Review: This book had some great ideas but....
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 1, 2012
PearlS had all the elements of a five star rated book except for some important issues. The book had way too much description and unnecessary details rather than dialogue, such as very specific directions on how to drive somewhere that even included mentioning a diner that you were going to pass and not even stop at. The descriptions used extremely flowery and exaggerated language that became very annoying after a while. I really did like the themes of tolerance and the different types of love that were found throughout the book; I just wish the message was not given with such a heavy hand. Lastly, the story had too many characters to keep track of and most of the people remained two-dimensional.The idea that people should not judge either others or themselves by external factors being put into a play telling a modern fairy tale was very sweet. Also, I liked the idea of a tree that could be magical and a force for good; that part of the book was original and charming. For myself, having a person who regularly communicates with ghosts is a bit over the top but if you can suspend your disbelief, Mike is a really good character. There were some minor typos and grammatical mistakes (the past tense of "slink" is "slunk," not "slinked"), but they didn't interfere with the flow of the story.Overall, I'd say that the style of writing didn't appeal to me but there wasn't anything inherently wrong with it, so I would recommend this book with some qualifications. (BTW, I got a kick out of the fact that the story is originally set in Plano, TX which is where I live and the tornado in 1982 really happened.)