far far away

I picked up Tom McNeal's book Far Far Away.  I am not sure why I put it on my "To Read" list, but I saw later that it was a National Book Award finalist.  I read this book this past weekend--which speaks to how I could not put this book down.  One of my favorite quotes was the first line:  "What follows is the strange and fateful tale of a boy, a girl, and a ghost."  At first, I was afraid this was like the Gaiman book I read (well written, but I'm just not into those types of books), but when I found out the ghost was Jacob Grimm--well I was intrigued.  This book had it all--mystery, spookiness, love (but not mushy), family issues, fairy tales, etc.  It really is a beautiful book.

Another quote I loved made me think of the small town where I grew up:  "Problem is, in a town like this, the appearance of doing something wrong can be as bad as actually doing it" (110).  Oh how true!

I third quote from this adolescent lit novel that applies even more to adults is the quote: "Sometimes avoiding something can give it more and more meaning rather than less and less"  (39).  This quote probably has a little more universal appeal than the previous two mentioned.

Tom McNeal's author site is located HERE.  I would, without hesitation, read another McNeal book.  Highly recommend this one.