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Hush An Irish Princess' Tale Donna Jo Napoli Books

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Hush An Irish Princess' Tale Donna Jo Napoli Books

So, I really did not like this book. Sorry, I just didn't.

*Spoilers*

It's pace was rather slow, which I honestly don't mind, except that in this case, the book is 300 pages where nothing happens. The book doesn't even finish Melkorka's story. It ends with her reaching Iceland and finding out she's pregnant. She never meets her owner's wife and no one discovers she can speak.

And honestly, Mel drove me nuts the majority of the books. At the start, it was because she was so haughty. "How dare he compare the life of a servant to that of a prince?" "How dare he try and make my little sister see the evils of slavery?" "Slaves have no brains in their heads."

But then, while being praised as a strong female character, Mel really didn't do anything. Yes, she refused to speak to her first captor. But that was after she listened to her 8 year old sister which is the reason they were captured in the first place and missed her chance of escape, abandoning her sister to the freezing waters as a result. Yes, she keeps up a ruse to convince Clay Man that she's a magical creature, and helps her fellow slaves, but she doesn't escape and ultimately doesn't save anyone's life. And for a woman who at the beginning of the book was bent on becoming a warrior, it was a let down.

When she is sold to Hoskuld, she does absolutely nothing impressive or strong. Rather, she appears to be a victim of Stockholm's syndrome. This man rapes her - takes the very thing she herself says is most precious - night after night. Only for us to see her enjoying it - Hoskuld drunk, barely able to stand up - after a month or so. The book ends with readers to believe she's fallen in love with Hoskuld; her owner, rapist, slave-trader and a married man. She is even happy - not that she's pregnant - but that she's pregnant with <i>his</i> child. Perhaps Napoli was trying to paint a picture of Stockholm's syndrome, but it wasn't done very well. It was incredibly disturbing.

The fact that this story was never finished irks me. The author's note tells the end to the real story of Melkorka, but this story spends 300 pages on the boring middle and never ends. There is a companion book which tells the story of what happens to her sister after she jumps off the ship, but I was disappointed in this book that I won't be reading the next one. Will that one even finish the story?

There's a lot of rape in this book; not explicit, but enough for your imagination to paint the picture. And lots of slavery. But little action aside from the slave traders smacking their "cargo" about or capturing new slaves. And the few times where there would have been action - such as the beginning with Mel's brother - Mel is absent and only finds out about it at the end.

This book is not spell-binding, it's not a thriller, it's not even that well written. It's nothing that the reviews said it would be.


Tags : Amazon.com: Hush: An Irish Princess' Tale (9780689861765): Donna Jo Napoli: Books,Donna Jo Napoli,Hush: An Irish Princess' Tale,Atheneum Books for Young Readers,0689861761,Fairy Tales & Folklore - Adaptations,Historical - Medieval,Seafaring life;Fiction.,Selective mutism;Fiction.,Slavery;Fiction.,Children's Books - Young Adult Fiction,Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9),Fairy Tales & Folklore - Country & Ethnic - General,Fiction,Fiction-Historical,General fiction (Children's Teenage),Historical Fiction (Young Adult),JUVENILE,JUVENILE FICTION Fairy Tales & Folklore General,JUVENILE FICTION Girls & Women,JUVENILE FICTION Social Themes Adolescence & Coming of Age,Juvenile Fiction,Juvenile Grades 7-9 Ages 12-14,Seafaring life,Selective mutism,Slavery,TEEN'S FICTION HISTORICAL,United States,YOUNG ADULT FICTION,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Fairy Tales & Folklore Adaptations,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Historical Medieval

Hush An Irish Princess' Tale Donna Jo Napoli Books Reviews

This was a lovely story. It is based on an Icelandic folk tale. It is about an Irish princess named Melkorka that ends up being abducted in the process of her family trying to keep her safe. Now Donna Jo Napoli does a wonderful job at retelling fairytale stories. I love the twist she puts on the classic tales. If you are looking for a happy ending be warned this may not be a book for you.
Melkorka was a princess that turned into a slave. In the story you really get a good look at different types of culture. Melkorka choose to become a mute under her new settings and you got to see her views grow and developed throughout the story.
‘HUSH’ was a heartbreaking tale that made me hurt alongside Melkorka. The only reason that I cannot give ‘HUSH’ five stars is because I felt that the beginning was drawn out. I felt that some of the pages used for the beginning could have been used to answer the loose ends at the end of the story. Now people have said this story doesn’t end like most fairy tales but I think for that reason I was drawn into it. This was a great fairytale/historical-fiction read and I recommend it for anyone.
Now I’m off to research a little more into the historical events that were presented.
This book starts out with a lot of promise the premise is interesting, the travel element sets us up for a rich and varied setting, and the concept of endurance in the face of suffering is wonderful. The grammar is sound, some of the descriptive writing is nicely picturesque, and there are two points in the story that actually evoked some emotional response from me. However, the vast majority of this story fell flat in many ways. The first seven chapters or so are, in a word, dull. Lots of things happen, but we only find out about them after the fact or from some great emotionless distance. The main character/narrator starts out equally dull and even irritating, although I grant that at least that gives her room to grow and change. But the story itself wanders and slumps, with only tiny moments of interest and no real emotion. We read pages and pages about sitting around on a boat, walking, sitting around, getting stared at, sitting around, some other people are here and here are their names, the other people do some stuff but the main character doesn't seem to really care, some more sitting...it may be realistic, but it is incredibly difficult to read. Characters show up for about two pages, get a name almost in retrospect ("I smiled at That New Guy Just Introduced, because I had always liked him even though I've never mentioned him before now at all"). We go through pages of meeting and losing people in the space of a few paragraphs without getting to know or care about any of them, and at the end of the story, absolutely nothing has been resolved for anyone. Worst of all is the ending, where the main character reacts to a sudden revelation in a way that does not jive with her mannerisms and attitude throughout the rest of the book. It's like the author reached the end of her ideas, realized that nothing had been resolved, and said, "Well, okay, how about this she's suddenly almost sort of not completely miserable for no apparent reason. So it's like a happy ending or something." Also, since this book is billed for YA readers, I should probably mention that the two spots where I had any real emotional response were at pretty horrible, heavy atrocities that might be tough for younger readers (or anyone with abuse triggers) to swallow.

The author has potential, but this story was disappointing.
So, I really did not like this book. Sorry, I just didn't.

*Spoilers*

It's pace was rather slow, which I honestly don't mind, except that in this case, the book is 300 pages where nothing happens. The book doesn't even finish Melkorka's story. It ends with her reaching Iceland and finding out she's pregnant. She never meets her owner's wife and no one discovers she can speak.

And honestly, Mel drove me nuts the majority of the books. At the start, it was because she was so haughty. "How dare he compare the life of a servant to that of a prince?" "How dare he try and make my little sister see the evils of slavery?" "Slaves have no brains in their heads."

But then, while being praised as a strong female character, Mel really didn't do anything. Yes, she refused to speak to her first captor. But that was after she listened to her 8 year old sister which is the reason they were captured in the first place and missed her chance of escape, abandoning her sister to the freezing waters as a result. Yes, she keeps up a ruse to convince Clay Man that she's a magical creature, and helps her fellow slaves, but she doesn't escape and ultimately doesn't save anyone's life. And for a woman who at the beginning of the book was bent on becoming a warrior, it was a let down.

When she is sold to Hoskuld, she does absolutely nothing impressive or strong. Rather, she appears to be a victim of Stockholm's syndrome. This man rapes her - takes the very thing she herself says is most precious - night after night. Only for us to see her enjoying it - Hoskuld drunk, barely able to stand up - after a month or so. The book ends with readers to believe she's fallen in love with Hoskuld; her owner, rapist, slave-trader and a married man. She is even happy - not that she's pregnant - but that she's pregnant with <i>his</i> child. Perhaps Napoli was trying to paint a picture of Stockholm's syndrome, but it wasn't done very well. It was incredibly disturbing.

The fact that this story was never finished irks me. The author's note tells the end to the real story of Melkorka, but this story spends 300 pages on the boring middle and never ends. There is a companion book which tells the story of what happens to her sister after she jumps off the ship, but I was disappointed in this book that I won't be reading the next one. Will that one even finish the story?

There's a lot of rape in this book; not explicit, but enough for your imagination to paint the picture. And lots of slavery. But little action aside from the slave traders smacking their "cargo" about or capturing new slaves. And the few times where there would have been action - such as the beginning with Mel's brother - Mel is absent and only finds out about it at the end.

This book is not spell-binding, it's not a thriller, it's not even that well written. It's nothing that the reviews said it would be.