Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Here’s a little confession: I had no idea Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children even existed until I watched the spellbinding trailer for the movie adaptation. I knew I had to read the books before I could settle down for the movie (saving the best for the last). And what I have discovered is that the movie takes certain liberties and in a way, you would say, the general theme in the book is divergent from what the movie shows. Which is a good thing.
I found Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children a morbid read at times and the feeling stayed with me throughout. I couldn’t shake this foreboding in the pit of my stomach. This starts when Jacob’s Grandpa shows him the black-and-white pictures of the circus freakshow that made up his childhood friends. The pictures were quite depressing and horror-inducing, not with the creepy children in outdated attire. Jacob follows his Grandpa’s direction to this supposedly magical place where Jacob will be safe.
The loop (you will have to understand if you read the book) is a depressing place to live and I couldn’t stop feeling that wasn’t the way to live. The cusp of immortality lived in the confines of one day stretched out across centuries, repeated over and over until it drives you batshit crazy is no way to live.
The story itself is gripping, possessing of a dreamlike half-myth half-truth narrative style. Miss Peregrine reminded me of Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter and also Professor Xavier of the X-Men sent back in time as a Victorian-era governess. It’s therefore little wonder that a movie was made from it and you know what? The movie characters are perfect! Especially Asa Butterfield, Eva Green and Samuel L. Jackson who injects the much needed comedic relief. (According to the previews I watched).
She Made Me Do It 
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