ARA Review by Andromeda Flynn of The Boy who Lived with Ghosts

[Andromeda Flynn]

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

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2 out of 5 stars

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The Boy Who Lived With Ghosts: A Memoir by John Mitchell is about the life of John, a God fearing little boy tormented by his sister Margueretta. Margueretta often bullies John, locks him in the cellar where she tells him lives a ghost that committed suicide, and is overall quite awful. The best character in the book is John's other sister, Emily because she rarely says or does anything and has a presumed innocence about her. Dad is a sloppy drunk that often neglects his children, if home. Pops, the grandfather, is repeatedly wetting himself until death. Nana is abusive in many degrees and Mom is an enabler that seems to see none of it or all of it and just doesn't care. Every character introduced is worse than the last.


I rate this book 2 out of 5 stars because, for the positive stars, I wanted terribly to like this book. It was my first choice to begin reading because the cover is visually appealing, the title has an air of mystery, and the summary of the book was well written.


The Boy Who Lived With Ghosts: A Memoir by John Mitchell started off as a dark comedic delight, although it contained too many grammatical errors to fully enjoy. I thought if only it had been proof read more critically, the sentences would flow better, as just in chapter two, 13 sentences began with only the world "And". Occasionally there is no other way to write a sentence than to begin with a conjuction but the frequency took me from becoming too involved even during the good parts.


Occurance of events are extremely repetitive, lessening the empathy with each cycle until the reader feels nothing but repulsion. The children were molested repetitively by adults without any fear or any emotion by anyone at all, even the victims. It is down right infuriating. There is no way to become attached to the characters as there is very little character description. Details need to be added to make reading worthwhile, and less of the same happenings. It's a terrible day on repeat with very little added to the next. There is no ghost until chapter twelve and by that point, you stop caring what is frightening John in the cellar because it seems the least of his worries. Even if it were his main problem, the description is vague and it's presence is fleeting.


The author started this book with a great idea. That idea needs to be caged and carefully planned to concentrate ideas and events into a more fulfilling story. This could be a good book if given enough hard work and dedication to rebuild it into something deeper than it is currently.

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