Ihana maa

by Grace McCleen, Marianna Kurtto (Translator)

10-vuotiaan Jehovan todistajan Judithin pakopaikka on pienoismaailma, jonka hän on askarrellut huoneensa lattialle. Sinne hän pakenee koulukiusaamista ja ongelmallista suhdettaan isäänsä. Isä piinaa lähiseutujen ihmisiä käännytysyrityksillään, ja siksi Judithkin joutuu koulussa pilkan kohteeksi.

Kun Neil-niminen poika ottaa Judithin silmätikukseen, tyttö tekee pienoismaailmaansa Neiliä muistuttavan nuken. Mieli kuvitusleikkien ja todellisuuden törmätessä seurauksia on monia, vaarallisiakin.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Religion, Book Club, Literary Fiction, Fantasy, Magical Realism

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Grace McCleen was born in Wales and grew up in a fundamentalist religion where she did not have much contact with non-believers. Her family moved to Ireland when she was ten, where she was schooled at home. When Grace and her family moved back to Britain she went back to school and her English teacher suggested she apply to Oxford.

She studied English Literature at Oxford University and The University of York before becoming a full-time writer and musician. She lives in London. The Land of Decoration is her first novel.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/gracem...

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extraordinary debut novel taking a completely original and sometimes enchanting, but ultimately affecting look at the relationship between parent and child. Judith, a 10-year old girl, with an amazing creative knack lives in a fundamentalist Christian home with her single parent.

She's bullied at school, bullied for being a Disciple of God, she looks for solace by creating her own paradise, a 'land of decoration' intricately and innovatively built from bric-a-brac, and that's when she starts hearing voices! An exceptional first novel, highly recommended! 8 out of 12, Four Star read :)

2012 read

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reason for Reading: Very intriguing plot captured my interest.

This is a tough book to review. I loved parts of it and disliked other parts of it. Mainly, I adored the main character, 10yo Judith, in whose voice the narrative is written. She is naive and not always a reliable narrator but we are given events from her point of view as she sees them happen. I read the book very quickly over two days and had a hard time putting the book down. Parts of it were just lovely, other parts I heartily disagreed with. As a Christian, I don't feel the author is making a grand statement one way or the other about Christianity as a whole. I do think she is using this powerful message of father/daughter relationship, a mother's death, a girl's bullying because of her religion to show that bad things happen, even when we have the best intentions. That fanaticism of anything is never good. That God does not "let" bad things happen, we make our own choices and suffer the consequences of them, as rightly we should.

Judith carries this book. She and her father belong to this unnamed religious fringe group (never named, but disclaimed to be Mormons) which is obsessed with the End Times. Otherwise they seem harmless enough, much of their Christian doctrine can be found in true Christian denominations but then it has been twisted in a way to make it what it is in this book. This may offend some Christian readers, but I take it that it is fiction and that these kind of kooky Christian sects do exist though they are not the norm. This group for the most part follows Christ; it is its obsession with Armageddon which removes it from the focus of Christ. Non-Christians may find the book too full of Christian references, Bible quotations and simple plain Christian living; this may annoy them or unfortunately make them think this fringe group is somehow representative of "normal" Christianity.

These are the things I didn't like about the book; the constant fighting in my head with the representation of these "Christians". Something profound would be said and then something equally laughable would be said. As to the story otherwise, it was very good. Judith is a naive girl who asks big questions of her father, the grown-ups at church, about religion and life. She is always asking "why?" and she is respected for her clever questions. At school it is the same, except with the other children, and one boy in particular, who bullies and teases her relentlessly because she is an outcast from them. Not allowed to attend morning assembly, wearing plain clothes, and talking easily about God, Armageddon and the Den of Iniquity of the modern world. No matter what is happening in this world around her; her being bullied, her dad being a scab, boy's taunting their house in the evenings Judith does believe in God and talks to him. He has started to answer her back and miracles have started to happen. Perhaps this is all in the confused girl's head or perhaps she is a real mystic. But you will fall in love with Judith and root for her as she tries to cope with a sad life that left her motherless and alone with a father who does everything he can for her but does not know how to show love and affection.

This book is going to take some time for me to ruminate on before I really decide whether I think it was just OK or Good. I did like it; I'm just not sure how much. The ending was underwhelming and with all the religion/God emphasis throughout I expected something more uplifting than what we were given. The book did have some moments of sage wisdom and at other times I was left shaking my head. The instructions for making a hot air balloon, I do understand the significance but as an ending it leaves one dumbstruck. If you love stories about people pondering the purposes of God in their lives this will be the book for you.

[Dora Santos Marques · Rating 4 out of 5]

A minha opinião em vídeo: https://youtu.be/xq1kXOHGyRQ

Uma excelente surpresa!
Um livro com uma criança mas uma história muito adulta e pesada.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this is a strange one.

It begins wonderfully with a child invoking the story of creation of the world in seven days, recorded in the book of Genesis, as she creates her own model of the world.

I learned that her name was Judith. That she was ten years-old. That her mother was dead and that her father was bringing her up on his own. That he was a member of an Evangelical Christian sect that believed that the end of the world was nigh.

Judith was terribly isolated, and sadly I was not at all surprised to learn that she was horribly bullied at school. And so she created The Land of Decoration. A model of her world, ever detail carefully crafted from scraps and rubbish. Sweet wrappers, cotton wool, cereal boxes, tin foil, egg boxes, pipe cleaners … I loved that creativity. It brought light to a story with much darkness, but before long I found that the darkness would overtake that light.

Judith made a discovery; as she changed things in the Land of Decoration, things changed in the real world. She added in snow and a blanket of snow fell across the country, unforecasted and completely out of season. She added more and it snowed again. She took it away and the snow melted.

And then she heard the voice of God, telling her that she could work miracles, that she could change the world.

But could she? And was the voice really God?

Judith found that simple actions could have unexpected consequences – and that events could spiral. The story became darker and more sinister. Judith realised that she had lost control and struggled to regain it. And her father, poor man, crumbled.

It’s a strange story. A strange story that uses its setting – a small factory town in the seventies, in the winter of discontent – to wonderful effect.

Judith’s voice comes through loud and clear. She is naive, she accepts her father’s creed without question. And she is bright, but there is so much she doesn’t understand. But, of course, she doesn’t realise that.

She doesn’t understand her father’s grief over the loss of his wife, his doubts about his faith, his struggles at work and with the neighbours, and yet her clear-sightedness illuminates them.

Both father and daughter are wonderful creations: their interactions and their circumstances are so well drawn, and I was intrigued by the way their relationship developed as the story unfolded.

The narrative felt awkward at times, but short chapters make it easy to keep moving forward.

There was a lot – maybe too much – to think about.

The story of father and daughter – his crisis of faith, his crossing of picket lines at work – her problems with bullies, her developing relationship with a concerned teacher – could easily have stood up on their own.

And the story of the Land of Decoration, the voice of God, and the miracles – which was confusing in places – might have come into sharper focus if it had been set against a simpler story.

But Grace McCleen threw everything into the air together, and she created something quite unique.

I had so many questions, and I had to keep turning the pages.

The one thing though that I must question is the age of the children: often their behaviour, and their attributes, didn’t tie up with the ages. And maybe the world was just a little too small …

The ending was perfect. It was nicely dramatic, and it had just the right amount of ambiguity. Not all of my questions were answered, but sometimes it is right that there are no answers, that you have to make up your own mind.

And, though it is not without problems, it is lovely to be able to say that a debut novel is ambitious, intriguing and original.

[Alberto Delgado · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decepción. Tengo que decir que leí este libro un poco a ciegas porque en algún momento había visto alguna reseña positiva y lo tenía entre mis apuntados para leer y la verdad es que de haber sabido de que iba y como estaba contado seguramente no lo hubiera leído. Nos encontramos a una niña que vive en un mundo cerrado al pertenecer a una iglesia cristiana fundamentalista y que por ello sufre bullying en el colegio. Hay que decir que la autora se crió dentro de una familia parecida a lo que nos cuenta así que por ese lado creo que recrea bastante bien ese mundo pero al estar narrado en primera persona por la niña está escrito de una forma muy simple y para mi ese es el problema. Se me queda muy plano y para mi para la historia que nos encontramos y los temas que se tocan me parece un libro muy básico y que queda muy lejos de lo que podría haber dado contado de otra manera.

[Rita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esta é uma história contada por Judith McPherson, uma menina de 10 anos. Como todas, ou quase todas, as histórias narradas por crianças, o ambiente é ternurento e quase sempre nostálgico. "A Menina Que Fazia Nevar" não é excepção.
Judith é uma menina doce, apesar de todas as adversidades que tem enfrentado, tem uma relação distante e complicada com o pai (um religioso fervoroso), a mãe morreu e Judith sofre de bullying na escola. São os dias tristes e solitários de Judith que a levam a criar a "Terra de Leite e Mel" e a dar asas à imaginação.

Algumas das temáticas abordadas são invulgares, como é o caso da devoção religiosa levada ao extremo, foi esta temática que me levou a pegar no livro. A história criada pela autora é mesmo muito interessante e vale a pena aprender algumas coisas com a pequena Judith e o seu pai.

Porquê "apenas" 3 estrelas? Porque apesar de interessante, a história não foi bem conseguida: 1) não consegui criar grande empatia com as personagens, mesmo com a própria Judith, lembro-me inevitavelmente de Scout Finch de Mataram a Cotovia e digo-vos que não há comparação possível; 2) fiquei com a sensação de que o livro foi escrito por várias pessoas, alguns capítulos estavam muito bons enquanto outros estavam demasiados estranhos (e talvez mal escritos); 3) a autora caracterizou os religiosos fervorosos desta história como se estivesse a caracterizar o próprio diabo. Confesso que esperava mais deste livro.

O final deixou-me perplexa, triste e com dúvidas sobre a intenção da autora. Não creio que seja um livro para todos os leitores mas penso que os curiosos irão apreciar esta história. Não há como experimentar.

Opinião no blog:
http://clarocomoaagua.blogs.sapo.pt/o...

[Banu Yıldıran Genç · Rating 3 out of 5]

ian mcewan'ın çocuk yasasından sonra yine karşıma yehova şahitli bir kitap çıktı. ve açıkça söyleyeyim haklarında hiç iyi şeyler düşünmüyorum :)
ingiltere'de küçük bir kasabada babasıyla yaşayan judith'in tüm çevresi yehova şahitleri olunca, bir de üstüne 24 saat kıyamet konuşunca küçük kızın hafiften sıyırması anlatılıyor kabaca.
annenin ölümünden sonra -ki evet, yine kan nakli problemi- çocuğunu sevmeyi beceremeyen bir baba, okuldaki zorbalıklar, kötü öğretmenler... aslında oldukça gerçekçi bir tarafı da var.
judith'in gözünden anlatılan kitap aslında gerçekten bir çocuğun anlatımına uygun olmuş, anlatıcı ustalığını çok beğendim.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Land of Decoration is a first novel told in the voice of a young girl who has been brought up as a member of a religious sect; Grace McCleen is a young writer who was herself brought up in a similar environment. Of course, most authors draw deeply on personal life experiences as they write, not surprising since writing about events and circumstances you know is likely to be easier and more realistic. However, sometimes the parallels between events and a novel and the author’s own life seem particularly close – Anthony Powell’s Dance to the Music of Time sequence being a good example – and perhaps that is also the case here. Certainly, the setting of the novel is completely convincing, even if the events are at least partly imagined.

There have been a number of successful recent novels told in the voice of a young child, so the approach is by no means completely original. However, for it to succeed requires significant technical skill as a writer as well as considerable imagination, and in The Land of Decoration Judith (the narrator) convinces completely as a somewhat precocious young girl. The book is a little slow to get going, but ultimately the story and the world it creates is engrossing and I found difficulty putting the book down at some points.

Judith lives with her father, and it is clear from the outset that her mother is dead. She has been brought up as a committed member of a small Church which operates under strict rules and is clearly closely modelled on the Jehovah’s Witness movement. Judith stands out from her schoolmates, both for her intelligence and for her religious differences. As a result, she is isolated and bullied, and retreats to an imaginary world which she makes in her bedroom. Judith comes to believe that she has been given the power to perform miracles, and that when something happens in her model world it will be paralleled in the real world. At first it seems to her that this will provide a rapid solution to her problems, but she quickly comes to realise that the consequences of our wishes coming true can be hard to predict, and that perhaps the adults in her life do not truly believe all that they say.

There are many strong aspects to this novel – the voice and personality of Judith, her relationship with her father, the portrayal of the Church and its congregation and the reality of bullying in the school. There are also some unexpected aspects – the unseen social factors which turn a child into a bully, the impact of isolation on the development of an intelligent child, the impact of a strike in a closed community. The portrayal of the Church is not particularly sympathetic, and some readers have objected to this, but neither is it unreasonably harsh. Above all my memory will be of Judith and her imaginary world, and how imagination can equip a child with the resilience to deal with incredibly difficult circumstances.

Finally, I should comment on The Land of Decoration as an object. As e-books become ever more popular, publishers need to work harder to make us buy their books. I read the first edition hardcover from Chatto & Windus, and it is a truly beautiful book. Coloured page edges (maroon, like an old-fashioned Bible), pictorial endpapers and a superb dustwrapper. Who would choose an e-book over an object like this?

[Joanne Sheppard · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite books of last year was Among Others by Jo Walton, in which a lonely teenage misfit struggles with her own (self-perceived, at least) ability to perform potentially harmful magic. Grace McCleen's The Land of Decoration has a similar premise in some respects. Narrator Judith, who is bullied and ostracised at school and whose widowed father has brought her up as a member of a fundamentalist Christian sect which appears in all but name to be the Jehovah's Witnesses, is desperate not to go to school and face her tormentor Neil Lewis. On Sunday evening she sprinkles home-made snow over the complex miniature world she has built in her bedroom out of scraps of rubbish. On Monday she awakes to find that a freak October blizzard has all but cut off her home town. And just to prove this isn't mere coincidence, Judith also starts to hear, quite clearly, the voice of God.

The Land of Decoration could easily have been a whimsical, twee novel, with its ten-year-old narrator and her sometimes comic misunderstandings of social interactions and adult hypocrisy. However, while it's beautifully written and almost poetic in places, it's sometimes unsettling, bordering on menacing. Judith's nemesis Neil is far more than a mere school bully, and the manner in which he and his family gradually make life unbearable not just for Judith but also for her father is disturbing for anyone who, like me, finds that kind of insidious, calculated cruelty a deeply uncomfortable subject about which to read. I also found Judith's relationship with her father, widowed the day she was born, desperately sad, and the nature of the voice which Judith believes to be God's is disturbing.

That's not to say that The Land of Decoration is without humour or kindness - far from it. It has many touching moments and Judith is an entertaining and observant narrator with genuine charm and a perspective which is convincing for a bright ten-year-old with an unconventional upbringing. Sheltered from ordinary childhood entertainments like television and fun-fairs, she's also exposed to terrifying sermons about Armageddon and the wrath of God and almost entirely without friends of her own age, so as a character she presents us with an interesting mix of innocence and precociousness which is unnerving and comic by turns. A child's point of view is, of course, highly effective for writers who want to highlight the absurdities inherent in certain types of adult behaviour, and while Judith is sometimes confused, there are also moments when she is sharply perceptive.

The Land of Decoration is a book that I struggled to put down, and one that will stay with me for a long time. Ultimately, I found it uplifting. Some might find it less so - I have no idea how someone with a strong religious faith might feel about about some aspects of the book's conclusion, for instance - but for me, this was an oddly life-affirming read, and a well-crafted one too.

[Telma Oliveira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adorei a personagem principal, a forma como ela questionava tudo e a sua enorme imaginação, ,muito fiel aquilo que uma criança de 10 anos é.

Fala de temas difíceis como o bullying, religião, e sobre a relação entre um pai e uma filha e como estes tentam superar a perda da mãe desta menina . É um livro que nos faz pensar e refletir, com o qual diferentes pessoas poderão chegar a diferentes conclusões.

No entanto, achei que a alusão a religião foi um tema demasiado recorrente, tornando-se demasiado repetitivo e maçador ao longo do livro. O final foi a parte que menos gostei, não intendi a mensagem que a autora tentou transmitir.

[Elaine Mullane || Elaine and the Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Land of Decoration is a peculiar novel, but peculiar in a good way. I was so intrigued by the premise: Judith is a ten-year-old girl who lives with her devoutly religious father in a small English village. As members of a fundamentalist sect, they warn their neighbours of the approaching Armageddon. Motherless and bullied at school, Judith seeks solace in her bedroom, where she creates a miniature world she calls The Land of Decoration, a phrase she takes from Ezekiel. One afternoon Judith wonders if she makes it snow in her handmade little world she can prevent school from opening again on Monday. And, sure enough, when she draws back her curtains the next day, the real world outside her window is blanketed in white. This is just the first of Judith's many miracles, but with her new power comes trouble as her father's work-colleagues come out on strike and the bullying at school intensifies.

Grace McCleen says she was inspired by her own childhood in writing her debut novel. She grew up in an isolated, fundamentalist household and spent a lot of time in the countryside making things in her room. The Land of Decoration is certainly a very unique novel, with elements of magical realism, sophisticated philosophy and religious imagery. The writing is bold and skillful, and the themes addressed pack a big emotional punch, especially Judith's alienation at the hands of her father and the bullying she endures. The story is both tense and tender as it shines a light on a young child's crisis of faith, and it demands consideration from the reader: Is Judith capable of dark magic or are these miracles merely coincidence? Has she summoned the voice of God or is what she is hearing somewhere in the realm of imaginary friendship?

The Land of Decoration is difficult to categorise; all I can say is that if it sounds intriguing to you, as it did to me, read it. I found it to be a beautiful and haunting novel, and a heartbreaking psychological portrait of a very lonely and lost little girl. 4 - 4.5 stars.

[Mafi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Não acho que seja um livro tocante, no sentido de emocionar e comover o leitor. A narrativa é brilhante, fala de temas difíceis e actuais mas a autora optou por construir uma narrativa que incita à reflexão e ao pensamento do leitor, pois sendo um tema tão subjectivo e pessoal, as interpretações sobre a estória da pequena menina que fez nevar podem ser as mais variadas.

Opinião completa aqui - http://algodaodoceparaocerebro.blogsp...

[Mariana Pereira · Rating 5 out of 5]

A minha opinião em vídeo, deste livro fantástico:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQS-q...

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sayfa sayfa artan şiddet kalbim ağzımda okumama sebebi oldu. Akran zorbalığının varacağı noktayı çok güzel işlemiş yazar. Farklı olanın toplumdan dışlandığı, zorbaların güveninin zorbalıkları olduğunu üzülerek gördüm yeniden. Küçücük kızın maruz kaldıklarına tanrı bulaşınca her şey daha da kötüye gidiyor. Çocuk dili de çok inandırıcı, ben baş karekterin psikolojik bir sıkıntısı olduğunu da düşünüyorum zira bunca naiflik artık enayiliktir. Körü körüne inançların hayatları nasıl harap ettiğini de annenin kaybından anlıyoruz.

[Sibusiso Sambo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen is a deeply emotional and thought-provoking novel. Through the eyes of 11-year-old Judith, the book explores the tension between faith, imagination, and the harsh realities of life. Judith’s creation of a miniature world, her "Land of Decoration," becomes both a sanctuary and a means of control in a life marked by her father's mental illness and the struggles of growing up.

The writing is beautifully introspective, with McCleen capturing the complexity of belief, doubt, and the search for meaning in the face of hardship. While the narrative is slow-paced at times, it’s emotionally powerful and rich in spiritual and psychological insights.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a story of many parts encompassing the frequently fraught relationship between a father and his daughter set against a backdrop of manic religious fervour and the stress of strike action with a pinch of fantasy thrown in for good measure - a heady mix indeed!

Ten year old Judith McPherson leads a rather isolated life with her widowed father. Their routine revolves around their strong religious conviction that the End Times are approaching fast but such faith won't be a match for the bullies at Judith's school - or will it? Could Judith's model of the Promised Land, the Land of Decoration save her from the brutality of the real world? Whilst Judith focuses on her own daily struggles, her father is facing his demons too as he defies the union and joins the much hated scabs. Previously held beliefs and certainties are shaken and torn apart as the McPhersons' lives hurtle out of control.

There's no doubt about it, this is an unusual novel. At first it seems almost childlike in tone, with our young narrator Judith concoting her imaginary Promised Land out of old sweetie wrappers and cotton wool. However, as the narrative develops, the atmosphere becomes darker and more sinister as Judith becomes more and more convinced of her miraculous powers. It does get slightly confusing at times, spoiling the reading experience somewhat but I guess this serves to mirror Judith's own distress and confusion of fantasy and reality

With hints of Jeanette Winterson's Oranges are Not the Only Fruit (the religious extremism bits!), I found this a challenging, strangely enjoyable read and a promising debut but not quite the miraculous masterpiece the blurb would have you believe.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ten-year-old Judith McPherson (her given name hints at her fierce mythic power) has a secret: God speaks to her. Loudly. The rigid yet salvific God of the sect that rules the McPherson family's lives turns out to be considerably more unpredictable when chatting with young Judith, and Judith is learning that using "divine" power has consequences that no ten-year-old could predict.

Grace McCleen's debut novel is fascinating, disturbing, funny, troubling. Does God really talk to Judith, or have the traumas of her life (the death of her mother, her distant, angry father, the endless bullying she endures at school) made her crazy? Is she finally moving from utter impotence to near-omnipotence, or have the events of her life finally slid completely out of control? McCleen is deft at feeding only scraps of the answers, and leaving the reader to ponder all the big questions. There's tragedy here, and comedy, and ultimately a lot of thought about the nature of God, faith, humanity, and the way life requires us to act without having a clue that we may be setting off an avalanche of unforeseen consequences. I thought about Judith's story for days after I finished reading it, and that is exactly how I like stories to go. More, please, Grace McCleen.

Thanks to the LibraryThing Early Reviewer Program for my copy of The Land of Decoration!

[Ilenia Zodiaco · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Il posto dei miracoli" è la storia semplice di una bambina straordinaria. So cosa state pensando. Non ne possiamo più di superbambini inoppurtuni e saputelli che si comportano come trentenni misantropi, vantando una superiorità morale e spirituale (qualcuno ha detto "L'eleganza del riccio"?). I bambini nella fiction sono sempre un rischio. Ed è per questo che, per me, bisogna riconoscere alla McCleen un doppio merito: quello di aver scritto una storia bellissima e quello di aver creato una protagonista autentica, per cui è difficile "non fare il tifo".

Judith McPherson ha dieci anni ed una fantasia sconfinata. Nella sua cameretta raccoglie gli scarti del mondo e li usa per costruire un mondo più bello, in cui è lei a decidere che corso debbano seguire le storie: la Terra dell'Adornamento. Chiunque ci vedrebbe solo un cumulo di spazzatura ma lei sa come ci si sente quando gli altri vedono in te solo la superficie. Una piccola Mathilda in un mondo meno fumettistico di quello creato da Roald Dahl. Infatti, Judith vive in un piccolo sobborgo inglese, abitato da provinciali ottusi e conformisti, soldati in trincea contro qualsiasi minaccia per la polverosa tranquillità di provincia ma altrettanto pronti a voltare la testa, mostrando la più gelida indifferenza nei confronti di abusi e violenze.
Judith fa parte di una comunità di fondamentalisti cristiani e per questo è esclusa. Per la sua Fede. Con il Padre e gli altri bizzarri membri della comunità va a predicare l'Armageddon, la fine del mondo incombente, che salverà solo i cuori puri per cui è riservata una gloriosa eternità, dove tutti gli spiriti fedeli si potranno riunire, e soprattutto dove suo padre finalmente potrà rivedere sua moglie.
Gli atti di bullismo e l'ostilità dei vicini peggiorano, soprattutto quando Judith inizia a parlare con Dio, si convince di essere il suo Strumento per sistemare le cose. Il disegno della sua Missione è imperscrutabile ma la sua potenza si palesa quando Judith si accorge di avere un potere. Quello di far succedere i miracoli.

L'approccio di Judith alla realtà è realistico ma ha un punto di vista inedito. Una bambina costretta a proiettare la felicità in un futuro prossimo nell'aldilà, che spera nell'Apocalisse, che vive un senso di colpa straziante, che non si sente affatto amata da un Padre brusco e intransigente, dagli occhi scurissimi e lucenti, l'espressione indecifrabile. Il tema dell'isolamento, dell'esclusione è costante.
La storia è continuamente lacerata da crepe che diventeranno voragini tra un "noi" e "loro": i credenti e gli infedeli, il peccato e la salvezza, gli scioperanti e i crumiri, Dio e Judith, Judith e il padre. Illuminante la geometria degli spazi domestici. Il padre occupa sempre da solo "la stanza di fronte" mentre Judith viene confinata nelle stanze diametralmente opposte.
Fortissimo è lo scarto tra quello che Judith crede giusto e la costante paura di peccare, di essere "rimossa" anche dalla comunità di estremisti religiosi.
La costante pressione psicologica a cui viene sottoposta la bambina fa sì che Judith interiorizzi il suo senso di colpa e lo trasformi in un'entità superiore (Dio) che la guidi. Il modo in cui è razionalizzato da Judith "il suo potere" è una sorta di realismo magico con tocchi di liricismo (naturalmente Judith capisce che non è normale che lei parli con una voce interiore, dall'altra non ne può fornire una spiegazione psicologica quindi lo trasporta in una dimensione magico-sacrale).
Il viaggio di Judith, a tratti sinistro e terrificante, la porterà a scontrarsi non solo con il bullo della classe ma addirittura con Dio. Cambieranno le sue certezze, le sue prospettive per il futuro. I nuclei tematici del romanzo si dischiuderanno, mostrando aspetti del tutto diversi dai presupposti iniziali.
Il tema centrale della Fede è declinato in maniera del tutto particolare, non di certo come una mera questione teologica. All'inizio, è più una costrizione per Judith, un modo per non scontentare suo padre. Successivamente diventerà la sua ossessione (dal momento in cui si instaura il rapporto speciale con "Dio", non privo di contraddizioni e aporie) tanto da scontrarsi con suo padre, un fervente e inflessibile credente, che fa così fatica a credere in sua figlia. Infine, acquisiremo una diversa, meno rigida, accezione di Fede. Il rifiuto di ogni radicalizzazione mistica, porta ad un trasferimento di significato (che è anche l'etimologia della parola metafora). Fede come ricerca della felicità, fiducia nella possibilità che le cose possano andare meglio in questa vita, non in un'altra, non nella Terra dell'Adornamento.

"La fede è un balzo; voi siete qui, la cosa che volete è là; c'è uno spazio in mezzo. Dovete solo fare un balzo. Una volta fatto il primo passo, il più è fatto, basta un altro passo e si è già a metà strada".

Questa filosofia delle piccole cose, di cui è intensamente costellato il romanzo, è ribadita nell'accezione che Judith dà ai miracoli ma anche all'idea che Judith si farà del mondo, un luogo in cui tutto è interconnesso, che mi ha ricordato lo splendido film vincitore del Sundance "Beast of the Southern Wild", anche lì protagonisti un padre e una figlia giovanissima, alle prese con una realtà estrema.
"Come può la più piccola delle cose diventare la più grande, e la cosa che poteva essere arrestata diventare inarrestabile, e una cosa che non avevi mai pensato che ammontasse a tanto ammontare a tutto? Forse è perché i miracoli funzionano meglio con le cose normali, e più sono normali meglio è. Forse perché cominciano con le minutaglie. Più minute quelle, più grosso il miracolo".
"I miracoli non devono per forza essere grossi e possono succedere nei posti più improbabili. Possono succedere in cielo o su un campo di battaglia o in una cucina nel mezzo della notte. Non c'è nemmeno bisogno di credere nei miracoli perché ne succeda uno, ma quando succede ve ne accorgerete perché qualcosa di molto normale che non pensavate contasse un granché alla fine ha contato tantissimo. Ecco perché i miracoli funzionano meglio con le cose normali, e più sono normali meglio è; più grande è il contrasto più grosso è il miracolo".
Il posto dei miracoli è un romanzo che vi proietterà in un universo complesso attraverso lo sguardo disarmante di Judith, al centro di forze di pressione fortissime che la plasmeranno ma, alla fine della lettura, sarà lei ad avervi fatto cambiare il modo in cui vedete il mondo.

[Luanne Ollivier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every year there seems to be a book that stays with me long after I've turned the last page. And when someone asks me for a good book recommendation, it's the first one that comes to mind. The Land of Decoration - a debut novel by Grace McCleen is one of those books.

Ten year old Judith McPherson lives in England with her father, her mother having passed away. She attends school, but is bullied and isolated, primarily because of the religious beliefs that she and her father follow.

And sometimes Judith escapes into her own little world - one she has created in her room from rubbish.

"There is a world in my room. It is made from things no one else wanted and it is made with things that were my mother's, that she left to me, and it has taken most of my life to make."

She calls this world The Land of Decoration. She has taken this name from the book of Ezekiel - the land of milk and honey, a paradise for the faithful in the afterlife - The Promised Land. For Judith, it is where she will see her mother again.

When Judith transforms her Land of Decoration into a snow covered blizzard and it happens in reality, she believes she is responsible. " Miracles happen because someone made them and because someone, somewhere, had faith." And she's doubly sure she's responsible as God told her she was.

The bullying amplifies, as does the unrest at the factory Judith's father works at. And so does Judith's belief that she has the power to create miracles and change things. And God's voice is getting louder.

I was so mesmerized by this book. I couldn't read it straight through, but had to put it down and come back later as my emotions were in a turmoil. Judith's voice was heartbreaking in so many ways. McCleen has created a character in Judith that just grabbed me and wouldn't let go. I found myself stopping to ponder many of her views. I wanted so badly to help her as she faced so much more than a ten year old should. McCleen's depictions of the other main players are just as well done. Judith's father is another poignant portrayal that was difficult to accept and read at times.

McCleen's books explores so many themes - love, hate, tolerance, persecution, belief, faith and more, but ultimately is about the love between a parent and child.

I wonder how much of Judith's story is Grace's story. She was raised in a fundamentalist religious environment and has a strong interest in miniatures as well. I think readers are either going to love or hate McCleen's book, much like Emma Donoghue's Room. This reader loved it. (so did Emma Donoghue)

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an exceptional debut novel that I could not stop reading in spite of the deep anguish and the maternal protection that the main character invoked in me until I reached the wrenching conclusion.

The story is narrated by Judith McPherson, a ten year old that is intelligent and articulate far beyond her years. She lives with her widowed father John in a neglected home in a dying and decrepit town economically supported by the one local factory.

She and her father belong to a small, fundamentalist, end-of-days cult, spending most of their free time proselytizing and warning of the impending Armageddon.

Isolated by a seemingly unloving father and made an outcast at school by a faith that prohibits television, celebrations, experiences and expectations of joy, Judith lacks friends and support systems.

She constructs in her shabby room a diorama consisting of all sorts of odds and ends and rubbish, which she calls "The Land of Decoration", the name of The Promised Land as mentioned in Ezekiel.

The diorama becomes both a source of comfort and a coping mechanism. When a bully threatens her at school she hears a voice telling her to make a blizzard occur in her diorama. When the town receives an unexpected snowfall that weekend, closing school and saving her from the impending bullying, she believes that she has been divinely chosen, has been given power and can perform miracles.

Believing in her new found power, she then shoulders much responsibility for the ensuing difficulties in both her and her father's lives.

A bitter and violent strike at the town factory slowly chips away at the tooth pick foundation of her essence that has already been fractured by grief, guilt and fundamentalist Christian beliefs, until nothing is left to hold her up.

A talented author makes us care for her characters, and to say that I cared for Judith is an understatement. I wanted to enter into the pages, into the sticks and stones, mirrors and materials of her "Land of Decoration" and save her, to bring love and laughter and joy into her life.

One of the best books of 2012. Five stars.

The Land of Decoration: A NovelGrace McCleen

[Heather Noble · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book didn't work at all for me. It had no sense of time or place - could have been the seventies, could have been Wales or somewhere North with hills. The joyless religious sect stifling the lives of Judith and her father reminded me of the more than just a Baptist religions I came into contact with as a child but to me the plot, the setting and the characters were just contrived stereotypes in a story that failed to convince.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Land of Decoration, from the Book of Ezekiel, is a better world, the "promised land", the way 10-year old Judith McPherson wishes the world to be. It's a world Judith has created from the junk she finds, and the reader can see her creation, beginning with the opening paragraphs of this debut novel------

"IN THE BEGINNING there was an empty room, a little bit of space, a little bit of light, a little bit of time.

I said, I'm going to make fields, and I made them from place mats, carpet, brown corduroy, and felt. Then I made rivers from crepe paper, plastic wrap and shiny tinfoil, and mountains from papier mache and bark. And I looked at the fields and I looked at the rivers and I looked at the mountains and I saw that they were good."

Judith's real world is not a happy place. Her mom has died, her father John, is a strict, cold man who works at the steel mill which is troubled by union labor issues. A Christian fundamentalist, the one thing her father insists on is that Judith study the bible daily. He makes sure that she understands how important discipline and righteousness are. At 10, she understands all about Judgment Day, and even though she's still a child, she looks forward to it. She'll be with her mother again, she won't have to worry about school bullies ever again. One day when a classmate promises to embarrass her in school the following Monday, something good happens. Judith believes, "the Land of Decoration" she has created makes miracles possible, making her believe she may be God's "chosen one".

Without telling too much of the story, this debut novel was a hit with me. The chapters are short -- just several pages each, which makes every word, every thought seem perfect considering the narrator is a 10-year old girl. She's very smart, sympathetic and looking to find her place within this crazy world. I found myself rooting for her all the way, but I would find it hard to classify this story -- psychological, coming of age, suspense, faith -- it seems to have most areas covered -- What a terrific book for reading groups; there is plenty to talk about.

READ IT!

[Patty · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Land Of Decoration
By
Grace McCleen

My Quick Thoughts...

Judith lives with her father...in her room she has this sort of replica world.  She uses junk to create this decorated place.  She calls it her Land Of Decoration.

My Thoughts After Reading This Book...

Oh my goodness!  What a precious character 10 year old Judith is.  She is sweet and funny and thoughtful and heartbreakingly achingly sad.  She lives with her father and they follow a weird religion which causes them to not celebrate holidays and go to a special church and not have a television.  Her father is stark and solemn...they read the Bible together for entertainment.  Judith is different enough, of course, to allow her classmates to make fun of her and she is bullied daily by a mean spirited boy named Neil.

When Neil tells her he is going to stick her head in the toilet...Judith begins talking to God and working him up for a miracle...or two.

She begins to think about how long she has to live...she practices holding her breath...she believes she has caused snow to fall in October.  The snowfall closes school and she is safe from Neil for a while.  She is hopeful that she can manufacture more miracles.

There are so many sweet and tender moments in this book as well as harsh and mean ones.  
She is helped at school by her teacher, Mrs. Pierce, who tries to deals with Neil.  Neil and his friends begin more destructive behaviors at Judith's house...bricks through windows,  clanging mailboxes and much more.  Sweet ladies at church are forever knitting her horrible outfits that she graciously tries to avoid.  And she is forever adding stuff to the decorated land in her bedroom.

The best part of this book for me was Judith.  I loved her thoughts, her reactions, her beliefs and her strengths...it was a lovely book.

[Rita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorei. Foi um livro que me fez pensar bastante , é uma história muito pessoal, se procuram magia, uma leitura simples e sentida este livro é o ideal.
Falando sobre assuntos muito interessantes e por vezes dolorosos/complicados : Religião e Bullying, este transporta-nos até um mundo mágico feito de coisas que são lixo para a maior parte das pessoas onde Judith conseguia encontrar força e um refúgio onde podia esconder-se do mundo.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, that was...thought provoking! Though the story was often painful to read, it was equally engrossing and strangely resonant. I say "strangely" because I didn't have any idea what was going on and I still don't!

[Dion Ribeiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Confesso que não sabia o que esperar deste livro, e mesmo agora, depois de lido, tenho alguma dificuldade em dar a minha opinião. No entanto, achei esta leitura algo deprimente...
Judith, uma menina com apenas 10 anos, tem já um fardo que nenhuma criança merece suportar: sente-se culpada pela morte da mãe; pensa que o pai não a ama porque ela foi responsável pela perda da mulher que ele tanto adorava; não tem amigos e ainda sofre de bullying na escola; ajuda nas tarefas domésticas, inclusivé a cozinhar; e nos tempos livres acompanha o pai, um religioso fervoroso que visita pessoas porta a porta na tentativa de espalhar a sua fé. Como se não bastasse, Judith ainda acredita que todas as desgraças que se vão sucedendo são originadas por ela.
Para combater a solidão, e com base na sua fé e imaginação, criou a "Terra de Leite e Mel", um mundo em miniatura com o qual ela brinca. A partir do dia em que ela simulou que caía neve e, contra todas as previsões, caíu neve na realidade, ela acredita ter o poder de repercutir no mundo real tudo o que provoca no seu pequeno mundo.

[Kirsty · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Land of Decoration is told from the first person perspective of ten-year-old Judith McPherson. Her narration is childish at times, infused with buckets of naïvety and a wry humour which it seems she has adopted in order to make the situations which unfold around her lose much of their terrifying seriousness. She asks questions of the kind which inquisitive children of her age revel in – what dying is like and how long someone can breathe underwater, for example. Her observations on life work perfectly with the story.

Judith is an extremely creative character who has a fresh way of viewing the world. She is able to see the uses of everything which is discarded by those around her. In Judith’s world, a sweet wrapper can become ‘flowers or a rainbow or… a crown’, and a shoelace found in a puddle finds a new lease of life as a hose, a stream, a python or a creeper.

Judith really captures the affection of the reader as the story progresses. She builds up ‘the Land of Decoration’ of the novel’s title on her bedroom floor ‘from things no one else wanted’ and states rather sadly that ‘it has taken most of my life to make’. In her Land of Decoration, Judith is trying to create her idea of a perfect world where ‘there won’t be any unbelievers or any war or any famine or any suffering… and those who have died will come back to life and those that are living will never die at all’. Her ultimate goal is incredibly poignant; that in the new world she has created, she will be able to see her mother who died when she was just a baby. She believes herself to be a worker of miracles when, after covering the Land of Decoration in a blanket of snow, she wakes to a white world outside her window. Soon afterwards, she begins to converse with God about the choices she makes throughout the novel.

The reader feels such empathy for Judith from the outset, particularly when the darker elements of the story come into focus. Despite being bullied at school, having no friends to speak of and a relatively strained relationship with her father which has resulted in rather a lonely childhood, she has an undying belief in the power of faith. God is a large part of the young girl’s life and she and her devout father read the Bible together every day without fail and attend meetings with other ‘Brothers’ and ‘Sisters’.

Judith’s father, factory worker John, is a character quite unlike her own. He provides very few answers to the questions she asks and reads incessantly to her from the Bible in order to ‘save’ her life. The reader feels relatively distanced from him for the majority of the novel. We do not know what motivates him or what he thinks about, as we see what Judith sees and nothing else. As a result of this, the details included in the numerous character descriptions throughout are refreshing. Some of the best examples are ‘he’s not much taller than me but wears little boots with heels’, ‘hair the colour of blackbirds’, ‘a mouth like a slit [which]… stretches like a concertina when she talks’, and Judith’s unusual description of herself: ‘I am ten, and four foot four, and… most of the time I am just the right temperature’.

The novel is set against the turbulent backdrop of factory strikes and irreconcilable change, elements of which Judith is unable to grasp. Seeing the portrayal of such situations through her child’s eyes works incredibly well.

McCleen has woven a sense of magic and wonder into the novel from the outset. Intriguing and sensuous lines, such as ‘I made a sea from a mirror, reflecting the sky and the boats and the birds’ and ‘I made houses from a matchbox and a bird’s nest and a pea pod and a shell’ can be found throughout.

The novel is almost a biblical parody. It opens with the line ‘In the beginning there was an empty room, a little bit of space, a little bit of light, a little bit of time’, a definite echo of the beginning of the Bible. Although the biblical elements add an interesting twist to the novel, they do feel a little overdone on a couple of occasions. The story would have worked just as well if some of the numerous religious references, Bible quotes or church scenes had been omitted. The way in which Judith and God converse also seems to drain some of the perfectly crafted magic from the book, which is a shame.

The chapters in The Land of Decoration are all relatively short but are very well-defined. Some of them have very matter-of-fact titles, ranging from ‘Why I Will Not Live Very Long’ to ‘How to Make a Man’. Others are almost stylistically whimsical – ‘Snowflakes and Mustard Seeds’ and ‘Dust and Stars’ – and others delightfully childish and reminiscent of primary school writing tasks – ‘The Best Day of My Life’. The writing itself is stunning in places, particularly with regard to the descriptions given. The strength of the narrative voice which McCleen has created far surpasses the majority of the dialogue throughout, which seems a little stolid and mundane at times.

In The Land of Decoration, McCleen has created a believable and absorbing story and a realistic narrative voice. The novel is quirky and different, even original at times. It is an incredibly promising debut and as a formative novel charting a young girl’s growing up, it works very well.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok this was a quirky sad story.

[Ruth Browne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Land of Decoration reads nothing at all like a first novel. A whimsical naivety enlivens the first few chapters, but soon slips, skews and develops into something much darker and stranger. Not once does the story lose its taste for wonder, finding beauty in the smallest things and most unlikely places. The secret is Grace McCleen's eerie sense of balance. She is capable of presenting an event, an emotion or an idea with all its majesty and horror intact. Consequently, her novel is possessed of a sometimes overwhelming emotional impact.
Intelligent and vulnerable, Judith is Alice in the Wonderland of Apocalypse preached by her devout father's cult. In a magical-realist setting invoking Carroll, Judith's room is carpeted with a world in miniature: houses, fields, roads and people cobbled together from the detritus of people's waste. This is her shrine to the Land of Decoration, the promised paradise that will succeed the imminent end of the earth. A creature of faith and imagination, she is set apart and bullied at school. Then she begins to hear the voice of God, and discovers within herself the power to work miracles.
There are several points at which this story seems ready to click into a familiar kind of groove: the parable of overcoming prejudice, the drama of a single parent's love, or the consequences of wishing ill on other people. Yet McCleen overcomes each tired proverb with a deeper narrative of human ugliness and enigma. As the daughter of a social pariah growing up in a working-class British community, Judith absorbs so much hostility that she is driven directly out of childhood into reclusive old age. Gravely taking on the weight of adult responsibilities, she is a reminder of the marginalisation of children in “civilised” society. Her status as a child undermines her agile mind and instincts so that an inspiring preacher, Brother Michaels, underestimates her to the point of careless condescension. Even those adults who try to help her never quite succeed as mentors, and her father is so enthralled by his own suffering that he quite forgets to care properly for his only child.
“Lots of things start by being small,” Judith comforts herself as the violence against her father escalates. “And if I am dust then I am also the dust of stars.” McCleen does not limit herself to the study of religious faith, but turns Judith's childlike narration to the contemplation of mysteries far beyond her pressing personal difficulties. Often, stories like Judith's see little of value in the retreat from reality. By contrast, McCleen follows her child protagonist all the way down the rabbit hole, emerging with a heightened sense of maturity but without a calming return to the normal.
Written simply but curiously, never breaking its mysterious pace, The Land of Decoration makes you complicit with its discoveries from the very first. Anticipating Armageddon with an eye for the precious, overlooked aspects of human experience, this is a fantastic first novel.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really wanted to LOVE this book. It has all the markings and reviews that lead me to believe this would be another ROOM; one of my favorite books, at least in the last five years. Ultimately, I just liked this book. It swayed back and forth between a three and a two, and given the ending (no spoiler here) it fell flat on two, almost crushing it with its weight.

Issues with writing and execution: the two main characters both lacked depth. Issues with general construction, and sequencing abound, having a deleterious effect on the clear, accurate, and succinct writing style. word choice was meticulously executed, but the broader ideas were configured and organized
So what did i enjoy? It was simply written, and the imagery was completed with master strokes. The word choice was both accurate to the pose, as well as having a lasting effect on the reader. Some of the sentences demand a second, third, fourth reading. The crisis situations, and there are many, are well organized and explored in an almost poetic and unforgiving manner.

We all know the themes at this point. girl's life is chaotic. girl embraces her religion. girl is challenged by actions, and her prior perception, that religion was all together good is challenged.... enter domino effect. girls actions challenge the community, alter the fabric of both her fathers and her schools existence. at the end lessons are learned, but the reader is left feeling a tad confused, if not irritated with how quickly things resolved and without much depth to really understand the fundamental themes that culminated on the last few pages. (slight spoiler coming up) Alas we end with instructions on how to create an object (balloon), not for the land of decorations, but in real life. its symbolism is faint and lost on the reader who is already confused/angry/etc with the ending of the book. I get it. I really do. The balloon was a central theme throughout the novel, but the greater importance of this object was lost on me.

in the end this is a decent project for an author beginning her career, she just needs to pay attention to focusing her themes and objectives, character development (in more terms of realism, palpable human qualities), and the role of climax in a book.

I just sorta liked you. Didn't feel a need to cuddle you at night. This is why, in retrospect you got upped from a two to a three. Don't get all egoed up on me now....