Book– Maggot Moon.
Author– Sally Gardner
Genre– Ya, Dystopian
Publisher– Hot Key Books
My Rating–★★☆☆☆
What if the football hadn’t gone over the wall. On the other side of the wall there is a dark secret. And the devil. And the Moon Man. And the Motherland doesn’t want anyone to know. But Standish Treadwell — who has different-colored eyes, who can’t read, can’t write, Standish Treadwell isn’t bright — sees things differently than the rest of the “train-track thinkers.”
I’ve finally calmed down and I think it’s time to try and review this book as best I can.
This book completely caught me off guard and not in a good way. I should have learned long ago never to judge a book by its cover but here we are. When I first set my eyes on this book and after I’d read the summary at the back I expected a fun middle grade story with a mystery. THAT is not what we get.
Oh no it is not. The story is told from the POV of Standish, a young boy living in a cruel world. Really cruel. The story is set in the 1900’s in a fake world. The author made up. In this world the “president” uses propaganda to control the people. No one can speak their mind without consequences. It leaves you with the question is the world really that fake?
The chapters in the book are easy to read and I finished the book is one sitting. I wanted to appreciate what many other people have while reading this but I couldn’t. It has won awards. I mean there is something powerful about this story. I just seemed to bypass it. People talk of hope and while reading all I felt was sadness. I can’t say I enjoyed any of this and yes I do agree some points are important. The way the world is described was so close to ours I shuddered at times.
Overall, I won’t read this again. I didn’t enjoy it. But that’s my opinion. I do think if your interested don’t let my review put you off. Read it for yourself and see what you think. It’s a book you really have to read between the lines to get. That’s not something I like because for me reading is a hobby and I find having to read between the lines a chore at times.
