I've been seeing this book in the bookstore for ages; kept reading the blurb and getting intrigued. I finally got a copy. I was expecting something totally different from what it turned out to be.

I agree with the other reviews that call it preachy -- it was very preachy, and I got turned off a number of times. I stuck with it because I didn't want to feel that I wasted my money!

Some parts I enjoyed; Some are light and funny and entertaining.

But a lot of parts I had trouble with -- especially characterization. The author would describe the feelings of the character, and in the next sentence, his feelings would swing to the opposite extreme. This happens several times; it got to the point where I don't believe the descriptions anymore thinking: hhmm, i'm sure the author's gonna take it back in the next paragraph!

Oh well, it was an easy enough read and entertained me moderately. But, I wouldn't recommend it to others.

( )

I wasn’t sure about this one because the blurb on the back didn’t say much about the story other than that it involved an orphaned boy who suddenly finds out that he’s the only beneficiary in a never-before-seen great-uncle’s will. But it takes place in Cornwall, which is, as any folklore lover knows, one of the most mysterious places on earth. We first meet Stephen Lansbury as he’s just finished a course in botany and is fretting over whether to return to the children’s home where he grew up or set off on his own. An elegant letter from Postlethwaite and Postlethwaite arrives, which brings Stephen to an odd interview with an ancient lawyer nestled comfortably in an office overrun by a jungle of plants. Bertie Postlethwaite informs Stephen that his great-uncle Theodore Lansbury has left him an estate in Cornwall, and Stephen should be getting on there right away to “take care of things.”

With a train ticket and 100 pounds from Mr. Postlethwaite in his pocket, Stephen heads to the wilds of Cornwall. There he finds gates that mysteriously open, overgrown grounds, and an empty but spotless manor house. As he explores, Stephen begins to notice things. Like the strange “woomp, woomp” calls in the forest, the fact that the house has no electricity, that some of the rooms have thick layers of dust all over everything while others are spotless, the odd hammocks hung in the library and in a room upstairs, and the creepy feeling that he’s being watched. Eventually, Stephen finds his great-uncle’s journals and becomes privy to a grand adventure had by his uncle and his friend B. As the days and weeks pass, Stephen comes to realize that his uncle brought part of his adventure home with him, a revelation that solidifies when Stephen finds an injured animal of a type he’s never seen before. He nurses the animal back to health, and is eventually led by the animal to find the greatest secret of all.

I confess that I am a sucker for stories that involve mysterious houses, unexpected inheritances and great secrets, so this book captivated me immediately. As I read, I felt like I was gently being led down a path and at the end I would find a fabulous gift. And that’s just what I found at the end of this story. The events unfolded at exactly the right pace, and the characters were all wonderfully drawn. The only thing I didn’t appreciate was the author’s occasional tendency to preach about the destruction of the rainforest. Although the topic was certainly pertinent to the story, the facts were presented awkwardly and didn’t really fit into the narration. All in all, though, this was a lovely, gentle story…give it a try. ( )

Endlose Beschreibungen der alltäglichsten Dinge, eine aufdringlich-naive Zurück-zur-Natur-Romantik und ein höchst unglaubwürdiger Protagonist. Danke schön! ( )

I really liked the old fashioned mystery premise of this book, and the environmental theme. An orphan boy inherits a Cornwall estate from a mysterious, reclusive uncle and discovers a mystery concerning his uncle's previous explorations in the Amazon; sounds like a great story. But while I like great nature description, this book just went overboard. The mystery's solution was clearly evident to even my ten year old by about halfway through the book and the description just seemed to drag it out. ( )

A gentle little story with a few lessons thrown in, but I found the descriptions a bit tedious while I waited for something to happen. Some totally preposterous plot twists. ( )