Mennyms Under Siege

It's always a puzzle how to classify the Mennyms series--the basic premise sounds light & childlike (a family of living, breathing rag dolls) but the tone is actually quite dark: a very realistic portrait of the internal politics of family life, with a gentle Christian-flavoured supernaturalism. Somehow, even though the Mennyms family has lived for 40 years, hiding themselves away from the external, human world, the impression one gets from every volume in the series is of a very fragile stasis--indeed, every book deals with a crisis in the family's life. In books 1 and 2 (_The Mennyms_ and _Mennyms in the Wilderness_) that stasis is restored by the end, though not without a sense of conflicting gain & loss (in book 2, for instance, there's the doomed love between Pilbeam & the only human being they ever let themselves become friendly with, Albert Pond). In book 3 the stasis is finally shattered (though I won't give away the details--part of the pleasure of these books is the way that the leisurely plotting can suddenly yield to major turns of event without much warning). The Mennyms' self-protective secrecy curdles into paranoia in the mind of Sir Magnus, the rather pompous head of the household, and despite the efforts of his daughter-in-law Vinetta to counter his increasingly draconian measures, he gradually forces the rest of the Mennyms to stay under virtual house arrest. The teenagers Soobie, Pilbeam and Appleby increasingly chafe under these restrictions, and this eventually leads to near-disaster (it turns out there _is_ a secret exit to the house...... but where does it go?). I've read this 3 times & always found it almost unbearably sad in its final chapters, which deal with an unexpected death. I hesitated for quite some time to try reading it aloud to my daughter (now nearly 10) but eventually decided she was ready for it. Oddly enough, she handled it quite well; I think maybe the book's serious discussions of pain & healing only really bear their full weight & wisdom for an older reader. (As with earlier volumes, there's also a curious echo of _Blade Runner_ and _Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?_ in Waugh's meticulous working-out of the implication of the idea of "embedded" or "implanted" memory. & in many ways the books demand to be read not beside fantasy or children's fiction but beside science fiction, for they are asking some of the same questions: what is it to be human? can inanimate things like robots or dolls gain true consciousness? can they die?) -- For the younger reader, this is simply another enjoyable addition to the Mennyms series, & if they're hooked on the first two books then this one is essential reading. There are only two more books after this, which are essentially a prolonged coda to this one, working out the implications of the idea that a doll, too, can die.

I'm not sure if these should be classified as books for "young readers"; then again, they probably baffle most adults as well. I read them on Edward Gorey's recommendation, and they are as strange as he said they were. Recommended for all who desire an unearthly family novel.

M is for magical; for a magical magical bookE is for excited; so excited to take a lookM is for me; the great reviewer i will beM is for masterful; sylvia waugh is as an author you can seeY is for y?; why not read this bookM is for move; get a move on and take a look!that's the end of my reviewi hope that it helped you...