Seeing good in the bad - My review of Where The Wild Things Are

One of the PopSugar topics for the book challenge was to read a book that had bad reviews. I had to do some research into this as I don't seem to hear as much about books with bad reviews as much as I hear about books with good reviews. I was really surprised about some of the books that had bad reviews when they were released, one more than others, Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak as I had heard nothing but glowing things about it.

"[A] pointless and confusing story" - Publisher's Weekly, 1963

When I made the decision to use this book for this category, it felt a little like I was cheating as it was a children's book, but it was one I have always wanted to read and never had. The deciding factor however was the fact my step daughter had just got it out from our local library and so it was right there for me to read. It was like fate.

Before I read the book, I had a look through to enjoy the artwork as it is beautiful and when I read, I tend not to look at the pictures (unless I'm reading a comic) and I didn't want to miss part of the experience. I loved the "Wild Things" and how they were drawn, they were clearly monsters, but not to the point where it might upset a child of a gentler nature than others. The only one I had real issues with was the one shown on the front cover, the fact that it had human feet really freaked me out!

When I read the book, I read it three times as it only took a matter of a minute to read. I chose to do this as the first time I read it, I found it very hard to follow as the sentences seem to cut off in the most unnatural way between pages. I then read it the third time to check I wasn't missing something in how I was supposed to be reading it. As this book is a children's book, I feel it should read with a lot easier rhythm, because to me it seems really stilted.

The story itself is perfectly fine, and I love how Sendak explains the distance from Max's bedroom to "Where The Wild Things Are" it to me is beautiful

"he sailed off through night and day

and in and out of weeks

and almost over a year

to where the wild things are"

Overall it is a perfectly fine book, but I think it is somewhere in between the really bad and the really good reviews. I'd say it is an average book, not good, not bad, just ok. 

I started reading this book on the 4th of January 2015 and completed it on the 4th of January 2015

I gave the book a 3 star rating on Goodreads