Resumo de A House Called Awful End

If books can take you places, then adventure stories are God's gift to readers. And when one is wrapped up in paper as colorful as this one, the adventure becomes a comical, witty, oddball of unfortunate trials and tribulations. I felt myself shaking my head in pity as the protagonist started out in an unlucky predicament,that mated with others, and gave birth to even worst suffering. Butentertaining suffering, a suffering of the the purpose of making a timid person into a heroic one. What writer Philip Ardagh has done is brought us to the dooorsteps of A House Called Awful End and showed us just how awful it was to be there. We're estatic when he lets us leave, but after witnessing the eccentric characters in the odd neighborhood, we want to go back! Well, uh, we want Eddie (the protagonist) to go back because its easier for him, but for us, this side show freak adventure is scrumptous brain food!

A House Called Awful End is a latter installment in Philip Ardagh's Eddie Dickens Trilogy. Eddie, a highly inquisitive 11 year old, must go to stay with his aunt and uncle due to a mysterious disease they've caught, with a contagious skin discoloring symptom. How ironic is that? Staring at how even with discoloring in thier skin, Eddie's parents are still some very colorful characters in personality. As are the other unforgettable characters in this book, such as Eddie's aunt and uncle. Both of whom have names that spell it out for you; Mad Uncle Jack and Even Madder Aunt Maude. After Mad Uncle Jack picks up Eddie, in an 18th century styled Horse & carriage, Eddie wonders why the man had brought his horse insideEddie's house and even up the stairs! Add to Eddie's thoughts, the fact that Even Madder Aunt Maude carried a stuffedStot animalthat she talked to...and banged on Eddie's head. Once they make it down the road, the mishaps andtricky events take full bloom. From being robbed at gunpoint to being locked up in an evil orphanage, Eddie gets into some awful situations and has to get stronger to figure out how to escape them.

Yeah, the adventure part of this novella is kind of intriguing, but its not about where Eddie goes...or is dragged to. Its about who he meets and howeccentric andmemorable the characters are in thier own freak-of-nature style way! Take one character I remember for example, who kept all her broken fingernails and/or pieces of torn skin in a pocket on the front of her shirt! Disgusting, odd, deviant, yes. But that's what this book is trying to do, capture the esscence ofa town's distinct personality and strange habits, and couple them with a very creative twist of exaggeration. The characters are so strange and have such special gimmicks, that they seem like caricatures almost...real good caricatures.Dr. Muffin, who diagnosed Eddie's parents, has a strange method of treating patients. He had Eddie's mom suck on an ice cube shaped like a famous general all in the name of healin. And it had, absolutely had, to be shaped like a famous general! Crazy sounding, I know and he probably does too, but as the story goes on, his wacky prescriptions set off a chain of events that eventuallyhelp Eddie's parents, in a clever way. And it was the Doctor's idea to send Eddie packing, so Eddie has him to thank for leading a rebellion of orphans to humorously escape the orphanage by overthrowing its administrators. Before, inquisitive Eddie had just 'asked' a lot of questions, but near the book'sclimax, he started 'answering' a lot of questions.

On my bookshelf, I'd dust off a spot, close to the topshelf,for this entertaining story. Plenty of characters with big personalities and gimmicks, plenty oftwists & shortcuts on the journey, and plenty of witty lines from writer Philip Ardagh, make this book readable andre-readble. And I've heard of the accusations that this book owes a lot to Lemmony Snickett's Series of Unfortunate Events.But wethernced by Snickett or not, has nothing to do with this being a good read. Start thumbing through the pages of this literature, and you won't stop. Even for the deepest of paper cuts! *** written byHieroglyph Powell.

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