Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children: Review – Photography Meets Storytelling

“Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children” is really something, I can tell you that. The cover is what immediately caught my eye in the bookstore several years ago now, and as soon as I picked it up and read the back, I knew I had to have it. It’s such an incredible idea, and author Ransom Riggs has created a wonderful, fantastical, and horrific new world for us to explore.

Plot Overview

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very peculiar photographs. 

It was those three lines at the beginning of the synopsis that really drew me in. Sixteen year old Jacob travels to Wales to learn more about his grandfather who was recently murdered. He begins looking into his grandfather’s history and learns more about where he lived – an orphanage designed for children who were a little different. A little strange.

He visits the orphanage, now abandoned, and it’s there that he meets a young girl named Emma. Emma takes him back to 1940, where several “peculiar” children are still living in the orphanage, in what they call a “time loop.”

Jake starts spending copious amounts of time with the children, and discovers he might just be one of them. He learns that he may be the only one with the power to stop a dangerous threat that has come over the orphanage and the inhabitants of this particular time loop.

My Thoughts

This book is written so exquisitely, it’s honestly suitable for anyone. Anyone with an appetite for something really out there, something a little dark.

The amount of detail that went into this story amazes me too. Each character is so carefully and perfectly crafted. Each one with a story and a history. This story really pulls you in unlike any other. It’s so rich and so enthralling, you’ll find yourself completely immersed before you even know what hit you. I really could not put this down. I remember reading straight through all of my classes one day just to finish this, when I was still in high school. I graduated many years ago, and I still remember the story so well. So clearly. It’s not something to be easily forgotten. It haunted my thoughts long after I was done.

The Photographs

While the story here is unique and rich and beautifully detailed, what makes it truly special are the pictures that go along with it. It’s not something you see very often. There are a very dark, at times disturbing, series of pictures that are peppered throughout the story, which enhances your idea of what’s going on and what things look like, and gives a whole new level of depth to the characters and the scene.

These are just a few examples of what you’ll see throughout the novel, but as you can see they are really something. They’re all black and white, very vintage and old looking. Some of them depict the “peculiarities’ or abilities of the children living in the time loop. Others are just creepy things/scenes from around the orphanage. I am ridiculously infatuated with this kind of stuff – these pictures put this book right up my alley. The story itself is not one of horror or tragedy, I wouldn’t even necessarily call it a thriller. I wouldn’t even know what to label it actually, other than unique and very, very interesting.

Conclusion

I couldn’t get enough of this story when I read it for the first time or any of the times after that, and it still sticks with me to this day. When I talk about it, I honestly just get to the point where I don’t even have words anymore – I can only say so much and then you just have to read and experience it for yourself. It truly is an experience, this novel.  An experience all it’s own.

The best part? There’s a sequel! Stay tuned for a review on that as well – should it interest you. I’ll be doing it soon.

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