night night (Goodnight Mr Tom - Michelle Magorian)

Member Name: chappell

Product:	Goodnight Mr Tom - Michelle Magorian
Date:	13/06/07 (1146 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great read

Disadvantages: quite sad in places

Please note this is a review about the book and not the TV program. This review may give slight details about the plot away (very slight)


Good night Mr Tom

Ive known about this book for a long time. It was in the 100 greatest books of all time, it was me in to a TV drama and it is sometimes given to literature students to study. And yet I never got round to reading it, until now.
I saw it at a house that I work at. The ladys has loads of books but this one caught my eye. Of course I recognise the title but the picture on the front attracted me.
It was a grey cover, kind of scribbled on with a boys face peering through. The boy looks deep in thought when you look at his eyes but his mouth is indifferent, it has leaned to keep quite. The picture intrigued me so much I borrowed the book.

Plot

William Beech is sent to the country as an evacuee during ww2. he is a quite boy who obviously led a very sheltered life with his mother in London. He is sent to stay with Tom Oakley, a quiet man with a reputation of being grumpy and a loner.
It I clear from the start of the book that Tom is a loner but he is not mean or grumpy, he just finds it hard to communicate with people and hadn’t really had much chance to strengthen his people skills since his wife died in child birth taking their still born son too.
Something else that is clear from the start is the cruelness of willies mother. She send a belt for tom to beat Willie with should he ‘sin’ and Willie is covered in bruises and soars from his beatings. He I quite and nervous and has never slept in a bed before.
Together tom learns how to be a parent and Willie a child and they begin to live happily, that is until Willie is called upon to go back home to his mother who is sick. This is when the happy story turns sour. Willie goes through s much but Toms love is strong and he is always there for him.

Im so temped to tell you more, there is so much in this book, life, death, friendship, history, great characters but I don’t want to spoil the book.
Im leaving this review purposely short because I feel too much information may spoil it if you haven’t read it. I was shocked when I read it because there are things I just didn’t see coming.

Characters

One of the great things about this book is the characters

MR Tom-the warm hearted old man who takes Willie in
Mrs Beech- the cruel, bible bashing mother Willie is happy to be away from
Zach-the fast talking friend
Dr and Mrs little- neighbours and friends
The Fletcher family- good hearted friends



About the author (the little I know)
Michelle Magorian Wanted to an actor before she considered writing and attended drama school however her love of children’s books and the history of the war led to write Good Night Mr Tom.

Another thing I love about this book is the Yorkshire accent, being a Yorkshire lass myself I love seeing it wrote down some of the quotes are great.
Quotes
"Takes yer time, everything in its own time." Page 305.
"Keep breathin', boy. Don't you go holdin' it in." Page 237.
"I'm volunteering like," he said. Page 77.
" . . .after he entered the paint shop, he had felt as if a heavy wave of sadness had suddenly been lifted from out of him. Memories of her didn't seem as painful as he had imagined." Page 109.
"I ent leavin' the boy with a load of strangers." Page 219.
"The sores will heal. They healed before. It's the wounds inside that will take the longest to heal." Page 235.
"Better to accept than pretend that he never existed." Page 299.
" Will suddenly froze on the bed. He spread his arms, tipped his head back, and let out the wildest and most terrifying scream Tom had ever heart. It shook him to his very bowels.”
"This is your room. You does what you like. . . ." Page 132.
"Hmph," Tom grunted. "Thank you, boy. Must admit I enjoyed it meself." Page 164.

Summary
This is a great book weather your young or old, male or female. Im 25 and I cried all the way though it, my mum read it and loved it and im planning letting my 7 year old read it (if she ever finishes Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix)
Although it has some awful things in it that makes you so sad I is all relevant to the story and not just in to upset you. The history is great, the children playing in the field and what teachers and policemen were like back then. There is something for every one in this book.
I whole recommend it, it’s not very long it only took me a week to read and im not that fast a reader. If you’re going away this summer pack this one im sure you wont be disappointed.


Good Night Mr Tom is published by Penguin books (ISBN: 0140315411) and is available from all good bookshops.

Price Ebay – buy it now 2.50
Amazon- available from 0.33
WH Smith- not available

Summary: i haven't cried so much since flowers in the atic