Where the World Ends

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McCaughrean’s exploration of the way the fowling party could have coped with and survived such an ordeal is a touching and beautiful book. Where the World Ends is set in 1727 and is about a group of boys (and a few men) who are left stranded on a sea stac located in St Kilda (off the coast of Scotland). For the most part I found this quite an interesting book, especially considering that it’s supposedly based on true events. The pacing was a little slow, but not to the point where it was starting to get boring. I felt like the ending was a little rushed, but apart from that, I didn’t really have any other issues. The character of Quilliam changes throughout the course of the book as he is forced to grow up and, through his storytelling, comfort the other boys. By the end of the novel though he has become disillusioned with life on St Kilda to the point where he considers abandoning his home for the mainland.

Based on a real event, this is a story that sings to the soul. It belongs in every school and library. This is stark, beautiful story-making...everything a magnificent read should be.” — The Historical Novel Society

LoveReading4Kids Says

It’s 1727, and a group of nine boys and three men are dropped off on a sea stac—an uninhabited column of stone—some miles near the island of Hirta in northern Scotland. They’re harvesting sea birds for two weeks, an important annual tradition. Two weeks pass, and the bags are full of birds, but there’s no sign of the boat. Then three weeks pass, then four. Then months. The novel shifts from a coming-of-age tale of friendship and bullies to a dire survival story in which each boy and man must decide who he is and what makes life worth living. Her adult novels include Fires’ Astonishment (1990) and The Ideal Wife (1997), but she is best-known for her children’s books. She writes for children of all ages, from first readers, picture books, and younger children’s books, to children’s novels, which include A Little Lower than the Angels (1987), Gold Dust (1993) and Not the End of the World (2004), each of which have won the Whitbread Children’s Book Award, making her the only writer to have won this award three times.

As I said above this story is already out there, this book plot and the plot of Thirteen Reasons Why are basically the same on its bones. You might not feel it because you’re not doing anything, but we know that public engagement moves (a) leader to do things,” she said. I think the author is really good at creating unreliable narrators just like she successfully did with her debut novel Falling Into Place. Though I still prefer her debut novel a lot more than her second book, Amy Zhang’s writing still incredibly impresses me. I have no doubt she’s really a 50 year old literature teacher trapped in a young adult’s body. I love the way she connects scientific theories with personal and social problems people usually deal with. While I clearly didn't enjoy this book, it's one I went into with mixed expectations and one I've come away from with very mixed thoughts and feelings for and can't stop thinking about. I've read several of McCaughrean's other books, with Peter Pan in Scarlet being among my favourites, but few of her other books have really engaged me in the same way. After hearing a lot of buzz about this one and looking into the true story that inspired this book, I was really intrigued to read it.

Geraldine McCaughrean Press Reviews

And it works so, so well. She crafts characters that you connect with – that you love because of how broken they are. The synopsis doesn’t do justice to the book at all – this is a complex, dark story, filled with secrets and pain and triggers. I loved this book and was very sad when Davie died and Quill was blamed, but I realise that was a good storyline. We fall asleep to fairy tales, and the world rotates and revolves and time passes and we grow up and understand that they are false. When the time comes for the boat to return to collect the boys and men, there is no sign of the boat at all. Asking why the boat does not come, the fowlers search for reasonable explanations. A problem with the boat seems likely. But as more time passes their speculations become wilder. There were certain aspects of Janie's personality I enjoyed. She was carefree, a dreamer and imaginative, and so full of life, but the way she treated Micah was emotionally manipulative. Micah was a bit of a dull character, so I never really emotionally connected with him. Their relationship is toxic. This is Where the World Ends portrays a very unhealthy and very manipulative relationship between Janie and Micah. Janie does not treat Micah like a friend, and so I was never really behind their 'romance'. I'm not sure we are supposed to be.

Even when something awful happened to Janie near the middle of the story, I didn't like how she handled it - she didn't tell any adults or authorities what had happened and all her grief slowly built up as a result. The additional concern of Russia's "false accusation" that Ukraine is planning to use radiological dispersal devices, chemical and biological weapons "take on new meaning," she added. "The continuing stream of disinformation about bio weapons laboratories in Ukraine raises concerns that Russia itself maybe thinking of deploying such weapons." A hellish and harrowing yet beautifully written survival story based on true events. It's no wonder Where the World Ends was nominated for the Printz Award. An absolute must read. Every Kilda man is part bird, because he knows how it feels to plummet out of the sky toward the brightness of sea." The novel is very loosely based on a true story. Revealed in the end by the author, the only true part of the story is that in the 1700's a group of young men did get stranded for 9 months and survive. That is literally all that is known. No other details survive about the true account as to how they survived, etc. The premise for this book, because of the true story, is interesting. But this novel, which details their time being stranded on the sea stac, left me feeling bored except for a a few parts.Davie wanted to shake Quill’s hand. All the other boys knew they could have done just as well, given the chance. My heart aches for the beauty of Amy Zhang's style of writing, reminding me of Jandy Nelson. It's effortless and so easy to immerse yourself, even if I couldn't connect emotionally to Janie's character. Where the world ends is a historical adventure novel that is set in 1727. As the story was based on not very well known historical events, the author would have had a very difficult time, as they would have to have balanced the normal research and note taking that is paramount to a historical novel, while also grappling with the difficulties of finding reliable information on a little known historical occurrence. Geraldine McCaughrean, however, flew through these obstacles, and the final product combined just the right mix of adventure, history, and empathy for the characters' feelings and personalities. The setting was vivid and well described, as were the characters, and the clear storyline combined with McCaughrean's own personal touch created an astounding novel about leadership and loss. At this moment, even after closely analysing it, I cannot find any faults with, as it is clear and not at all frivolous. I particularly enjoyed the way she expressed the novel in a second person's point of view, as although it is more difficult to express the characters emotions this way, she managed it, and this gave the book a unique style and one that is rare in YA books. Sometimes using this technique can result in a disjointed and vague novel, but this was certainly not one of those cases. I enjoyed the narrative from Quill's point of view as it was interesting to see the events unfold from a Birdseye perspective, and I also thought the character of Quill was strong and well portrayed. The history in the book was definitely believable; however this story had a more focused perspective on the novel point of view rather than the Historical, and it unfortunately did not make me want to investigate its set time period. I will have to read more of McCaughrean's books to compare them to this one; however I would, overall, thoroughly recommend this read with a rating of 5 stars. Janie reminds me of a lot of our notable YA contemporary heroines like Margo of Paper Towns and Hannah Baker of Thirteen Reasons Why. For others, these references might be the reason not to read the book while for others, this detail might be intriguing. At some point, the relationship between Janie and Micah reminds me of that of Clay Jensen and Hannah Baker’s.

It went through Quilliam's head that if there was one thing he wanted to see before he died, it was Murdina Galloway's sleeping face in the dip of a pillow filled with feathers he had gathered himself." [I loved the use of a love interest as a way to survive] Geraldine McCaughrean is one of today's most successful and highly regarded children's authors. She has won the Carnegie Medal, the Whitbread Children's Book Award (three times), the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, the Smarties Bronze Award (four times) and the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award. Geraldine lives in Berkshire with her husband, daughter and golden retriever, Daisy. Read more about the author here. Historically, I think the book was portrayed well. It highlighted the importance of capturing the sea birds to the Scottish. Also, there was a sense of gender inequality throughout the book, with men treating women differently as opposed to other men. Little historical details like this really made the book come alive for me. In return for this validation, etc., Micah allows Janie to do shit like this: Never speak to him at school; break into his home; prevent him from studying/scatter his notes; make out with him and then turn around and make out with another guy; be aware for years that he is in looooove with her but just continue leading him on; try to prevent him from being friends with anyone else; tell him his best friend is in love with him just because his best friend is gay and she’s jealous and manipulative and psychotic.Where the World Ends is a beautiful, sorrowful, poignant book with deeply drawn characters, a chilling atmosphere, and waves of emotion. Highly recommended.” — New York Journal of Books Also, this will be teeming with spoilers, absolutely filled with them, but I don’t care and neither should you because nobody should ever goddamn read this stupid book. Micah, is in the hospital after his head get split up the very night Janie disappears (dies) and every time they tell him what happens he just forgets. Anyway, Micah is in this journey trying to find out what happened to Janie, he does this, by the way, by constantly getting drunk near a quarry that at least fifty people have died in. (Seriously, why is that quarry unguarded?) And he remembers what actually happens after his head getting split up again for the third or fourth time this book. (Why he has not died or had full on amnesia, I don't know.)