls in the Attic" (The teacher obviously wasn't too interested in her male student's sense of masculinity.) I read the book, it surprisingly drew me in, but its atmosphere stood out more than anything...I still remember Maggie being driven to her new home, being sick, not knowing what to do with the handkerchief that was lent to her to wipe her mouth on so she drops it from the car window. (You'd have to read it.) This was described so well, I still remember, with every sense, the picture my 10-year-old imagination painted. That stuff still sticks with me for some reason. I've never read it since, but I plan to have my daughter read it when she's old enough. It has some very appropriate themes for children that age that I think many kids would identify with, such as the need for love and acceptance. The creepiness of this book is almost Lovecraftian. What you don't know or are left to infer about this book really disturbs you. I can't say it's really impacted my life significantly, it just seems worth mentioning that I even remember some girly book about talking dolls I read that long ago.

I read this book soon after it was published, when I was 11 years old, and have read it several times since. Few stories have touched my heart like "Behind the Attic Wall." Now I'm a mother of two sons, ages 14 and 11. My older son read this book on his own a few years ago, when he was around 11, and I remember watching him from the kitchen as he read the final chapters. When he had finished, he lay down on the couch where he had been sitting, placed the book carefully on the floor, and looked off into the distance for a while. After a time, I went to him and held him, and he wept. "That's such a good book, Mom," he told me, smiling through his tears. Fast forward three years. I've been reading "Behind the Attic Wall" aloud at bedtime for the past several weeks. Last night, I read the last four chapters and the Epilogue. As I approached the end of the story, my younger son, now 11, turned in his bed to face the wall. He's a rough-and-tumble kid, and not inclined to be sentimental. He turned back to face me for the Epilogue, and when I reached the final paragraph, he burst into tears -- an emotional reaction I've never seen him have for any work of fiction. I held him for a while as he cried. When he could speak again, he said, "That's such a sad story, but it's so good." (There were definite sniffles from the upper bunk, too.) Seeing your children moved to tears by something outside of their own experience is a beautiful thing. This book has given my children the experience of empathy, and that very particular kind of sadness suffused with hope.

Maggie is a troubled and unloved child. Shunted from boarding school to boarding school since the death of her parents, life begins to change for her when she's suddenly moved to the home of the great-aunts she did not know existed. The old ladies' strange ways baffle Maggie. Only very odd Uncle Morris seems interested in Maggie. Soon after arriving, Maggie begins hearing voices in the old house that no one else can hear. In her search for the source of the voices, Maggie finds a secret place and a way to regain the loving childhood and acceptance she so desperately needs.

NOTE: This story is at once both fascinating and scary. Not for sensitive children.

Ever since I was a child I've been an avid reader. I remember devouring this particular book when I was about 11 or so. Of the all the books I read as a child, this is perhaps the most unforgettable. It touched me in a way that few books ever did, or have since. The tale is not just about fantasy, or a child's imagination, but about love and the magic it inspires. This is a story of a young, deeply unhappy, unloved girl who befriends and grows to love the dolls in her aunts' attic. At the end, I couldn't stop the tears, even though I've never been a very sentimental person. Even today, I tear up thinking about this story. If you plan on reading this book, or getting it for your children, make it sure it's read in a quiet place with no interruptions. And at the end, be prepared to hug them and tell them you love them.