Wednesday, January 15, 2014

The Diviners by Libba Bray - OPTIONAL

Bray, Libba  The Diviners, 578 pgs.  Little, Brown and Company, 2012.  $19.99  Content: Language: PG-13 (18 swears); Mature Content: PG-13; Violence: R.

Evie moves to New York to live with her Uncle Will because she showed her psychic abilities at a party and got the town golden boy in trouble.  When she gets to New York, Will is working with the police to find a serial killer who is using ancient symbols to mark his murders.  Evie uses her psychic ability to touch an object from the murdered body and she sees the murderer.  Her biggest problem is that the murderer is a ghost who is trying to resurrect his body by murdering and then consuming parts of the victims body.  

This is a creepy awesome book, but the creepy is dark and evil and a bit too adult for most schools.  The setting is the Roaring Twenties and the author writes amazing characters with deep back stories and dynamic personalities.  The murders are grotesque and the mature content borders on R because one of the characters gets an abortion after being forced to have sex-even though it’s not detailed, it’s there.  I wish I could say it’s essential because I loved it, but it’s got a lot of questionable content for public school libraries.  I would recommend that each librarian read it before placing it on their shelves.  

HS-OPTIONAL.  Reviewer, C. Peterson.

No comments: