∎ Libro Gratis Hungry Ghosts Anne Berry 9780007303403 Books

Hungry Ghosts Anne Berry 9780007303403 Books

Download As PDF : Hungry Ghosts Anne Berry 9780007303403 Books

Hungry Ghosts Anne Berry 9780007303403 Books

I found this title recommended in a Hungry Planet Hong Kong travel guide. I immediately bought it, and not only has it served as great entertainment leading up to my next trip, I can't wait to think back on the colorful incidents and picture them on my visit htere. As mentioned in the subject line, a "page-turner", with the Hong Kong backdrop is delightful.


Tags : Hungry Ghosts [Anne Berry] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. A novel for those who loved Behind the Scenes at the Museum, The Poisonwood Bible and The Lovely Bones. Raped then murdered in Japanese occupied Hong Kong,Anne Berry,Hungry Ghosts,Blue Door,0007303408,mon0001494712,Fiction - General,Literary

Hungry Ghosts Anne Berry 9780007303403 Books Reviews

How can this be a debut novel, so brave and professional in it`s delivery and evocative in it`s imagination, descriptive elegance near to Peake and in it`s own way as thought rendering as The Shack, but I prefer the ghosts, bring on the next lady!
A writer with lots of talent . She can write beautiful descriptive prose . Unfortunately her work has not been edited well so that people and dates are going back and forth ,which is very confusing.
On the whole I enjoyed this book, but some things just didn't make sense and some things were just too irritating. Why, for instance did the ghost take nearly 30 years to latch onto some one ? Surely there were many children before Alice came along?
I enjoyed the descriptions of Hong Kong, I enjoyed the book, but at times it didn't seem to know if it was an adults or a children's story!
It is certainly written for adults , with a lot of adult content, but bringing the ridiculous talking dog ghost and headless budgie into it was too infantile. seriously, a ghost of a faithful dog is fine but one that can now speak ? I felt I had to skim past the childish endless descriptions of spectral budgies causing chaos! and an aborted foetus ghost that can talk and "slide down banisters".
I felt that these extra ghost characters were childish and unnecessary to the story, and should have been edited out, why did the bird ghost latch on to her? It wasn't even hers, what was the point at all ?
This was not an awful first novel at all, and the author will do well if she remembers not to mix adult books with children's !
I'm confused about what was the point of this novel. I read it because I've lived in London, Paris and Hong Kong. It was fun to read about familiar places but that was where the enjoyment ended.

Why did this ghost latch on to this girl? Was there some lesson on life after death or what was it going on?

The writing style was very annoying, written in the first person by multiple characters but all sounding the same. The only one who didn't write was the main character, which was a disappointment. I would have kind of liked to have had her explain some things.

Most of the players are really unsympathetic, especially the mother. She seems to have no logic or soul and the only "explanation" was that her brother was favored as a child. There is also a very thinly explained suicide and it's odd that someone gets pregnant at 16 and then without explanation, never gets pregnant again. Certainly that wasn't the reason? Not medically accurate. Sorry!
This is a pretty bad book. The multiple point-of-view is confusing, the characters are unbelievable, and not one of them is likable. Also, there's way too much telling and not enough showing. Probably less than 10 percent of the text is conversation, and the rest is just narration. This results in a really flat book; it could have been a lot more active. Oh, and there's some really bad sections where the author has the characters 'tell' you necessary historical background. Very clumsy.

That said, the author isn't completely talentless. Her descriptions of places are often vivid and she has some good use of words. (She has a few really miserable ones, too, where her metaphors are tortured and in some cases laughable.) If she'd had either a good editor or a really good writing workshop, she might have come up with a better book. As it is, this one seems to have been hurried into print while still in first draft or second draft stage.

This book is inspiring to aspiring writers. Why? Because if a book this bad can make it into print, maybe yours can too.
The novel is set mostly in Hong Kong, where a young girl - an outsider in her family - lives with her distant parents, older sisters, and younger brother. Alice is clearly a disappointment to her family. Her father is caring but unable to articulate his feelings. Her mother is distant and emotionally abusive. She blames Alice for having to be subjected to another pregnancy in order to produce her precious only son.

There is also the problem of Alice's behaviour. While others might see her as a bit odd but merely inquisitive child, her family sees her as a troublemaker with emotional and mental issues that make their lives difficult. It certainly does not help mattes when Alice becomes haunted by the angry spirit of a young Chinese girl who was raped and murdered by a Japanese soldier about 20 years earlier.

The novel follows Alice and her ghost from her early teens till middle-age. The story is told in small chapters which all have different voices. This allows the reader to see all of the different facets of the events. Alice has a very different view, for example, of a medal ceremony they attended for her father than her mother does. There strong contrasts between the voices makes for a particularly engaging read.

I also found Alice's character to be fascinating. She was bright and interesting, but at the same time terribly insecure - likely due to her family. Her ghost was well-fleshed out as well, and I enjoyed the chapters told from the ghosts perspective. The other characters are hugely flawed, which make them rather interesting, and they place this family beside a less dysfunctional family to further demonstrate the abuses which are heaped on Alice.

There are several important twists in the story which I will not reveal, however I was satisfied with the conclusion. Some got what they deserved, others didn't. This is of course much like real life.
I loved this book. I found the family dynamics fascinating - the mother was a horror. Lovely details of life in Hong Kong pre-independence.
I found this title recommended in a Hungry Planet Hong Kong travel guide. I immediately bought it, and not only has it served as great entertainment leading up to my next trip, I can't wait to think back on the colorful incidents and picture them on my visit htere. As mentioned in the subject line, a "page-turner", with the Hong Kong backdrop is delightful.