Keith Donohue's "The Stolen Child" is a fairy tale for adults. Dark but not dismal it's a book with some tension and quite a lot of beauty. It centers on the classic changeling myth of a human child being swapped with that of a fairy or other creature. The new child looks exactly the same as the old, but is somehow different.
"The Stolen Child" in this case is now an adult and co-narrates the text with another (person?) who lives in the woods with other fairies, waiting for their chance to switch roles and live as humans. The changelings in the woods are themselves former human children who have been stolen away and must each wait their turn, one by one, for an opportunity to re-enter the world. They never age and they sometimes forget their pasts, but they never lose sight of a desire to become human again.
Hearkening back to Peter Pan's lost boys, these are children who revel in their freedom but are truly desperate for love and family.
The central adult narrator has never forgotten the time he himself spent in the woods and lives with a deep sense of guilt and shame over his assumption of another boy's life.
The story follows both characters simultaneously through life and through the woods until they intersect in profound and magical ways.
This is a book that brings back the magic of fairy tales to grown-ups, but with that, also brings back those feelings of uncertainty and shadow that all fairy tales carry. Playing with the notion of the unreliable narrator, both protagonists struggle with their true identities - ultimately raising questions about the natures of self, family, love and truth. In the words of the changeling himself about his own story, "...I wrote it down to show that we are more than a myth, a tale for children, a nightmare or a daydream. Just as we need their stories to exist, so do the humans need us to give shape to their lives."
-- Reviewed by Andrea Palmer, Communications Coordinator at the Prince George Public Library
The World According to Garp is one of the most popular novels by renowned American author, John Irving. It tells the tale of T.S. Garp, an ordinary man with an extraordinary life. Raised by his mother, a radical feminist and fiercely independent and unconventional woman named Jenny Fields, Garp has seen more than his share of drama.
Garp always aspired to be a writer, from the time he was a young boy. So it is much to his dismay when, on a whim, his mother decides to write an autobiography/sexual-political manifesto, which earns her enormous success and fame as a feminist leader. Because of his mother's notoriety, Garp grows up surrounded by a throng of his mother's eccentric, devoted, and sometimes frightening followers.
This story grabs readers from the very first paragraph and never lets go. The characters are somehow both incredibly zany, and yet amazingly real. We follow Garp through his childhood, his teens, and adulthood, through marriage and parenthood, and nothing along the way is even close to mundane.
The World According to Garp is often tragic, often humorous, and always enthralling. This novel is a must-read for anyone looking to be pulled into a fantastical, fictional world of incredible imagination and seamless storytelling. This book will make you laugh, it will make you cry, and it will surely stay with you long after you have finished the last page.
-- Reviewed by Teresa DeReis, Readers Advisor at the Prince George Public Library
