Review: The Turning

Title: The Turning
Series: No
Genre: Young Adult-Paranormal Mystery
Author: Francine Prose
Publisher: Harper Teen
Release Date: September 25, 2012
Book: Finished Copy sent by publisher

                                      

A dark house. An isolated island. Strange dreams and even stranger visions . . . Jack is spending the summer on a private island far from modern conveniences. No Wi-Fi, no cell service, no one else on the island but a housekeeper and the two very peculiar children in his care. The first time Jack sees the huge black mansion atop a windswept hill, he senses something cold, something more sinister than even the dark house itself. Soon, he feels terribly isolated and alone. Yet he is not alone. The house has visitors—peering in the windows, staring from across the shore. But why doesn't anyone else see them . . . and what do they want? As secrets are revealed and darker truths surface, Jack desperately struggles to maintain a grip on reality. He knows what he sees, and he isn't crazy. . . . Or is he? From nationally acclaimed author Francine Prose comes a mind-bending story that will leave you realizing how subtle the lines that separate reality, imagination, and insanity really are.

I first want to point out how much in love I am in with the cover. By me just looking at a picture, I began to feel a chill going up my arms and down my body. It was so spooky and mysterious that I just had to dive in and read it. Plus I have heard great and wonderful things about Ms. Francine Prose. 

The way the book was written was a new reading style for me since everything was written like it was a letter being sent out to different people. Jack the main character writes to both his girlfriend and his dad about his time out on this island where mysterious things start to happen. There were times where I was wondering if I was still reading a letter he was writing or had he broken off and than come back to it. Another thing the letter became an obsessive thing for Jack, it was what kept him sane.

Going into the characters, Jack is a person that I can probably feel for especially when being put on an island where there is no cell phone service and to get in contact with a person from home you have to write a letter is kind of something I feel I would suffer depression from. However, his constant writing started to make him become, what I felt, a whiny character. And with his back talking to his girlfriend who he keeps thinking that he is cheating on him with her ex. I started to lose connection with the character. 

However, if you as a reader want kids who are creepy just look at the two kids that he is "babysitting." When I first got introduced to them I was thinking there had to be something wrong with these kids. No kids are this polite without something being wrong with them. Seriously, creepy. I can imagine them just staring at you with big round eyes and you having the feeling that they are going to rip out your soul or something. Okay I might be getting a little paranoid here. 

This book was a fast read but overall it was just not the book for me. Although, I still advise for readers to check it out because maybe you could end up liking it and see it from a different perspective. I still want to check out other books by Ms. Francine Prose because I bet there is a book of hers for me. 

I give it 3 BITES!

Happy Reading!