![]() ![]() "That's very refreshing," remarked Stuart. whipped off his cap, lay down on his stomach, and dipped up some of the cool refreshing drink, using his cap as a dipper. Frankly, I expect better than the following from a man who's written his own bloody book about grammar: Instead we just had this random meeting (which was another instance of unexplained phenomenon - why is she two inches tall, but otherwise a regular person? If we're being asked to accept that Stuart's situation is conceivable, why not just stick with that? Why mess with it like this?), for no particular reason.Īlso, I know it's a children's book, and a fairly old one at that, but let's have some standards of literature here. What was the point of that? I'd have made her another mouse person like Stuart, and maybe they could continue to journey together or something. They meet, try to have a date, it doesn't really work, she goes home, and he continues his journey. His encounter with Harriet, the two-inch-tall girl is also fairly random and fairly pointless. And how it becomes invisible is also entirely unexplained. From that point on, it's just Stuart's little car. The car goes invisible in its owner's office, crashes around for a while, and that's it. WTF? All of a sudden, this bit of complete outlandishness is just dropped into the story. But this thing has an invisibility button. OK, there again, maybe you could be crazy enough to build a model car that actually runs on gasoline and everything. Someone could be crazy enough to build a model ship that is fully functional, to the point of being crewable if only you could find a crew small enough. The things his father builds for him make sense, the fact that he wears doll clothes makes sense, and even his sailing of the model ship is conceivable. Maybe he got bored? In any case, it's kind of bizarre.Īlso contributing to my sense that he didn't really know what he was doing with this story is the fact that, for the most part, aside from the fact that Stuart is a mouse born to a human family, everything is basically, well, reasonably plausible. It was written earlier than the other two books included in this volume, so I don't know. It really feels unfinished, and I actually checked to see if maybe he died in the middle of writing it or something, but no. We just know he sets out on this quest, and that's it. We don't know how the Little family reacts to Stuart's departure, or if he ever makes it back. We don't find out if Stuart finds Margalo, or anything about what happens to Margalo. It's like White just stopped writing in the middle of the story. Only barely more cohesive, though, as it too consists of a series of basically unrelated escapade along his journey.Īnd then it just ends. The first half of it consists of largely unrelated, episodic adventures around New York, and then the second half develops a somewhat more cohesive plot as he embarks on his quest to find Margalo. However, the book kind of felt like White didn't really know what he was doing with it or where he was going with it. So I loved all the little contraptions and whatnot created to help Stuart function in a human-sized house. The premise is one I enjoy, as I've always been somewhat fascinated by unusually small things, and the notion of experiencing the world from the perspective of a very small being. (i am procrastinating from paper - must return) but this was as bad as 9/11, and the overripe pluot i just ate. rereading charlotte's web and trumpet of the swan was great - they can keep their five stars. In the mind of whatever perverted dreamer might loose the lightning, New York must hold a steady, irresistible charm." so now i blame him for 9/11, too. Of all targets New York has a certain clear priority. white: "He never stopped loving New York, calling it "a riddle in steel and stone," but he also prophetically saw the vulnerability of the city: "A single flight of planes no bigger than a wedge of geese can quickly end this island fantasy, burn the towers, crumble the bridges, turn the underground passages into lethal chambers, cremate millions. the premise is disgusting, the characters are either delusional or petty or just plain jerks, the story is flimsy, the central conflict is who-caresish. but that doesn't excuse the beginning or the middle of the book, both equally atrocious. white was a hypochondriac who was convinced he was about to die and wanted to get this out to the publishers before that happened. and i've since learned that the ending on this was rushed because e.b. now that i reread it for my paper, it gets what it deserves. i remember liking this book when i read it as a child, and i loved trumpet of the swan and charlotte's web like no other, so i just sense-memoried this into 4 stars. ![]()
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