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Title: Tamsin by Peter S. Beagle ISBN: 0-451-45763-3 Publisher: Roc Pub. Date: November, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.62 (24 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Wonderful, Magical Story
Comment: I borrowed "Tamsin" from the library on a 7-day loan, concerned I wouldn't be able to finish it by that deadline. It's now 48 hours later and I've finished the book. I could not put it down. I was drawn into Jenny's world; from her dismay at being relocated from NYC to the wilds of a tumbledown English farm, her fierce dedication to her cat, and her resentment of her instant step-family, all the way to her wide-open acceptance of the supernatural lives that swirled and battled around her in her new home. With a pure heart and a strong sense of right, she stood against forces far older than time to correct a centuries-old wrong. Beagle has created a living, breathing person in Jenny Gluckstein and in her "stopped" friend Tamsin, as well. If you're a fan of fiction that seamlessly blends the real with the mystical, don't miss "Tamsin."
Rating: 5
Summary: Believe!
Comment: I think this could be a true story. Really, I wouldn't be shocked at all is Beagle told me that he'd simply written down a story he overheard one day. Even with the ghosts, bogarts, and that loveable Pooka, you'll feel as if you are reading the true account of a displaced city teen who discovers a home in rural England among the "old weird." Although not as good as some of Beagle's earlier works, such as A Fine and Private Place and The Last Unicorn, Tamsin still has that feel about it that is uniquely Beagle! The dialogue comes to life, especially when it is spoken by one of the old Dorset ghosts. You can hear the accent when you read it! One of the working titles for Tamsin was "Friends in the Night," so I recommend reading it after sundown for an especially effective experience.
Rating: 4
Summary: World Fantasy Award Nominee
Comment: "Tamsin" might best be described as a fantasy for people who don't normally read fantasy. It reminded me very much what Charles de Lint calls "mythic fiction," because it's basically a young adult story about a girl's rite of passage that incorporates elements of myth and folktale. No dragons, here, although there is a Pooka, the billy-blind, the Black Dog, a boggart, the Wild Hunt, and many (almost too many) ghosts.
None of the mythic stuff kicks in until Jenny Gluckstein's mother marries an English biologist and Jenny is forced to relocate from New York City to an ancient, run-down farm in Dorset. She acquires two stepbrothers along with her stepfather, boggart, etc., and meanwhile her beloved Mr. Cat is forced to spend six months in quarantine.
I'd feel the same way Jenny did if I were forced to temporarily swap my cat for something that titters nastily under an ancient bathtub that fills up with burping, sidewalk-colored water-- when the plumbing is working at all. Not to mention having to attend the Sherborne School for Girls where everyone HAS TO WEAR A UNIFORM.
Jenny does settle in, but it's a long grumpy, kvetch. The turning point in her attitude comes during her shift on a boggart patrol in the kitchen (also known as the Arctic Circle) with her young step-brother, Julian. Something has been smashing eggs, making the food in the refrigerator go bad, and generally making a nuisance of itself. Jenny and Julian are deep in a game of Snakes and Ladders when the boggart finally shows up:
"He was dressed like a cross between the Seven Dwarfs [sic] and Robin Hood, in a kind of loose red smock...and heavy little boots, ankle-high." Jenny thought they (the shoes) might be Doc Martens, except she didn't think they made them in boggart sizes.
Jenny and Julian solve the mystery of what the boggart really wants. Mr. Cat comes out of quarantine and falls in love with a ghostly Persian. Jenny makes a really good friend at school, and the ghostly Persian's owner finally makes her appearance.
Now Jenny must solve the deeper, darker mystery of why her ethereal friend, Tamsin who 'stopped' 300 years past, cannot find peace.
All of Beagle's characters are wonderfully human, including Mr. Cat, and most especially grumpy Jenny, and her pesky, lovable stepbrother, Julian. This would make a great read for anyone who is forced to pack up and move away from friends and school, and try to make a new life with a new family. In spite of all of its supernatural goings-on, "Tamsin" is not particularly scary--just Beagle at his most poignant.
I took away one star because the ending was a bit of a let-down. Jenny goes off to Cambridge, and I don't know what happened to Mr. Cat.
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Title: The Innkeeper's Song: A Novel by Peter S. Beagle ISBN: 0451454146 Publisher: Roc Pub. Date: October, 1994 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Folk of the Air by Peter S. Beagle ISBN: 0345337824 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: July, 1988 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Giant Bones by Peter S. Beagle ISBN: 0451456513 Publisher: New American Library Pub. Date: August, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle, Mel Grant ISBN: 0451450523 Publisher: New American Library Pub. Date: October, 1994 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle, Darrell Sweet ISBN: 0451450965 Publisher: Roc Pub. Date: October, 1994 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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