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Product Details
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Product Description
Quill & Quire
Christopher Knox has been struggling to complete his second novel for nearly a decade, and his family is falling apart. He’s moved into the garage and is able to connect with his son, David, only when he reads him his nightly bedtime story. For his birthday, Christopher buys David a one-of-a-kind copy of To the Four Directions by forgotten fantasy author Lazarus Took. David doesn’t normally enjoy reading, but quickly becomes obsessed with the adventures of the book’s young hero, “Dafyd.”
While reading an especially thrilling passage, David has a seizure. He falls into a coma, but finds he’s trapped inside the novel, forced to live out the hero’s quest. After discovering that reading to David from To the Four Directions staves off further seizures, Christopher is driven to learn the origin of the mysterious book, hoping to understand the nature of his son’s illness.
This is familiar territory for fans of author (and frequent Q&Q reviewer) Robert J. Wiersema’s first two books. His best-selling 2006 novel Before I Wake and the 2009 novella The World More Full of Weeping were both literary/supernatural hybrids about families in crisis, with children at their cores. Before I Wake was even structured around a comatose child. Bedtime Story nevertheless remains fresh.
The details of Christopher’s research into the origins of Took’s novel sketch an accurate picture of the publishing world without seeming forced or overwhelming the reader with unnecessary detail. Wiersema’s straightforward and accessible prose lacks stylistic flourishes, but his characters – Christopher and his wife, Jacqui, in particular – are nonetheless nuanced and fully formed. The characters and situations from To the Four Directions, by contrast, are stripped down to archetypes and mythic structures, a technique favoured by post-Tolkien commercial fantasy giants such as the late David Eddings. Wiersema’s faux-fantasy style is so precise it almost works against him: the transitions back to the more character-driven main storyline can be jarring at times.
As Christopher comes closer to uncovering the secrets of To the Four Directions, the line between Bedtime Story’s fantasy and literary elements blurs, but the story only gets more exciting, and ultimately, more satisfying.
Review
"Powerful… Bedtime Story is all that it should be. More. It is frightening. It is fabulous entertainment. It is intensely thought-provoking. Above all, it is a hint and a tickle of things to come."
— January Magazine
"About a good book, we say we 'devoured it.' But what if a book devoured us?… In Robert Wiersema'ss Bedtime Story, it does."
— The Vancouver Sun
“Un-put-downable. . . . Wiersema advances his story not through any lyrical flourishes but through masterful storytelling and intricate plotting. The narrative clips along perfectly in tune with the events of the novel, weaving seamlessly back and forth between worlds and times, and drawing the reader deeper and deeper into the mystery and suspense. . . . Bedtime Story is immensely enjoyable.”
— Edmonton Journal
“Serpentine and clever in structure, . . . rich in weird, surprising characters. . . . Enchanting.”
— The Globe and Mail
“Creative and well-written.”
— Winnipeg Free Press
“Fascinating and transformative. . . . The ‘supernatural thriller’ aspect of the novel is well-oiled and keeps the pages turning.”
— Philip Marchand, National Post
“An absorbing excursion. . . . [Bedtime Story] . . . is a genre unto itself, a hybrid of supernatural thriller and sword-and-sorcery fantasy.”
— Times Colonist
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gotta read!!,
By Trendy Brendy "Idol fan" (Beaumont, AB Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Bedtime Story (Paperback)
This is a great read, the author is fabulous and keeps you wanting to keep reading well into the nite. My new favorite author!! Love his writing style and will read all his books!!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Like the back cover says "unput-downable!",
This review is from: Bedtime Story (Paperback)
I think this is going to become one of my favourites! I love the suspense and how the father Christopher Knox comes to grip with his mortality and shortcomings ("I'm an idiot"}.The realms of fantasy and the love for the written word leap right off the pages and wrap you in warmth. A good book is always like coming home, whether you know the author or are a first timer. I would recommend this! Please read, you won't be sorry you did! I'm glad I read it.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
5.0 out of 5 stars
Couldn't put it down!!,
By joycan0708 - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Bedtime Story (Paperback)
A very well-written story! All I wanted to do was find out how the stories ended and then I didn't want the book to end at all!
3.0 out of 5 stars
Omg!!,
By Mrs. Jody Overs "Book lover" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Bedtime Story (Paperback)
I'm not sure how many people remember the movie The Neverending Story ,I must say I was totally brought into this book like that movie,.I read the book Before I Sleep, which I thought was amazing but It has been awhile where I was so caught up in a book that I was leaping around so amazed with the charactures that I was once again pulled back into this book. I could not put it down and when I finished I was amazed that I had heard next to nothing about this amazing book.If you liked Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings I strongly suggest you read this book. It was so engrossing that I will be at a lost for awhile.I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Try putting it down. Just try.,
By peter darbyshire - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Bedtime Story (Hardcover)
Get ready to stay up late while reading Bedtime Story. Wiersema plots like the devil and he'll have your reading soul before you remember you even have one.
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