Bracken Library Book Review: The Gift by Peter Dickinson

The Gift

by Peter Dickinson

4 Faerie Points

The title and cover of this book are a little misleading because one instantly thinks that the book is going to be a heavily fantasy-based book, but once you get into it you discover it is more about growing up in a time where parents didn't always stick around and you go shoved off on family members (yes this happens today as well, but as I understand it even more frequently because parents would shove kids on grandparents then come back and then do it again.)

When you read this book you discover pretty quickly that it is a children's novel about a boy growing up in a dysfunction family and the boy has a rare gift, the ability to read into people's minds. This ability is described to him by his grandmother as being the cause of grief for his family. The gift doesn't appear as prominent as one would think though. It appears only sporadically throughout the book and the focus tends to be more on the people that he interacts with. 

One of the largest components of this story is the fact that his dad frequently moves the family and that they all really want to settle down finally, except for perhaps the father which is explained in the book. This causes the father to take part of a rather large plot that is the main story of the book, which I won't go into details as you should pick up the book and give it a chance for yourself. 

For me I enjoyed going in expecting one thing from this story and discovering it was more of a down-home charmed type of book instead. I enjoy when a book doesn't meet my expectations, but at the same time exceeds them because it does something better. Here it definitely fit the better category because I felt like I saw how someone of a different time period would have grown up. It wasn't high-brow literature by any means, but it was interesting to see the dynamics of each family member play out. My favorite relationship has to be between the main character and his grandmother. This relationship seems a bit stilted until you understand the story that she has been holding back. She has a reason to be hard-edged and you understand everything that makes their relationship what it is. Families didn't always look like what we have today with the running around to soccer games, meeting appointments, and etc. This book really reflects that, in my humble opinion. 

Overall I recommend reading "The Gift" by Peter Dickinson and finding a simpler time. It got deducted one Faerie Point because there are times where you will feel like, "Does this story have a point?", but it still keeps a certain bit of charm the entire time thus making it a great read for a lazy afternoon.