Customer Reviews

One for Sorrow, Two for Joy

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I took a chance. In spite of the warnings above, because the premise sounded intriguing. The book cover looked pretty interesting also, so I got this as a book on tape.

Big mistake. It was exactly, perfectly, incrediably, as disappointing as described by the reviewers above. Amazing.

One redeeming thing is, I also got a copy of Watership Down, also because of the recommendations earlier. Clearly it will be wonderful, since this book was a dog.

One for sorrow, Two for Joy truly started out fairly strong with the characterizations of a small robin -the last one known to be alive-- assigned the dangerous mission against an evil plot and impossible odds. Little guy with big courage can accomplish big things.

Like the message.

But then quickly teetered into trite. The villianous magpie was just way over the top. Kill everyone! Use everyone! Rape in the animal kingdom was a bit creepy.

In the middle of the book, when a very major character died, its passing was ...very ....anti-climatic. Kinda 'oh well'. Now that message of the little guy accomplishing great things is getting pretty mucked up. The characters at this point became Tedious. The characters acquired a one dimensional element that made them annoying, disappointing, puzzling, and underwhelming. As if parts of the book seemed better suited for third graders. Or written by one.

Don't want to trash the authors's work out of hand--there were definitely some good ideas there...no question.

But he ran out of steam. Lost focus. It went meaderanding into MarlonBrandoLand.

I can appreciate the undertones of ecology and environmental protection. But the murder and rape by the villian of his loved ones/immediate family was just unsettling.

The villian's intimated end was anti-climatic. This villian was more evil than Hitler and basically his end, if you call it that, was an afterthought. Practically by tripping over a crack in the sidewalk.

Very disappointing.

The movie rights have been purchased to this book. I can't imagine going to the movies to see it. It didn't make sense with unaddressed loose ends still waving in the breeze. And it was depressing.

One for Sorrow is one more in the vein of animal kingdom books, the classic one of course being Watership Down. Sorrow doesn't approach the skill, majesty, or emotion of Watership Down but that's hard to fault it for as few books do. The problem is not that it doesn't hold up well against a classic but that it doesn't hold up well against your average book either.

The story's premise is sound enough. Birdom is threatened by a great evil in the form of marauding magpies committing genocide against the other species. One lone robin, seemingly the last of his kind, is sent by a Great Wise Owl, part of the Great Council, on a quest to enlist the aid of three other Bird families. The second half of the book continues the story, though on a smaller, less epic framework (to say more would be to give away too much of the first plot).

The book has its stock characters: the heroic against the odds robin (Kirrick), the wise old mentor willing to sacrifice himself if necessary (Tomar the owl), the just-as-plucky-as-the hero female (Portia, Kirrick's mate), the roguish ally cracking wise (a goldfinch), the evil overlord (Slyekin) and his as-evil aide (Traska), as well as the usual crew of unexpected allies in strange places who pop up as needed.

The plot too is pretty as expected, with the journeys (three of course) coming one after the other, the lone small hero against a more numerous, more vicious group, the falling in love, and so on. The moral is worthwhile (aren't they all) but pretty clearly Meant To Be Learned. The most unexpected plot points are also the most graphic and most violent (including a brutal rape scene), and seem out of place in comparison to the rest of the tone. Other minor surprises are more the product of contrivance than a natural outgrowth of story or character.

The premise and characters have potential, if predictably so, but the whole thing is so shallowly and predictably presented as to bleach the book of any true impact. Characters do not grow, we are told way too much as opposed to being shown, and events, especially in Book 2, are often anti-climatic for their build up. The biggest downfall, however, is that one just doesn't care much for the characters; they're just too sketchily drawn, too stock, too predictable. Add that to little spark in either language or narrative and the book as a whole is disappointing and at times dully so. If one is interested in reading animal world books such as this one, try Watership Down if you haven't already done so (even re-reading it would be a better use of time) or Rabbit Hill or Duncton Wood ). Not recommended.

A book in two parts, One for Sorrow, Two for Joy is the tale of anthropomorphic birds and their battle to save the song birds and then to restore the native population. Magpies in Birddom are leading a crusade to kill all of the small birds in their territory and claim the land for themselves. Hunted and exhausted, the last robin redbreast, Kirrick, seeks the help of the wisest of owls, Tomar. Together they devise a plan to defeat the magpies and their supporters, but first Kirrick must fly to the ends of the word he knows in order to garter support and find troops for battle. In the second half of the book, Kirrick's mate Portia must traverse the sea in order to find songbirds from Windland to bring back to repopulate Birddom. This is not a kids' book: the battles are violent, the magpies are depraved, good birds are murdered, and rapes are committed. However, the two-dimensional characters, clear delineation of good and evil, and friendly, and simplistic writing style mean that this isn't quite a book for adults, either. One for Sorrow, Two for Joy fails to live up to it's epic premise, creating a brief, underdeveloped story with flat characters. The premise, however, is a good one, and the book is a fast read. All in all, I wouldn't recommend this novel. Look to the Redwall series and Watership Down for your anthropomorphic animals and epic journeys. In this book, those elements are weak and disappointing.

I was drawn to this book by its premise, and that premise is still a promising one. Kirrick's journey and the war in Birddom has the potential to be epic, emotional, and exciting. Indeed, Woodall seems to see the elements that would make a good story: there is conflict, there are journeys, there is love, there is a battle, there are repercussions, and some of the good birds die. In fact, some of the deaths, and the order of the others, is fairly daring and surprising as far as general fiction goes. If this same plot had been written, in more detail perhaps, by almost any other author, it would probably make a very good book. Woodall, however, fails to make his story particularly exciting or even epic. He moves too quickly, making journeys seem brief and uneventful rather than arduous and long, his characterization is brief and flat and as a result his characters fail to be compelling or believable and it's difficult to become personally involved in their trails and tribulations, his villains are so unrealistically and unquestionably evil that they and their plots seem impossible, and the climaxes to both stories are almost identical and are therefore predictable and read like deus ex machina.

My other, somewhat smaller, complaint about this book is its setting: unlike the Redwall series, this story takes place in the human world, and unlike Watership Down, it forgoes to much of bird nature that is visible to man. Contrasted against the humans that we know are out there, the birds are either unrealistically human or poor parodies and copies of humans. Woodall's constant use of human turns of phrase with bird references thrown in ("a weight across his wings," "a grin playing on his beak," etc.) remind us again and again of the humans aspect and make the birds seem even more like pale copies. Moreover, some of the things the birds do are so entirely unbirdlike that it goes against the established nature of birds in our human world. Birds of disparate species become close friends, the birds vow to stop eating insects, robins congregate with, persuade, and fight alongside eagles, and so forth. In the human world, birds don't do that; moreover, it's the sort of thing we would perhaps notice if they suddenly started. Trapped within our world but failing to fit the boundaries of that world, the book becomes even more unconvincing.

This is a genre that I adore, but the book is a failure. I don't recommend One for Sorrow, Two for Joy. I give kudos to Woodall for an interesting premise, promising plot, and a number of brave decisions in terms of events and deaths, but even those attributes can't save this book. The writing is poor, too fast and therefore without depth, characterization is horrible, the setting is troublesome, and in the end there's not much left to make this book worth reading. If you do pick it up, you'll probably get through it: the plot at least keeps the reader interested in how things turn out. However, it isn't worth the time or energy to bother.

Actually, I found this book rather dreadful. I think I only finished the story because I felt guilty at spending so much money on the book itself!

The story itself seems a bit interesting, if cliched. Birds band together with unlikely allies to stop a horde of magpies who are trying to take over the world. Or maybe I just like animal stories...

The book introduces many different species of birds, and gives a few facts on their actual counterparts, but most of the information is questionable at best. Not anything to be considered 'educational' which this book had a great opportunity to do and remain fun. I found myself wondering a lot "hmm, do those birds really do that?" but alas, the book never really said.

More importantly, the book has no heart. I spent most of my reading thinking over to myself what makes books good, and what makes them like this? What kind of writing makes you love or hate characters in books, and care what happens to them? Whatever it may be, this book does not have it. I found myself not caring about a single character... none of them were likable, fleshed out, or believable. About halfway through there is an 'emotional' death scene... and I didn't even blink.

It is also graphically violent and gory in many places, and even has a bird rape scene... making this story very much not for children, even though the story is basic enough probably only for the young.

All in all, it is an epic battle of good and evil where the evil characters are through and through evil (nothing made them bad, no bad childhoods here! They were just born evil.) And the good characters are... well... good because they have to be. They aren't moral, or just, or overly heroic; they just do what they had to do. Which doesn't balance out the ultimate evil at all. Just makes it boring. The whole book is "go from place A to place B, and talk to so and so. While they were gone, this and this and this happened." That's the whole book.

I read Disney optioned this book? I can't imagine why. I hope they spice it up a little bit, and remove the graphic violence and sex!

Overall not a bad book, but nothing that I feel compelled to keep for rereading at a later date. I do believe very strongly though that a bit more research should have gone into this book. A line from the book goes:"But Nature's healing processes had eased her sadness and the two reddish-brown eggs beneath her gave her a joy to match her sorrow" Robin's eggs are a light blue. Sounds petty I know but . . . I do believe you should atleast know the basic backround of the creature you are making the hero.

The story One for Sorrow Two for Joy is about Birddom's struggles with an evil population of birds. THe magpies intend on total conquest and are opposed by the last of the robins, Kirrick,and the snowy owl,Tomar. Along with some drastic moves and daring escapes, there is also romance, violence and a suspense. I recomend this book for ages 10 and up for some gory pages and the dialogue may be hard to follow along. Also, it relates to Kathrine Lasky's Guardians of Ga'Hoole so if you liked them then this is a addition.

For me, "One for Sorrow, Two for Joy" gets put into the "How did this get published" category, not in any category alongside "Watership Down" or "Redwall". I knew I was in for trouble when I got to page 50-something and realized I was already anxious to start a different book. This was a shame since there was quite a lot of buzz surrounding Woodall's novel.

First things first, this book is aimed as a children's story. Understandable considering the characters, but the themes of Genocide and Rape are not exactly "kid-friendly". These adult themes become the center of the book, but there isn't anything else adult about it, except for the graphic violence with words like "mutilated" describing the battles that are constantly full of blood and guts. The rest is written in a very child-like manner, too child-like for the overall content. The characters are all cardboard-thin with every segment of dialogue agonizing to wade through: nothing but encouraging words and flattery from one bird to another.

Then there's the narrator. I don't know Woodall's literary background, but it's got to be somewhat lacking. The narrator is constantly going from omniscient to non-omniscient, showing personality, then only relaying facts and also suffering from one of the first rules of writing, "Show, don't Tell".

Not only are the central elements of writing very lacking in Woodall's story, even his plot is bare-bones. The entire first segment has paragraph after paragraph of the birds speaking about Tomar's "plan", which the reader is left out of. I will say Woodall is talented in writing a lot about nothing in particular. Not until the end of segment one does the reader find out what Kirrick's been flying to and fro for. But after all the deception, there's really not much to be filled in about.

Also, the plot is stale with book one and two being exactly the same, only different characters supplemented for the same roles. Segment One: Kirrick embarks on a great journey to save Birdom by obtaining allies to fight the Magpies. Segment Two: Portia embarks on a great journey to save Birdom by obtaining allies for repopulation.

I was surprised to find out there's a sequel to this poorly written book. Hopefully Mr. Woodall's gotten a little better at the craft, but I'll probably never know. I've got much better things to read.

As an avid fan of anthropomorphic animal tales in the vein of Gary Kilworth and Richard Adams, this book's beautiful cover had no trouble catching my eye. Unfortunately, the cover is the sole redeeming quality of the book.

After reading "One for Sorrow, Two for Joy", I'd have to say that the synopsis on the dust jacket was terribly misleading in regards to what actually matters in the story. Yes, there is the grand struggle to save all of Birddom. But Kirrick is not the main protagonist, and the 'treacherous' Slyekin is pathetic in comparison to the true antagonist, Traska. What could have been a great novel quickly degenerates into an addled mess of graphic violence; as this is a book that will appeal to younger readers, whether that was the intended audience or not. Instead of honor, love and integrity, this book resonates with hatred, cruelty, genocide, suffering and revenge. The ending left me sick to my stomach. The one character who deserved to triumph doesn't, and honestly, I ended up feeling more empathy for Traska than I did for the 'good guys'.

Another thing to note is the aggravating writing style employed in this novel. Woodall uses a mix of action/dialogue and introspective descriptions of what is going through the minds of characters...the latter, excessively so. I lost count of how many times Woodall would repeat himself using slightly different wordings (...Kirrick did not know if he had the courage to go on. But, he knew he had to...another page later...again, Kirrick is doubting himself and doesn't think he can do it). This might be excusable if it happened once or twice, but Woodall does it throughout the entire book. Perhaps there should have been more plot and character development, rather than pointless repetition.

All in all, if you love Redwall and Watership Down, read "Tailchaser's Song" and anything with animals by Gary Kilworth, particularly "Frostdancers", "House of Tribes" and the Welkin Weasel series. "One for Sorrow, Two for Joy" is an ultimately forgettable book, and your reading time would be much better spent with something else.

I found this book to reach into the depths of the heart emotionally. I loved so much. It is an epic adventure of bravery, love, and of course sorrow.

the ideas were good, and showed real promise, but Woodall failed to deliver. The writing was such that if I wrote that, and tried to turn it in to my teacher, she would give me that look that teachers and parents wear when they know we can do better. Then she would tell me that if I do not rewrite this, I will be recieving a C. This book could not deside whether it was meant for children, or mature readers. In between the graphic violence and other mature subject matter, the language used was almost insultingly childlike. The characters are poorly developed and flat, and are given to extremes. Human expressions and ways of thought are poorly adapted, and serve only to confuse the reader. the plot itself was poorly developed, and repeated itself in the second book. this book is like Redwall only in that its characters are animals. Redwall is far its superior in writing, plot, and character formation. This book is a waste of time better spent doing anything other than illegal activity and reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, or The Cay.However, even those can be used in school. Never mind my teacher giving me a C, she would call my parents and try to get me counciling. Need I say more?