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Ebook352 pages5 hours
The Doll Funeral
By Kate Hamer
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
2/5
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About this ebook
“[Evokes] both Jeanette Winterson and Ian McEwan . . . an elegiac and uplifting novel about the indissoluble bonds between mothers and daughters, and a reminder of how the imagination can set you free.” — The Guardian
On Ruby’s thirteenth birthday, a wish she didn’t even know she had suddenly comes true: the couple who raised her aren’t her parents at all. Her real mother and father are out there somewhere, and Ruby becomes determined to find them.
Venturing into the forest with nothing but a suitcase and the company of her only true friend—the imaginary Shadow Boy—Ruby discovers a group of siblings who live alone in the woods. The children take her in, and while they offer the closest Ruby’s ever had to a family, Ruby begins to suspect that they might need her even more than she needs them. And it’s not always clear what’s real and what’s not—or who’s trying to help her and who might be a threat.
Told from shifting timelines, and the alternating perspectives of teenage Ruby; her mother, Anna; and even the Shadow Boy, The Doll Funeral is a dazzling follow-up to Kate Hamer’s breakout debut, The Girl in the Red Coat, and a gripping, exquisitely mysterious novel about the connections that remain after a family has been broken apart.
On Ruby’s thirteenth birthday, a wish she didn’t even know she had suddenly comes true: the couple who raised her aren’t her parents at all. Her real mother and father are out there somewhere, and Ruby becomes determined to find them.
Venturing into the forest with nothing but a suitcase and the company of her only true friend—the imaginary Shadow Boy—Ruby discovers a group of siblings who live alone in the woods. The children take her in, and while they offer the closest Ruby’s ever had to a family, Ruby begins to suspect that they might need her even more than she needs them. And it’s not always clear what’s real and what’s not—or who’s trying to help her and who might be a threat.
Told from shifting timelines, and the alternating perspectives of teenage Ruby; her mother, Anna; and even the Shadow Boy, The Doll Funeral is a dazzling follow-up to Kate Hamer’s breakout debut, The Girl in the Red Coat, and a gripping, exquisitely mysterious novel about the connections that remain after a family has been broken apart.
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Read more from Kate Hamer
The Girl in the Red Coat Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Doll Funeral Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5
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Reviews for The Doll Funeral
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
2/5
3 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Pheew, this was a long, a very long read for me and sometimes I wondered that I actually only read a couple of pages in what felt like ages.The concept was fascinating enough: a teenage girl suffers from her violent stepfather and hushed stepmother. Add to that the desire to meet her real parents and a newfound home in a neglected house with some weird siblings of the same age. Top that with her ability to see ghosts. Sounds intriguing? That's what I thought as well. However, the story was suffocating with slightly magical happenings, mysterious descriptions and dream-like sequences that it seemed to take forever to finish. At about a third of the book I was severely tempted to call it quits, but in order to write a substantiated review (and hoping that the book may just have had a slow start) I kept reading.The book 'Alice in Wonderland' was mentioned several times, but other than feeling similar to Alice 'jumping down the hole' on several occasions it did not add anything useful to the story and was not explored any further. Based on these short mentions I could not follow Rubys drastic decision to burn this book because to her it felt 'evil'. The whole half-hearted allusion to that book should have been either omitted completely or turned into a more prominent recurrent theme.While the writing was beautiful most of the time, it did not compensate for the mostly bored state I found myself in, wishing for something to finally happen. Towards the end there was a little more action and I did like the outcome.That and the writing style barely saved the book from getting a 1 star rating. I guess there are a lot of readers out there who love to 'get lost' in a story such as this, but I am definitely not one of them.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Reading this book is a classic case of one book by an author being a good read, and another being just terrible. I read The Girl in the Red Coat for book group and all members enjoyed it. So when I saw a new book out I had to order it from the library.The premise sounds good. Ruby when thirteen is told by her parents that she is adopted. Her adopted dad Mick is a brute and beats Ruby quite badly. Ruby decides she is going to find her real parents. Ruby can also see ghosts and has a constant one by her side called Shadow. I started out liking this book. I enjoyed the beautiful writing by the author and the chatty narrative by Ruby. At times she's quite amusing with what she has to say. As the book progresses I start to feel confused at times and don't know who are real people and who are ghosts.Ruby befriends Tom who lives with his sister and brother alone, their parents have gone to find themselves. This for me is where I start to get bored. The story just doesn't seem to gel with me. At this stage I'm struggling to have enough interest to carry on. I was hoping that it may all come together but I haven't got the will to find out.What I liked or rather who was Ruby. She's very plucky and I'm sorry I won't finish the book to find out what happens to her.What I didn't like was the ghost element to the story. The book would have been a lot better without it, and just have Ruby and her real mother's story.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5On Ruby’s thirteenth birthday her parents inform her that she was adopted. For most people this would be devastating news but for Ruby it’s a relief since she has no affection for her parents. Her father Mick is physically and verbally abusive and her mother Barbara turns a blind eye to his transgressions. Neither parent has provided love or emotional support. Armed with new information, Ruby decides to search for her natural parents with hopes of a better place to live. On her journey, we are introduced to an mystical entity named Shadow who provides some needed guidance. We are then introduced to seventeen year old Anna who is pregnant and unmarried. Anna is planning to give the baby up for adoption. Her boyfriend, Lewis, changes her plans with an offer of marriage after a move to London. Anna becomes lonely in the new country and Lewis pays the bills with criminal activities. Ruby and Anna’s stories alternate by chapter until they finally converge. Through the development of these characters, the book explores the natural bond formed between a mother and child. This novel by Kate Hamer has a supernatural element which becomes relevant as the stories merge.