Hush by Donna Jo Napoli
From the cover:
Melorka is a princess, the first daughter of a magnificent kingdom in mediaeval Ireland - but all this is lost the day she is kidnapped and taken aboard a marauding slave ship. Thrown into a world that she has never known, alongside people that her former country's laws regarded as less than human. Melorka is forced to learn quickly how to survive. Taking a vow of silence, however, she finds herself an object of fascination to her captors and masters, and soon realizes that any power, no matter how little, can make a difference.
Now, tell me if I am wrong, but doesn't that sound interesting??
I discovered (by reading the rest of the dust jacket) that the idea for "Hush" came from an ancient Icelandic saga. I think that this is really cool, because if someone had heard said saga, they could then find this book and have a way that the saga could've potentially ended.
If you click here, you can read more about the Icelandic saga about Melorka.
Now onto my thoughts on this book.,
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| I decided to colour-code my stickie notes! |
So the different sections of stickie notes this time were:
Comments (Orange) : 5
Questions (Pink) : 3
Predictions (Green) : 3
Total : 11
Slightly less than last time, huh?
Now onto my commentation! (Is commentation a word...?)
My first comment that I had in this book was from page 6. It was something that I found strange, and slightly disgusting...
" Really?? Nasty... " That's why I picked the weld myself rather than sending a slave boy to the field. And that's why I urinated on my new tunic myself. My own urine not only holds the colour fast, but ensures that the spirit in the colour obeys me." " When I read that- I quite literally did a double take. I stopped, made an interesting sound (something along the lines of "humh?") and my eyes jumped back to the top of the page and read it again, but sure enough, it actually said that! I was so taken aback that I did some googling. Although I didn't find anything regarding this exactly, I did however discover some other interesting facts. If you so desire, you can check out this site: http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/5345.php
Below is another comment, this one from later on in the book...
" Oh no! Melorka will be heartbroken. "It's Brigid. Her eyes are bright. She jerks her head once, then runs and jumps up and over the side of the ship. Before I can react, one of the youths jumps after her." " Now, I don't want to give anything away from the book - just in case you want to read it. I will however, say this much... when I was reading this book, I was on the brink of tears for probably close to 50% of the time. Donna Jo Napoli has done an excellent job of stabbing you right to the heart in the book.
Now, after that sad note, onto the questions I had whilst reading.
"What will he do with her? Why is she so important? "This crew won't dare touch me with Clay Man looking on. He protects me. How far, I wonder. I'm already untying the gag of the third new child. Then the fourth." " Although this is only a small snippet of what made me wonder why Melorka is so important, it was the easiest to get a sense of what is happening. Melorka uses her power over Clay Man to help keep others safe, but I am curious as to why she has this power. What is Clay Man planning to do with her?
The second question I had was just about something that I read that I really didn't understand.
"What is ford combat? - Google. " 'On the fourth day, Aedan chooses...' Ford combat, I say inside my head. '... ford combat' says Crazy Woman." " As you saw, I made a note to myself to google what ford combat was. After searching through countless articles on Google about the company Ford, I finally changed my search to "Ford Combat Fighting Techniques" and hit a bulls eye. I discovered a site that had the same story that "crazy woman" was telling. It however, still didn't tell me what I wanted to know. The story (found here) is really interesting though!
Finally, my predictions!
Volia! Here is the first one that I stickied.
"Maybe she'll be stolen too? Then wish that she had asked Brogan? "Where was Brogan stolen from originally? I know he was a child when it happened. He told me once he was part of a group of children and women whisked from a hillock. That's how he said it - whisked. I didn't ask him anything then. Does he miss his mother? Does he remember his life before he was a slave?" " Now I find that this one pretty much explains itself. Since I don't want to give anything away, I am not going to talk about the fact of whether I was right or wrong... you'll just have to find out!!
My other couple predictions were things that made sense at 11 o'clock at night when I couldn't put the book down, but not so much now...
So stickie note wise, I am done. However, I do have one last comment.
While for the most part I found this book incredibly good (considering I was up at 11:00 PM reading it...) there was one thing that really irritated me.
THE ENDING!!! I found that I got to the end of the book and was expecting another 100 pages, if not more. It was a rather disappointing ending to me, an avid reader. But however, do NOT let that stop you from reading this book!!
Cheerio!!
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