Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

Haunting for Mothers

Customer Rating:

I am an avid reader, but have never written a review. As a mother of two small boys, I have never been so profoundly haunted by a book in my life. Deep melancholy is the only word that comes to mind. This book completely captures the intangible bond between parent and child. While I am incredibly conflicted about recommending this tragic book to others, on the other hand, I will never forget the indescribable sadness I felt while reading it.

A Must Read	Customer Rating:
I loved this book. I thought about the characters a lot while reading and it was not an easy decision on whom to root for. I think a good fantasy story makes you wonder just a little bit if there's maybe any truth to it at all and this book did that for me. It was fun to suspend my disbelief for a while. At times, the story was scary in a fantastic way. I highly recommend this book.

Wonderful story.	Customer Rating:
The Stolen Child is a magical and wonderful story. It's fascinating to read of the lives of the two switched boys and how each are driven in the end to find out about the other. I loved it.

The Stolen Child Steals You Away..

Customer Rating:

I knew very little about the "changeling" myth & fairies to me were like Tinkerbell with her cute little wings,etc. The "faeries" in this book are about as far away as Disney as you can possibly get, as described by Henry Day ,a perfectly normal 7 year old boy who is stolen by them and replaced with a "changeling" aka one who changes both his physical appearance as well as personality so he can take the child's place without any suspicion being aroused. The creatures who capture him are a grubby,eccentric lot,in short old people trapped in endlessly child-like bodies,each with their own distinctive personality. The chapters alternate between the real Henry Day(The stolen child of the title)who is "christened" Aniday and his doppelganger a very old,musically gifted changeling(which surprises his parents as the real boy never showed any talent for music) who takes his place. Each has they're own memories to contend with ad well as a adapting to their new lives.eventually leading to both trying to figure out who they really are. Meanwhile The other changelings patiently wait their turn to steal a child and take his or her place,but as suburbia encroaches on their haven in the woods.it becomes more and more difficult. The story is told in such a realistic way that the makes the story both believable and plausible,as well as fascinating. I felt kind if sad when the book ended but was satisfied with the ending. For fans of fantasy or those who don't like "fairy stories" I recommend this book to both..

Liked it, didn't love it.

Customer Rating:

Idle question: why do so many novels add a subtitle with the words "A Novel". Are they so worried that it will be mistaken for memoir? Non-fiction? Pulp fiction? What does that appendage in a title actually mean? Anyhow, about the Donohue. This is a book that I enjoyed rather more when I was in the act of reading then I did when I was done and considering the whole experience. This is a strange phenomenon, and can just as easily work the other way around. There are certainly *parts* I really enjoyed. Donohue has a mean skill for revitalizing worn-out myth, and I was very pleased that it wasn't Yet Another romanticization of faerie. Actually, there wasn't anything particularly bad that I can really put my finger on. There was quite a bit of good, there somehow just wasn't enough good to make it particularly memorable. I liked it. I don't have any desire to keep it. I think that probably I am going to give it to a coworker who will appreciate it a good bit more than I did. The Stolen Child asks the question what if changelings really exist? What if those ragged children that you sometimes see playing in the woods from the road are something other than local kids grubby from a long day of playing? If they are real, then what do they do? How does it work? These questions are explored by contrasting the experience of two children: a changeling who is taken into a human family and a human boy who becomes an unwilling changeling. The characters are also not really a weakness-- Donohue does a good job of writing these two (quite difficult, I think) points of view. He also shows how change and inevitable encroachment is effecting the changeling way of life, and not for the better. There is honestly a lot to like about the novel. And, to be fair to myself, I did like it. I just didn't love it, and I'm wondering why. Nearly my sweet spot, but not quite. But it is still a good book, and your mileage may vary.