by Sally Gardner
Published February 12, 2013 by Candlewick
Summary:
(from goodreads.com)
What if the football hadn’t gone over the wall? On the other side of the wall there is a dark secret. And the devil. And the Moon Man. And the Motherland doesn’t want anyone to know. But Standish Treadwell — who has different-colored eyes, who can’t read, can’t write, Standish Treadwell isn’t bright — sees things differently than the rest of the "train-track thinkers." So when Standish and his only friend and neighbor, Hector, make their way to the other side of the wall, they see what the Motherland has been hiding. And it’s big...One hundred very short chapters, told in an utterly original first-person voice, propel readers through a narrative that is by turns gripping and darkly humorous, bleak and chilling, tender and transporting.
Review:
Maggot Moon is really written beautifully; sentences flow off of each other with ease and add to the continuous flow of the story. However, I felt like this book was very confusing! The summary states that it is set in a Regime, and using context clues, one concludes that it is a Russian one due to the use of the word "Motherland" in reference to the country. I've read in other reviews that it is a "what-if" novel, concluding what the world would be like if Germany had won WWII. Either way, the book is eerie: a post-apocolyptic-esque setting with a Big Brother type governement ruling with an iron fist. While I enjoy books that thrust you right into the story with little explanation, this book didn't make much sense to me until about the last 30 chapters. The ending was not what I was expecting, but to be honest, none of the book is really what I expected it to be. I think one of the best things this book has is small chapters. It would be great for a reluctant reader to feel accomplished and keep reading on.
2.5/5
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