Skellig

The book fell apart in the sun...thats Dubai heat though, I suppose. Apart from that can't complain

I recently reviewed another book, The Reading Group Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Start Your Own Book Club , written by Rachel W. Jacobsohn. One way to read a book is to look for design, "an interweaving of theme, images, symbols" (131) which work together to create a superb symphony of words and ideas in story form. "Skellig" is most definitely like that. Every character, every line, every nuance are part of a totality, a symphony, if you will, of great depth, of transcendent mysticism. The word "skellig" is an Irish word which means rock and is the name of one of the most famous monasteries in the world: Skellig Michael off the coast of Kerry, Ireland. It was renowned in the medieval period because of its rugged, stormy living conditions and the endurance of its monks. The poetry, the mysticism of William Blake are part of the story. Looking for angels. Feeling shoulder blades for wings. Bird bones. Evolution. A very sick baby that may or may not live. The being who lives in a sustained state behind the tea chests and other junk in the garage, who may or may not be an angel. Or a bird. Michael and his parents and their very sick baby move into a house that needs much work. In exploring, Michael finds the being whose name is Skellig. He eats bugs and small animals and Chinese take-out. He is beautiful. Michael meets a girl, a year younger, who is home-schooled and reads Blake and draws birds. Her name is Mina (Wilhemina=William). She teaches Michael how to listen deeply to the sounds of baby birds in their nests. He teaches her how to blow owl sounds using his hands. Together they form a wondrous bond with Skellig. If I have conveyed just a hint of the wonder and magic of this incredible novel, then I have succeeded. What David Almond recreated in this *Honor novel is that openness of our child-like state to things beyond the mundane, the earth-bound, to magic and mysticism and otherworldliness where angels may leap to earth and its bindedness to tend to matters. *Note: "Skellig" was named an honor book by the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature in 2000, when Monster ) by Walter Dean Meyers won the medal.

“They say that shoulder blades are where your wings were, when you were an angel..They say they’re where your wings will grow again one day.” “The kind of thing William Blake saw. He said we were surrounded by angels and spirits. We must just open our eyes a little wider, look a little harder.” When I read a book like this I wonder how I ever lived without it. And I wonder what books are out there that I might be missing. I am searching for wisdom, a bit of magic and a sense of something other worldly in literature that feeds the soul in a broken world. I finished it in a day. It is is utterly deserving of being a classic. Michael and his family have moved home. His baby sister arrived prematurely and is very ill. There are frequent visits from the doctor, hospital appointments and his parents are too distracted to work on the house or to support Michael. The garage is out of bounds, but in his explorations Michael finds an old man there. He is thin, eating insects and calling out numbers. He is Skellig. Michael meets Mina who is being home educated, quotes William Blake, draws incredible pictures and is fascinated by nature. There is so much beauty in this book, so much humanity. The baby occupies our mind from the beginning. Tiny, fragile, hovering between life and death. “ Sometimes I think she’s never quite left Heaven and never quite made it all the way here to Earth. And Michael is hovering too, unable to get on with his life, worrying about his sister. He feels her heartbeat entwined with his own. Skellig is hovering too. Who is he, what is he and what are the protrusions on his shoulder blades. This is a book that you don’t stop reading. It takes up room in your head and is unlikely to vacate. I am left pondering the wings, the owls..and I have picked up William Blake again. I think I need to read Skellig again…I think it has more to say to me. If you haven’t read this beautiful book, do.

Libro scolastico per mio nipote. Ok

Excellent reading for children

Skellig est un roman captivant et émouvant. L’histoire est originale et pleine de suspense, avec des personnages profonds et attachants. Une lecture que je recommande vivement à tous les amateurs de littérature jeunesse et contemporaine.