A Thief in the House of Memory By Tim Wynne-Jones

Tim Wynne Jones born 12 August 1948 is an English Canadian author of childrens literature including picture books and novels for children and young adults novels for adults radio dramas songs for the CBC Jim Henson production Fraggle Rock as well as a childrens musical and an opera libretto. Awards site_link Arthur Ellis Award Best Juvenile 2001 The Boy in the Burning House site_link Edgar Award Best Young Adult 2002 The Boy in the Burning House Tim Wynne Jones born 12 August 1948 is an English Canadian author of children s literature including picture books and novels for children and young adults novels for adults radio dramas songs for the CBC Jim Henson production Fraggle Rock as well as a children s musical and an opera libretto. Awards site_link Arthur Ellis Award Best Juvenile 2001 The Boy in the Burning House site_link Edgar Award Best Young Adult 2002 The Boy in the Burning House site_link Family secrets forgotten memories and the transforming power of truth It s been six years since sixteen year old Dec s free spirited mother Lindy disappeared Dec feels so trapped in the present he s avoided examining his past But when an intruder dies in the museum like family home the man s death sends forth tremors that reawaken forgotten memories Suddenly Dec is flooded with visions of his mother so tangible it s hard to believe they re not real At least Dec has his best friend gifted funny Ezra to help him sort out what s real and what isn t But as Dec s dream visions of his mother turn into nightmares Ezra announces he s going away leaving Dec haunted by questions that must be answered What did happen to his mother And who really is the thief in the house of memory In this masterful new novel Tim Wynne Jones explores with wit compassion and humor the fictional territory he knows best the prickly ties that bind families the murky connections between imagination and real life A Thief in the House of MemoryHalf the time I didn t really know what was going on The beginning was so slow and bland and nothing about the characters really interested me. It redeemed itself somewhere in the middle though Things started to pick up and the potential murder mystery levels escalated At that point I couldn t stop reading I especially liked the interaction between Dec and his father I could really feel that tension between them the suspicion the anger the mistrust I think that was conveyed nicely But the ending. In retrospect the concept of the ending seems fine It was good and fitting and provided that closure the main kid and his family needed I felt like it wasn t told nicely though There was a lot of build up over the chapters and I was expecting it to end in a grandiose manner but it just didn t happen. After all the searching and probing and annoying the heck out of his father after the heated arguments and the lying all the main character seemed to express after finding out the truth could be summed up in just two words Oh Okay. Afterthought 2 Actually throughout the whole book I was half expecting half hoping that this would take a big turn to Fantasy World I m not sure why I was expecting monsters and magical creatures to show up and save ruin the day 0374374783 Easily one of my favorite books I like the style of writing which is probably why I am drawn to it I like how it s timeline goes from here to there How everything seem to happen at the same time I like how Declan grew over the course of 200 pages even if it s just baby steps It wasn t easy but it made him feel lighter and softer on the edges 0374374783 I found this story intriguing but it didn t go as deep as I thought it would It felt pretty meh but it was an easy read 0374374783 This book had a lot of potential I was hooked in the very beginning with the mystery accompanying the death of a thief in the House of Memory the large museum like family estate just up the road from where Declan lives with his father sister and mother s best friend Now the mother Lindy is another story Almost literally She took off six years earlier which precipitated the family s move from the large estate to the small house down the road Dec s memories of Lindy start to surface after the thief gets smashed by a bookcase in the large house and the web of details starts to get complicated Why was this particular man in the House of Memory How well does Dec really know his father What actually happened to his mother In short these questions were answered by the end However it was so unbelievably anticlimactic I was expecting certain foreshadowing and clues from early on to resurface and just smack me in the face with the force that all answers to great mysteries seem to do But that did not happen I was left deflated The bright side is that it was pretty realistic but who wants realistic when you re dealing with thieves disappearance a big creepy house and possible murder Now don t get me wrong I still enjoyed the book in a that was pleasant kind of way The characters were really likable and unique There were also subtle literary intricacies that I really appreciated For instance Dec s father Bernard was plagued with disappointments of the past and the author represented that through his interest in building historical models His character almost literally lived in the past by spending hours every day dissecting the details of war battles and recreating the models in his garage The writing was also gorgeous Wynne Jones uses a lot of poignant metaphors like settling and stirring dust as memories and implements alternate style writing like fragments but it all works so well within the context of the story All in all the writing itself was inspiring but the story fell flat for me There were so many directions and possibilities for this story that would have surprised me I couldn t predict the ending and that s always a thrill for me as I near the end of a book but it ended up being anticlimactic So in a way I guess it did surprise me but because it was a lack of surprise 0374374783 4Q 3P JDev Assets 1 2 10 14 20 29Best Books mystery After he and his little sister find a body in their family s abandoned home which sits near their vanilla split level house Dec decides that it is time to explore the secrets that his dad and his mother s best friend have been protecting since Dec s mother left years ago This book serves as an exploration of a boy s past and helps him sort out the people and circumstances of his life He has to rule out his panic that wrongdoing had befallen his mother in order to be able to accept that she had left of her own volition His comes to understand that his father and his mother s friend have been wronged too and have made decisions based on what was best for the family For teens the book may not have a wide appeal as its focus is on understanding and growth rather than adventure or struggle As soon as I read this book I realized that I would have a difficult time promoting it for I did not particularly enjoy it Perhaps I am selling teens short A teen who is quietly trying to work things out in his her own life may very well identify with Dec for he has distinct and specific memories that wend their way through the journey he experiences 0374374783

A Thief in the House of Memory By Tim Wynne-Jones

0374374783

9780374374785

English

224

Hardcover

Genre Mystery Fiction Supernatural Family SecretsDec s mother s mysterious diappearance leaves Dec wondering about his past He begins to have visions of that are echoes of memories he once had His childhood home is perserved in the exactness it was when he lived there and it is the backdrop of these visions When Dec finds a theif dead under a bookshelf in the house his head starts turning and he begins to uncover the family secrets Dec s visions coupled with his mystery hunting skills lead him to discover his family secrets and disregard some of his suspicions. This novel takes the reader for a trip between what is real and what is fake There were times when I thought Dec was losing his mind because of the visions he had about his mother Wynne Jones style makes for a suspenseful story that is easy to follow despite the complex plot While maintaining the elements of mystery and supernatural fiction Wynne Jones is able to weave in a coming of age story between the lines as Dec finds out as much about himself as his family s past 0374374783 I m not sure how I felt about this book On one hand I loved the quirky interesting characters and the writing style is extremely good On the other hand it feels like a lot of build up for nothing At the end when it s discovered that most of Declan s theories were in his head you feel almost cheated As if you had spent all this time in suspense wondering and even the resolution leaves questions than answers I suppose that s how life is at times but it seems to end just a bit too roses and puppy dogs for my taste and left me feeling rather bitter Suddenly nothing else matters Declan doesn t question the stories from Birdie or his father one bit any longer doesn t have any bitter feelings that he just discovered his mother is dead and completely abandoned him without another word only a slight upset that Birdie completely lied to him and so did his father It just ends up a bit too peachy keen The build up was much fascinating than the resolution ten fold While the ending seems strange and rushed the rest is actually very enjoyable though it does drag in spots Overall I enjoyed it But would I read it again No 0374374783 Genre Category MysteryIt took me nearly sixty pages to get into A Thief in the House of Memory but once I finally learned to distinguish between reality and Dec s imagination I was hooked Wynne Jones did an incredible job in this mystery novel of providing just enough or just too few clues to keep me interested yet completely in the dark as to how all of the pieces fit together The story is about a sixteen year old boy Declan who finds a dead body in a house that his family used to live in before his mother left them Through a series of discoveries and flashbacks of incidents with his mother Dec learns the truth about his mother s leaving and her relationship with the man found dead in the house of memory He also gains respect for both his father and his father s girlfriend who used to be his mother s best friend An intriguing mystery this coming of age novel perfectly portrays adolescence through the changes Dec experiences and the way in which he deals with the things he learns throughout the novel I would recommend this novel to anyone who likes a not too scary mystery but especially to younger adolescent readers 0374374783 TIM WYNNE JONESDeclan Steeple is 15 year old son of Bernard who is the sole heir to the Steeple estate The Steeple s have a long tradition of ambition wealth and posterity Declan seems to think that chain has stopped with his father Dec thinks his father is stuck in the past as the history buff spends the majority of his time doodling with models of some of the world s most historic wars Declan s mom disappeared when he was 10 and he hasn t seen her since However a mystery at the old Steeple residenceThe House of Memory which the family has vacated at the request of Bernard s soon to be wife prompts old memories of Lindy Declan s mom He searches to find out what happened to her and the mystery becomes and confusing as he learns that the man found dead in the old home was the ex lover of his mother both before and after her marriage to Bernard The book becomes a pretty interesting mystery that Declan is finally able to uncover Although disappointed that he learns his mother is not exactly who he thought she was Declan is finally able to put the past behind him and move on 0374374783 This was an interesting book about a family mystery Declan Steeple lives in a small house at the bottom of a hill but above him on the hill is his old house where he used to live before his mother ran away It s a big house filled to the brim with relics of his old life A random visit with his little sister turns into a mystery when Declan discovers a man buried beneath a large bookcase dead He starts visiting the house often seeing visions of his mother there Is she trying to tell him something One mystery piles onto another and it is up to Declan alone to figure out the truth Did his mother really run away Or is she trapped in the House of Memory until he can set her free It was a very quick read and pretty good suspenseful and well written I liked all the quirky characters Wynne Jones introduces throughout the story as well For a short book it is well developed and the narrative is easy to follow and engrossing. Or maybe I m just being picky I guess there s just this part of me that s yearning for something much believable than that. ____Afterthought I m not sure if it s just me but Dec s younger sister doesn t seem to act like her age In my head she feels older: A good book for younger teens Although they may feel that some of the kid characters are a bit older than their years 0374374783 .

.I have mixed feelings about it.The end.But overall this family drama was okay