24 Hours

by Margaret Mahy

Compelling drama in which 17-year-old Ellis comes to terms with the meaning of death...Ellis is an ordinary 17-year-old; someone who's planning to finish school and go to university like any other teenager. The difference is that four months ago, his best friend Simon killed himself. Still - that was four months ago. Ellis has now 'got over it'. Except, of course, he hasn't. Returning to his home town, he gets drawn into a situation in which the 'old' Ellis would never have become embrangled. He gatecrashes a party and persuaded to 'rescue' two sisters - Ursa and Leo, driving them back to the Land of Smiles - the ex-motel where they live. From that moment on, nothing is the same again. The story is narrated hour-by-hour, as Ellis packs a life-time of experiences into the next twenty-four hours. Giving in to high spirits and booze, Ellis wakes next morning in a strange bed, with a stonking hangover and a shaven head! He learns that a child has been kidnapped, and is persuaded to help in her rescue...This is a bizarre, surreal and powerful novel in which the reader is taken on the same roller-coaster ride as Ellis.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Fantasy, Contemporary

194 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

About the author

Margaret Mahy was a well-known New Zealand author of children's and young adult books. While the plots of many of her books have strong supernatural elements, her writing concentrates on the themes of human relationships and growing up.

Her books The Haunting and The Changeover: A Supernatural Romance both received the Carnegie Medal of the British Library Association. There have 100 children's books, 40 novels, and 20 collections of her stories published. Among her children's books, A Lion in the Meadow and The Seven Chinese Brothers and The Man Whose Mother was a Pirate are considered national classics. Her novels have been translated into German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Italian, Japanese, Catalan and Afrikaans. In addition, some stories have been translated into Russian, Chinese and Icelandic.

For her contributions to children's literature she was made a member of the Order of New Zealand. The Margaret Mahy Medal Award was established by the New Zealand Children's Book Foundation in 1991 to provide recognition of excellence in children's literature, publishing and literacy in New Zealand. In 2006 she was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award (known as the Little Nobel Prize) in recognition of a "lasting contribution to children's literature".

Margaret Mahy died on 23 July 2012.

On 29 April 2013, New Zealand’s top honour for children’s books was renamed the New Zealand Post Margaret Mahy Book of the Year award.

For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret...

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. This quite readable YA novel follows 17-yer-old Ellis over 24 hours, during which time he leaves his middle-class life to become part of a rather touching community of misfits who gather nightly at a rundown motel. In the space of a single day, Ellis leaves behind his shy, loner, don't-get-involved personality to become a fully functioning member of a group that must depend on each other for kindness, support, and ultimately survival. It's a good read - nothing fantastic, but I do like the respectful way that Mahy always treats her female characters. If I still had young-teen daughters, I would certainly give them Mahy's novels.

[Punk · Rating 2 out of 5]

YA. The thing about Margaret Mahy is that her characters speak with a lot of bang! I tend to shrug it off, figuring that's just the way people talk in New Zealand, overly cheery and always willing to end with an exclamation point. It's definitely the way people talk in Mahy's New Zealand.

This is a young adult novel with an affable narrator who still makes impulsive, childish decisions, but who is in the process of finding out who he is and what his talents are, and it's satisfying for that. It reads a little like something an angsty high schooler might write, complete with the suicide of a best friend and the recital of Shakespeare at a pivotal moment in the plot, but it's harmless enough. It's also really mundane, in the sense that it lacks the supernatural elements that often show up in her novels.

Two stars. I like Mahy a lot, but I won't be rereading this one.

[Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5 first read this when I was a teenager. Then I read it at least twice was a young adult. Now that I’m older my perception of the characters, the plot, and everhting else has shifted. This book has greatly impacted me long ago and it still means a lot to me. It is tricky, though, reading such a book when your mindset has changed and you see things differently.

One thing I particular really jolted me. Monty’s disgrace (no spoilers) was treated so lightly and even sympathetic toward him when it was clearly wrong. I was sort of shocked and appalled by it and this is not easily done. It was wild.

As for many of the other characters I can name off people that came into my life that remind me of them. I had my own Land of Smiles phase. Maybe that’s why I thought of it in such a way.

That being said it still is powerful and meaningful and impactful even if it’s not in the same way as before.

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It seemed like a teenage version of Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. The author can take that as a compliment, but I didn't mean it that way. I hate the all-in-one day structure. I was bored until the short climax at the end and disappointed by the non-committal ending.

[Stephanie A. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Teenage boys gonna teenage boy, which is to say this kid does a lot of stuff in 24 hours, including get mixed up with an inner-city kidnapping, but still manages to be uninteresting as a person.

[Annec · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had an unusually satisfying ending.

[Driss Haddadi · Rating 5 out of 5]

December 5, 2014

"24 hours" is a great story but the story makes even more intersting when it comes to the author. Here are two reasons that show that. first, she worked in a library. In most of the cases librarians stay librarians and being a librarian makes people want to write which inspired her. second, she got 6 awards. She got many awards and most of them weren't only in New Zealand (her original country). Therefore, Margaret has a great talent at writing books.

Themes excrepce different ideas about a book and here's an idea about that book which is illustrated in two ways. First, the theme is betrayal because Ellis got betrayed by his doctor. His doctor told him that he didn't have cancer which apparently, he lied to him. Second, he betrayed himself. He betrayed himself by saying that he'll do his hw everyday but he doesnt do it. These are two reasons that show that theme.

Settings are very important in books and movies. In this book there's two important settings. First, the hospital. There, in the hospital, the doctor betrayed Ellis. Second, it's his house. In Ellis' house, he finds out that he does have cancer and becomes sad. These are the two settings of the book.

Symbols are made to show what is happening in the story. There's two ways of that. First, the symbol is no trusting. No trusting because Ellis shouldn't trust the doctor. Second, the symbol is also used in his house. His mom shouldn't trust him when Ellis said that he'll do his hw. These are two ways that show the symbol.

December 12, 2014

Ellis became very dangerous when he lost his hair, and got a tattoo. First, he did many dangerous things than involves sex, and raping. "He had, after all, been into something much more dangerous than sex" (Mahy 5). Secondly, "He had been in love, and love had failed him" (Mahy 5). What that means is that he fell in love with many girls and he wanted to be recognized in his futur life. Ellis has been a very bad young man since he finished his studies.

Ellis had been a gentleman sometimes and here's evidence for that. First, he rescued a girl from a party, where she was drunk and drove her back home. "He rescued me from the party and drove me home" (Mahy 53). Second, he wanted to see a girl once more to talk to her because he missed her. " And, besides, he wanted to see Leona just once more" (Mahy 55). This paragraph shows that Ellis can also sometimes be a gentleman.

Ellis gets very bad ideas from the world that's around him. First, he saw some people having tattoos, he wanted to do it too. "The man gloved with tattoos, who was directing him on to yet another tattooed man, the man he had seen earlier..." (Mahy 62). Second, he starting thinking about some words that people hear everyday. "DRUGS! BOOZE! SEX!" (Mahy 63). These are some ideas that Ellis thought about.

Ellis remembers his family in some familiar things. First, when he sees his clothes, he remembers them. "They were almost the only things about him that was familiar" (Mahy 69-70). Second, the mirror helps him remember his family. When he looks at the mirror he sees himself and says that he ressembles to his family. This paragraph shows that Ellis has also a white heart and thinks about his family. He's not selfish.

January 9th

Winston is sometimes agressive towards people and wants to show that he's better than everyone. First, he disrespected people face to face, and he wasn't even shy. "Winston says you lot think you own everything around here, and you'd better watch out" (Mahy 104). Second, he makes people feel uncomfortable. "Bug Winston, and he'll rip your face off (Mahy 106). To conclude, Winston is a very bad guy that doesn't care about other people's feelings.

Jason is the peace guy, that doesn't have and make problems. First, he thinks about people even thought they insult him. "Yeah, but Winston..." (106). Second, he doesn't want people to fight. When people are about to fight, he changes the subject. To sum up Jason is a good guy.

Ellis had some problems with her friends and they got into a fight. First, she fought against Ursa and Leona. They had to meet in a sepcific place near Ellis' house, but she stayed there alone because they didn't come. Second, Ellis fought badly with Jackie which caused her many problems. "For the moment, both Ellis and Jackie are excluded" (Mahy 107). All for all, Ellis has been disappointing throughout the story.

Leona has been the love girl through out the story. First, she was in love with Ellis. "Leona's eyes may have been red-rimmed, but the smile she directed at him was the smile of an angel" (Mahy 111). Second, Ellis has been the bad guy in the story until he met Leona. Every time he spoke, he was talking to her. Therefore, Leona has been in love with Ellis (the bad guy) throughout the story.

[Sonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

24 Hours is an emotional read - the author builds tension through psychology, coincidence, and the quiet terror of how quickly an ordinary day can spiral out of control. We follow Gavin who finds out how over the course of a single day how decisions set off a chain of events that grow steadily darker and more dangerous.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

24 Hours follows Ellis, who's 17 and just back from boarding school, over the course of a day-long period that turns out to have a lot more adventure and drama in it than expected. When Ellis runs into a former classmate (Jackie, who's a little older, but isn't a university student and doesn't have a steady job) he figures they'll just have a beer and go their separate ways. But Jackie talks Ellis into driving him to a party, where conflict ensues, which leads to a much bigger and more dramatic conflict that Ellis finds himself involved in as well. Meanwhile, Ellis (who wants to be an actor) finds himself thinking about Shakespeare and mortality (his best friend, Simon, killed himself a few months before) as the book's events unfold.

For a pretty short book, there's a lot going on in this one, plot-wise. After going to the party with Jackie, Ellis also meets three sisters (Ursa, Leona, and Fox) who all live in a rundown former motel with their former guardian; Jackie hangs out at the motel (which is called the Land of Smiles) too, and Ellis ends up at another party there, moving in adult social circles that are very different from the ones he knows from his financially-comfortable family. At the same time, it feels like for a lot of the book, we don't know any of the characters that well: we're thrust with Ellis from one odd situation to another, and I found the book's pacing slightly strange.

That said, by the final portion of the book, I was cheering Ellis and Jackie and Leona and Ursa on, and eager to see how the ending of the book would unfold. And there are some satisfying moments and passages earlier in the book, too. I like how at the first party, there are musicians playing Vivaldi, and Ellis recognizes the tune from a car commercial while Jackie knows the composer and moans about how the music is "so beautiful" but is so over-played that it's "become its own sort of joke" (25). And I like various descriptions: I like how Ellis takes in the neighborhood around the Land of Smiles like this: "All around him lay a country of rust and graffitied fences" (90). Later, Ellis finds himself on top of a building, "looking down on an expanse of roofs, a geography of corrugated iron" (168). And I like how Jackie describes a large portrait painted on a wall as being by an art student who "thought art should be out and about—everyone living with it whenever they walked to the shop to buy bread" (96).

Also pleasing: I learned that Margaret Mahy got a tattoo when she was 62 because a character in this book gets a tattoo and she wanted to write about it convincingly.

[Ezm · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was about 17-year-old Ellis, who just returned home after graduating from prep school, meets up with old grade-school classmates, Jackie Cattle and Christo Kilmer. These two boys, along with three sisters, help to trigger the bizarre events of the next 24 hours.

This was a really good read. Poignant and well-written. It keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time. All of the characters are complex and revealed throughout the events of the novel. The main character Ellis is likeable and complex. Sometimes naive and sometimes wise beyond his years. All of them are memorable pieces of a puzzle you didn't know existed until this novel. The action is paced just right and will certainly keep you on the edge of your seat yet it also is also driven by the complex and engaging characters. They keep you captivated and intrigued all the way through.

I read this book when I was in high school and found it captivating. Not only is it a tale full of adventure but also one that touches upon dealing with death, more specifically the suicide of his best friend.

For a young adult book it is quite insightful, which is why I always come back to it. I found the timing of reading it was right on mark, as it deals with death and how to cope with it. Leona in particular highlights how she deals with death and her and her sister's past. I won't give out any plot-spoiling information but we'll say that the insight was that death is apart of life--a natural occurrence. It's not something to make you "Shudder".

It also is about dealing with close ones who committed suicide. For example, Ellis' best friend committing suicide. It took this wild journey to come to grips with it and finally let it come to a close. I feel like if I say much more I will be giving it away. I will just say that even though this is a YA book that I read it as a teen it still effects me. I always seem to read it right when I need it. I highly recommend it.

[Celia Hext · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why I decided to read this book:
I decided to read this book as I had read some other Margaret Mahy books before and liked them and I know she is a good New Zealand author. This book was in my bookcase at home so I picked it up and decided to read it.

Which category ‘24 Hours’ comes under on the Bingo Board:
I put this book under the category of 'a New Zealand author'. I was really disappointed because I enjoyed Mahy's last book so much, I had high expectations for this one. I found the book really boring and that it dragged on way too long even though it is a short book.

Favourite Quote:
I must say, the book has some really cool and interesting descriptions and they are very unique and nothing I have read before. I don't have a favourite quot in the book but I do like some of the descriptions. This is one, 'But, although the sunlight was finding its way so confidently between hotels and banks, shops and offices, the city was threatened by a storm.' I think this is a really cool way to describe the scene and it is not confusing at all although it has a good use of different language techniques.

An interesting setting or character:
An interesting character would have to be Phipps the tattoo artist. He is very mysterious and I could never get a grip on him. He seemed to always know something and I was never sure if he meant well or not. He kind of freaked me out a little bit and added to the strangeness of the book.

Something new I learned from this book is:
All I really learnt from this book is not to get too wasted or you'll wake up the next day feeling absolutely horrible. There was no underlying message in this book, or if there was, I certainly did not pick up on it.

I did not like this book very much and found it a hassle and chore to read. I was let down as I liked Margaret Mahy’s other books so much. Hopefully this is the only one and all her others are no where near the same.

[Keely Bamber · Rating 2 out of 5]

I decided to read this novel because I wanted to read a novel written by a New Zealand author and I had heard many good reviews about Margaret Mahy so I decided to read a book written by her.

It fits under the "book written by a New Zealand author" box on the bingo board. It was interesting because I don't normally read books written by New Zealand authors and I thought it would be a bit of a change, although I was a bit disappointed because I found the novel to be very boring and the book sort of just dragged on.

No quote in this novel really stood out for me, I felt that she didn't really have a message or I didn't really find the authors purpose. So I feel like I can't put a quote in, if I couldn't back it up with a reason why I like it or what it means to me.

I didn't learn anything from this novel, I didn't think any morales or messages were in this novel. There may have been one which was not as obvious, but I don't think it shone through.

An interesting character for me would have to be Phipps because I couldn't relate to him, he was very creepy and mysterious. I couldn't understand what he was all about, what his intentions were or just anything about him. Got some weird vibes from him.

[Nigel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast paced tale, one of those chance-encounter-that-changes-everything narratives. Ellis is 17, just finished school, on the brink of adulthood, thrilling to the possibilities, still coping with the suicide of is best friend. He meets Jackie, who persuades him to drive them to a party, where they meet two sisters and return to the motel where they live called the Land Of Smiles. This is a whole different world for Ellis, a world of the rejected and the wounded and the disreputable. Before the 24 hours is up, Ellis races through a whole lifetime's worth of experiences, including love, rejection and a car chase. It's a great read about the darker, more dangerous side of life, a microcosm for the recklessness of youth haunted by death and the burgeoning notion of taking responsibility, both for yourself and others. if that sounds a bit po-faced, it's not, it's just that Mahy manages to pack a lot in there without making it look packed at all.

[Megan Rust]

It is important to give a book a chance. The first couple chapters may be slow, but keep going because it be about to get interesting. That is how 24 Hours written by Margaret Mahy was for me. It started out slowly, but by the time I got half way through I could hardly put the book down. The idea that one man is able to experience a lifetime of experience in just 24 hours is an incredible plot. The author's use of detail to describe the settings and characters in the story was excellent. It was interesting to see how someone from and entirely different life would react to being thrown into almost a new world they had never even know existed. Would Ellis embrace the life and fall into the ways of the new world, or would he reject it and try to get out of the Land-of-Smiles?

[Salla Erho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helmet-lukuhaaste 2016
46. Oseanialaisen kirjailijan kirjoittama kirja (tähän haastekohtaan tuli luettua pari teosta saman tien, Ihimaeran Valasratsastaja oli se toinen)

Margaret Mahy: Hitaat tunnit
17-vuotias Ellis palaa kotipaikkakunnalleen koulun päättymisen jälkeen. Hän törmää kadulla entiseen alakoulukaveriinsa ja ajautuu vuorokauden mittaiseen yhteensattumien ja eriskummallisten tapahtumien vyyhteen, minkä jälkeen mikään ei ole kuin ennen. Tiivis 24 tunnin romaani kuvaa surua ja siitä toipumista, yhteiskuntaluokkien yhteentörmäystä, ihastumista, irrallisuuden tunnetta ja halua kuulua johonkin. Teos on vuorokauden mittainen taidokas kasvutarina.

Onneksi haasteen myötä tuli pitkästä aikaa tartuttua Mahyyn. Olin unohtanut, miten hyviä hänen romaaninsa ovat.

[Chana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great tension and pacing. This is 24 hours in the life of Ellis, a 17 year old boy just out of school. He is looking for adventure, something to do in the city, when he runs into a boy he knows from school, a few years older than Ellis himself. This is the start of a real rollercoaster ride of a story. Sometimes when I was reading it I was just so glad not to be a teenager. But our Ellis makes good, you will have to read the story to see how it all falls out.

[Tyler-j Tuiala · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book goes under the catergory: Recommended by Family Member.
1) I chose to read this book because it was short and simple but still seemed very interesting.
2) I liked the plot and how it kept the reader wanting to know more as they read.
3) I disliked the fact that sometimes I wouldnt understand how some of the weird stuff even happened.
4) I recommend this book for anyone looking for a good story.

[Melinda Szymanik · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a good story told fairly well but didn't quite have the magic, mystery and urgency of other Margaret Mahy books. What seemed to be a crucial theme in the end didn't really have the right 'weight' through the book and I hadn't felt the pull of this for the central charcter. MM is a skilled writer and this still shines through but the books of hers I have enjoyed the most have magic as a major influence and this isn't the case in 24 Hours

[Kaitlyn]

24 hours is a book about Ellis. Who just got home from college and meet an old friend Jackie. He take Ellis to a party where Ellis meets Ursa, Jackie's girlfriend. This is where the madness begans and Shelly the kidnapped child comes in to play. What happens after that well you will just have to read to find out! I rate this book 3 out of 5.

[Kat · Rating 1 out of 5]

i thought this was boring and stupid

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it was a bit of a strange read, I did enjoy this book.

[Jonathan Peng · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book has lots of twists and turns. If you are looking for a mystery novel this book is a good one to read.

[Andy Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

With action spanning the time frame of the title, this coming-of-age- novel is set in New Zealand. Zany, outlandish and a lot of fun. I have taught it to Y9 classes and they like it too.