Safekeeping

by Gregory McDonald

Brought to the United States under a program to save children from the Nazi blitzgkrieg, Robby Burns, a duke's son, finds himself under the questionable protection of a New York newspaper reporter inclined to drink

Genres: Fiction, Mystery

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever, charming and quite ironic. I enjoyed it but wouldn’t read another quaint child-kidnapping story for a bit.

[Muriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it. At first, I didn't realize it was a satire, and was kind of bummed the way the world was treating this poor little boy. Then I got it--so clever and entertaining. A fun read which makes good points.

[Roger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tucked in the same book at "Snatch" it's a surprise when you get to it (unless you sneak a peek forward). Not quite as good as Snatch but interesting characters and a nice if convoluted and semi-unbelievable plot. Supposed to be NYC in 1940 but it seems much older. Not bad, Snatch was my first McDonald book. Would read him again.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever, funny, delicious portraits of American types.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Snatch... second book

[Bob Box · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in 1986. A young orphaned British Duke is sent to the US during WW2 for safekeeping.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best novels I have ever read. Young Robby is such a sweet boy who never seems to get where he needs to go. The characters are vivid and full of life. The ending was perfect.

[Joseph Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was nothing wrong with the writing itself, but the author seems to have let the message interfere with the plot and the characters. For instance, the main character's parents die and he doesn't even feel bad about it until about 2/3 of the way through the book. Instead, the scene where he finds out his parents have died is turned into a poor attempt at a joke (that wasn't even funny). The author apparently can't decide whether he wants to be Mark Twain, with his biting cynicism and social commentary, or Terry Pratchett, with his easy-going, make-fun-of-everyone outlook on the world; so he alternates between the two. These two writing styles don't go together, making the social commentary seem forced, especially since it's unclear what he's parodying or mocking most of the time. He gets only about half of his facts about the 30s and 40s correct, and the plot itself is difficult to take seriously because he keeps interrupting it to make more awkward social commentary.

Not a bad book, but not a good one either. Honestly, I think the author was simply trying too hard with this one.