Customer Reviews

The Earthquake Man

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This book, I read in a little middle school library ten years ago. I still remember it to this day as being one of the most strikingly original peices of fantasy fiction I've ever read. The setting seems to be an early 20th century England or Ireland, a land were things of myth have not died out with the ascendence of new technology. It is a story of two brothers who, after finding a troll living in their apple orchard, are confronted by a traveling stranger calling himself the Earthquake Man. He has come to capture the subterranean-dwelling troll in order to help prevent an immenent earthquake of a magnitude that the world has never known. The plot twists like a beheaded snake, wrapping you up in its entertaining prose. It connects on multiple levels, the issues of brotherhood, faith, courage, and the classic Science vs Nature's Will. A true read, a sweet apple in the dusty barrel of obscurity. Put this book back in print!!

This book was written long ago by a man I knew. It's a walk that touches both the real and the spiritual, myth and fact. A couple of brothers are left behind at home when their parents need to go away for a few days. This time alone follows the appearance nearby of a strange someone thought possibly to be a troll. Then another stranger happens by who needs to be invited into their home, even though they're uneasy about that. I notice that the book is said to be on the reading level of 9 to 12. It is, but it's also on the understanding level of much older and more well-read people. Like Alice Through the Looking Glass, I think it's a book that will be understood on different levels by every age and experience.