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Skellig #1
Skellig
Michael can feel his sick baby sister's heart beating inside him, and as long as he can feel it he knows she is alive. But as her condition becomes life-threatening and the family faces the nightmare of an operation to save her life, Michael turns to his new friend Mina and the strange being, Skellig, who has been living beneath the crumbling garage at the family's new home.
In this most delicate and tender story of a young boy living in fear of death and coming to terms with life, you can almost touch the indefinable magic that Skellig--part owl, part human, part everything and nothing--brings to Michael's unsettled world.
With the gentle touch of an angel's breath, Almond, in his first novel for children, lets his characters think, feel and believe without overwhelming sentimentality. A dream of a book to touch even the hardest of hearts. --Susan Harrison
Audio Cassette
First published August 11, 1998
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About the author
David Almond
122 books824 followersDavid Almond is a British children's writer who has penned several novels, each one to critical acclaim. He was born and raised in Felling and Newcastle in post-industrial North East England and educated at the University of East Anglia. When he was young, he found his love of writing when some short stories of his were published in a local magazine. He started out as an author of adult fiction before finding his niche writing literature for young adults.
His first children's novel, Skellig (1998), set in Newcastle, won the Whitbread Children's Novel of the Year Award and also the Carnegie Medal. His subsequent novels are: Kit's Wilderness (1999), Heaven Eyes (2000), Secret Heart (2001), The Fire Eaters (2003) and Clay (2005). His first play aimed at adolescents, Wild Girl, Wild Boy, toured in 2001 and was published in 2002.
His works are highly philosophical and thus appeal to children and adults alike. Recurring themes throughout include the complex relationships between apparent opposites (such as life and death, reality and fiction, past and future); forms of education; growing up and adapting to change; the nature of 'the self'. He has been greatly influenced by the works of the English Romantic poet William Blake.
He is an author often suggested on National Curriculum reading lists in the United Kingdom and has attracted the attention of academics who specialise in the study of children's literature.
Almond currently lives with his family in Northumberland, England.
Awards: Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing (2010).
His first children's novel, Skellig (1998), set in Newcastle, won the Whitbread Children's Novel of the Year Award and also the Carnegie Medal. His subsequent novels are: Kit's Wilderness (1999), Heaven Eyes (2000), Secret Heart (2001), The Fire Eaters (2003) and Clay (2005). His first play aimed at adolescents, Wild Girl, Wild Boy, toured in 2001 and was published in 2002.
His works are highly philosophical and thus appeal to children and adults alike. Recurring themes throughout include the complex relationships between apparent opposites (such as life and death, reality and fiction, past and future); forms of education; growing up and adapting to change; the nature of 'the self'. He has been greatly influenced by the works of the English Romantic poet William Blake.
He is an author often suggested on National Curriculum reading lists in the United Kingdom and has attracted the attention of academics who specialise in the study of children's literature.
Almond currently lives with his family in Northumberland, England.
Awards: Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing (2010).
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February 19, 2024
“Don’t be angry. Be my friend.” – David Almond, Skellig
Written in 1998, Skellig is a young adult fantasy novella which focuses on a young boy named Michael. He is experiencing multiple high stress events in his life. He has moved into a very creepy old house, and his mother has just given birth to a newborn sister. His sister is extremely ill, and it is uncertain whether she will live. One day, Michael wanders into the garage and discovers a very strange man. Who is this man? Will Michael’s sister be alright?
This is just the type of fantasy that I adore, realistic fantasy. It was as though this could have been plucked from my dreams. It was intriguing and interesting. However, I couldn’t help but think that it would have been better if the book was written by Neil Gaiman. The concepts were fantastic, but the suspense could have been amplified.
This book also had some really interesting conversation about the educational system. There is a little girl named Mina who is a fan of William Blake. I probably would have been happier if the author had picked any other poet other than William Blake. The last review that I wrote about
William Blake was this poem:
William Blake is not my mate.
His poems can put me to sleep
Although that can be neat.
Most of them are about religion
But I would rather stare at a pigeon.
Boring and old
To read these again, I would need some gold.
Skellig also offered up some great quotes. Every time now that I have a nice meal, I am going to call out, “Food of the gods!” I also loved how the strange man always wants Chinese food, 27 and 53. It reminded me of all of the times that I drove to Young’s Chinese Food. Yes, they knew who I was when I called in. Oh to not be Celiac! Nostalgia. Nostalgia. Nostalgia.
Is this book going to go supernatural or is there a rational explanation for the stranger in the garage? Guess you will have to read this book to find out!
This is one of James Mustich’s 1,000 Books to Read
Jan Middlemarch
Feb The Grapes of Wrath
Mar Oliver Twist
Apr Madame Bovary
May A Clockwork Orange
Jun Possession
Jul The Folk of the Faraway Tree Collection
Aug Crime and Punishment
Sep Heart of Darkness
Oct Moby-Dick
Nov Far From the Madding Crowd
Dec A Tale of Two Cities
Connect With Me!
Blog Twitter BookTube Facebook Insta
Written in 1998, Skellig is a young adult fantasy novella which focuses on a young boy named Michael. He is experiencing multiple high stress events in his life. He has moved into a very creepy old house, and his mother has just given birth to a newborn sister. His sister is extremely ill, and it is uncertain whether she will live. One day, Michael wanders into the garage and discovers a very strange man. Who is this man? Will Michael’s sister be alright?
This is just the type of fantasy that I adore, realistic fantasy. It was as though this could have been plucked from my dreams. It was intriguing and interesting. However, I couldn’t help but think that it would have been better if the book was written by Neil Gaiman. The concepts were fantastic, but the suspense could have been amplified.
This book also had some really interesting conversation about the educational system. There is a little girl named Mina who is a fan of William Blake. I probably would have been happier if the author had picked any other poet other than William Blake. The last review that I wrote about
William Blake was this poem:
William Blake is not my mate.
His poems can put me to sleep
Although that can be neat.
Most of them are about religion
But I would rather stare at a pigeon.
Boring and old
To read these again, I would need some gold.
Skellig also offered up some great quotes. Every time now that I have a nice meal, I am going to call out, “Food of the gods!” I also loved how the strange man always wants Chinese food, 27 and 53. It reminded me of all of the times that I drove to Young’s Chinese Food. Yes, they knew who I was when I called in. Oh to not be Celiac! Nostalgia. Nostalgia. Nostalgia.
Is this book going to go supernatural or is there a rational explanation for the stranger in the garage? Guess you will have to read this book to find out!
This is one of James Mustich’s 1,000 Books to Read
Jan Middlemarch
Feb The Grapes of Wrath
Mar Oliver Twist
Apr Madame Bovary
May A Clockwork Orange
Jun Possession
Jul The Folk of the Faraway Tree Collection
Aug Crime and Punishment
Sep Heart of Darkness
Oct Moby-Dick
Nov Far From the Madding Crowd
Dec A Tale of Two Cities
Connect With Me!
Blog Twitter BookTube Facebook Insta
May 21, 2014
Well, that was excellent.
This book is a brief mouthful of myth and hope and atmosphere. Reasons to read it?
1. There's a magical, irritable man in the narrator's garage. He likes Chinese take out and dead mice.
2. There is a wise and judgmental girl-neighbor who becomes the narrator's best friend.
3. There is no kissing.
4. There is warming family dynamic: the narrator is afraid his sickly baby sister will die.
5. There are teachers and parents and grown-ups who aren't idiots, assholes, or antagonists.
6. Myth!
7. Myth!
8. Myth!
Recommended.
This book is a brief mouthful of myth and hope and atmosphere. Reasons to read it?
1. There's a magical, irritable man in the narrator's garage. He likes Chinese take out and dead mice.
2. There is a wise and judgmental girl-neighbor who becomes the narrator's best friend.
3. There is no kissing.
4. There is warming family dynamic: the narrator is afraid his sickly baby sister will die.
5. There are teachers and parents and grown-ups who aren't idiots, assholes, or antagonists.
6. Myth!
7. Myth!
8. Myth!
Recommended.
November 18, 2016
My daughter stands in front of her overflowing bookshelf, where her brothers put books they consider "for younger readers". What shall I read? She only has about eight books on a pile next to her bed, so it is definitely a question of existential importance...
She finds Skellig, takes it out, and I am secretly watching her, knowing she will be in for a rare treat!
This is a beautiful book, not only for children. Michael's life has been turned upside down by the serious illness of his baby sister. At the same time, the family has moved into a new house in desperate need of renovation. Tension builds as Michael and his parents worry. While on his own, Michael finds a strange creature in the garage that seems to be a sort of owl man or angel. The creature's name is Skellig and Michael finds strength through the effort he puts into saving his new friend from starvation. Mina, the girl next door, shares Michael's secret. Together they experience magic and hope and learn to accept that creatures like Skellig exist even if they have no rational explanation for it. The belief in Skellig is strongly linked to the hope that Michael's sister will survive. When she is out of danger, Skellig disappears.
If that was all there was to the story, it would just be another take on I-believe-in-fairies, with a somewhat scrawny, grumpy out-of-shape fairy.
But there is more to the book than that: the way the friendship between the two children develops. Mina shows Michael a whole new approach to learning and investigating the world through pictures and words, and that is what ultimately keeps him sane during the long hours of waiting for his dad to call from the hospital.
He is getting better and better at drawing, and he is introduced to the world of William Blake.
I actually felt the need to look up all the Blake quotations, and I really enjoyed having another go at Tyger, Tyger, for example.
If young adult fiction can give you a new experience of an old classic without being condescending and purely educational, that is a good thing indeed!
The poetry of Blake revived in a story of fear and hope and magic!
And the most important lesson of all, Michael laconically sums it up:
You get good at football by playing football, you get good at drawing by drawing.
What you need is not magic, but belief in and passion for the things you love as well as perseverance and patience to practice until you are good!
Recommended for those of you who remember the magic and fear of childhood!
She finds Skellig, takes it out, and I am secretly watching her, knowing she will be in for a rare treat!
This is a beautiful book, not only for children. Michael's life has been turned upside down by the serious illness of his baby sister. At the same time, the family has moved into a new house in desperate need of renovation. Tension builds as Michael and his parents worry. While on his own, Michael finds a strange creature in the garage that seems to be a sort of owl man or angel. The creature's name is Skellig and Michael finds strength through the effort he puts into saving his new friend from starvation. Mina, the girl next door, shares Michael's secret. Together they experience magic and hope and learn to accept that creatures like Skellig exist even if they have no rational explanation for it. The belief in Skellig is strongly linked to the hope that Michael's sister will survive. When she is out of danger, Skellig disappears.
If that was all there was to the story, it would just be another take on I-believe-in-fairies, with a somewhat scrawny, grumpy out-of-shape fairy.
But there is more to the book than that: the way the friendship between the two children develops. Mina shows Michael a whole new approach to learning and investigating the world through pictures and words, and that is what ultimately keeps him sane during the long hours of waiting for his dad to call from the hospital.
He is getting better and better at drawing, and he is introduced to the world of William Blake.
I actually felt the need to look up all the Blake quotations, and I really enjoyed having another go at Tyger, Tyger, for example.
If young adult fiction can give you a new experience of an old classic without being condescending and purely educational, that is a good thing indeed!
The poetry of Blake revived in a story of fear and hope and magic!
And the most important lesson of all, Michael laconically sums it up:
You get good at football by playing football, you get good at drawing by drawing.
What you need is not magic, but belief in and passion for the things you love as well as perseverance and patience to practice until you are good!
Recommended for those of you who remember the magic and fear of childhood!
November 28, 2016
I read this about ten years ago now, and I’d completely forgotten about how much I loved it at the time. As soon as I picked it up and began reading it again I remembered why. The story of the rebirth of Skellig is a wonderful little tale; it is an allegory for the ever evolving nature of man, and how perhaps he may not have reached his full evolutionary potential. I didn’t realise this at the time when I first read because I was only ten, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Therefore, this is a book that can be enjoyed by a child reader and an adult one.
There is no end to evolution
The plot follows Michael; he is a young boy and has just moved house, and in a derelict shed in the jungles he calls a back garden he finds an unexpected friend. The man doesn’t give him his name, at first, and appears to be malnourished and homeless; he is wearing rags and eating insects; he is gruff and dismissive and he has given up on life. Nobody wants to help him, but Michael does.
He builds his strength back up on Chinese takeaway, and the man slowly begins to regain his former self, which is something quite extraordinary. He has evolved beyond that of a normal human; he has become something much, much, more: he has become something very special. He change Michaels life and his name is Skellig.
The novel is allegorical for the potential of man and alludes to what he could become if evolution is still occurring. However, despite the implicit atheist message there are some religious connotations as Skellig resembles an angel. You could look at the novel is two ways: Skellig is a man who has evolved into a more angelic form or he is an angel who is simply reborn. I’m not entirely sure which side to take. In addition to this, there are also constant William Blake references that perhaps suggest that this is Michael’s journey from innocence to experience.
“What are you?" I whispered.
He shrugged again.
"Something," he said. "Something like you, something like a beast, something like a bird, something like an angel." He laughed. "Something like that.”
Perhaps I’m reading too much into it. But, either way you look at it the result is the same: a very moving book. This is a story that will stay with me forever after others have long been forgotten.
There is no end to evolution
The plot follows Michael; he is a young boy and has just moved house, and in a derelict shed in the jungles he calls a back garden he finds an unexpected friend. The man doesn’t give him his name, at first, and appears to be malnourished and homeless; he is wearing rags and eating insects; he is gruff and dismissive and he has given up on life. Nobody wants to help him, but Michael does.
He builds his strength back up on Chinese takeaway, and the man slowly begins to regain his former self, which is something quite extraordinary. He has evolved beyond that of a normal human; he has become something much, much, more: he has become something very special. He change Michaels life and his name is Skellig.
The novel is allegorical for the potential of man and alludes to what he could become if evolution is still occurring. However, despite the implicit atheist message there are some religious connotations as Skellig resembles an angel. You could look at the novel is two ways: Skellig is a man who has evolved into a more angelic form or he is an angel who is simply reborn. I’m not entirely sure which side to take. In addition to this, there are also constant William Blake references that perhaps suggest that this is Michael’s journey from innocence to experience.
“What are you?" I whispered.
He shrugged again.
"Something," he said. "Something like you, something like a beast, something like a bird, something like an angel." He laughed. "Something like that.”
Perhaps I’m reading too much into it. But, either way you look at it the result is the same: a very moving book. This is a story that will stay with me forever after others have long been forgotten.
November 30, 2017
3.5 stars. Lovely little fable, only 170 pages I finished it pretty quickly and really enjoyed it. Sweet tale of friendship, family, love and imagination.
Michael finds what he assumes to be a homeless man - hiding out in the garage of the new house he has moved into with his parents and baby sister.
What follows is a tremendous story of this man - known as Skellig, and the change he brings about both physically and emotionally to Michael's family, without ever being seen by anyone other than Michael and his neighbour Mina.
Would definitely recommend if anyone was looking for a lighthearted story.
Michael finds what he assumes to be a homeless man - hiding out in the garage of the new house he has moved into with his parents and baby sister.
What follows is a tremendous story of this man - known as Skellig, and the change he brings about both physically and emotionally to Michael's family, without ever being seen by anyone other than Michael and his neighbour Mina.
Would definitely recommend if anyone was looking for a lighthearted story.
September 1, 2021
i'm no teen, so i can't adequately judge this. it seems more interesting than some of the teen fiction books out back when i was wee, but more like a fable or a fairy tale than a full length novel. not a waste of an hour and a half....
come to my blog!
come to my blog!
March 5, 2008
I wept. Buckets. And was happier for it.
My son had this book for a school project so I read it to help him out. He had to prise it from my fingers after an hour and a half, and I wanted to go back and read it again. It embodies all that I think is good in Young Adult fiction, an unspoiled, simple but honest and direct approach - the themes are complex, but the storytelling is pure. I think adult fiction is just too pretentious sometimes, and this shows how a story can be emotive, mystical and witty all at once.
Sorry about the blubbing. I didn't get the book wet ^_^
My son had this book for a school project so I read it to help him out. He had to prise it from my fingers after an hour and a half, and I wanted to go back and read it again. It embodies all that I think is good in Young Adult fiction, an unspoiled, simple but honest and direct approach - the themes are complex, but the storytelling is pure. I think adult fiction is just too pretentious sometimes, and this shows how a story can be emotive, mystical and witty all at once.
Sorry about the blubbing. I didn't get the book wet ^_^
May 19, 2021
"David Almond's lyrical tale of the angel Skellig is written with delicacy and restraint, and tells a story of love and faith with exquisite, heart-fluttering tenderness. It is an extraordinarily profound book, no matter how old the reader."
—Chair of the Whitbread Judging Panel
Ten year old Michael is not a happy boy. His family have moved into a dilapidated home in Falconer Road, which is in bad need of repair. Previously owned by a deceased old man called Ernie, the yard is completely overgrown and the garage is a danger zone, about to fall down any minute.
To make matters worse, Michael has a baby sister, recently born prematurely, who is not well. She's the reason for the move, or so he thinks, and she's the one receiving their parents' attention and time right now. His parents are frantic with worry.
Michael feels pushed to one side and escapes into the crumbling garage. It is filled with ancient furniture, kitchen units, rolled-up carpets, pipes, crates and planks. There are bones of small dead animals on the floor and woodlice scuttling about all over the place. The thick dust makes it difficult for Michael to breathe. He leans across an old tea chest and spots movement in the corner. Upon closer inspection, it is a figure; a man with a very white face, in a disheveled black suit, with cobwebs snapped onto his clothes and skin, and dead flies and spiders lodged in his hair.
At first Michael thinks he's imagining the man, but soon the man talks, and Michael can see that he's in a lot of pain. "Arthur Itis" is what the man calls it. Michael puts his own troubles aside to care for the man, feeding him left over Chinese takeaway - #27 and #53, ale and aspirin.
Michael also meets and becomes friends with a neighbour his age, a girl called Mina, who is home schooled by her mother. Mina has an unusual perspective on the world. Nature, birds, drawing and the poems of William Blake interest her and she helps Michael see things in a new light. Michael trusts Mina and he introduces her to the man in the garage. Together they care for him and he ultimately reveals his name as "Skellig".
Given the state of decay of the garage, Michael and Mina move Skellig to a safer place. In helping him walk, they discover that he actually has wings, although they are dry and folded up. When the children ask Skellig 'what' he actually is, he says:
In the meanwhile, Michael's baby sister takes a turn for the worse and his parents are informed that she needs a heart operation if she is to live. His parents are distraught, and Michael realises that he too really cares for and loves his sister. The baby is taken to hospital and Michael imagines her heart beat and his intertwined.
On the day of the operation Michael is overcome with anxiety and pain as he can no longer feel his sister's heart beat. He's convinced that she's died during the operation. When he rushes to the hospital and speaks with his mother, she tells him about a weird dream she'd had, where a winged man came into the ward, picked his sister up and held her high in the air.
Key takeaway
The sense of both realism and magic are maintained in this book. What I personally enjoyed is how well the author describes a child's eyes being opened, not only to times of change and transition, but to the most extraordinary and wondrous things. The book also teaches tolerance, as well as a belief in the power of love and hope. It also considers the magical possibilities of evolution of a species and the links between all forms of life. This book is indeed a powerful reminder that the world is full of mysteries, some of which can be explained away and some of which remain unsolved.
David Almond - Author
David Almond is an award winning author. Skellig, his first book for young readers, received many awards and accolades, including:
>Winner of the 1998 Carnegie Medal
>Winner of the 1998 Whitbread Children's Book of the Year Award
>A 2000 Michael L Printz Honor Book
>A New York Times Bestseller
>A Publishers Weekly Best Book
>A Booklist Books for Youth Editors' Choice-Top of the List, Fiction
>A Horn Book FanFare
>A School Library Journal Best Book
>An ALA Notable Children's Book
Skellig has been adapted into a play, an opera and a film, the latter starring Tim Roth in the title role.
—Chair of the Whitbread Judging Panel
Ten year old Michael is not a happy boy. His family have moved into a dilapidated home in Falconer Road, which is in bad need of repair. Previously owned by a deceased old man called Ernie, the yard is completely overgrown and the garage is a danger zone, about to fall down any minute.
To make matters worse, Michael has a baby sister, recently born prematurely, who is not well. She's the reason for the move, or so he thinks, and she's the one receiving their parents' attention and time right now. His parents are frantic with worry.
Michael feels pushed to one side and escapes into the crumbling garage. It is filled with ancient furniture, kitchen units, rolled-up carpets, pipes, crates and planks. There are bones of small dead animals on the floor and woodlice scuttling about all over the place. The thick dust makes it difficult for Michael to breathe. He leans across an old tea chest and spots movement in the corner. Upon closer inspection, it is a figure; a man with a very white face, in a disheveled black suit, with cobwebs snapped onto his clothes and skin, and dead flies and spiders lodged in his hair.
At first Michael thinks he's imagining the man, but soon the man talks, and Michael can see that he's in a lot of pain. "Arthur Itis" is what the man calls it. Michael puts his own troubles aside to care for the man, feeding him left over Chinese takeaway - #27 and #53, ale and aspirin.
Michael also meets and becomes friends with a neighbour his age, a girl called Mina, who is home schooled by her mother. Mina has an unusual perspective on the world. Nature, birds, drawing and the poems of William Blake interest her and she helps Michael see things in a new light. Michael trusts Mina and he introduces her to the man in the garage. Together they care for him and he ultimately reveals his name as "Skellig".
Given the state of decay of the garage, Michael and Mina move Skellig to a safer place. In helping him walk, they discover that he actually has wings, although they are dry and folded up. When the children ask Skellig 'what' he actually is, he says:
" 'something', combining aspects of human, owl and angel."With the dedicated care of Michael and Mina, Skellig eventually grows stronger and his wings fuller.
In the meanwhile, Michael's baby sister takes a turn for the worse and his parents are informed that she needs a heart operation if she is to live. His parents are distraught, and Michael realises that he too really cares for and loves his sister. The baby is taken to hospital and Michael imagines her heart beat and his intertwined.
On the day of the operation Michael is overcome with anxiety and pain as he can no longer feel his sister's heart beat. He's convinced that she's died during the operation. When he rushes to the hospital and speaks with his mother, she tells him about a weird dream she'd had, where a winged man came into the ward, picked his sister up and held her high in the air.
Key takeaway
The sense of both realism and magic are maintained in this book. What I personally enjoyed is how well the author describes a child's eyes being opened, not only to times of change and transition, but to the most extraordinary and wondrous things. The book also teaches tolerance, as well as a belief in the power of love and hope. It also considers the magical possibilities of evolution of a species and the links between all forms of life. This book is indeed a powerful reminder that the world is full of mysteries, some of which can be explained away and some of which remain unsolved.
David Almond - Author
David Almond is an award winning author. Skellig, his first book for young readers, received many awards and accolades, including:
>Winner of the 1998 Carnegie Medal
>Winner of the 1998 Whitbread Children's Book of the Year Award
>A 2000 Michael L Printz Honor Book
>A New York Times Bestseller
>A Publishers Weekly Best Book
>A Booklist Books for Youth Editors' Choice-Top of the List, Fiction
>A Horn Book FanFare
>A School Library Journal Best Book
>An ALA Notable Children's Book
Skellig has been adapted into a play, an opera and a film, the latter starring Tim Roth in the title role.
February 8, 2009
I read this because in one of Nick Hornby's Believer columns he mentioned this was supposed to be the best YA book of all time. I don't know where he got this information, maybe from the ALA or some other three letter group. He gave it a glowing review so I thought I'd read it.
My first thought after reading it was that if it had been an adult novel I would have loved it. As a novel it felt more like a very nice sketch of an interesting and magical story than what I would like from a finished book. Not that there seemed to be anything necessarily missing from the book, it just didn't seem fully flushed out, like there was more he could have done with the book to given it more depth and expanded some of the themes in even more interesting ways. Of course doing so would have made this probably not a YA novel, but rather moved him into the magical-realism worlds of someone like Jonathan Carroll or Nicholas Christopher. But that said I found this really enjoyable, but in a teasing way that made me want more of something that there was no more to have.
The funny thing I found in this book was the author interview at the end. The author is asked about his influences, and he is led in the question to a magical realism answer which he admits to having and cites Marquez, someone whom I have never read, but maybe one day will. But then he answers that his other big influence is Raymond Carver. I find this to be really funny (not that you can't see the Carver in the book, the minimalism of Carver is defintely present in the streamlined no nonsense prose contained within) because I'm imagining some 13 year old who loving this book goes to read the people the author says are good and goes to pick up Carver. This is something I would have done at 13, and still do to this day, I'm a sucker for going after influences of authors I love and expanding the books I will one day need to read in this way. I would love to see the reaction of a 13 year old reading story after story of middle aged losers with dead end jobs getting drunk, chain-smoking and living in the dismal shit of adulthood. What would a young teen make of this? Would it scar them for life? Would they instantly suffer some existential crisis? How would a youngster deal with the harsh reality of Carver's characters? So yeah I found that funny, in an absurd-ish sort of way, but that really has nothing to do with the book which was pretty damned good.
My first thought after reading it was that if it had been an adult novel I would have loved it. As a novel it felt more like a very nice sketch of an interesting and magical story than what I would like from a finished book. Not that there seemed to be anything necessarily missing from the book, it just didn't seem fully flushed out, like there was more he could have done with the book to given it more depth and expanded some of the themes in even more interesting ways. Of course doing so would have made this probably not a YA novel, but rather moved him into the magical-realism worlds of someone like Jonathan Carroll or Nicholas Christopher. But that said I found this really enjoyable, but in a teasing way that made me want more of something that there was no more to have.
The funny thing I found in this book was the author interview at the end. The author is asked about his influences, and he is led in the question to a magical realism answer which he admits to having and cites Marquez, someone whom I have never read, but maybe one day will. But then he answers that his other big influence is Raymond Carver. I find this to be really funny (not that you can't see the Carver in the book, the minimalism of Carver is defintely present in the streamlined no nonsense prose contained within) because I'm imagining some 13 year old who loving this book goes to read the people the author says are good and goes to pick up Carver. This is something I would have done at 13, and still do to this day, I'm a sucker for going after influences of authors I love and expanding the books I will one day need to read in this way. I would love to see the reaction of a 13 year old reading story after story of middle aged losers with dead end jobs getting drunk, chain-smoking and living in the dismal shit of adulthood. What would a young teen make of this? Would it scar them for life? Would they instantly suffer some existential crisis? How would a youngster deal with the harsh reality of Carver's characters? So yeah I found that funny, in an absurd-ish sort of way, but that really has nothing to do with the book which was pretty damned good.
April 10, 2023
DICEN LOS QUE SABEN, QUE CUANDO NO SABEMOS QUE ES "ALGO", LO MÁS ACOSEJABLE ES HABLARLE DE TÚ🤭
Sobre todo, cuando lo más probable es que acabes sepultada bajo los escombros de un viejo y destartalado garaje. Tú, y el ser que acabas de descubrir:
- ¿Qué eres? Pero ¿qué eres?
Es verdad que ese "algo" puede que no tenga a bien contestarte o que aún no sepa que lo hará en unas horas. Aunque, puede, que tú tampoco hayas advertido de que te acabas de encontrar con un ser que cambiará la percepción de tu vida para siempre...🤫
🌸HAY LIBROS PREDESTINADOS A SER ESCRITOS. Nadie sabe porque razón es así, solo que un día, sin que las circunstancias sean las más propicias, de repente, alguien tiene la idea de escribir una historia que tocará la vida de la mayoría de sus lectores.
🌸El por qué ocurre esto, nadie lo sabe; algunos se empeñan en decir que es fruto del talento, de la inspiración, de las musas... Pero, como dice el propio autor: "La historia casi parecía escribirse sola. Las palabras me escribían a mí... La historia continuó creciendo, cobrando vida. En realidad, no planeé nada de eso. Nunca supe qué pasaría a continuación, ni cómo terminaría...".
🌸¿Por qué esta historia toca tantos corazones? ¿Por qué lo siguen haciendo los libros de Harry Potter? Dudo mucho que sus autores sean capaces de explicarlo, lo único que sabemos hoy en día es que estas historias los escogieron a ellos para que las escribieran y así poder existir.
🌸Pero, si me preguntas a mí, quizás, y solo quizás, sea porque hay tanto amor en cada una de sus palabras que el corazón del lector, al notarlo, se expande.
Sobre todo, cuando lo más probable es que acabes sepultada bajo los escombros de un viejo y destartalado garaje. Tú, y el ser que acabas de descubrir:
- ¿Qué eres? Pero ¿qué eres?
Es verdad que ese "algo" puede que no tenga a bien contestarte o que aún no sepa que lo hará en unas horas. Aunque, puede, que tú tampoco hayas advertido de que te acabas de encontrar con un ser que cambiará la percepción de tu vida para siempre...🤫
🌸HAY LIBROS PREDESTINADOS A SER ESCRITOS. Nadie sabe porque razón es así, solo que un día, sin que las circunstancias sean las más propicias, de repente, alguien tiene la idea de escribir una historia que tocará la vida de la mayoría de sus lectores.
🌸El por qué ocurre esto, nadie lo sabe; algunos se empeñan en decir que es fruto del talento, de la inspiración, de las musas... Pero, como dice el propio autor: "La historia casi parecía escribirse sola. Las palabras me escribían a mí... La historia continuó creciendo, cobrando vida. En realidad, no planeé nada de eso. Nunca supe qué pasaría a continuación, ni cómo terminaría...".
🌸¿Por qué esta historia toca tantos corazones? ¿Por qué lo siguen haciendo los libros de Harry Potter? Dudo mucho que sus autores sean capaces de explicarlo, lo único que sabemos hoy en día es que estas historias los escogieron a ellos para que las escribieran y así poder existir.
🌸Pero, si me preguntas a mí, quizás, y solo quizás, sea porque hay tanto amor en cada una de sus palabras que el corazón del lector, al notarlo, se expande.
September 16, 2018
It's odd. The first time I read anything that could be considered Magical Realism, I was super impressed by the subtlety and the grounding of the tale, as if it was mostly traditional fiction bordering on allegory, only milder.
After a certain point, each Magical Realism tale sits rather more blandly than the last.
It's Fantasy-lite. For those people who are scared of using their imaginations but like a little bit of awe, a little bit of wonder.
Imagine such a person saying, "Oh, no, I'd never read FANTASY. Give me slice of life and coming of age story, only. IF it has a bit of awe and wonder in it and it's done WELL, then I *might* bump it up as my absolute favorite novel of all time because it shows everyone just how DARING I am. You know. Because I could never LOVE Fantasy. My friends will be so impressed."
Yeah, sure, Skellig does the mystery bit pretty cool, but it's like a back-masking on an album about family drama, a premature kid sister and how it affects everyone in the family. Is it evolution? Is it an angel? We're meant to make up our own minds because the novel is meant to be timeless.
For me, it just feels a bit pretentious. And mild. Super mild.
And maybe I'm being too harsh. A lot of people love this. But to me, it's just barely dipping its toes in the interesting stuff and the rest is either just painful or fraught with a tiny bit of love thrown in.
After a certain point, each Magical Realism tale sits rather more blandly than the last.
It's Fantasy-lite. For those people who are scared of using their imaginations but like a little bit of awe, a little bit of wonder.
Imagine such a person saying, "Oh, no, I'd never read FANTASY. Give me slice of life and coming of age story, only. IF it has a bit of awe and wonder in it and it's done WELL, then I *might* bump it up as my absolute favorite novel of all time because it shows everyone just how DARING I am. You know. Because I could never LOVE Fantasy. My friends will be so impressed."
Yeah, sure, Skellig does the mystery bit pretty cool, but it's like a back-masking on an album about family drama, a premature kid sister and how it affects everyone in the family. Is it evolution? Is it an angel? We're meant to make up our own minds because the novel is meant to be timeless.
For me, it just feels a bit pretentious. And mild. Super mild.
And maybe I'm being too harsh. A lot of people love this. But to me, it's just barely dipping its toes in the interesting stuff and the rest is either just painful or fraught with a tiny bit of love thrown in.
November 30, 2016
Elegant cover,
Superb title,
and what a story! ♡
Absolutely brilliant.
I truly adore this loving, fascinating & quick read book.
Superb title,
and what a story! ♡
Absolutely brilliant.
I truly adore this loving, fascinating & quick read book.
November 22, 2013
It's a story full of mystery and also reality of our lives, I enjoyed the story and the way it was written as a teenager and I still love reviewing it...
March 31, 2024
My first Almond: it was a memorable reading experience.
Poetic, magical, mysterious, and thought-provoking. Very unique.
Recommended!
“What are you?" I whispered.
He shrugged again.
"Something," he said. "Something like you, something like a beast, something like a bird, something like an angel." He laughed. "Something like that."
Poetic, magical, mysterious, and thought-provoking. Very unique.
"What is it?"
"I don’t know. I don’t even know if it’s true or if it’s a dream."
"That’s alright. Truth and Dreams are always getting muddled."
Recommended!
June 6, 2025
After finally having read David Almond's 1998 Carnegie Medal winning young adult novel Skellig, as an adult reader, the combination of angel/human/bird like nature of the creature encountered in Skellig and how he is helped and nursed back to health by two ten year old children, by main protagonist Michael and his homeschooled and poet William Blake obsessed friend Mina, well, with Skellig's rank breath, atrocious body odours, strange taste for insects, dead mice, Chinese takeout, brown ale etc., the story superficially kind of reminds me a bit of the 1938 crime drama movie Angels with Dirty Faces (starring James Cagney) and that I am also left wondering if Almond naming his Skellig character after an island off the coast of Ireland (Skellig Michael, and that the island is in fact named after the Biblical archangel Michael) is supposed to signify that in Skellig main character Michael and Skellig are strongly and forever linked and that not only Skellig but also Michael (and by extension of course) also Mina are required to help Michael's dangerously ill and on the verge of death infant sister Joy get better, for her heart surgery to be successful.
For indeed, while many of the physical character descriptions David Almond textually provides in Skellig show Skellig as being majorly non angelic and dirty faced on the outside (at least in the Biblical sense or perhaps more to the point if one considers how angels have generally been depicted in European art, literature and culture over the centuries), internally, Skellig really is shown by Almond to posses a heart of pure gold, since definitely and ALL descriptions of physical decrepitude in Skellig notwithstanding, Skellig is totally and utterly a healer and a shiningly, glowing and loving, caring individual. And yes, even though David Almond never does let his readers know exactly and precisely who or what Skellig is meant to be, well for me and in my personal opinion, everything internal to Skellig shines so very warmly, so sparklingly brightly, that his, that Skellig's soul is what I personally would definitely consider as being that of a Biblical angel figure and in the most positive and totally not judgmental and non punishing sense of the word, only ever caring, healing and showing appreciation, that Skellig concluding with the sweetly delightful and in my opinion bordering on the miraculous successful heart surgery for Michael's baby sister is caused primarily by love, love and more love (but also that said love is actually only partially emanating from Skellig to Joy, that Skellig's angelic soul helping Joy get well also would never have been able to happen without Michael and Mina's first caring for and helping Skellig become well and strong, and that love and caring is what makes the world go round and also causes miracles, that basically, in Skellig, it is not just Skellig who creates Joy's deliverance, but that Michael and Mina helping and feeding Skellig, that the doctors and nurses at the hospital, as well as Michael and Joy's parents, that this all comes together for Baby Joy.
And while it did take me a while to get into Skellig and that I at first found David Almond's depictions of Skellig a bit over the top so to speak with regard to being physically grotesque, after about fifty or so pages, I had both gotten used to Almond's writing style and I was was able to appreciate not only its textual brilliance but to absolutely and totally enjoy Skellig and how Skellig's physical appearance in no way mirrors him inside, that Michael and Mia's support of and caring for Skellig totally frees the latter's internal shiningness and helps Baby Joy survive (so that my final rating for Skellig is not the three stars I was thinking of at the beginning of the novel but definitely and appreciatively five stars, but that I do wonder about reading the prequel, as while part of me wants more details on Mina, I am kind of worrying that this might negatively affect my positive memories of Skellig).
For indeed, while many of the physical character descriptions David Almond textually provides in Skellig show Skellig as being majorly non angelic and dirty faced on the outside (at least in the Biblical sense or perhaps more to the point if one considers how angels have generally been depicted in European art, literature and culture over the centuries), internally, Skellig really is shown by Almond to posses a heart of pure gold, since definitely and ALL descriptions of physical decrepitude in Skellig notwithstanding, Skellig is totally and utterly a healer and a shiningly, glowing and loving, caring individual. And yes, even though David Almond never does let his readers know exactly and precisely who or what Skellig is meant to be, well for me and in my personal opinion, everything internal to Skellig shines so very warmly, so sparklingly brightly, that his, that Skellig's soul is what I personally would definitely consider as being that of a Biblical angel figure and in the most positive and totally not judgmental and non punishing sense of the word, only ever caring, healing and showing appreciation, that Skellig concluding with the sweetly delightful and in my opinion bordering on the miraculous successful heart surgery for Michael's baby sister is caused primarily by love, love and more love (but also that said love is actually only partially emanating from Skellig to Joy, that Skellig's angelic soul helping Joy get well also would never have been able to happen without Michael and Mina's first caring for and helping Skellig become well and strong, and that love and caring is what makes the world go round and also causes miracles, that basically, in Skellig, it is not just Skellig who creates Joy's deliverance, but that Michael and Mina helping and feeding Skellig, that the doctors and nurses at the hospital, as well as Michael and Joy's parents, that this all comes together for Baby Joy.
And while it did take me a while to get into Skellig and that I at first found David Almond's depictions of Skellig a bit over the top so to speak with regard to being physically grotesque, after about fifty or so pages, I had both gotten used to Almond's writing style and I was was able to appreciate not only its textual brilliance but to absolutely and totally enjoy Skellig and how Skellig's physical appearance in no way mirrors him inside, that Michael and Mia's support of and caring for Skellig totally frees the latter's internal shiningness and helps Baby Joy survive (so that my final rating for Skellig is not the three stars I was thinking of at the beginning of the novel but definitely and appreciatively five stars, but that I do wonder about reading the prequel, as while part of me wants more details on Mina, I am kind of worrying that this might negatively affect my positive memories of Skellig).
October 22, 2018
I read this book because of its review in one of Nick Hornby's Believer columns. His high praise and its referencing of William Blake sold me.
It's an imaginative tale, touching and sweet but not saccharine; simply told, but with lots to think about; and suitable for its target audience of ages 8 to 12, but interesting enough for an adult (me) to keep reading and thinking. Plus I learned some new things about owls.
The story reminds me a little bit of something Neil Gaiman might write; but despite its themes, it's not nearly as dark as Gaiman usually is.
It's an imaginative tale, touching and sweet but not saccharine; simply told, but with lots to think about; and suitable for its target audience of ages 8 to 12, but interesting enough for an adult (me) to keep reading and thinking. Plus I learned some new things about owls.
The story reminds me a little bit of something Neil Gaiman might write; but despite its themes, it's not nearly as dark as Gaiman usually is.
December 30, 2024
скло для найменшеньких 🪺 міст у терабітію смокче
January 14, 2012
It's hard to be a cynic, much less a hatah when you have something pure like this. This may not be my favorite book, but I can't say that I didn't enjoy giving up a few hours on a Wednesday night to visit Michael's world.
When I was little and told to say my prayers (by hypocritical lapsed catholics, by the way) I would start by asking that my family be safe (yeah, that didn't work out so well now, did it?) and then hit the trivial things like asking that Jimmy Watts would notice me or maybe my mom could buy me the new Olivia Newton John album? Ah... to be so oblivious.
Michael has just moved into a new house. 'House' being used in the loosest of descriptions. The previous owner wasn't so much into home improvement as he was into slowly dying. The yard is a mess of weeds and there is a toilet in the dining room. The garage is a home to broken appliances, rolls of linoleum, planks, boxes, bugs and something else.
"I thought he was dead. He was sitting with his legs stretched out and his head tipped back against the wall. He was covered in dust and webs like everything else and his face was thin and pale. Dead bluebottles were scattered on his hair and shoulders. I shined the flashlight on his white face and his black suit."
Meet Skellig. Say his name a few times. Notice how your tongue is trapped behind your teeth. Feel the grit. Accentuate the 'guh'. Yeah... now close your eyes and visualize Skellig... decrepit, emaciated, mean, gruff. He's like a bad guy in a fairy tale, right? The guy that you'd cross the street to avoid. And he lives in Michael's garage.
Did I mention that Michael's baby sister is dying? Oh, sorry about that. Michael doesn't like to dwell on that. Instead he makes friend with Mina, a girl who lives down the street who is home-schooled, likes to sing William Blake poems, and draw blackbirds and owls. He plays hookie to help his dad fix up the house. He tries to nurse Skellig by feeding him takeout chinese (27 and 53-nectar of the gods), beer, and cod liver oil. When he does go to school he learns about skeletons and wonders why people have shoulder blades. (They say it where your wings were, when you were an angel, Michael's mom explains, they say they're where your wings will grow again one day.)
Where does all this lead? What do children wish for? What do you do when your baby sister is in the hospital tied to wires and tubes? Do miracles really exist? ' You have to believe in magic' Olivia once crooned. 'If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.' says Blake.
"What are you?" I whispered.
He shrugged again.
"Something," he said. "Something like you, something like a beast, something like a bird, something like an angel." He laughed. "Something like that."
He smiled.
When I was little and told to say my prayers (by hypocritical lapsed catholics, by the way) I would start by asking that my family be safe (yeah, that didn't work out so well now, did it?) and then hit the trivial things like asking that Jimmy Watts would notice me or maybe my mom could buy me the new Olivia Newton John album? Ah... to be so oblivious.
Michael has just moved into a new house. 'House' being used in the loosest of descriptions. The previous owner wasn't so much into home improvement as he was into slowly dying. The yard is a mess of weeds and there is a toilet in the dining room. The garage is a home to broken appliances, rolls of linoleum, planks, boxes, bugs and something else.
"I thought he was dead. He was sitting with his legs stretched out and his head tipped back against the wall. He was covered in dust and webs like everything else and his face was thin and pale. Dead bluebottles were scattered on his hair and shoulders. I shined the flashlight on his white face and his black suit."
Meet Skellig. Say his name a few times. Notice how your tongue is trapped behind your teeth. Feel the grit. Accentuate the 'guh'. Yeah... now close your eyes and visualize Skellig... decrepit, emaciated, mean, gruff. He's like a bad guy in a fairy tale, right? The guy that you'd cross the street to avoid. And he lives in Michael's garage.
Did I mention that Michael's baby sister is dying? Oh, sorry about that. Michael doesn't like to dwell on that. Instead he makes friend with Mina, a girl who lives down the street who is home-schooled, likes to sing William Blake poems, and draw blackbirds and owls. He plays hookie to help his dad fix up the house. He tries to nurse Skellig by feeding him takeout chinese (27 and 53-nectar of the gods), beer, and cod liver oil. When he does go to school he learns about skeletons and wonders why people have shoulder blades. (They say it where your wings were, when you were an angel, Michael's mom explains, they say they're where your wings will grow again one day.)
Where does all this lead? What do children wish for? What do you do when your baby sister is in the hospital tied to wires and tubes? Do miracles really exist? ' You have to believe in magic' Olivia once crooned. 'If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.' says Blake.
"What are you?" I whispered.
He shrugged again.
"Something," he said. "Something like you, something like a beast, something like a bird, something like an angel." He laughed. "Something like that."
He smiled.
April 26, 2020
ای کاش میشد بهش هزاران ستاره بدم.
«گاهی وقتها خیال میکنیم که باید همه چیز را بدانیم. اما نمیدانیم. پس باید به خودمان اجازه بدهیم چیزی را که هست ببینیم و باور کنیم.»
«گاهی وقتها خیال میکنیم که باید همه چیز را بدانیم. اما نمیدانیم. پس باید به خودمان اجازه بدهیم چیزی را که هست ببینیم و باور کنیم.»
November 6, 2012
I have to say if you asked me last week whether I had read Skellig by David Almond I would have looked at you blankly for a bit and then said “Well, I have a feeling I read it in primary school. No, I definitely did. But I can’t really remember what happens in it.”
I realise that that kind of means that I saw it as forgettable but please bear in mind it was about thirteen years ago and I have a horrible memory for books. Seriously, I can forget my favourite books that I’ve only just put down and that doesn’t mean that I don’t love them. I just have a shoddy memory.
But I guess the best thing about re-reading books is that you can start to remember bits that you had completely forgotten about.
Like, for example, I remember being a little bit scared of the character of Skellig. To me, back then, an angel was ethereal and glowy and had these huge, gorgeous wings full of beautiful thick feathers the colour of snowdrops. So when Skellig emerged from behind the boxes of Michael’s garage, wheezing and smelling of rotten gunge, with dead insects in his hair… my ten year old self was horrified. Now, of course, I am older and wiser and know that angels can come in all sorts of forms. They can have "bones and sinews and muscles”and be more natural than otherworldly. They can also resemble Nicholas Cage.
I also remember 27 and 53 and I remember that it’s the food of the gods. I have to say, I’m more of a crispy seaweed/ lemon chicken kind of girl. I also, rather unfortunately, remember Mr Almond’s obsession with dead bluebottles and regurgitated owl pellets. Yum.
And I remember Mina, Michael’s gloriously spirited best friend. She’s the one who doesn’t believe in education and would rather draw pictures of birds, create models out of clay and quote William Blake at all those nay-sayers. She’s the one who’s wild around the edges and doesn’t make apologies for being different. And she’s the one who is "extraordinary” and will hold Michael’s hand and give it that extra squeeze if he’s feeling like he’s drifting away.
I also remember how quiet this story is, and how it’s poignant and beautiful and occasionally uncomfortable to read. And I remember that joyous ending. And I also remember how I wished I had friends I could communicate with using an owl call. “Hoot. Hoot hoot hoot.” And I remember Whisper and how much I used to want a cat just like him.
And, most importantly, I remember why humans have shoulder blades.
So this book may have been forgettable when I was ten when I was more interested in reading Animal Ark books (Was Lion in the Larder one? Or did I make that up? I remember the titles got more and more ridiculous as the series went on), but I seriously doubt it will be forgettable now.
You can read this review and lots of other exciting things on my blog, Wear the Old Coat.
I realise that that kind of means that I saw it as forgettable but please bear in mind it was about thirteen years ago and I have a horrible memory for books. Seriously, I can forget my favourite books that I’ve only just put down and that doesn’t mean that I don’t love them. I just have a shoddy memory.
But I guess the best thing about re-reading books is that you can start to remember bits that you had completely forgotten about.
Like, for example, I remember being a little bit scared of the character of Skellig. To me, back then, an angel was ethereal and glowy and had these huge, gorgeous wings full of beautiful thick feathers the colour of snowdrops. So when Skellig emerged from behind the boxes of Michael’s garage, wheezing and smelling of rotten gunge, with dead insects in his hair… my ten year old self was horrified. Now, of course, I am older and wiser and know that angels can come in all sorts of forms. They can have "bones and sinews and muscles”and be more natural than otherworldly. They can also resemble Nicholas Cage.
I also remember 27 and 53 and I remember that it’s the food of the gods. I have to say, I’m more of a crispy seaweed/ lemon chicken kind of girl. I also, rather unfortunately, remember Mr Almond’s obsession with dead bluebottles and regurgitated owl pellets. Yum.
And I remember Mina, Michael’s gloriously spirited best friend. She’s the one who doesn’t believe in education and would rather draw pictures of birds, create models out of clay and quote William Blake at all those nay-sayers. She’s the one who’s wild around the edges and doesn’t make apologies for being different. And she’s the one who is "extraordinary” and will hold Michael’s hand and give it that extra squeeze if he’s feeling like he’s drifting away.
I also remember how quiet this story is, and how it’s poignant and beautiful and occasionally uncomfortable to read. And I remember that joyous ending. And I also remember how I wished I had friends I could communicate with using an owl call. “Hoot. Hoot hoot hoot.” And I remember Whisper and how much I used to want a cat just like him.
And, most importantly, I remember why humans have shoulder blades.
So this book may have been forgettable when I was ten when I was more interested in reading Animal Ark books (Was Lion in the Larder one? Or did I make that up? I remember the titles got more and more ridiculous as the series went on), but I seriously doubt it will be forgettable now.
You can read this review and lots of other exciting things on my blog, Wear the Old Coat.
December 19, 2020
Well this was an unusual read! This is an original telling of a story about a family going through a difficult time of uncertainty with their newest member, a baby girl. I loved how close-knit the family was and how they took time for each other and supported each other. I almost believed their love alone might heal their baby! The element of fantasy certainly kept things interesting. The response of one of the surgeons in the hospital was unexpected, especially that he took the time to respond to a young boy while surrounded by his trainees. I was glad that Overdrive provides the opportunity to change the pace of the narrator's voice, as he talked fast and I needed more time to process his words.
April 17, 2015
2.5 stars
This was just weird. It's very difficult to rate because it's just so strange, so I'm rating it based on how much I enjoyed it, which was not very much. Aside from Mina, none of the characters were very likeable, and I didn't get the whole angel thing, plus the writing was dull. Not recommended.
This was just weird. It's very difficult to rate because it's just so strange, so I'm rating it based on how much I enjoyed it, which was not very much. Aside from Mina, none of the characters were very likeable, and I didn't get the whole angel thing, plus the writing was dull. Not recommended.
October 18, 2019
Magical, philosophical, touching and sweet.
'So he took his wings and fled:
Then the morn blush'd rosy red.'
January 5, 2021
6.258965 stars
I first read Skellig a number of years ago and instantly fell in love with it. I was fortunate enough to not have the story pushed on me at school and instead find it on my own after leaving school. I now read it at least once every year. It is by far one of my all time favourite stories ever. The past couple of reads have been listening to the audiobook during my daily walks/train journeys and it’s just delightful.
Skellig is, on the surface, a story about a boy (Michael) who finds an angel/bird/owl-like man living in the garage of his new home. But it is so much more than that. Skellig is about change. Michael has a new baby sister, a new friend and a new home. Skellig is about discovering there are things in the world that you don’t know about. Michael discovers that men with wings can exist. He learns about arthritis and William Blake and homeschooling and how birds have hollow bones. He learns that life can sometimes throw us a curveball that feels very unfair and there is little you can do about it. Skellig is about friendship. Michael meets a girl, Mina, and becomes her friend without it becoming a love story. It is so nice to have a relationship develop in a story without it having to become romantic because get this - sometimes males and females can become friends without falling in love!. Skellig is about hope, and hardship and the subtle beauty of nature. Skellig is about helping those in need despite how difficult it can be. Most of all, Skellig is also about yummy yummy delicious chinese take out food. Sweet and Sour = nectar of the gods.
David Almond writes his characters so well. They all feel real, and deep. Even though we don’t spend too much time with some of them, it really didn’t take much imagination to feel like I knew them. On a bit of a side note, one thing that can make or break a story for me is dialogue. Bad dialogue, no matter how good a story is, has me nope-ing out so hard. Skellig is a masterclass in how to write dialogue. It just feels real.
The amount of really well written metaphors and themes throughout this book is a delight. One example of this is how Michael is told to view his new home in his mind's eye and the potential it has. He has to view the man in his garage and the situation with his sister in a similar light. No matter how grubby, repulsive or broken a situation or person may appear, with the right determination and help, these situations can be transformed into something more beautiful than anything originally thought.
I could gush over this story for another 7000 words, but I will stop - I think you can see how much I love it.
Anyway, I’m off to make clay figurines. Peace and Love.
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I first read Skellig a number of years ago and instantly fell in love with it. I was fortunate enough to not have the story pushed on me at school and instead find it on my own after leaving school. I now read it at least once every year. It is by far one of my all time favourite stories ever. The past couple of reads have been listening to the audiobook during my daily walks/train journeys and it’s just delightful.
Skellig is, on the surface, a story about a boy (Michael) who finds an angel/bird/owl-like man living in the garage of his new home. But it is so much more than that. Skellig is about change. Michael has a new baby sister, a new friend and a new home. Skellig is about discovering there are things in the world that you don’t know about. Michael discovers that men with wings can exist. He learns about arthritis and William Blake and homeschooling and how birds have hollow bones. He learns that life can sometimes throw us a curveball that feels very unfair and there is little you can do about it. Skellig is about friendship. Michael meets a girl, Mina, and becomes her friend without it becoming a love story. It is so nice to have a relationship develop in a story without it having to become romantic because get this - sometimes males and females can become friends without falling in love!. Skellig is about hope, and hardship and the subtle beauty of nature. Skellig is about helping those in need despite how difficult it can be. Most of all, Skellig is also about yummy yummy delicious chinese take out food. Sweet and Sour = nectar of the gods.
I watched a spider scrambling across his face. He caught it in his fingers and popped it in his mouth.
David Almond writes his characters so well. They all feel real, and deep. Even though we don’t spend too much time with some of them, it really didn’t take much imagination to feel like I knew them. On a bit of a side note, one thing that can make or break a story for me is dialogue. Bad dialogue, no matter how good a story is, has me nope-ing out so hard. Skellig is a masterclass in how to write dialogue. It just feels real.
When I slept, I dreamed that my bed was all twigs and leaves and feathers, just like a nest.
The amount of really well written metaphors and themes throughout this book is a delight. One example of this is how Michael is told to view his new home in his mind's eye and the potential it has. He has to view the man in his garage and the situation with his sister in a similar light. No matter how grubby, repulsive or broken a situation or person may appear, with the right determination and help, these situations can be transformed into something more beautiful than anything originally thought.
I thought he was dead. He was sitting with his legs stretched out, and his head tipped back against the wall. He was covered in dust and webs like everything else and his face was thin and pale. Dead bluebottles were scattered on his hair and shoulders. I shone the torch on his white face and his black suit.
I could gush over this story for another 7000 words, but I will stop - I think you can see how much I love it.
Anyway, I’m off to make clay figurines. Peace and Love.
Be my friend and chat with me on the twitter dot com
July 16, 2018
Love this book. What a creation of a character Skellig is. Obvs I am a huge fan of Almond. Not just because he grew up in the streets around the corner from my house, but because his story telling is so wonderful. You go on a journey with the characters and root for them to do well.
I remember the look on my Y5 class' face when they saw a trail of white feathers outside of the classroom, leading to a bunch of boxes at the back. Brilliant!!!!
I remember the look on my Y5 class' face when they saw a trail of white feathers outside of the classroom, leading to a bunch of boxes at the back. Brilliant!!!!
February 23, 2020
4.5 Stars for Skellig (audiobook) by David Almond read by the author. This is a really charming YA story. The author did a great job narrating.
October 13, 2021
I thought the book was very boring and hard to follow. I would not recommend this book to anyone it is a complete waste of your time, oxygen and effort. This book should have a label on the cover saying do not read It could be hazardous to your health. All the copies of this book should be confiscated then burned.
January 2, 2023
no idea what was going on the whole time but i loved it lol
September 10, 2018
This is a beautiful book about the interconnectedness of humans, nature (animals, specifically), and celestial beings. I love the genre of magical realism, and this book falls right into that. The concept is unique, and I really like the main characters, Michael, Mina, and Skellig. The concept sort of reminds me of the chapter in Mary Poppins that deals with Michael and Jane's younger siblings, which puts forth the idea that babies can talk to animals but lose the ability as they get older and begin to use human speech. Also, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, which claims that babies are birds and know how to fly until they become fully human and lose the ability. The main theme, though, is love. Michael loves Skellig and Mina and his little sister, and Skellig loves them all back. I like the idea that the kids know something the adults don't but that the parents sense something and understand on a more intuitive level that which the kids are able to see with their physical eyes. This is a great book for children, young adults, and adults. I highly recommend it.
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Upon rereading this book, I upped it a star because I really don't see any flaws with it other than the voice. Michael's age is never stated, and he definitely sounds like a kid, but there are things he says or thinks that feel more adult to me. Because we never know his age, though, the book has a quality that can appeal to all ages of readers as I stated above.
What struck me the most during and after this read were the wonder that Almond uses Michael to express and the interesting connection between faith and science.
First, Michael and Mina feel wonder about life. They don't ever see it as plain, boring, or ordinary, and I love that. There's something magical about being, whether you're a kid or an adult. Life is beautiful and extraordinary if you know how to look for, find, and see the beauty and wonder of it all.
Second, faith and science are often seen as contradictory and mutually exclusive. I don't mean "religion" when I say faith but instead that quality that allows us to sense things beyond what we perceive with our five concrete senses. Faith can include religion, of course, and should be part of any religion, but faith can be broader. Almond emphasizes the link between all living beings but also between humans, animals, and celestial beings. He does this through the idea of evolution, really playing up on the fact that dinosaurs were the distant relatives of birds and highlighting the connections between birds and angels (wings, feathers, flight, etc.). What's interesting, though, is that in order to see these connections, Mina and Michael have to understand evolution. To really appreciate a celestial being, one that is neither man nor bird nor angel but an odd and unique mixture of all three, Mina and Michael need science. They need knowledge, which is what science actually means, and I think people forget that. You can't have faith without knowledge and vice versa. Otherwise, faith is blind, and knowledge is empty.
I find this point especially interesting because I am a Christian, a woman of faith, who also loves and appreciates science. The cool thing about Christianity and evolution is that both propose a common ancestor, and both propose a link or commonality between and among all living things. Although that common ancestor may appear different, and that link or commonality is different, it doesn't change the fact that there is common ground if we're open to it. I think Almond is open to it through this book. He reveals deeper truths about faith and evolution, about faith and science, that I didn't fully notice the first time I read this book.
Once again, I highly recommend Skellig, a book that isn't for children but for anyone that appreciates well-developed characters (Mina is by far my favorite!!), a closely-plotted story, and an obvious but layered theme, all accentuated by truly beautiful, moving, and thought-provoking writing. I would definitely re-reread this book.
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Upon rereading this book, I upped it a star because I really don't see any flaws with it other than the voice. Michael's age is never stated, and he definitely sounds like a kid, but there are things he says or thinks that feel more adult to me. Because we never know his age, though, the book has a quality that can appeal to all ages of readers as I stated above.
What struck me the most during and after this read were the wonder that Almond uses Michael to express and the interesting connection between faith and science.
First, Michael and Mina feel wonder about life. They don't ever see it as plain, boring, or ordinary, and I love that. There's something magical about being, whether you're a kid or an adult. Life is beautiful and extraordinary if you know how to look for, find, and see the beauty and wonder of it all.
Second, faith and science are often seen as contradictory and mutually exclusive. I don't mean "religion" when I say faith but instead that quality that allows us to sense things beyond what we perceive with our five concrete senses. Faith can include religion, of course, and should be part of any religion, but faith can be broader. Almond emphasizes the link between all living beings but also between humans, animals, and celestial beings. He does this through the idea of evolution, really playing up on the fact that dinosaurs were the distant relatives of birds and highlighting the connections between birds and angels (wings, feathers, flight, etc.). What's interesting, though, is that in order to see these connections, Mina and Michael have to understand evolution. To really appreciate a celestial being, one that is neither man nor bird nor angel but an odd and unique mixture of all three, Mina and Michael need science. They need knowledge, which is what science actually means, and I think people forget that. You can't have faith without knowledge and vice versa. Otherwise, faith is blind, and knowledge is empty.
I find this point especially interesting because I am a Christian, a woman of faith, who also loves and appreciates science. The cool thing about Christianity and evolution is that both propose a common ancestor, and both propose a link or commonality between and among all living things. Although that common ancestor may appear different, and that link or commonality is different, it doesn't change the fact that there is common ground if we're open to it. I think Almond is open to it through this book. He reveals deeper truths about faith and evolution, about faith and science, that I didn't fully notice the first time I read this book.
Once again, I highly recommend Skellig, a book that isn't for children but for anyone that appreciates well-developed characters (Mina is by far my favorite!!), a closely-plotted story, and an obvious but layered theme, all accentuated by truly beautiful, moving, and thought-provoking writing. I would definitely re-reread this book.
June 29, 2015
Dear Amber,
I fear my feelings about Skellig are going to disappoint you. I didn't love it. Now that could be because it came to me too late in life to truly adore the story of the strange owl/angel/man, or perhaps I am too damn jaded, or it could just be that I no longer seem able to completely enjoy something just for the sake of enjoyment. I don't like that about me, but there it is.
Don't get me wrong. I liked Skellig plenty. I liked it enough that I've recommended it to Te and Los, and Scoutie has already started reading it, and I blew through it at top speed, wanting to see how things played out.
There is much to admire in Almond's book. Michael, the protagonist, is a wonderful boy, a kind sensitive protagonist much like a little boy I know, and boys like that are underrepresented in literature (it seems to me). Mina, Michael's friend, is a fierce, uncompromising home schooled girl with a deep love of William Blake (kind of like an Amber I know) and an open, welcoming, searching view of all the potentials in the world. They are a delightful pair to spend time with, and their care of Skellig made me cheer for them.
Skellig him(it)self was another victory for Almond. Skellig could easily have been misused. Too much Skellig and the book would have been a fraction as good as it was. Too little Skellig and what would be the point. And if Almond had chosen to tell us everything about Skellig, to spoon feed us Skellig's "truth," I might have been moved to toss the book on the barbecue. But no, the amount of Skellig was perfect.
Yet I closed the book as an admirer rather than a lover. Why the distance? It was Almond's fence sitting when it came to the secular and the religious. His position lacked the subtlety of the rest of the novella, and each time the fence sitting appeared it pulled me out of the story.
The tension in the book between evolution and the existence of the supernatural was so forced that I couldn't concentrate on the characters or what they were doing; it felt a bit too much like the wife in the Murder of Gonzago. And I think this was a lost opportunity for Almond. The middle ground between science and the supernatural -- which is where I think most of the people I know personally would situate themselves -- doesn't get enough representation in our pop culture. The fight between the most credulous believers and the unbelievers gets all the play, but those folks somewhere in the middle are a bigger group by far (at least that's my guess) than the ones on the ends of the spectrum, and they are forced to listen to those who don't share their opinions all the time. Yet here, finally, they get a book looking at things from their perspective, but Almond strayed to far from just showing them the middle ground and entered the realm of lecturing on the middle ground. And that bummed me right out.
So I liked this book. I liked it very much. But I couldn't love it, Amber. I am sorry.
Love, Brad
I fear my feelings about Skellig are going to disappoint you. I didn't love it. Now that could be because it came to me too late in life to truly adore the story of the strange owl/angel/man, or perhaps I am too damn jaded, or it could just be that I no longer seem able to completely enjoy something just for the sake of enjoyment. I don't like that about me, but there it is.
Don't get me wrong. I liked Skellig plenty. I liked it enough that I've recommended it to Te and Los, and Scoutie has already started reading it, and I blew through it at top speed, wanting to see how things played out.
There is much to admire in Almond's book. Michael, the protagonist, is a wonderful boy, a kind sensitive protagonist much like a little boy I know, and boys like that are underrepresented in literature (it seems to me). Mina, Michael's friend, is a fierce, uncompromising home schooled girl with a deep love of William Blake (kind of like an Amber I know) and an open, welcoming, searching view of all the potentials in the world. They are a delightful pair to spend time with, and their care of Skellig made me cheer for them.
Skellig him(it)self was another victory for Almond. Skellig could easily have been misused. Too much Skellig and the book would have been a fraction as good as it was. Too little Skellig and what would be the point. And if Almond had chosen to tell us everything about Skellig, to spoon feed us Skellig's "truth," I might have been moved to toss the book on the barbecue. But no, the amount of Skellig was perfect.
Yet I closed the book as an admirer rather than a lover. Why the distance? It was Almond's fence sitting when it came to the secular and the religious. His position lacked the subtlety of the rest of the novella, and each time the fence sitting appeared it pulled me out of the story.
The tension in the book between evolution and the existence of the supernatural was so forced that I couldn't concentrate on the characters or what they were doing; it felt a bit too much like the wife in the Murder of Gonzago. And I think this was a lost opportunity for Almond. The middle ground between science and the supernatural -- which is where I think most of the people I know personally would situate themselves -- doesn't get enough representation in our pop culture. The fight between the most credulous believers and the unbelievers gets all the play, but those folks somewhere in the middle are a bigger group by far (at least that's my guess) than the ones on the ends of the spectrum, and they are forced to listen to those who don't share their opinions all the time. Yet here, finally, they get a book looking at things from their perspective, but Almond strayed to far from just showing them the middle ground and entered the realm of lecturing on the middle ground. And that bummed me right out.
So I liked this book. I liked it very much. But I couldn't love it, Amber. I am sorry.
Love, Brad
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