The Name of the Star (Shades of London, #1), by Maureen Johnson

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


     I picked this up from the library with a couple Joan Lowery Nixons and a middle reader's medieval story (The Door in the Wall) for my usual practice of alternating a heavyish, grownup book with a fun quick read of either thrill or adventure. I was pleasantly surprised to find a higher quality of writing than I'd expected, with some enviously keen observations: "Sometimes you have to see the bathroom to know the hard reality of things." (p.19) I couldn't help but admire the work right away.
     Surprisingly, I also started to enjoy the students' following of the plotline I had thought would be a formulaic Jack the Ripper copycat sensation. I say surprisingly because although the Ripper crime was introduced nearly right away, there was also a considerable section of Rory's settling in to boarding school, and that easily eclipsed the Ripper story, which was paradoxically what originally attracted me to the book, yet was not an element I expected would be well done.
     I found Wexford (the boarding school setting) nostalgic, entertaining, and remarkably realistic---except in real life you don't have a roommate like Jazza, you have Charlotte. I knew I was genuinely connected to Rory and her experience, because I kept considering why she had accepted hockey as her sport, wishing she'd stood strong with netball, and envisioning ways she might switch to it in the future. In a poorly written or fleshed out book, who cares about the sideline activities of the characters? They don't bother you while you're brushing your teeth.
     And then there's due respect paid to The Smiths, and Morrissey. If this book had been around in 1990, I'd have pushed it on my friends like religion from an evangelist. Actually, probably not. My friends weren't big readers outside of school, at least not of fun fare. I'd have just reread it myself after reading the rest.
     I have to admit that the spectacular connection I felt toward Rory and her school experiences is probably the greatest reason I'm torn about the main direction the novel takes. Part of it I could see it coming well before Rory did, but I did not see the degree to which it turns the story, which is pretty much 180, or on its head. I knew from the blurbs on the back cover that the book involved ghosts, but I didn't know the way in which it involved them, and I don't know if I really wanted the story to go that way. It sounds ridiculous to "want" a book to follow a certain course, but when you invest in characters, and are previously invested in what you consider reality and the usual depiction of paranormal events, it's hard to accept something different. Especially if there's an element of cringing "awww, man!" to part of it.
     But never mind the elements that start this particular installment rolling toward making of a series; what I was most upset about was that just after I fell in love with a certain set of characters and places, it seems those are replaced and/or left behind. I don't know if that's a permanent situation or just the fact that other characters had to be introduced and this book had to end, but it was still irritating. I'd say there should be less time with Rory acclimating to Wexford, but I loved that part best, so I wouldn't recommend that. Perhaps the next book in the series fixes the issue, since I suppose more story at the end of this book could have realigned things better. Still, I feel like a uniquely fun, vivacious school world was sacrificed to make way for a weird supernatural element; the coup of a paranormal understory (I can't call a subplot because clearly it is the driving concept of the series). It remains to be seen whether it was worth the sacrifice of the normal world, or better yet, that they can coexist--best, with some improvements made to the supernatural portion. Don't get me wrong, some of the elements are intriguing and could be genius, but the whole scenario is in a nascent stage in The Name of the Star. Genius depends on how it's developed.



View all my reviews on Goodreads