ARA Review by Melanin Kween of The Boy who Lived with Ghosts

[Melanin Kween]

[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, The Boy who Lived with Ghosts.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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Author John Mitchell’s book, The Boy Who Lived with Ghosts, looks into his rearing and how illness plagued his family. It’s beginning line, “I live in a haunted family, in a haunted house, on a haunted street,” prepares the reader for a book filled with horror and mystery, as you think a child has battled a poltergeist-like existence in his home. It is the assumption reading further into the book, that the child is lacking the support of his family, as compared to movies and television scenes based on a child who sees spirits and a family that believes the child is going crazy until it’s too late.

I was wrong. The Boy Who Lived with Ghosts, is an incredible tale that takes the reader on this crazy roller coaster ride into the mind of a child attempting to understand the events occurring with his family.

John is a young boy in 1960’s England. At a young age, he witnesses his family fighting for survival as his parents drift apart, causing a transition into a single-family home. The boy is plagued with suffering as his father’s presence, or lack thereof forces him to grow older far beyond his years. It is topped with the strain of watching his mother’s mental clarity decline, taking a toll on his existence. Further, the child suffers great turmoil and abuse at the hands of his older sister, which goes far beyond the usual sibling’s rivalry.

As he ages, he responds to his family dynamics and the ongoing pain and suffering in the best manner he can. Given his young mind, he perceives things in ways that don’t necessarily make sense to him. The interesting part, however, is his perception. We tend to make up stories in our minds that assist us in coping with the different scenarios that play out in our everyday lives. This is exactly what John has done most of his life.

John knows no other way to define what he sees and feels, so he truly believes that the different things happening in his life is indeed the manifestation of different ghosts.

This is a must-read. Though the plot plays out thousands of miles from the United States, it is something I can relate too wholeheartedly. I’ve never perceived the situations around me to be anything other than a crazy family, however, the worry and the stress are easy to relate to. Given that comparison, the raw emotion the author provides in his writing is truly felt based on some of my life experiences as well.

There is much more violence to young John’s life than has ever been witnessed in my life, but it is easy to interpret the stress and worry he feels trying to keep his mother happy, and his head straight.

It is my opinion solely that children from broken homes tend to take on more stress than other children. The worries of the parent’s become the worry for the child. It then follows that child into their adult life, making it almost an endless cycle of poor habits and recurring illness responses. I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars because it grabs the attention of the audience, and being able to relate. A 3 would have suggested that there wasn’t any craft to his writing, which is all wrong. I see an author that has a different style of writing that gives humor at unexpected times without taking away from the seriousness of the message. This is not easy to mimic. At times I was lost because of the need to bring in much detail in one sentence, but I see that he is long winded as I am and I was able to get back on track easily.

I would definitely be up to reading more of his work.

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