The Good Thief, by Hannah Tinti: AKA if Charles Dickens and Tim Burton were to breed.

The Good Thief. Hannah Tinti (2009).
NY: The Dial Press. ISBN: 0385337450


If Charles Dickens and Tim Burton could travel through time and space defying laws of physics, logic, even reproductive biology, I’m fairly certain that Hannah Tinti’s The Good Thief would be the resulting lovechild. Filled with rich and colorful down-on-their-luck Dickensonian characters (Mrs. Figg, anyone?) and much of the dark, grimy, grotesque flavor that characterizes Burton’s works, this book has the legs to stand on its own as a beautiful piece of historical fiction. Or at least I think it is historical fiction, as I never seemed to be able to figure out where or when it was taking place. We’ll call it Ficstorical Fiction. I’m pretty sure it might be Colonial America…but Tinti doesn’t need to specify for us to get that it’s a back in the day buffet. It would be wise (and I’ll sound smart/actually use my university degree – thanks Prof. Thompson! – for a hot minute) to identify our protagonist and this novel for exactly who he/what this is: a picaresque novel of the nth degree - in which you never are really quite sure that things will end well for our big-hearted, down-on-his-luck and scraping by on the skin of his teeth protagonist. Irregardless (making it happen, Websters), Tinti is a masterful and beautiful writer, creating a three dimensional world and characters who can command her readers to shiver, shudder, sigh…dance fools, dance!

A one-handed boy baby is abandoned at monastery orphanage. Said one-handed baby boy grows into 12 year old one handed boy – Ren. Ren has no memories of life before the monastery and only a scrap of shirt left with the letters R E and N embroidered on it, hence his quirky name. Ren doesn’t want to be sold to the army and also is an unusually good pick-pocket/thief, despite having only one hand to pillage and plunder with. Not so surprisingly in our ficstorical “two-hands-are-better-than-one” pastoral world, nobody has jumped to adopt him. That is, until one day, a man named Benjamin Nabb appears out of the blue claiming to be Ren’s long lost and charming brother, armed with a cockamamie story Ren doesn’t quite buy but goes along with to the get. the. heck. out. Turns out Benjamin isn’t, in fact, Ren’s brother. He is a smooth criminal who, along with his alcoholic buddy Tom, steal to survive, and have recently clued into a new, lucrative adventure: body snatching. As one can imagine, this leads to a world of shenanigans and trouble, where things are not what they appear to be, where Ren is still hoping to find out who his parents were, and in which everyone’s secrets will be slowly unraveled layer by layer before their very own eyes (and ours), until the very last period on the final page.

Best for: Older readers 16+ This is a work filled with richly hewn, and vibrant but gritty characters. Moreover, while the story is seemingly simple it is actual complex in that it reads as mystery, with clues left strewn throughout for savvy readers (ie. mature) to identify. Because I feel the grittiness of the characters and the dark undertones will alienate younger readers, and because of the cumulative memory required on the part of readers, I feel this book is best suited towards older readers. Younger readers can totally read it – there’s really nothing to quibble about aside from a few murders and body snatching incidents. It may just be a book they read very differently than they will with a few more years under their belt.

Book Talk Hook: Read aloud from the grave-robbing scene in which a character is not quite dead yet. Scary! Supsense!

Messenger, by Lois Lowry: when bad books happen to good authors

Messenger. Lois Lowry (2004).
NY: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN: 0618404414

I can't believe a maven of children's literature is responsible for this book. Or, as I like to call it, this half-baked, over-aiming, under-performing, schizophrenic waste of a few good trees. In short, I less than enjoyed it. That's not to say the book doesn't have promise and is a stinker throughout; in fact, the first 7/8th's of the book are readable, developed, and pleasant enough. It's just that the ending of the story is so bad, so abrupt, so undercooked that it cheapens and pollutes the entire story. Sure, one can argue that Lowry does build the story towards the end; plot devices like Gifts (magical powers), the danger presented by Forest, and the Village-inspired love for others undeniably push Matty's self-sacrifice. But it is done in such an abrupt, disinterested way, barely dealt with after, leaving far, far to many questions left unanswered (The villagers recover from selling their souls, but do they learn their lesson? Do they feel remorse? Is Forest still dangerous? Are newcomers going to be allowed into Village?) and hardly acknowledging what a huge sacrifice this is. It almost seems like Lowry ran out of paper and had to rush to wrap everything up and squeeze it into the allotted space. I half expected Matty to recover, until the one line about keening, which we know from the beginning of the book is how the villagers mourn a death.

This waste of paper is allegedly the sequel to Gathering Blue and the Giver, two of Lowry's award winning books. Because of this, I'm going to go out on a limb, giving her the benefit of the doubt, and assume that a publisher demanded this. Matty, whom I presume makes an appearance in the other books (I haven't read Gathering Blue), has been living in Village with Seer, a blind man, since first taking refuge here as a young boy. Village is a special place deep in Forrest. While most of the towns surrounding Village are hard knock kind of places, Village is peaceful and utopian, populated by other refugees like Matty who have escaped hardships in the surrounding towns. Matty is a messenger, meaning he delivers messages in the village and often travels through Forest (and that's another thing, why can't Lowry call it THE village, or THE forest? WHY?) to deliver messages from the Villagers to family and friends outside Forest's boundaries. Matty, whose chief desire is to be given Messenger as his true name, is lucky, since Forrest seems to have an evil mind of its own. Sure, it'll let you creep through seeking sanctuary in Village, but forget going back; Forest tends to kill those who try to travel back or through it after having been through once, but is kind enough to give you a warning "tread my paths and I'll squish you with my vines" gouge to let you know though! However, things are going a bit wonky in Village; people seem to be changing, becoming cynical and meaner. They even want to shut Villages' boundaries and stop welcoming newcomers, and it may have something to do with Trademart, when the Villagers trade (their souls) for things they want. Way to be blatant, Lowry.

What's worse is that Forest seems to be getting meaner too, thickening and getting more dangerous. Meanwhile, Matty has discovered he has magical healing powers, and is promptly sent on a mission to post closing notices on all the paths and bring back Seer's daughter Kira before the bad Villagers finish constructing their Berlin Wall. However, Leader, Villages leader (go figure), cautions Matty not to use his magical powers too soon. But Forest is a nasty piece of work, and Matty and Kira find themselves subject to it's maniacal vices as they struggle to get back to Village before it is too late or they die. Since I already kind of spilled the beans above, and you obviously aren't going to read this stinker now (right?), I don't feel too bad about spoiling the ending. Matty dies, using up all his healing power to heal all of Forrest, Village, and the villagers, a cheap and easy out I wouldn't predict Lowry would go for. The end. Seriously, that's pretty much how it goes in the book too. Oh right, Leader posthumously gives Matty his true name: Healer. Can't a dead boy catch a break?

Best for: Grades 4-7, reading level wise.

Book talk hook: Yeah. RIGHT. I think I hated all over this book above sufficiently enough to not explain myself here. I also recommend it to no one, regardless of the easier reading level.