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Always October (2012)

by Bruce Coville(Favorite Author)

3.99 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0060890959 (ISBN13: 9780060890957)

languge

English

genre

Horror

publisher

HarperCollins

review 1: I really rather wanted to give this book 3.5 stars. I rounded up to 4 because 3 would have been too low. I've read Bruce Coville since I was in the fifth grade, and I've always enjoyed his books. After a long gap during which I graduated from college and finished growing up, I started reading some of his books that I had either missed or had been published in the interim. I was a little apprehensive. A lot of things you really enjoyed as a child, you realize are actually kind of dumb when you revisit them as an adult. But I was surprised and delighted to find myself enjoying his books perhaps even more than I did in my youth. So I started reading this book with high expectations. It's usually not a good idea to have high expectations for anything. You're only open... moreing yourself up to disappointment.The book wasn't bad. It had some elements that I really enjoyed. But it also had some glaring problems that made me question whether Bruce Coville actually wrote this book. Normally he has amazing characters, funny and interesting prose, and a solid plot. Most of the problems were with the plot. I never like it when people do stupid things that go against their character just to add drama to the story. I also don't like it when the beginning of the story let's you know that everything is going to work out okay. It's a first person narrative, so obviously the narrator survived to tell the tale (unless they are now telling the story as a ghost). Also, the reading public pretty well demands a happy ending, and they usually get one, more so in children's books. But this book went a step further and mentioned some things that make it obvious once you get about halfway through the book that all is well and has gone according to plan. When this information is revealed, so is the remaining plot of the rest of the book. The reader is given a road map of everything that is about to happen and what the dangers along the way will be. And since this book would have been rather boring without it, I knew the characters were going to have to make all the dumb mistakes necessary to add drama to the tale despite knowing what the consequences of their actions would be. And to top things off, I think the entire journey was rather unnecessary. It made it less appealing to read when I was thinking about the simple solution that could have solved their main problem. I won't mention the solution in case those who read this review still want to read the book. Perhaps you won't see it and it won't spoil the fun for you, if you can't get past all the other irritations.The biggest problem the book has is apparent from the very beginning. The book has two first person narrators. They switch off chapters supposedly taking turns writing the story down. I've seen this done before by this very same author. His first attempt at it was much more successful. The key to pulling of this trick is that each narrator needs to have his/her own very distinct voice. If this tale is being "written" by two different people, they would likely have their own style of describing things and saying things. In his Sixth Grade Alien series, the two first person narratives were vastly different. One was a normal human boy and the other was an alien. They perceived things and described things so differently that it wasn't hard to tell who "I" was at any given time. Except for the difference between male and female, both narrators in this book are the same age and from the same place. They see the world pretty much the same and use the same narrative voice. Sometimes, it was hard making the transition after each chapter break as to who was telling this part of the story. And they both had grandpas who had major roles in the story, both of whom they called grandpa. That got especially confusing when both grandpas were in the scene and we switched from one narrator to the other.This book had many really good moments. The first half of the book is easily the best half. The problems with the plot really start showing up once they enter the world of Always October, a world that was created by human imagination and human fears. The book is creative and imaginative like all of Bruce Coville's work. While the prose is generally really good, I have a hard time believing this is supposedly being written by two 12-year-olds. I know the characters aren't actually writing the story. Bruce Coville is, but if you're going to have one (or two) of your 12-year-old characters tell the story, then you might want to scale back some of the beautiful writing and rather adult insight. And the book lets you know that they're writing this down about one month after the events occurred, so they're not just remembering back on something that happened when they were young. If that were the case, it wouldn't matter how mature the prose was. This book really called for a third person limited viewpoint.The book was compelling enough in the beginning that I used the momentum I'd gained to carry me through to the end once I started noticing problems. I read it a lot more quickly than I intended to. I was actually going to read this on the side as I read other books, but it grabbed my attention enough that I set those other books down. And I really did care about the characters. Even when they were doing stupid things to get themselves into trouble, I couldn't put the book down until they were back on track and out of immediate danger. The book is definitely open for a sequel. And now that the groundwork has been laid, I can see how the sequel might be a lot better. I don't know if Bruce Coville will write one, however. His writing has slowed down a lot in the last several years. He took forever finishing up the Unicorn Chronicles and wrote little else during that time. I would love to see some more Magic Shop books. Those are among my favorite.
review 2: I generally don’t like ghost/horror stories, but this one defied the usual formulaic nature of Goosebump-ish books and is rich in meaning without ever getting weighed down. Jake and Lily’s journey to Always October feels both creepy and quest-like (and oddly enough reminded me a bit of The Spindlers). Coville opens the door to a possible sequel, which, I was surprised to find, I’d love to read. At 365 pages, this is “hefty” without being heavy and will be an excellent choice for the many kids who clamor for ghost stories. less

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