The Stolen Child

by Keith Donohue | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 9781400096534 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingGoryDetailswing of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 3/4/2019
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2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by wingGoryDetailswing from Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Monday, March 4, 2019
I got this softcover from Better World Books for another release copy.

I enjoyed the book very much, though it was often very wistful, and featured some heart-breaking realizations as the cycle of "changeling steals human child, child grows up among changelings, eventually child-turned-changeling must steal another child in order to rejoin the human race" continues...

In some ways it's reminiscent of reincarnation, with the changelings sometimes retaining memories of their previous human lives even as they commence on new ones. And then there are the ways in which the changeling-turned-human, growing up and growing older at the normal rate, keeps crossing paths with the human-child-turned-changeling whose life he's living; we see these from the viewpoints of both characters, and it has something of a "haunted by your own childhood self" vibe in addition to the "what might have been" yearnings.

There's humor here and there, and some amount of "Lost Boys in Neverland' wild-child behavior on the changeling side (with hints of the fairies in Midsummer Night's Dream, regarding their magical abilities) - but we also see that their wild lives are often uncomfortable or downright dangerous, and we find that both sides seem to have feelings of being in the wrong place, even if they don't always understand why.

I enjoyed the way the story progressed - I hadn't expected that genealogical side-trip, for one thing - and there were riveting, tense sequences as well as slow, poignant ones. Could cause nightmares for anyone who's felt that they don't really belong in their family - or perhaps it could comfort them, if they think it's literally true! (The parents whose children were taken have their own torments; some of them accept the changelings without a qualm, but others fight a growing unease that they can't quite justify, with sometimes-tragic results.)

Fascinating story, with its own variations on just how the whole "changeling" process works, and its explorations into time and change and identity - and family. [For more on changelings in various media, see the TV Tropes page.]

Journal Entry 2 by wingGoryDetailswing at Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Thursday, March 21, 2019

Released 4 yrs ago (3/21/2019 UTC) at Nashua, New Hampshire USA

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I'm sending this as a RABCK to BCer kaila-ann in SC, to fill a wish. Enjoy!

Journal Entry 3 by kaila-ann at Galivants Ferry, South Carolina USA on Monday, March 25, 2019
This made it in the mail today - yay!! I’ll be adding it to the TBR shelves.

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