Customer Reviews

Ordinary Ghosts (Push Fiction)

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Emil's life has been turned upside down in the last year. His mother has died of cancer and his brother, who he has always looked up to, has disappeared without a trace. Emil and his father don't communicate about anything important and rarely see each other due to his father's work schedule. The only friend he has is Soma, a rule-bending, line-crossing boy who is in the same grade as Emil.

Nothing exciting happens to Emil. He is average in every way. His brother, Ethan, was the bright, shining star with all the friends, good grades, and a way with the ladies. Emil just lives in Ethan's shadow. He attends Caramoor Academy, a private school with a hefty tuition. Since everything has happened in his family, Emil's grades have started to slip and his father is riding him harder than ever to make the grade; especially since he is paying so much for him to go to school at Caramoor.

Emil does have the key though -- the key to notoriety, the key to exploration, the key to discovery. One day before Ethan left home, Emil was digging around in his bedroom and found an actual key. When he asked Ethan what the key unlocked he received a surprising answer: the key was a master key to the entire Caramoor Academy campus. Every door in every building was available to the person who held the key. Emil asked if he could have it and unbelievably, Ethan said yes. Normally the key was passed from one student to another each year. No one except the key holder was supposed to know who had it. The goal of the year was to pull off a monumental prank.

Emil's chance at greatness comes when his father has to go out of town for a long business trip and he has four days and nights home alone. He decides to use his time exploring Caramoor Academy. He sets up a makeshift bed in the attic of the main building and proceeds to unlock every door he can find. One evening during his exploration, Emil sees the art studio lit up and hears music blaring from the room. He finds a girl inside spinning a clay pot. He is shocked and doesn't give her his real name because he doesn't want to get caught, but he also wants to find out what she is doing there. After some conversation, he realizes she is the daughter of the art teacher at the Academy.

Over the next several days Emil and Jade, the girl in the art studio, form a relationship that leads them to many discoveries about themselves, about the death of Emil's mother and Ethan's role in it, and the importance of friendship. Eireann Corrigan has written a complex novel with true-to-life young adult characters that grow throughout the course of the story. Definitely for older teens, this novel covers topics such as grief, loss, family, and discovery with compassion and humor.

Reviewed by: Karin Perry

Tight and inventive descriptions, realistic emotional flaws and a plot that keeps you engaged- that's what you can expect after reading the first few pages of Ordinary Ghosts. Eireann Corrigan takes a simple concept (high school kid with a key to unlock every door on campus) and turns it into an incredible vehicle to confront different themes. No matter how old you are- a junior in high school like the protagonist Emil, or an adult happening to come across this title in the YA section- you relate to Corrigan's characters and side with Emil right off the bat. I was unable to put this book down after I started reading. I should sue Corrigan for keeping me from my job, friends and dinner table. Corrigan takes themes like sibling idolization, death, love and finding oneself and makes them her own. Don't believe me? Buy Ordinary Ghosts, feel the cold air against your face as you travel through an abandoned campus with Emil and start re-living the raw emotions of youth.

I should preface this review by saying that I am not a teenager (I'm 30), nor do I know much about the teen lit world. I read this book on a recommendation from a friend and found myself having trouble putting it down. Corrigan writes convincingly from the first-person perspective of a teenage boy, an impressive feat for a female author. Everything rings true, from the teenage vernacular to Emil's inner monologues regarding his brother, his relationship with his father, and his anxiety in dealing with the opposite sex.

The plot is dramatic but doesn't feel contrived, and the resolution feels real, almost to the point where if a studio was to make a movie out of the book, you could be sure they'd screw up the ending by changing it and making it more dramatic. The story is paced perfectly - alternating smoothly between advancing the plot and developing its protagonist.

The most impressive aspect of this book is that it doesn't insult its audience. I have no intentions of reading a bunch of teen lit books now but I'm sure its a genre populated mostly by crap. This book treats teens as young adults - still young and immature, but not the idiots that a lot of adults take teens to be. I think the story and the charcters will ring true for teenagers who are lucky enough to hear about this book.

Quite simply, this is a really fun read. Novels set in high schools, told from the voice of a struggling adolescent discovering facets of him/herself and learning a lot about the world during the ride, never go out of style. There's always something in a book like Ordinary Ghosts that any reader in their teen years or beyond can relate to and get a laugh out of. Corrigan's latest comes highly recommended from a picky and choosy literature snob, and that says a lot!

Corrigan's novel is a rare treat in young adult (YA) literature. The themes and content are certainly targeted at young adults, but the writing is honest, deep, and complex. Most young adult literature underestimates the intelligence and comprehension of teens. Ultimately the work of most YA literature authors suffers because they leave out complex emotional and philosophical concepts because they lack faith in their audience (young people). Corrigan's book deftly avoids this pitfall which results in a book that is moving not only to young adults, but to us "old" adults, too.

The characters are multi-dimensional and rich. Each possesses his or her own well crafted psychology. Rather than hide or gloss over them, Corrigan has been careful to highlight her character's flaws. Still, all the characters are highly likeable and leave the reader deeply invested in their outcomes. It has been years since I've read a book that I couldn't put down. I became so interested in the story that I carried the book around with me sneaking peeks at it whenever I had a spare second, even if it meant I could only read a sentence or two at a time. I'm hoping she writes a sequel because I want to know more about each character.

The story centers around Emil, a prep school student with a broken family. His mother died shortly before the story begins, his older brother and idol, Ethan, took off without saying goodbye, and his father has emotionally checked out. Emil finds a master key to his school and begins spending nights sneaking into all the places in the school he isn't supposed to go. While Emil sets out to explore the mystery of the school's haunted past, he discovers he isn't the only person trespassing the school's hallways in the night.

It's an absolutely amazing novel. I've also heard that Corrigan had a band called "Odette Magritte" write a soundtrack of songs to accompany the novel. I've heard a couple of the demos floating around the net and they sound awesome. I can't for the album to come out so that I can listen to it while I re-read the book I've read in years!

A caveat: I'm not a teen reader, in that I'm neither a teen nor a reader of YA/teen-targeted novels. But I'm grateful I came across ORDINARY GHOSTS, because it is not at all what one would expect from a YA novel. It's a story that transends age by tackling universal themes like family, grief, discovery, and relationships -- and above all else, OGs entertains. Corrigan's novel is by turns heartwarming and sobering -- and never without the razor-edged wit that has reared its head in her previous work.

Emil is having a bad year. He reflects, "I try to pinpoint the moment my world tilted. It stopped turning for a second when Mom died. And then stalled out when Ethan left a postcard on the kitchen table with just the word Later written across it."



Without his mother and brother, it's just him and his father. They hardly communicate, and his dad is always busy with work. The only friend in Emil's life is the line-crossing Soma, who changed his name from Frances to the name of the drug in BRAVE NEW WORLD. Soma's favorite word is mayhem.



When Emil finds the key to Caramoor Academy in his brother's room, he doesn't tell a soul, not even Soma. This is a secret only for him. The key is a thing of legend. It is passed down from year to year, and nobody is supposed to know who has it. But now that Emil is in possession of it, what will he do with it? How will he leave his mark?



Emil starts by exploring the school at night and setting up a makeshift bunk in the attic. While roaming the school, he is surprised to find a girl named Jade in the art studio. Of course he develops an instant crush on her. How often do girls appear at an all-boys' school in the middle of the night?



When Emil's father announces he will be away for four whole days and nights on a business trip, Emil knows what he wants to do. He plans to stay at the school every night and uncover all its mysteries.



As Emil and Jade form a relationship, Emil finds himself changing from a liar with a fictional past to someone who can open up and be honest about his feelings. He also learns the truth about why his brother left and what happened when his mother died.



ORDINARY GHOSTS is a touching story that deals with the tragedy of death and abandonment in a realistic manner. While the topics are not the most light-of-heart, Emil is an endearing character with dry wit and humor who will make readers laugh. Author Eireann Corrigan skillfully weaves this tale of emotional pain with friendship, discovery and an element of mystery that makes this book a page turner that is sure to satisfy.



--- Reviewed by Kristi Olson

'Fun' and 'entertaining' are not usually words you would find describing a book about the aftermath of a parent's death and a brother's unexpected departure, but that is the brilliance of Eireann Corrigan's books. She takes on the real tragedies that affect our lives, but handles them in such a way that we find ourselves laughing along with her characters far more often than we cry. The result is a completely human experience in all of its aspects, and a feeling that we have really lived the story in all of its pain and pleasure.

In Ordinary Ghosts, she achieves this effect largely through the narrative voice of the main character, Emil. Emil brings the reader into his own world, speaking to us in his own creatively casual language. He is a real high school student, not an adult voice projecting itself onto a stock character. Immediately we are rooting for him as he tries to find common ground with his dad, understand his brother's selfish departure, navigate daily life at a school where he feels largely misunderstood, and (of course) get the girl.

The greatest strength of the book is, ultimately, its believability. There are never any simple solutions. There are no unqualified heroes or irredeemable villains. It is real life with all of its complexity, its occasional ugliness, its potential for beauty, and just the right measure of hope. I very highly recommend this book.

I can add only one thing to the previous spot-on reviews. This novel deserves a Pulitzer, Nobel, or other such prize. Both literary style and content stands as tall as books by Hemingway, Steinbeck, Conrad, and other such. And head and shoulders above the latest literary darlings.

I love this book. It is in my top ten. Top five even.
I won't summarize because everyone already has.
But let me say this:

Emil's voice and personality ring very true about his situation.
His behavior, his language, his habits, his experiences are on the nose for how I think teens feel today. He has a humor and a honesty it's hard to convey through books. But Corrigan does it.
I'm a girl and I have to say this book really opened me up to a male main characters POV. I'd never really enjoyed a book with a boy POV except a few.
Sometimes books seem unrealistic, and with a key to every door in the school, it would appear Ordinary Ghosts can be lumped into that description. But it's surprising how realistic Emil handles his key duties. At the same time though, this book is one of a kind- with unique situations and characters.

My only complaint is the lack of closure at the end with Ethan. Hopefully this is a hint Corrigan is working on another novel to wrap up Ordinary Ghosts but I don't actually know if she is. xD

Other than that, I love this book.