Customer Reviews

Crazy Jack

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

On the surface, Crazy Jack is just a retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk, with some of the extremities of the story smoothed out and a pleasant rural English atmosphere.

However, the subtleties of this story are incredible-- from the disturbing portrayal of Jack's loving parents as the giant and his mistress in the distorted reality of their house in the clouds, to the myriad delicate touches that truly flesh out the tale. Napoli is excellent at creating a realistic rural environment-- it adeptly avoids being stiffly historical and instead is vibrantly alive. Equally masterful is the theme of the three things necessary to be happy-- food on the table, a roof over their heads, and the most important one, forgotten by Jack's father-- each other. The gifts stolen from the giant each time fulfill each in order. Though the hen no longer lays golden eggs, Jack discovers the value of real ones; though the basket is no longer of gold, Jack recognizes the value of stones, and though the harp no longer sings on its own, Jack finds he can learn to play it and win the third part of happiness. The beanstalk becomes a symbol of Jack's grief and guilt towards his father's death, and in the end, Jack must destroy it himself.

Crazy Jack is superficially a children's book, with its small number of pages, but it is the incredibly subtle adult themes running through it that make it a profound and beautiful tale. Napoli's other retellings-- The Magic Circle, Zel, Spinners and Sirena are also recommended.

This was a perfect example of the surely mesmerizing Napoli tales. Obviously adapted not from Disney, but from Grimms brothers' twisted tales of the fine line between love and insanity, Napoli never fails to leave the reader stunned. This, like always, was a five star read. Don't be fooled by the lack of pages, this is an obvious case of quality over quanity.

I love Donna Jo Napoli's work, and this latest book is just more proof of how wonderful her writing is! Donna chooses her words perfectly, it's like poetry, each word has meaning and is to be savored. I never liked the story of Jack and the Beanstalk until now. This book weaves a subtle, mesmerizing tale of sanity and insanity -if you call love insanity. I could see ties to the author's earlier work "The Magic Circle" in "Crazy Jack" and the love found in "Zel" and " Prince of the Pond", but in this book the author has blended all the best elements more perfectly into a book you can easily recommend to a child or an adult equally.

Crazy jack was good I thought it wasn't that bad. I would recommend this book for the fifth and sixth graded. I just keep reading it until I finish it. I thought the character was hard working and every happier. But one summer there was a drought and every farmer on the village was desperate for rain. The rain never came and jack family couldn't grow anything so his father made a trade with the other farmer for half of their farm. One day Jack was talking to his father and say that there is a plot of gold at the end of the rainbow. If they would get the gold they wouldn't have anything to worried about. So one raining night Jack father say to Jack that if Jack want to plot of gold his father will get it for him. So he left and Jack went after him trying go stop him from going to try to get the gold but he couldn't stop his father. His fathers walk of a cliff disappeared into the midst Jack follow him, but stop halfway the to cliff his father was gone. That was the last time he ever seem his father again. For the next seven years around autumn his would go to the same cliff. Jack tries to climb the cliff by slamming his body to the cliff and then people started to call him crazy Jack. During the celebrating of autumn his mother told him to go and trade their cow for some thing good. But he trades the cow for some bean. He grows the bean and climbs the tree to the top and fined this beautiful lady up there the lady gave him a chicken. The second time a plot of gold that not gold but stone the third time his found a harp.

I love all of Napoli's fairy tale re-tellings, but i like this one the best (of the ones I've read so far). It's written in first person present, which is extremely cool and defines/ captures the book's ambiance really well. If you are looking for a relatively short book that will make you think a little and feel a lot, this is the book for you.

"Crazy Jack" is another great work by Donna Jo Napoli; a twist on "Jack and the Beanstalk".

Nine year old Jack is perfectly happy living in rural England, with his mother, father, and the girl he loves next door. His family is poor, but happy, with food, a home, and each other. When Jack's father disappears over the dangerous cliff, he can't believe that he forgot the most important thing in their family - having each other!

Everyone believes Jack has gone crazy with the loss of his father, the way he cries and claws at the cliff. His beloved Flora even says so! When his mother asks him to sell their last valuable possession, the cow, he does - but only for a bag of beans that were supposedly his father's.

Jack's mother is incredibly angry with him, but Jack plants the beans by the cliff - and they grow! Now he can climb the beanstalk, but what will he find?

This story was an excellent retelling of an old fairy tale, with much more depth and story to it! I'd definately recommend Napoli's other books, such as "Zel" and "Spinners".

Napoli's retelling of old fairy tale, Jack and the Beanstalk, brought back magical memories from when I was a child. Jack is living a fairy tale dream, when disaster strikes what he and his family have worked for. Drought dries up the crops, father disappears amongst the clouds and finally, Flora, the girl of his dreams, thinks he has gone crazy. Crazy is just what Jack becomes! He must be, however, what sane person would trade a cow for a few colorful beans? When Jack returns, he finds anger in his mother and Flora, until he plants the beans, which turn into a stalk high in the sky. Amazingly, Jack finds more than riches to bring home on his journey above the clouds. Riches he and his family are sure to enjoy for life. This book was an excellent retelling of the ever-so-popular story of Jack and the Beanstalk. What I enjoyed so much about the book was how the characters were brought to life and how the language spoke to the adult side, whereas, the other version touches on the child. I blasted back into the past and enjoyed the tale all over again!!

Napoli is a master at her work, so that every time I pick up one of her books, I am astounded by its beauty and characterization, its personality and reverence for the human soul.

The Brothers Grimm will tell you what happened to Jack when he climbed up the beanstalk, but Donna Jo Napoli will actually take you there. I marvel at her well-placed words, her ingenious ideas, her deeper meanings. For example, in Crazy Jack, there is a continual allusion to rainbows, and when Jack plants the famous beanstalk, the beans he got from the fairy are violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. After the drought in the beginning, rainbows come and dance across the sky. When Jack climbs up the beanstalk for the second time, he sees a rainbow that no one else there can see because of a former curse on the giant by a fairy whose gold he tried to plunder. The giant's domain from then on was to be only seen in varying shade of grayish-gold, to remind him of his foolish greed. But Jack can see the rainbow, indicating indirectly to us that gold is not all Jack cares about. Invariably, that rainbow above the clouds on Jack's second visit leads to a pot of gold, which Jack then steals from the giant and hurries with back down the beanstalk. We come upon a very strong symbol in every instance. Rainbows are crazy hopes and crazy dreams and a crazy wish that will never be: to find that eluding pot of gold!

Jack's father also plays a pretty big role in the story. He had worked hard, and taken wagers (gambling) when odd jobs weren't enough, but still it was not sufficient to stave off the hardships of a farmer's family during drought. When 9-year old Jack see his father climb the cliff singing and never return, he was near to driven mad by greif. Years later, he still fights against his confusion and despair, and seeks a way to, somehow, follow his father to the clouds.

The reason I so admire Ms. Napoli is for the ingenuity and passion with which she writes. Her words have such conviction, that when you are through, you are sure the whole tale must really have occurred in that far off little place in England because by that point, you are too drawn in for common sense. Once you enter into Jack's world, you won't want to put down the book for fear of missing what he might do next. You'll be rooting for him all the way up the beanstalk!

Crazy Jack
By: Donna Jo Napoli
Reviewed by: W. Cho
Period:6

This book was about a guy named Jack and his father dies so his mom and Jack gets poor. Mom tells Jack to sell the cow and Jack takes it to the market. An old man sells him 7 beans for the cow and Jack comes home with the beans. After he had planted it and it grew a lot overnight.

I like this book because Jack decides to climb it he steals a hen that lays golden eggs. when he brings it home, the hen just lays original eggs. "It is supposed to lay golden eggs but it's not!" I felt sorry for Jack because I knew that it wouldn't lay golden eggs in that world because of the curse.

I didn't like this book because Jack's girlfriend marries a guy named William. "Jack, I'm going to marry William." it really hurt my feelings because it would if my girlfriend decides to marry a dork. I would feel really sad. I would be full of envy.

My favorite part of the book was when Flora decides to go with Jack again. I would feel a lot better if my girlfriend dumped him and took me back. I felt really good for Jack because I would've felt the same way he did.

I love fairy tales and I love when they are reimagined even though I am 32 ! This one was very well done except it does lag a bit at times! If you are looking for a classic Jack and the Beanstalk you will be sadly disappointed because while all the elements are there they are very different ! This book was fairly enjoyable and would have got 5 stars but for the lagging but it is not enough for people to skip this book because if you do you will be missing a enjoyable book!