{"id":164,"date":"2013-08-01T01:15:57","date_gmt":"2013-08-01T01:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marianmcguinness.com\/?p=164"},"modified":"2013-07-04T01:33:26","modified_gmt":"2013-07-04T01:33:26","slug":"book-review-what-the-raven-saw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marianmcguinness.com\/index.php\/2013\/08\/01\/book-review-what-the-raven-saw\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review : What the Raven Saw"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"9781742757353\"<\/a>What the Raven Saw\u00a0<\/i><\/b>by Samantha-Ellen Bound (Woolshed Press)<\/p>\n

PB RRP $16.95
\nISBN<\/p>\n

Also available as an ebook
\nISBN 9781742757360<\/p>\n

Reviewed by Marian McGuinness<\/p>\n

On first sighting the gothic cover of What the Raven Saw<\/i> I was reminded of Edgar Allan Poe\u2019s equally gothic poem, The Raven, with its dark imagery and philosophical concepts.<\/p>\n

Readers who love something different, something ethereal, something a little enigmatic, will enjoy this extraordinary and original tale about a raven that lives in the bell tower of Father Cadman\u2019s church. Here, the raven converses with a bookish but inferior pigeon, a flirty weather vane and the many ghosts who inhabit the graveyard.<\/p>\n

The raven is vainglorious as he preens and protects his treasure of \u2018bottlecaps and silver-stippled stones, curls of flashing tin \u2026 human jewels \u2026 gleaming slender bones of small animals.\u2019<\/p>\n

But there are other stories happening around the raven. There\u2019s the child-ghost of Todd, who has just been buried. His sister, Mackenzie, frets that his death is her fault. Somehow the raven finds a way to communicate between the two.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s the man who the raven sees in the churchyard tree; he is full of despair and ready to jump. The raven \u2018dealt out life\u2019s lessons in the branches of a tree\u2019 and saved the man\u2019s life. There\u2019s a lonely scarecrow in a nearby field in need of solace, and a church thief. Both come under the watchful wing and the philosophical wisdom of the raven.<\/p>\n

The concepts of this book are old, almost fable-like. You learn that beneath the raven\u2019s cool, black feathers, there is a soul both proud and lonely. He loves to live in Father Cadman\u2019s church as it welcomes all creatures.<\/p>\n

Beauty is found in death, in storms, in tatty old scarecrows, \u2018everything from tombs to abandoned wheelbarrows to the spires of the church, (they) had a lightness, a sense of belonging to only themselves\u2019. This is the crux of the story.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a book about mythology and symbolism. Its values are those of generosity and kindness and its themes are of loneliness, helping others and dealing with death. It\u2019s about philosophy and finding your voice.<\/p>\n

Samantha-Ellen Bound has done a fine job in writing such a layered, complex and compelling story that will hold the interest of readers 11+. Next time you see a raven, look it in the eye and wonder what it\u2019s thinking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What the Raven Saw\u00a0by Samantha-Ellen Bound (Woolshed Press) PB RRP $16.95 ISBN Also available as an ebook ISBN 9781742757360 Reviewed by Marian McGuinness On first sighting the gothic cover of What the Raven Saw I was reminded of Edgar Allan Poe\u2019s equally gothic poem, The Raven, with its dark imagery and philosophical concepts. Readers who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n