Customer Reviews

Freaks: Alive, on the Inside!

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A book that has something for everyone! Amazing adventures, loveable misfits, kidnappings, murder, mythology, history, thrilling battles and a romance that sweeps across time and defies death. Readers will remember FREAKS long after they finish the last page.

Although labeled for young adults, this book will appeal to every aged reader. It's about a young man with a legless father and armless mother who lives in a freak-community called Faeryland. Born healthy with no deformities, Abel doesn't feel he fits in and yearns for adventure and romance. A mysterious ring gives him a vision of a beautiful woman and guides him on a fantastic journey unlike any other book I've ever read. The closest I can compare this to is Nancy Farmer's thrilling novels.

I loved this book and expect to see it on Newbery, Best Books, and Printz shortlists. And it would make a great movie, too.

I have to say that this book had me hooked. I had read some of Annette's other books, and as soon as I saw this one the shelf, grabbed it up for myself. I read it within the first two days of buying it, and I'm still in love.

It's a great book, it could be for people of every age... Well, except for some younger ones. There is some suggestive themes, but I'm glad to say it's not overly graphic.

This is a wonderful book, I recommend it to people all the time, especially when I know that there into the same mythical, historical, strange, and heart trobbing, just as I am. It's a great book with many of different subjects all mixed into one.

Enjoy the book!

I almost didn't read this book. I was in the signing area at Book Expo America, and a friend pointed the book out to me. I grabbed a copy thinking "why not." As soon as I got home, I put it on my shelf, but something kept drawing me to it. I decided to put the book I was already reading aside, and start Freaks. I fully expected to read a couple of pages and put it down, but I was hooked from the first sentence on. This is a great read for Young Adults. Abel Dandy is a great character and the Freaks are worth the price of admission. Klause has written a wonderful story that has you cheering out loud for the good guys, and jeering the evil Dr. Mink (not to mention Ceecee.) I highly recommend it.

I would have to say that this book was just okay. It was good enough to keep me reading until the end but not good enough to make me dwell on it or want to read it again.
It's about a 17 year old boy named Abel that grew up in what was referred to as a Freakshow. His mother had no arms, his dad had no legs but Abel was considered "normal". Because of this he felt like he didn't fit in there and set off on his own to make his fortune. He is followed by the puppy boy and from there their adventure starts.
Some of the things that I liked is that it showed that just because someone might look different than you it does not make them different on the inside. It was shown very well how everyone has feelings and a heart. It also did a very good job of showing Abel becoming a man.
Some of the things I did not like was the suggestive sexual themes that I felt was not necessary at all. They weren't horribly bad but more than I personally felt was necessary. Also, Abel tended to get on my nerves with the way he treated puppy boy (sorry I can't remember his name) and his sister. Then the way he never really believed the little girl who could tell the future. No matter how many times she proved she knew what she was talking about, Abel always seemed to doubt her.
All in all it wasn't a bad read. It had some lessons to be learned.

Seventeen-year-old Abel Dandy has a problem. He is too normal. In a home that is far from typical, Abel lives in Faeryland, a carnival-type land where visitors can see performances that include "an extravaganza of amazing oddities, mystifying the audience with their uncanny skills, death-defying deeds, and wondrous physiognomy." Abel's parents are performers where they can put their anomalies to use. Papa has no legs and performs as the bottom half of a torso in Uncle Jack's illusion act. And Abel's Mama has no arms, but can knit up a storm with her toes. Abel's parents are lucky because in 1899 there are not many ways for people like them, "freaks," to make a living.

Abel has lived in Faeryland most of his life. Along with his parents and uncle, he has grown up with an extended family of dwarves, fat ladies and Siamese twins, as well as Phoebe the Dog-Faced Girl and her brother Apollo the Puppy Boy. Abel is the only one without an act or oddity. He fears that if he stays in Faeryland, he'll be doomed to a life with Phoebe as his wife. She is the only girl his age at home, and he has a brief romance with her, but inside he longs for a normal girl --- one without facial hair.

Abel is tired of feeling like a normal freak among the oddities and a "freak" among the townies. He decides to run away to seek fortune and find the girl of his dreams. Ironically, a girl does come to him --- in his dreams. Abel recently was given an Egyptian scarab ring from one of the Siamese twins. The twin claimed that a scholar told her to give the ring to Abel because a goddess in a dream told her to give it to him. As soon as Abel has the ring in his possession, he begins to have strange dreams about a mysterious foreign woman he calls Lady Adventure. In his dreams, he falls in love with her, watches her dance, and then listens to her pleas for help.

As Abel sets out into the world beyond Faeryland, he finds that life is not as great as he had hoped. He isn't any happier and often has to do horrible work under even worse conditions. He also learns that the outside world treats people like his parents and friends back home terribly. Often times, they are sent to places like asylums and are given no chance at a life for themselves. Then, Abel comes upon a traveling freak show, Dr. Mink's Monster Menagerie, with a terrible secret, and his adventure becomes even more dangerous but also more important.

FREAKS: ALIVE ON THE INSIDE! is an adventure novel with a historical twist. As author Annette Curtis Klause notes at the back of the book, many of the characters in this story were based on real-life human oddities from the late 1800s. This, perhaps, is the most interesting aspect of the story. The characters are clearly unique, and the story is driven. At times, the dream sequences with Lady Adventure seemed to come out of nowhere, but in the end, it comes together more clearly. Overall, FREAKS is truly an original.

--- Reviewed by Kristi Olson

I am a big Klause fan and I absolutly loved Freaks: Alive on the Inside. Klause is notorious for her female characters and while Blood & Chocolate and The Silver Kiss may be a little boring for a teenage boy, F:AOTI! is classic Klause made enjoyable for a male audience. Thats not to say, however, that famles will find the story of Abel to be a boring one. I just feel that the male protagonist and his side kick offer a male perspective that was lost to TSK and B&C.

Excellent service, received in timely manner, and in good condition. Would recommend. However, I am not M.Beck. Please check your records.

I picked this book up mainly because I loved "Blood and Chocolate" and "The Silver Kiss." It was so interesting, great story and excellent characters- the puppy boy! Plus, its refreshing to read a YA book from a male teenager's POV

Well, I read this book last year and I LOVED IT. It got kinda...eekee... in the middle. (Rubbing on a mummy anyone?) But it is really good and is probably in my top 10 favorites list.

Abel Dandy is a normal boy in an abnormal world. Born to "freaks" and living in a sideshow, he's never felt special, until the Siamese twins give him an Egyptian ring and he is suddenly haunted by dreams of a beautiful dancing woman. Abel, accompanied by his friend the "dog-boy" Apollo, decides to leave his comfortable home of protection and acceptance and make his fortune. Abel eventually finds himself in a traveling freak show where the people (including abducted children) are abused, neglected, and bullied. Intriguingly, Abel discovers a mummy in the show that seems to speak to him in dreams. Klause's refreshingly unique and fascinating story is populated by charming and frightening, sympathetic and grotesque and human characters. The magical story concerns all kinds of deformities and abnormalities and the "freak" in everyone. Fantastic and engaging read. Grade: A+