Customer Reviews

Dad, In Spirit

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2 star:		(1)
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The precise genre of LaFaye's latest work is elusive, but is all the more compelling. Ebon's gift of recognizing his dad (when his dad has never been able to figuratively recognize Ebon) is both touching and humorous. This story is neither pure ghost story or fantasy, nor is a family drama, but instead of suffering from being too many things at once, it takes the best from all genres and blends them beautifully. The family is very realistic and talented (even Ebon, who claims to have no talent, seems to have a gift of expression as well has seeing his father's spirit). A fun yet provocative read.

When I first began reading this book, I thought it was going to be yet another book about how the 'boring' kid in a 'stellar' family finds out what makes him special.

This book is indeed that sort of book, but it throws the reader a few curves, the first one being that of Ebon's apparent "gift," and another one being the fact that the rest of his family seems to have it too. Uh-oh -- suddenly the "special" kid is right back where he was: ordinary.

The stilted dialogue and "kid-like" diction don't help matters -- kids just don't talk the way the kids talk in this book. People don't talk the way people talk in this book. The family in the book uses their own slang terms and nicknames for parts of the house, family members, etc -- fine, many families too -- but none of it feels natural.

It has been said that a bad writer is conscious where she should be unconscious, and unconscious where she should be conscious. The writing in this book shows evidence of exactly these problems.

The story itself is quirky and fanciful. It tries hard to offer fun and entertainment, and, if you can get past the imprecise, overdone writing, it succeeds.