Customer Reviews

The Witch's Boy

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One lovely spring morning, a witch ventures out to collect her daily herbs. Much to her surprise, she finds a baby in a basket outside her door. But this is no ordinary baby; it is the ugliest child anyone has ever seen, and tied to its basket is a note: "the devil's child for the devil's wife." The witch is taken aback: "Witches are supposed to eat babies, not feed them," she says. But she surprises herself by feeling an odd fondness for the ugly child, who she names Lump, and she assembles a sort of family to help her care for the boy: a she-bear, a malevolent demon, and her familiar, a cat named Falance.

As Lump grows, he struggles to find his own magical powers and his relationship to the other humans nearby. In the meantime, his foster mother has the same problems as working mothers everywhere: how to balance her time between tending the Midsummer fires and caring for her child. The witch, who is more powerful than Lump understands, is mystified by motherhood. She thinks, "I have always known what to do; I see the Pattern clear as my own hand, and I follow it and am content. But there is no guide here, and every path I can see leads to some pain. Perhaps this is part of having a child; the Pattern is of no use, and there is this aching in my heart."

Soon enough, disaster strikes, and Lump, the witch, and Falance hit the road. Robbed of her powers when she makes the ultimate sacrifice for her child, the witch must find a new life for herself: "It is the case that I cannot be both a mother and a witch, or not the sort of witch I was." In the meantime, Lump grows more distant, demanding, and hard to love. Fashioning themselves as The Faeryland Outcasts, the three perform magic and meet dozens of characters who will be vaguely familiar to readers from other fairy tales.

THE WITCH'S BOY, though, is far more than a fractured fairy tale. Although many of the characters, settings, and situations are borrowed from folklore, the complexities of plot and theme go far beyond simple fairy stories. The conflicted relationship between mother and son, the psychological pain inflicted on the boy Lump, the ways all the characters must step out of themselves to find friendship and love, the unexpected places where magic is found --- all these elements elevate THE WITCH'S BOY from a simple fairy story to a haunting, fully developed tale of magic, mystery, growth, and love.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

This Fairy Tale not only describes its own story it also incorporates many other classic fairy tales from Little Red Riding Hood to Pinocchio, each one with an added twist. Lump is the witch's boy. Abandoned at birth and taken in by a misunderstood witch. He grows up in a world of magic. He is taught by an enslaved djin and nursed by a bear. He grows up with very wrong views about people and the world. Lump thinks he is handsome but truth be told he is not handsome at all. When he finds out and is made fun of and harassed he wishes everyone who had hurt him would burn. When Lumps actions with the humans turn horribly wrong the witch and the boy must flee the sacred woods they had once enjoyed.
Thus Lump is sent on a journey through many worlds and many places. After losing what he truly loves, he hides himself behind a mask of gold and surrounds himself with riches and blames everything on his mother. After abusing life he is cast from the world only to be given a second chance in which he finds himself and the people who truly love him.
Michael Gruber writes about very strong emotions and creates very strong characters. His book has many twists and turns and you never know what's around the next bend.
I would recommend this book. Although it is a bit slow in the beginning it begins to get more and more interesting, and slowly but surely it lures you in. My favorite part of this book is how he incorporated all the other fairy tales and gave them his own twist.

Having read another book by this author, I chose this. I was totally engaged by the world that he created.

The infant child adopted by a witch...raised by a bear...with the lovingkindness that we would all wish for for any child.

The characters that we meet...some are fairy tale characters...you find out the true story of Hansel and Gretl from their own mouths (certainly not the story we remember as children).

The love of a mother, the rebellion of a child, the greed of adults and the compassion of others. And, finally, well, that I will leave to the next reader of this book to savor.

The book is magical, entrancing.

I am happy that I read it.

I hope that you will be too.

This wonderful tale of the witches boy named Lump, is one of the best children's books that I have ever read. Though at times the story becomes a bit too dark and the vocabulary too difficult for the young ones. Hey, who am I kidding, at times the vocabulary was tough for me. That being said I read this book over about a month to my 8 year old daughter before bed and as we got into the second hundred pages we both began to look forward to bedtime. Like the other reviewers, I found the retelling of several fairy tales to be the books greatest strength but the characters of Lump, Ysul the bear and Falance the cat are characters that won't soon be forgotten. With the spate of fantasy movies being made these days, I hope some filmmaaker options this wonderful book as a movie, done right it could be a "classic" as well.

When a witch finds an exceptionally ugly baby left in a basket--accompanied by a note that reads "the devil's child for the devil's wife"--she takes him in against her better judgement. Raised by a witch, a bear, and a djinn, destined to become a fairy tale legend himself, Lump's story is one of love and the birth of wickedness. The Witch's Boy is one of the books you pick up to read for ten minutes, and then put down an hour later. Its constant sense of discovery and forward motion are what make it so compelling: The world that Gruber creates isn't wholly original, but it's sufficiently inventive and colorful that it always offers another secret to uncover--but never edges towards twee, which is good because that would do Lump's story no favors. Lump's story isn't the only one in The Witch's Boy (his mother in particular is fantastic, and it's the depth of her character--and thus her relationship with and impact on Lump--that brings the book to life), but it's a remarkably well-realized tale, a detailed, realistic, painfully honest story of personal corruption, and what it is that makes someone bad. It doesn't wallow in the fact, but this is a surprisingly dark book. It's rare to sympathize and dislike simultaneously and completely, and heartbreaking, and an admirable accomplishment.

But The Witch's Boy has its weaknesses. It's ostensibly a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, but when it finally reaches recognizable aspects of that tale they're hurried and fairly plain. Lump's redemption, which ends the book, is likewise. Thankfully his isn't quite an instantaneous fix, but what makes the rest of the book remarkable is the well-paced, realistically rendered growth of Lump's character. Redemption wouldn't defy his wickedness if it were given the same care--but as it's not, it makes for a weak ending to a book that's otherwise strong. Thankfully, the ending alone doesn't ruin the book and--given the reader's well-fostered interest in the cast's well-being--the happy ending is emotionally satisfying. And so much of the rest of the book is worth reading, creative and compelling, utterly engaging, realistic and true, and presented in fluid, half-transparent, half wryly insightful prose, that I still enjoyed and recommend it. I don't want to oversell this book, it's not my new favorite, but I'd never heard of it until finding it at a used bookstore and it was an unexpected delight that I'd love to pass on to others. It has numerous flaws, but there's plenty to defy them and make The Witch's Boy a clever and engaging read.

I thought I knew what to expect when I bought another Michael Gruber book, even though it was for "children". I was suprised and loved this book and wished it was longer or there were additional books to follow. I loaned the book to four other people and two loved it, one had trouble getting into it but then loved it, and the other liked it okay, but couldn't handle the fairy tales being changed - she just didn't get it. (She is a romance novel reader).

I would recommend this book for children over 13 as it has messages that would be missed by anyone younger. I am going to get a copy for my grandaughter for her birthday because I think she will devour and love it. I hope some of the message of selfishness is not missed on her, because she could use a little nudge in that direction. Children don't really get many moral messages these days from their parents and this story has a deeper message about family and love and hopefully it is not missed on the children that read it.

I had thought that maybe they didn't make good literature any more, but this entertaining and fast-paced adventure deserves to be in the ranks of C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, and George MacDonald. It's not quite so preachy as some but does explore morality, how people change over time, relationships, desires, gratitude, sin and redemption, and does so in a very entertaining (tho it does get dark at times) way.

I rented this book from the library and it is a really good book. I like how they touched upon other fairy tales. It was a good read and hard to put down - I needed to know what will happen next...Will Lump change and be a better person - will he find love - will he forgive his mother - will he forgive himself.

Great book, I think its up there with Wicked, just marketed toward a younger audience. Don't be put off by the cover, which I don't realy think fits this great book. Read it, I could not put it down!

I have read and listened to a lot of books for children and this is one of the best I have EVER had the delight of hearing! I profoundly love it!!! One of the things I especially liked was the author's way of retelling the most classic and traditional fairytales. The way that they were stated as fact, gives the opportunity to explore the other side of things (i.e. witches may not be so bad - they just get a bad wrap). I loved how the author portrays witches and witchcraft! Beautiful! I loved this story on so many levels. The narrators style and voice allowed me fall into the story. I have already begun recommending it to friends.