Critique

  

 This is a critique on The Black Book of Secrets. As I began reading the book my first impression was that this was a darker, creepier book than I had read before. The first paragraphs made me interested to what would happen to Ludow.  The story is a mystery and an adventure.

 To me this feels like a completely different type of book than I usually read.  It is darker.  The writing style is straightforward, dark, and eerie.  I think that the setting for the tale fits the story perfectly: a small town with very different types of people who have strange ways and do different kind of jobs. The dialogue and the conflict were weird but they worked together.

   The ending of this story is happy because Ludow becomes Joe’s apprentice and they travel around together. It is a believable ending but, in reality, it wouldn’t happen that perfectly. The ending is a good one because you want Ludow to be successful and find happiness.  The right things happen to make that kind of happiness possible for him.

  I connect to the story because Ludow and I are the same age. I liked the ending the best because all the characters introduced throughout the story are happy, their debts are paid off, they don’t have to work for someone anymore, or they get to be somebody’s apprentice.  

  The author was very good at explaining everything and providing such detail as to make it believable.

  What I dislike about the story is how Ludow has a bad life at the beginning.  But of course without that, we would have no story. The weaknesses of the book are not enough action parts. The beginning is strong but the end is weak.  Another one of its weaknesses is how long the middle of the book is. You could explain something in 5 pages but it takes ten, which is good if you love details, but I like to have the story go on.

 What I have learned from this story is how good I have it, how some people’s lives were horrible. From this story what I will remember most is the Grave-Digger’s confession of how he snatched bodies for the man to whom he owed money to get the debt lowered by 1 shilling.   I will remember that because it was the creepiest of all of the stories.

                                  Opinion

      I just finished reading The Black Book of Secrets by F.E Higgins. It’s about a 14 year old boy named Ludow, who runs away from his evil parents and jumps onto a car which takes him to Pagus Parvus. There he meets Joe, a pawn broker.  Joe soon hires Ludow as his apprentice.

         I loved this because it is different (and a little darker) than other books I’ve read.  It’s also fun because you look into a little town’s secrets. For instance how the grave digger is a body snatcher, or how the maid of the richest man has stolen from him.

      I hated that it took too long for Higgins to explain the story. It took the author 16 pages to explain a 4 page thing, but to be fair it did have a lot of detail which is always good. Another thing I disliked it about how sad Ludow’s life is, but where would the story be if it wasn’t.

      It was very exiting in the book where Ludow escapes from his greedy parents while they are helping a dentist rip out his teeth to sell them for pennies each. It was really exiting when Ludow kicked both the dentist and his parents, quickly unloosed the straps that were holding him down, and ran out the building, through an alley way, and between two buildings in a space just one foot wide.  After he got past those challenges, he was able to jump onto a car and ride to Pagus Parvus.

    I felt connected to this story because Ludow is a 14 year old boy and so am I.  Although my life doesn’t resemble his at all, it is fun to let go of reality for a little while and let the story take you where it wants you to go.

    I think my friends should read it because they would find it an interesting story, a really unique story. They would like the plot of how he works with a secret pawn shop and how the little town has big secrets.

       I wouldn’t pick up another book by this author because it was dark, dark books are fun to read once and a while but not all of the time. I also wouldn’t read another book by this author because it takes too long to explain stuff.

Summary

                       Summary of The Black Book of Secrets

Our story starts out in an English city with Ludow Fitch, a 14 year old boy that works to support his parents.  He supplies them at least 6 shillings a day, either through stealing or by working.  The money covers their drinking addiction.  Since Ludow was very young, his parents have raised him to pick pockets or steal anything he could get his hands on. One day his parents got extremely greedy and decided they would sell his teeth.

    Ludow awakens the next morning to find himself strapped down in a dental chair.  The dentist walks in with his specially-made tooth puller, grabs ahold of Ludow’s tooth and pulls. Ludow experiences the most pain he has ever felt as his parents stand nearby laughing while holding him down. Ludow looks around as this is happening and sees a way to escape. He hits the dentist in the face causing the dentist to fall on the ground with tooth puller in hand.  Ludow then hits his dad who is holding him down, causing his dad to stumble to the ground which then frees Ludow’s right arm and leg. Ludow pushes his mom away and runs for the door.

 Ludow runs, glancing behind him to see the dentist and his dad running after him. He sprints to the edge of town and jumps onto a carriage.  Ludow rides this carriage til he gets to Pagus Parvise, and then wanders around the little old village until one store catches his eye.  He walks up to the store to see it is a pawn shop.  Ludow stares for a minute, lost in his thoughts as he views the impressive inventory.  Just then a man jumps up behind him and grabs his arm.  The stranger challenges the boy with the commanding question of what Ludow was doing in front of his pawn shop.  After sizing up the terrified boy he notices that Ludow’s mouth is still filled with a bloody residue.  He releases Ludow and invites him into the shop. This is the beginning of Ludow’s new life. After a few days Joe, the pawn shop owner, felt good enough about Ludow to invite the boy to work for him.

 Part of Ludlow’s job is to write in “The Black Book of Secrets”. The Black Book is just what it sounds like.  Joe offers pawn payments for the villager’s secrets, and it is in this book that they are kept.  Ludlow’s job is to write the secrets as they are told. Ludow moves in with Joe and they travel the world together.