3 stars
Overall, this book was good. The idea of a mysterious clock ticking away in the walls of a magical house is absolutely fascinating. And I loved all of the descriptions of magic and strangeness. I could definitely see this book being kind of creepy when it was written in the 70s. For today’s standards, it is not very scary (although I’ll admit, the cemetery scene was a little spooky). The narration is a bit slow, but I enjoyed the writing and the whimsical descriptions. The main thing working against this book in my opinion is that the base mystery is very interesting, but it doesn’t really go anywhere. The big overwhelming problem underlying the entire plot is resolved rather quickly and not very satisfyingly. It happens and the reader is left there thinking, “Oh, that’s it then.” It was interesting, but the ending was very abrupt. Note: Uncle Jonathan does smoke an awful lot (again with the changing times and all that). Something for parents to be aware of if that’s a concern. It’s presented as a grownup thing, not idealized. It’s just kind of part of the setting. I checked this out from the library because the movie looked interesting. I can definitely see this being made into a movie with great special effects. Based on the story, I’ll definitely watch the movie. This is a book that I can see being very good when it was written, but it falls a little flat by today’s standards. Still an interesting read and I enjoyed it overall. After this, I hope to read more of Bellairs’ prominent work.
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