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Tanglewreck #1
Tanglewreck
Something frightening is happening to time. Time tornadoes are ripping people from the present, never to return them, while a woolly mammoth inexplicably appears on banks of the River Thames. Eleven-year-old Silver and her guardian live in a house called Tanglewreck, which is somehow at the center of these mysterious time warps. A strange heirloom called the Timekeeper is hidden somewhere in the house, and Silver must find it and protect it . . . because whoever gets hold of the Timekeeper will have the power to control time-and life as we know it-forever.
Reviews
"The sheer exhilaration of the adventure and the many fascinating historical and scientific allusions will keep readers engrossed through to the satisfying conclusion." -Publishers Weekly "An appealing read for fantasy and science- fiction fans alike...Well-developed main characters add liveliness and suspense to the story, while secondary characters (a pair of inept thugs, the original Schrödinger's cat) add touches of humor to a basically sober story. The climax is chaotic and exciting; the resolution is realistic, bittersweet." -Kirkus Reviews "Winterson masterfully weaves together an imaginative array of settings and characters to bring the story to its exhilarating fulfillment. Silver's varied relationships add even more depth, encapsulating family, friendship, deceit, and abuse... "[T]his time-bending sci-fi adventure will be a fine addition to young adult collections." -School Library Journal "Winterson seamlessly combines rousing adventure with time warps, quantum physics, and a few wonderfully hapless flunkies. Her clever science will draw fans of Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, and her dastardly villains and resourceful youngsters will remind readers of the Lemony Snicket's books about the hapless Baudelaires." --Booklist "Silver is a plucky hero in the mold of Neil Gaiman's Coraline and Philip Pullman's Lyra, a creature of action not introspection.
Reviews
"The sheer exhilaration of the adventure and the many fascinating historical and scientific allusions will keep readers engrossed through to the satisfying conclusion." -Publishers Weekly "An appealing read for fantasy and science- fiction fans alike...Well-developed main characters add liveliness and suspense to the story, while secondary characters (a pair of inept thugs, the original Schrödinger's cat) add touches of humor to a basically sober story. The climax is chaotic and exciting; the resolution is realistic, bittersweet." -Kirkus Reviews "Winterson masterfully weaves together an imaginative array of settings and characters to bring the story to its exhilarating fulfillment. Silver's varied relationships add even more depth, encapsulating family, friendship, deceit, and abuse... "[T]his time-bending sci-fi adventure will be a fine addition to young adult collections." -School Library Journal "Winterson seamlessly combines rousing adventure with time warps, quantum physics, and a few wonderfully hapless flunkies. Her clever science will draw fans of Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, and her dastardly villains and resourceful youngsters will remind readers of the Lemony Snicket's books about the hapless Baudelaires." --Booklist "Silver is a plucky hero in the mold of Neil Gaiman's Coraline and Philip Pullman's Lyra, a creature of action not introspection.
415 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2006
48 people are currently reading
2144 people want to read
About the author
Jeanette Winterson
124 books7,673 followersNovelist Jeanette Winterson was born in Manchester, England in 1959. She was adopted and brought up in Accrington, Lancashire, in the north of England. Her strict Pentecostal Evangelist upbringing provides the background to her acclaimed first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, published in 1985. She graduated from St Catherine's College, Oxford, and moved to London where she worked as an assistant editor at Pandora Press.
One of the most original voices in British fiction to emerge during the 1980s, Winterson was named as one of the 20 "Best of Young British Writers" in a promotion run jointly between the literary magazine Granta and the Book Marketing Council.
She adapted Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit for BBC television in 1990 and also wrote "Great Moments in Aviation," a television screenplay directed by Beeban Kidron for BBC2 in 1994. She is editor of a series of new editions of novels by Virginia Woolf published in the UK by Vintage. She is a regular contributor of reviews and articles to many newspapers and journals and has a regular column published in The Guardian. Her radio drama includes the play Text Message, broadcast by BBC Radio in November 2001.
Winterson lives in Gloucestershire and London. Her work is published in 28 countries.
One of the most original voices in British fiction to emerge during the 1980s, Winterson was named as one of the 20 "Best of Young British Writers" in a promotion run jointly between the literary magazine Granta and the Book Marketing Council.
She adapted Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit for BBC television in 1990 and also wrote "Great Moments in Aviation," a television screenplay directed by Beeban Kidron for BBC2 in 1994. She is editor of a series of new editions of novels by Virginia Woolf published in the UK by Vintage. She is a regular contributor of reviews and articles to many newspapers and journals and has a regular column published in The Guardian. Her radio drama includes the play Text Message, broadcast by BBC Radio in November 2001.
Winterson lives in Gloucestershire and London. Her work is published in 28 countries.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 307 reviews
October 28, 2016
Time travel. The cover on our copy is pure steampunk, lots of clock gears, unlike the cover shown, which looks a lot like the Golden Compass. Win, win, I suppose.***We just started. Time travel and an interestingly named house. Yum.***The house is an important character, just like in Rebecca and Little, Big. I love books in which the house is a character.***It's getting better. A train trip to London, a house in Spittalfields.***Every thing else I try to read doesn't appeal so much as this. I'm loving the Dickensian character names: Thugger and Fisty, Abel Darkwater, Mrs. Rokabye, and Bigamist, the rabbit. I'm loving the house and the adventure, including the Throwbacks with their little bog ponies and a wooly mammoth.It's a marvelous fantasy, and I'll have to try others by Jeanette Winterson, because I'm loving the writing itself.***Wow. Tonight's reading included an aside about Bedlam. That Bedlam. Back when people used to go to look at the inmates.***Again with the names: Regalia Mason. How dangerous is she going to be?***Winterson is doing a beautiful job. Just a great story. ***I continue to enjoy this book more than anything else in the house. I'm simultaneously delighted and annoyed to be reading it one chapter a day. Usually, I gulp books down as fast as I can.I'm very taken with the idea of the Einstein Line. Well, it's one solution.***Black holes, Shrödinger's cat, big bowls of pasta. There's a little bit of everything in here, and I loved it.
****
Eight years on, and it is still enjoyable.But I think I’d like it even more if less time were spent in London and elsewhere.
****
Eight years on, and it is still enjoyable.But I think I’d like it even more if less time were spent in London and elsewhere.
August 19, 2011
I've read several of Jeanette Winterson's books for adults, but while I love the language and find magic in them, I'm not exactly a fan of hers. I wasn't sure what to expect from a children's book by her, or YA, or whatever age group it's meant to be aimed at. But actually, I did enjoy it quite a lot: it's recognisably her work, with the structure and the use of language and other idiosyncrasies of hers, but it's also much easier to relax into. The plot is more linear, the narration less whimsical.
It reminded me of a lot of other books. Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom. Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. Inheritance and quest narratives. It's not as original and different as Winterson's work for adults, I guess, but that didn't strike me as a good thing.
I loved the Dickensian names, as someone else observed. They were pretty perfect. And I loved the characters of Micah and Gabriel, in their quiet faith and steadfastness. And Goliath the Mammoth! And Tanglewreck itself, about which I would have loved to know more.
It's not one of my favourite reads of the year or anything, but I'm glad I got it, and glad to find a book by Winterson I can unequivocally say I enjoyed.
It reminded me of a lot of other books. Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom. Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. Inheritance and quest narratives. It's not as original and different as Winterson's work for adults, I guess, but that didn't strike me as a good thing.
I loved the Dickensian names, as someone else observed. They were pretty perfect. And I loved the characters of Micah and Gabriel, in their quiet faith and steadfastness. And Goliath the Mammoth! And Tanglewreck itself, about which I would have loved to know more.
It's not one of my favourite reads of the year or anything, but I'm glad I got it, and glad to find a book by Winterson I can unequivocally say I enjoyed.
October 20, 2011
I had such high hopes for this book. It had a female main character, which can be hard to come by in science-fiction, and started out with a very interesting and engaging premise. But, after about Chapter 2 it all just deteriorated. It was bogged down in technical, scientific, and existentialist theories that were akin to reading a theoretical physics text book. And although those concepts are very interesting and could make a great story if done well, they were not weaved well enough into this story to be engaging - only confusing and convoluted. It also attempted to weave religious ideas, history, and story into the mix, but ultimately just ended up coming off as offensive in the way each religion was rendered in the story. It showed a complete lack of understanding of the religious history of these groups and therefore was not able to add this dimension to the storyline in any way that was enlightening or helpful. It also lacked consistent character development in that it created sadistic villains who appeared to weave from “good” to bad in uncharacteristic, unbelievable, and bizarre ways. Also, the relationship between the main character and her friend was totally unbelievable, as they were only 11 years old and the idea of a strong love-bond being established and recognized at that age, in such a short time, was very unrealistic. Also, the story was all over the place - from time travel, to theoretical physics, to existentialism, to underground people that never aged, to old time mental hospitals, to parallel worlds. It had every concept you could image mixed together, and rather than creating a beautiful picture, just created mud. And finally, the final outcome of the story where the little girl has to make a very huge sacrifice and choice was totally unbelievable in the ease at which she would choose or be left to choose. So, on every count the story was not successful and I would not recommend it.
August 13, 2007
Nancy Pearl suggested this on NPR. Noticed it in the Greenpt Library and after putting back all the other books, except for the one I had reserved, because I have enough reading at home and dont need any more books. I grabbed it on my way out. Obvious elements of the Golden Compass (precocious young orphan child with a desirable magical toy that only she can operate, her daemon is her house, Tanglewreck, traveling through space and time, evil parental figures, male BFF she has to rescue...) + Neverwhere (underground world and adventures) + A Series of Unfortunate Events (orphan with a mean aunt). Is everything a Pulman knock-off? It's the most like the Golden Compass--they call Silver "the child with the golden face," a clock is like a compass (time and space being the same thing), beautiful maternal villain who's trying to take over the world... and at the end her male BFF and she get to stay in one world together cuz they love each other even though they've barely hit puberty, love conquers all, blah blah blah... What would Levi-Strauss say? (comp-lit shoutout!)
Winterson's pretty gutsy to delve into parallel universes and quantum physics with a YA book... Schrodinger's cat that dies and comes back to life in an alternate universe, particles that can exist in 2 places at once, that kind of stuff will entertain grownup-nerds but probably annoy the 10 year olds. Or not, I probably dont give them enough credit; maybe they'll read this and go straight to Stephen Hawking. Or just Stephen King. That's not very funny.
Winterson's blog says she's hoping to write more YA books because they're so fun... but is it possible to write an original YA book that isn't all Judy Blume or Beverly Cleary (or J.K. Rowling/ Philip Pullman)?
Well?
Winterson's pretty gutsy to delve into parallel universes and quantum physics with a YA book... Schrodinger's cat that dies and comes back to life in an alternate universe, particles that can exist in 2 places at once, that kind of stuff will entertain grownup-nerds but probably annoy the 10 year olds. Or not, I probably dont give them enough credit; maybe they'll read this and go straight to Stephen Hawking. Or just Stephen King. That's not very funny.
Winterson's blog says she's hoping to write more YA books because they're so fun... but is it possible to write an original YA book that isn't all Judy Blume or Beverly Cleary (or J.K. Rowling/ Philip Pullman)?
Well?
August 12, 2015
The concept of time tornadoes is quite exciting. The execution of the story on the other hand? Not so much.
November 21, 2011
I first became aware of Jeanette Winterson from an interview she did with Bill Moyers when her take on the Atlas myth, Weight: The Myth of Atlas and Heracles, came out. She and the book sounded intriguing, and I wasn't disappointed in either.
I haven't read a lot of her adult fiction subsequently (Oranges are Not the Only Fruit and her SF outing, The Stone Gods) but I've been impressed by the ideas she wrestles with and by her writing abilities so I was a bit disappointed in Tanglewreck, her initial foray into the young-adult market.
The story is decent enough: Our eleven-year-old heroine, Silver River, has lost her parents and older sister, and now lives alone in the family home of Tanglewreck with an aunt () and her mean-spirited rabbit Bigamist. In the world at large, Time appears to be falling apart - Time Tornadoes are ripping apart the fabric of Time and causing fear and panic. None of this impacts directly on Silver until a mysterious stranger, Abel Darkwater, comes by looking for the Timekeeper, and Silver finds herself looking for this missing artifact in a race against Darkwater and a second villain - Regalia Mason, whose company, Quanta, promises to end the temporal disruptions but at a frightening cost.
The story is reasonably inventive and enjoyable, and Winterson manages to weave in a number of points about quantum mechanics, time and space without making things tedious similar to how Norton Juster injects math and linguistics into The Phantom Tollbooth. But here's my primary "problem" with Tanglewreck: It's not as much fun to read as The Phantom Tollbooth or China Mieville's Un Lun Dun, another book I kept thinking about as I read this one. My sense when reading was that Winterson was forcing the "young-adult ambiance"; the prose didn't sound as natural as it does (to me) in her adult fiction.
That said, I still enjoyed Tanglewreck even though it doesn't play to Winterson's strengths, and I'm still looking forward to eventually reading her second YA venture - The Battle of the Sun. And I will be regifting this to my nieces come the Xmas season.
I haven't read a lot of her adult fiction subsequently (Oranges are Not the Only Fruit and her SF outing, The Stone Gods) but I've been impressed by the ideas she wrestles with and by her writing abilities so I was a bit disappointed in Tanglewreck, her initial foray into the young-adult market.
The story is decent enough: Our eleven-year-old heroine, Silver River, has lost her parents and older sister, and now lives alone in the family home of Tanglewreck with an aunt () and her mean-spirited rabbit Bigamist. In the world at large, Time appears to be falling apart - Time Tornadoes are ripping apart the fabric of Time and causing fear and panic. None of this impacts directly on Silver until a mysterious stranger, Abel Darkwater, comes by looking for the Timekeeper, and Silver finds herself looking for this missing artifact in a race against Darkwater and a second villain - Regalia Mason, whose company, Quanta, promises to end the temporal disruptions but at a frightening cost.
The story is reasonably inventive and enjoyable, and Winterson manages to weave in a number of points about quantum mechanics, time and space without making things tedious similar to how Norton Juster injects math and linguistics into The Phantom Tollbooth. But here's my primary "problem" with Tanglewreck: It's not as much fun to read as The Phantom Tollbooth or China Mieville's Un Lun Dun, another book I kept thinking about as I read this one. My sense when reading was that Winterson was forcing the "young-adult ambiance"; the prose didn't sound as natural as it does (to me) in her adult fiction.
That said, I still enjoyed Tanglewreck even though it doesn't play to Winterson's strengths, and I'm still looking forward to eventually reading her second YA venture - The Battle of the Sun. And I will be regifting this to my nieces come the Xmas season.
February 4, 2008
This children's fantasy started out strong, but peters out a bit in the end. The basic idea is that all over the world, people are being caught up in "time storms" that sweep them out of their appropriate time and scatter them through time and space. Somehow connected to these time warps is a rambling old house called Tanglewreck, where an young girl named Silver lives with her malicious old aunt, Mrs. Rockaby.
There are some really fantastically witty elements to this book, my favorite possibly being Mrs. Rockaby's unusual accomplice in evil, a large malevolent rabbit named Bigamist. Unfortunately, by the end of the book, all of the plotlines are in a somewhat incomprehensible tangle. I don't know if Winterson intends to write a sequel; the book certainly leaves things open for one, and that could help straighten some of the plot elements out. Overall, though, I can only recommend this with reservations, and I don't think it works particularly well for the age group it's intended for.
There are some really fantastically witty elements to this book, my favorite possibly being Mrs. Rockaby's unusual accomplice in evil, a large malevolent rabbit named Bigamist. Unfortunately, by the end of the book, all of the plotlines are in a somewhat incomprehensible tangle. I don't know if Winterson intends to write a sequel; the book certainly leaves things open for one, and that could help straighten some of the plot elements out. Overall, though, I can only recommend this with reservations, and I don't think it works particularly well for the age group it's intended for.
August 20, 2017
For a novel written by an author as renowned as Jeanette Winterson, it was positively shambolic.
The plot follows a young girl (Silver) who lives in a world where time is falling out of step, causing people to go missing in 'Time Tornadoes' and others from the past to appear in the present. Silver, after a visit from a suspicious Mr Darkwater, must go on a quest for a special clock (the Timekeeper) to put the world back to rights.
The trouble with the plot is twofold: first of all, there are simply too many plot lines and two many parties after the same thing. If they met in a much more explosive way at the end, it may have been worth it, à la Game of Thrones when important characters meet. Unfortunately, the part where they all meet was simply boring and underplayed, and made all the strands the story had followed feel like a waste of time.
The other problem is that Winterson's seemingly unedited writing veers uncontrollably through necessary detail, especially towards the end. Problems (such as the Throwbacks' inability to live in light/warm places) are solved with literally no explanation, and that's not to mention the utter randomness of the events of the last chapter or so.
That brings me to another point - the cheesiness of the characters' names in this book. I'm not sure why writers think middle grade/young adult readers will enjoy a book more if everyone has silly names like 'Abel Darkwater', 'Silver River' and 'Mrs Rokabye'. The only thing it served to do was to make the book even more off-putting.
Another flaw in the writing (ironically) is Winterson's inappropriate use of detail. In chapter two, the reader is supposed to believe that a 12-year-old girl might think "The cellar is black and filthy and lit by a dusty electric 25-watt bulb." Why didn't an editor tell her that 12-year-old girls simply wouldn't think about a room in terms of the wattage of the lightbulb? Another example of this also comes early in the novel whereby one of the main antagonists gives away their bad intentions to the reader in thought. I've searched for where this happens and I can't find it again, however it began something like, "How could [main characters] ever know that..." and goes on to give spoilers. When I read it I thought, 'Why did she do that?', but now it is clear to me that Jeanette Winterson simply doesn't know when detail is needed and when it is not.
Furthermore, this book tries to cover too much. From the Bermuda Triangle to Schrödinger's cat, Winterson is intent on including absolutely anything remotely interesting in our world and coming up with some explanation for it within the world of Tanglewreck.
There were many other eye-roll moments that I have not touched on here, and I only finished this book because it was a fast read. Having done so I can tell you that it's basically a poor imitation of Phillip Pullman's Northern Lights, and I highly recommend you read that instead of this if you haven't already.
The plot follows a young girl (Silver) who lives in a world where time is falling out of step, causing people to go missing in 'Time Tornadoes' and others from the past to appear in the present. Silver, after a visit from a suspicious Mr Darkwater, must go on a quest for a special clock (the Timekeeper) to put the world back to rights.
The trouble with the plot is twofold: first of all, there are simply too many plot lines and two many parties after the same thing. If they met in a much more explosive way at the end, it may have been worth it, à la Game of Thrones when important characters meet. Unfortunately, the part where they all meet was simply boring and underplayed, and made all the strands the story had followed feel like a waste of time.
The other problem is that Winterson's seemingly unedited writing veers uncontrollably through necessary detail, especially towards the end. Problems (such as the Throwbacks' inability to live in light/warm places) are solved with literally no explanation, and that's not to mention the utter randomness of the events of the last chapter or so.
That brings me to another point - the cheesiness of the characters' names in this book. I'm not sure why writers think middle grade/young adult readers will enjoy a book more if everyone has silly names like 'Abel Darkwater', 'Silver River' and 'Mrs Rokabye'. The only thing it served to do was to make the book even more off-putting.
Another flaw in the writing (ironically) is Winterson's inappropriate use of detail. In chapter two, the reader is supposed to believe that a 12-year-old girl might think "The cellar is black and filthy and lit by a dusty electric 25-watt bulb." Why didn't an editor tell her that 12-year-old girls simply wouldn't think about a room in terms of the wattage of the lightbulb? Another example of this also comes early in the novel whereby one of the main antagonists gives away their bad intentions to the reader in thought. I've searched for where this happens and I can't find it again, however it began something like, "How could [main characters] ever know that..." and goes on to give spoilers. When I read it I thought, 'Why did she do that?', but now it is clear to me that Jeanette Winterson simply doesn't know when detail is needed and when it is not.
Furthermore, this book tries to cover too much. From the Bermuda Triangle to Schrödinger's cat, Winterson is intent on including absolutely anything remotely interesting in our world and coming up with some explanation for it within the world of Tanglewreck.
There were many other eye-roll moments that I have not touched on here, and I only finished this book because it was a fast read. Having done so I can tell you that it's basically a poor imitation of Phillip Pullman's Northern Lights, and I highly recommend you read that instead of this if you haven't already.
September 7, 2007
I would give this book 2 1/2 stars if I could, which is a shame because I was really excited about it and wanted to love it. It wasn't bad, really it wasn't, I just don't think Jeanette Winterson knew quite what she wanted to do with it. It's classified as YA, as it well should be based on the writing style. But, the main character is only 11 and the plot itself is sort of juvenile. I feel like Winterson wanted this to be a juvenile book, but couldn't write simply enough for it to really be a kid's book.
In defense of Tanglewreck, it contains some excellent writing. The first chapter, only two pages or so, that describes the first of London's often catastrophic "time tornadoes" is simply brilliant. However, it also contains what is potentially the worst sentence ever published by an established author: "He was traveling faster than light, because he was travelling at the speed of love."
As a whole the book is fine...not magical, not entralling or engrossing, but definitely more than passable. I'll keep this in mind for those parents who walk up to the desk saying, "My son/daughter is in third grade but is reading at a sixth grade level..."
In defense of Tanglewreck, it contains some excellent writing. The first chapter, only two pages or so, that describes the first of London's often catastrophic "time tornadoes" is simply brilliant. However, it also contains what is potentially the worst sentence ever published by an established author: "He was traveling faster than light, because he was travelling at the speed of love."
As a whole the book is fine...not magical, not entralling or engrossing, but definitely more than passable. I'll keep this in mind for those parents who walk up to the desk saying, "My son/daughter is in third grade but is reading at a sixth grade level..."
January 5, 2020
Ambitious Time/Space YA Fantasy
Review of the Bloomsbury US hardcover edition (2006)
Thanks to Liisa & Martin for this one of many 2019 Christmas reading gifts!
This was quite an ambitious YA fantasy novel that takes the youthful protagonist through "time tornados" across space and time into multiple universes. It actually seemed almost too ambitious and I wonder how younger readers will understand it. There are a few scenes that will likely conjure up some disturbing imagery for adults (experimentation on twins, "atomisation" of people) but which would likely not have the same WWII era/Nazi Germany associations for young adults. I think Winterson's older fans will find much to enjoy here. It does seem to wrap up rather too quickly.
I've found out now that Winterson's The Battle Of The Sun (2009) is somewhat of a prequel/sequel to Tanglewreck.
Review of the Bloomsbury US hardcover edition (2006)
Thanks to Liisa & Martin for this one of many 2019 Christmas reading gifts!
This was quite an ambitious YA fantasy novel that takes the youthful protagonist through "time tornados" across space and time into multiple universes. It actually seemed almost too ambitious and I wonder how younger readers will understand it. There are a few scenes that will likely conjure up some disturbing imagery for adults (experimentation on twins, "atomisation" of people) but which would likely not have the same WWII era/Nazi Germany associations for young adults. I think Winterson's older fans will find much to enjoy here. It does seem to wrap up rather too quickly.
I've found out now that Winterson's The Battle Of The Sun (2009) is somewhat of a prequel/sequel to Tanglewreck.
January 11, 2013
Nyeh. This started fairly promising as a charming children's fantasy about the value of time, in the "scrappy orphan saves the world" tradition, but then quickly derailed into a poorly paced hodgepodge of familiar concepts previously better employed by other writers (Michael Ende's "Momo", Madeleine L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time" and Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere" especially come to mind). The characters remain pretty flat throughout, there is far too much telling-not-showing (really, you can't find a better way to convey that your heroine [who cries and/or whinges ALL THE DAMN TIME, BTW] is brave than to literally write "She was brave" about once per chapter?)
Apart from Silver (who unfortunately gets more unsympathetic as the story unfolds and she keeps doing really dumb things while everyone else acts like she's made of sparkly rainbow-coated wisdom cookies), the other characters are pretty one-dimensional as well; mid-paragraph POV shifts, Magical Beach People, a plethora of dei ex machina and ham-fisted morality lessons abound, and the philosophy of Time (always a fascinating concept) gets served up in big uninspired slops along with the supersized exposition rations.
That said (and wow, apparently I had more nitpicks than I realised, lol), it was a quick and entertaining read, she certainly knows how to turn a phrase, and if I'd read it as a kid (and before I read the above-mentioned other books), I might've loved it. 2.8-ish?
Apart from Silver (who unfortunately gets more unsympathetic as the story unfolds and she keeps doing really dumb things while everyone else acts like she's made of sparkly rainbow-coated wisdom cookies), the other characters are pretty one-dimensional as well; mid-paragraph POV shifts, Magical Beach People, a plethora of dei ex machina and ham-fisted morality lessons abound, and the philosophy of Time (always a fascinating concept) gets served up in big uninspired slops along with the supersized exposition rations.
That said (and wow, apparently I had more nitpicks than I realised, lol), it was a quick and entertaining read, she certainly knows how to turn a phrase, and if I'd read it as a kid (and before I read the above-mentioned other books), I might've loved it. 2.8-ish?
January 20, 2011
Down on the Church and Science and America ... and, well, not really *up* on anything except bizarre and instant friendship.
And who names a character Buddleia and doesn't explain why? Granted, the character in question is a dead sister who gets mentioned a lot (something was wrong with her leg, so she and the parents had to go into London) ... but that turns out to be more of a limping waiter problem itself.
I wanted to, but I couldn't like this book. The interesting parts weren't explored enough and the non-interesting parts ... okay, they weren't explored enough either. I think I liked the horrible non-aunt the best, and that I can get from Roald Dahl. (I found it especially strange that there was an acknowledgement for the wicked aunt character ... which character never actually redeems herself and is utterly selfish and stupid.)
And who names a character Buddleia and doesn't explain why? Granted, the character in question is a dead sister who gets mentioned a lot (something was wrong with her leg, so she and the parents had to go into London) ... but that turns out to be more of a limping waiter problem itself.
I wanted to, but I couldn't like this book. The interesting parts weren't explored enough and the non-interesting parts ... okay, they weren't explored enough either. I think I liked the horrible non-aunt the best, and that I can get from Roald Dahl. (I found it especially strange that there was an acknowledgement for the wicked aunt character ... which character never actually redeems herself and is utterly selfish and stupid.)
December 7, 2023
One of the best books I’ve ever read in my life. I read it for the first time when I was like ten years old, and I’ve thought it about often since, and re-read it at least 50 times. I love this book and everything in it. Incredible!
August 10, 2017
Loved this book SO much!! I keep forgetting the title, but when I did I made sure to mark it as read. 😃 Such a great book, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who loves a good adventure!
November 16, 2021
This was a very quick read, and a very interesting world, but for me, this needed to be two books instead of one.
The ending felt incredibly rushed, and didn't really explain anything, or give most of the plot points the time to actually resolve. There were so many things in this, such as the twins, that was never mentioned again after the characters moved on, the villains didn't really get a comeuppance, or really any sort of consequences, and are just allowed to carry on with their evil deeds.
The idea was fantastic, but I needed more world-building, more of a 'final battle' as the ending was just talking instead of anything exciting, and just more wrapping up of the plot.
TW for missing parents, child abuse, drugging, near-death experiences, Victorian-typical attitudes on mental health/mentions of Bedlam Hospital, human experimentation.
The ending felt incredibly rushed, and didn't really explain anything, or give most of the plot points the time to actually resolve. There were so many things in this, such as the twins, that was never mentioned again after the characters moved on, the villains didn't really get a comeuppance, or really any sort of consequences, and are just allowed to carry on with their evil deeds.
The idea was fantastic, but I needed more world-building, more of a 'final battle' as the ending was just talking instead of anything exciting, and just more wrapping up of the plot.
TW for missing parents, child abuse, drugging, near-death experiences, Victorian-typical attitudes on mental health/mentions of Bedlam Hospital, human experimentation.
April 20, 2024
Am găsit această carte întâmplător, căutând ceva care să-mi atragă atenția printre rafturile unei librării. Am mai citit cărți de-ale autoarei, dar nu știam că a scris și cărți pentru copii. Mă bucur că am găsit-o, am avut ocazia să plec cu Silver pe urmele Timpului.
Mi s-a părut atât de actuală, având în vedere că timpul se comprimă din ce în ce mai mult, sau "Tempus Fugit", cum este prezentat în carte. Cel care poate stăpâni timpul, poate stăpâni Universul.
Dacă a găsit Silver Ceasornicul cu ajutorul căruia poate stăpâni Timpul, vă las pe voi să aflați, dar vă asigur că o să fie o aventură de neuitat.
Mi s-a părut atât de actuală, având în vedere că timpul se comprimă din ce în ce mai mult, sau "Tempus Fugit", cum este prezentat în carte. Cel care poate stăpâni timpul, poate stăpâni Universul.
Dacă a găsit Silver Ceasornicul cu ajutorul căruia poate stăpâni Timpul, vă las pe voi să aflați, dar vă asigur că o să fie o aventură de neuitat.
December 12, 2014
Silver lives with her cruel aunt in her family's ancestral home, Tanglewreck. Forced to clean and never having enough to eat, Silver only has the house for company. But one day her aunt takes her to London to visit Abel Darkwater, a man Silver doesn't trust, a man who wants very badly for Silver to find for him a clock called the Timekeeper that her father owned. With the help of Gabriel, a boy who lives underground, Silver embarks on a journey to escape Abel Darkwater, find the Timekeeper, and discover the other side of the universe.
Gabriel is the highlight of the book, for me. I love his big ears, his short statue, and his archaic speech. He's the perfect companion for Silver; he always looks out for her, despite knowing even less than she does about how the world works, and the little things he does show how much he cares about her. Micah, similarly, steps in as a father-figure for both Gabriel and Silver, and his strength and quiet wisdom are just as important as Silver's power or Gabriel's skill.
Several things annoyed me about the book. Although it is a good introduction to the principles of quantum physics, the book completely forgets what little story it had in order to introduce these principles. Each chapter, particularly in the latter half of the book, has a title warning the reader what it will be introducing next: The Einstein Line, A Black Hole, Spooky Action at a Distance. If the book had picked one or two concepts (such as, for instance, what was probably the original concept of the Timekeeper) and stuck with it, all the physics wouldn't feel so random. As it was, for the amount of time spent introducing issues such as Schrodinger's cat, most of them had very little relevance to the rest of the story.
And the physics isn't even introduced until the latter part of the book. To get there, the story meanders through a halfhearted sympathy-grab by describing Silver's horrible living conditions. Orphaned child raised by horrible relatives? It's not a new idea by any means, and Tanglewreck lacks even the basic grounding that would make it believable within the context of the story. Silver never really thinks over her situation or how she feels about it, and the best time to remember it, near the end of the book, only brings a vague mention of her trouble.
I also had a great deal of trouble accepting the book's conclusion. It merrily discounts such things as God because that's not science, then proceeds to have love conquer gravity, honor conquer self-preservation, and good conquer evil. That's not science either. Also it made absolutely no sense how something like the Timekeeper, which was nothing more than a clock built by human hands in the thirteenth century, could somehow regulate the lifespan of the universe (and where was this when the universe began?) and could not be destroyed by any means. By all means, have a clock that regulates some critical function of the world as part of the story---but don't expect me to believe said clock was built by mere mortals in the middle of human history. By all means, build the clock---but everything made can be unmade. Parts break, paper rots, diamond collapses into graphite. Perhaps there is a nonphysical structure that the clock only represents, but this is never said, and can only be construed as an attempt to understand the gaping holes in the book's logic.
Finally, my personal pet peeve was that Tanglewreck, the amazing, nearly sentient house from which the book takes its name, hardly features at all in the story. It felt like there was so much more to tell about the house and the family that lived there, but the book ignored it in favor of a poorly-disguised physics lesson.
Overall, I've read many better books introducing facets of quantum physics, and even more books that manage to pull off a cohesive storyline. Silver is a very flat protagonist that doesn't have much of a personality, especially when set against Gabriel, who does have the emotions and quirks that make him human. I rate this book Not Recommended.
Gabriel is the highlight of the book, for me. I love his big ears, his short statue, and his archaic speech. He's the perfect companion for Silver; he always looks out for her, despite knowing even less than she does about how the world works, and the little things he does show how much he cares about her. Micah, similarly, steps in as a father-figure for both Gabriel and Silver, and his strength and quiet wisdom are just as important as Silver's power or Gabriel's skill.
Several things annoyed me about the book. Although it is a good introduction to the principles of quantum physics, the book completely forgets what little story it had in order to introduce these principles. Each chapter, particularly in the latter half of the book, has a title warning the reader what it will be introducing next: The Einstein Line, A Black Hole, Spooky Action at a Distance. If the book had picked one or two concepts (such as, for instance, what was probably the original concept of the Timekeeper) and stuck with it, all the physics wouldn't feel so random. As it was, for the amount of time spent introducing issues such as Schrodinger's cat, most of them had very little relevance to the rest of the story.
And the physics isn't even introduced until the latter part of the book. To get there, the story meanders through a halfhearted sympathy-grab by describing Silver's horrible living conditions. Orphaned child raised by horrible relatives? It's not a new idea by any means, and Tanglewreck lacks even the basic grounding that would make it believable within the context of the story. Silver never really thinks over her situation or how she feels about it, and the best time to remember it, near the end of the book, only brings a vague mention of her trouble.
I also had a great deal of trouble accepting the book's conclusion. It merrily discounts such things as God because that's not science, then proceeds to have love conquer gravity, honor conquer self-preservation, and good conquer evil. That's not science either. Also it made absolutely no sense how something like the Timekeeper, which was nothing more than a clock built by human hands in the thirteenth century, could somehow regulate the lifespan of the universe (and where was this when the universe began?) and could not be destroyed by any means. By all means, have a clock that regulates some critical function of the world as part of the story---but don't expect me to believe said clock was built by mere mortals in the middle of human history. By all means, build the clock---but everything made can be unmade. Parts break, paper rots, diamond collapses into graphite. Perhaps there is a nonphysical structure that the clock only represents, but this is never said, and can only be construed as an attempt to understand the gaping holes in the book's logic.
Finally, my personal pet peeve was that Tanglewreck, the amazing, nearly sentient house from which the book takes its name, hardly features at all in the story. It felt like there was so much more to tell about the house and the family that lived there, but the book ignored it in favor of a poorly-disguised physics lesson.
Overall, I've read many better books introducing facets of quantum physics, and even more books that manage to pull off a cohesive storyline. Silver is a very flat protagonist that doesn't have much of a personality, especially when set against Gabriel, who does have the emotions and quirks that make him human. I rate this book Not Recommended.
August 25, 2008
I am a raving fan of Jeanette Winterson's other work; I even loved Art and Lies, which I understand is not considered to be among her best novels. But this one, her first for young readers, while it was hard to put down, has left me feeling disappointed.
Winterson writes an inventive, rollicking fantasy novel that introduces advanced scientific concepts to young girls -- an idea I'm all for -- but then she manages to equate scientific knowledge in a woman's hands with undiluted evil, in such a conclusive way that any girl who's paying attention will find herself thinking she'd better not dabble in those dark arts, lest she find herself turning into a scheming, white lab-coated witch intent on world domination.
Still, I'd have been satisfied if young Silver River (as mellifluous a name as any in literature) had needed to do something more dramatic than voluntarily walk away from the comforts of home in order to save the world. Plus, Maria Prophetessa/Regalia Mason is still out there scheming, and Abel Darkwater would still do anything to get the clock into his own hands, including torturing and/or killing Silver herself. The Timekeeper is not exactly under lock and key, and having good friends on hand does not seem like enough protection for either Silver or her precious clock.
I have one serious but small quibble, which is such an aside in the narration that it shouldn't have bothered me, but it stood out like a sore thumb in context and rankled me for pages afterwards. Why in the world, among Ms Prophetessa's intriguing biographical details, did Winterson find it necessary to include the idea that she was "dark advisor to the Jew Moses"? As far as I know, Moses' only advisor was a voice from a burning bush. If Ms Winterson wanted to allege some role for a witch/prophetess/priestess in the Moses narrative, she'd have been better off coming up with a more substantial backstory. Just tossing it out there was odd, to say the least, if not vaguely anti-Semitic.
Other nits to pick: She has a Throwback tack "wherewithal" ("means") at the end of a sentence when in 17th Century English, the word "withal" ("anyway") would have been used. (I'll be generous and blame the spelling checker for that.) More gratingly, she has Silver misattribute Mrs Rokabye's quoting of the line "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child" to the Bible, instead of Shakespeare, but doesn't correct this in the narration, so the misattribution will be understood to be correct by readers with no frame of reference for the quote. And as a science fiction fan, I was irked to see her crib from Arthur C. Clarke, without attribution but almost verbatim, his famous Law stating that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". (Like I said, nits.)
Finally, the science is rocky, to say the least, but I'd be willing to let that go for a good solid whump of an ending instead of this book's love-is-all-you-need whimper.
I've read that Winterson enjoyed writing this novel and wants to write more for kids, and more power to her. I hope she can inject more of her usual beautiful prose style, and also wrap up a nice beginning, middle and end into a satisfying package. And I really, really hope she works with a better editor next time.
Winterson writes an inventive, rollicking fantasy novel that introduces advanced scientific concepts to young girls -- an idea I'm all for -- but then she manages to equate scientific knowledge in a woman's hands with undiluted evil, in such a conclusive way that any girl who's paying attention will find herself thinking she'd better not dabble in those dark arts, lest she find herself turning into a scheming, white lab-coated witch intent on world domination.
Still, I'd have been satisfied if young Silver River (as mellifluous a name as any in literature) had needed to do something more dramatic than voluntarily walk away from the comforts of home in order to save the world. Plus, Maria Prophetessa/Regalia Mason is still out there scheming, and Abel Darkwater would still do anything to get the clock into his own hands, including torturing and/or killing Silver herself. The Timekeeper is not exactly under lock and key, and having good friends on hand does not seem like enough protection for either Silver or her precious clock.
I have one serious but small quibble, which is such an aside in the narration that it shouldn't have bothered me, but it stood out like a sore thumb in context and rankled me for pages afterwards. Why in the world, among Ms Prophetessa's intriguing biographical details, did Winterson find it necessary to include the idea that she was "dark advisor to the Jew Moses"? As far as I know, Moses' only advisor was a voice from a burning bush. If Ms Winterson wanted to allege some role for a witch/prophetess/priestess in the Moses narrative, she'd have been better off coming up with a more substantial backstory. Just tossing it out there was odd, to say the least, if not vaguely anti-Semitic.
Other nits to pick: She has a Throwback tack "wherewithal" ("means") at the end of a sentence when in 17th Century English, the word "withal" ("anyway") would have been used. (I'll be generous and blame the spelling checker for that.) More gratingly, she has Silver misattribute Mrs Rokabye's quoting of the line "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child" to the Bible, instead of Shakespeare, but doesn't correct this in the narration, so the misattribution will be understood to be correct by readers with no frame of reference for the quote. And as a science fiction fan, I was irked to see her crib from Arthur C. Clarke, without attribution but almost verbatim, his famous Law stating that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". (Like I said, nits.)
Finally, the science is rocky, to say the least, but I'd be willing to let that go for a good solid whump of an ending instead of this book's love-is-all-you-need whimper.
I've read that Winterson enjoyed writing this novel and wants to write more for kids, and more power to her. I hope she can inject more of her usual beautiful prose style, and also wrap up a nice beginning, middle and end into a satisfying package. And I really, really hope she works with a better editor next time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 30, 2011
This tale is spellbinding! Readers will relish not only the action and the well-crafted settings but all the details which makes for scenes of great power. "My name is Silver and I have lived at Tanglewreck all of my life, which is to say, eleven years" before frightening events begin to occur with time. Time Tornados rush through the streets of London and those in the path vanish without a trace, to sometimes reappear in a Parallel Universe. A woolly mammoth is seen roaming the banks of the Thames River, a race of 'Throwbacks' lives beneath the streets of London, and many other unusual sightings happen as one woman (Regalia Mason or Maria Prophetessa) tries to and almost succeeds in controlling Time. Only the "Child with the Golden Face can bring the Clock to its Rightful Place" and allow the world to progress without Time Tornados, Time Transfusions, rips in the Universe and Alembics. Will Silver be able to do this before two sinister figures acquire it and Time as we know it comes to an end? It is a plot full of twists with just enough ambiguities to hope there is a sequel.
June 21, 2007
I heard somewhere that this was worth reading, and it is. I didn't fall in love with this book, but I was quite impressed. It's a good, solid children's book with exactly the right amounts of creepy, numinous, and moralisin'. The plot was great, exciting and intelligent. A consummate piece of work is what I'd call it.
I wasn't enchanted with the ending -- Silver did the right thing, but I felt it sort of, I dunno, flapped in the wind a bit? It could've ended with more of a bang. Abel Darkwater could have been slimier or scarier -- they kept telling us he wasn't to be trusted, but I wasn't feeling it. But Regalia Mason is great, totally deserving of standing with Mrs. Coulter in the pantheon of coldly beautiful female villains. And I love the names.
I wasn't enchanted with the ending -- Silver did the right thing, but I felt it sort of, I dunno, flapped in the wind a bit? It could've ended with more of a bang. Abel Darkwater could have been slimier or scarier -- they kept telling us he wasn't to be trusted, but I wasn't feeling it. But Regalia Mason is great, totally deserving of standing with Mrs. Coulter in the pantheon of coldly beautiful female villains. And I love the names.
June 29, 2015
Tanglewreck is definitely more of a children's book than a young adult book, but that doesn't mean it isn't good.
It presented time and time travel in a very unique way which made the story very interesting and fun to read. The main character was nice but the characters I loved most were the villains, especially Regalia Mason. Her character alone was enough for me to give this book 4 stars.
It was a fun, light read that I would recommend mostly to young teens, but anyone who likes time travel could definitely enjoy this novel.
It presented time and time travel in a very unique way which made the story very interesting and fun to read. The main character was nice but the characters I loved most were the villains, especially Regalia Mason. Her character alone was enough for me to give this book 4 stars.
It was a fun, light read that I would recommend mostly to young teens, but anyone who likes time travel could definitely enjoy this novel.
December 29, 2011
Tanglewreck is a wacky time travel fantasy novel about Silver, an eleven-year-old girl whose parents and sister mysteriously disappeared four years ago when they were taking their old clock to an antiquarian specialist in time pieces. If Diana Wynne Jones, Eva Ibbotson, and Neil Gaiman wrote an episode of Doctor Who, it might come out something like this. I half expected a blue box to materialize.
January 8, 2010
Either Winterson does not enjoy writing description, or she assumes that the young people today just do not enjoy reading it. This read was definitely fast-paced (the only reason it took me longer than it should have was due to the fact that I kept flitting off to do other thigns).
July 29, 2012
Good, cute, but sort of... petered out at the end? I agree with you, Sarah, it almost felt like it should have been several books with a lot more detail.
February 13, 2015
Maybe, in general, I just don't love books about quantum physics? It was fine, but not my favorite.
February 22, 2021
I don't know if I've ever read a book more bizarre. I probably have, but none come to mind right now.
I wanted this to be good, unique, fun bizarre, but it wasn't.
Just plain weird.
I wanted this to be good, unique, fun bizarre, but it wasn't.
Just plain weird.
January 1, 2016
Leuke ideeën over de tijd, en een groot verteltalent om het geloofwaardig te houden.
February 27, 2018
This is a middle grade sci-fi/fantasy novel about a girl who is suspected of possessing a clock that can control time. Two different antagonists are after her, one who uses magic and another who uses science.
I thought the ideas present in this book were very imaginative. I was somewhat frustrated that a lot of the scientific concepts shown didn't really make sense. There was some basic logic behind them, but it felt like the kind of thing that was still kind of vague and not fully explained or explainable, though I think that was largely to do with the fact that the book is middle grade and that the intended audience would be too young to notice holes in the logic or even really want to read full explanations if they were given.
All that said, I thought the writing in this book was very good. I don't really like middle grade that much (I'm just working my way through a couple of middle grade novels I found that I had never gotten around to reading when I was in the proper age bracket) but there were still a few points throughout the book when I found myself impressed by a piece of prose. I probably would have really been in love with this book when I was younger, and I am definitely interested in reading this author's adult work now.
I thought the ideas present in this book were very imaginative. I was somewhat frustrated that a lot of the scientific concepts shown didn't really make sense. There was some basic logic behind them, but it felt like the kind of thing that was still kind of vague and not fully explained or explainable, though I think that was largely to do with the fact that the book is middle grade and that the intended audience would be too young to notice holes in the logic or even really want to read full explanations if they were given.
All that said, I thought the writing in this book was very good. I don't really like middle grade that much (I'm just working my way through a couple of middle grade novels I found that I had never gotten around to reading when I was in the proper age bracket) but there were still a few points throughout the book when I found myself impressed by a piece of prose. I probably would have really been in love with this book when I was younger, and I am definitely interested in reading this author's adult work now.
December 24, 2017
Winterson, Jeanette Tanglewreck 416 p. Bloomsbury –
When Silver was 7, her parents and sister died in a car accident. Now, four years later, she is still living in her home, but under the care of an evil guardian who makes her life miserable. Events have been set in motion that will send Silver across the world, across time, across space, introducing her to friends to help her and villains who want to possess her – with everyone in pursuit of the Timekeeper.
Books written about time and space have to be carefully plotted and/or written brilliantly so that even if you are confused occasionally, you love it so much you are willing to go back and figure out how you got lost. Michael Lawrence’s Small Eternities is a good example of these two qualities. This particular title, however falls a bit below the mark in either of these traits. With an 11-year old protagonist, I don’t see how it will appeal to someone who can actually follow the action.
MS-OPTIONAL
When Silver was 7, her parents and sister died in a car accident. Now, four years later, she is still living in her home, but under the care of an evil guardian who makes her life miserable. Events have been set in motion that will send Silver across the world, across time, across space, introducing her to friends to help her and villains who want to possess her – with everyone in pursuit of the Timekeeper.
Books written about time and space have to be carefully plotted and/or written brilliantly so that even if you are confused occasionally, you love it so much you are willing to go back and figure out how you got lost. Michael Lawrence’s Small Eternities is a good example of these two qualities. This particular title, however falls a bit below the mark in either of these traits. With an 11-year old protagonist, I don’t see how it will appeal to someone who can actually follow the action.
MS-OPTIONAL
April 1, 2018
I had no CLUE Jeanette Winterson would ever take on a children's book. I have to say, I kind of love that she did.
It's a pretty smart little book and includes a LOT of really intruiging concepts. How she plays with the concept of time and time travel is really great. Also, an evil black bunny named Bigamist?! How do you not love THAT?!
My only complaint was the inevitable tarot thing...she used tarot cards in the book to tell part of the story, which is cool, but she specifically dated them into the 1500s (also cool) yet clearly described the Rider-Waite deck, which didn't exist until 1910. There WERE tarocchi cards in the 1500s and there are still extant decks, but the images used on Rider-Waite don't match the older decks.
This, I know, is SUPER nit-picky of me and something apparently ONLY I would notice. But it bothered me.
Beyond that I can only say good things about the book. Really good.
It's a pretty smart little book and includes a LOT of really intruiging concepts. How she plays with the concept of time and time travel is really great. Also, an evil black bunny named Bigamist?! How do you not love THAT?!
My only complaint was the inevitable tarot thing...she used tarot cards in the book to tell part of the story, which is cool, but she specifically dated them into the 1500s (also cool) yet clearly described the Rider-Waite deck, which didn't exist until 1910. There WERE tarocchi cards in the 1500s and there are still extant decks, but the images used on Rider-Waite don't match the older decks.
This, I know, is SUPER nit-picky of me and something apparently ONLY I would notice. But it bothered me.
Beyond that I can only say good things about the book. Really good.
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