Book Review: Horton Halfpott

I’ll be the first to admit that it took me about halfway through Tom Angleberger’s humorous novel to really get the flow of it. But I didn’t give up — partially because my son (whom I was reading it to) needed to know what would happen to Horton Halfpott and partially because, well, I was having fun reading it out loud (even though the Old English inflections and difficult vocabularly at times made me stop to explain a few things to my son). I should probably pause here, dear reader, to give the full title of this book, since it says so much about the tone of the book:

Horton Halfpott: Or, The Fiendish Mystery of Smugwick Manor; or, The Loosening of M’Lady Luggertuck’s Corset

Horton Halfpott himself is a kitchen boy in a castle who falls in love with an heiress, and all sorts of mischief abounds — from the above-mentioned “loosening of the corset” to a world famous detective come to find some missing objects to shipless pirates caught up in a kidnapping, and more and more craziness. But the story is told in a very formal tone, with addresses to the reader at times, and other odd narrative twists that take some getting used to.

But stick with it.

The book kicks into full gear about halfway through and steams right to the end, complete with a scene involving pickle eclairs that will do doubt have you laughing as hard we were. What more can you ask of a book than that?

Peace (in the mire),
Kevin
PS — this is an odd book trailer.

 

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