Review: The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter

Overall Impression: 

Source: Library

Publication Date: Sept. 14th 2010

Short synopsis (Goodreads): Life in a small town can be pretty boring when everyone avoids you like the plague. But after their father unwittingly sends them to stay with an aunt who’s away on holiday, the Hardscrabble children take off on an adventure that begins in the seedy streets of London and ends in a peculiar sea village where legend has it a monstrous creature lives who is half boy and half animal. . . .

In this wickedly dark, unusual, and compelling novel, Ellen Potter masterfully tells the tale of one deliciously strange family and a secret that changes everything.

My Review: Have you ever found a book that you just have to read out loud with a British accent? This is that book. Maybe it’s just me, but I love to read things that have a very British feel to them with an accent.

With that being said, I didn’t really like this book. I love the cover, I love the Hardscrabble children, I despised the story. It had a lot of potential, there were good moments, but for the most part it was trying too hard. The narrator was cute, I like it when the narrator speaks to you like you are always there (and it’s pretty obvious who the narrator is) but the ending scenes felt like the author just wanted to be as random as possible….like…REALLY random. I hated it! Finishing that I thought I would give this book 2 stars, which hasn’t happened in quite a while with a book that I’ve actually finished. Upon further reflection there were the redeeming qualities that I mentioned before, which brings it up to 3 stars, but that’s as far as it can go in my book…no pun intended.