The novel I am reading is called Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. In the first chapter you get to know the main character Jacob. It was quite obvious to me that Jacob is not a popular young boy. He describes his only friend, Ricky, to be a six-foot-five-green-haired-James-Dean. To get an even better idea of his personality, he would let kids hit his car with a bat, 2$ per swing, just to get some extra money. Jacob's family owns every Smart Aid (which is what I assume is the Walmart equivalent in this book), and works their despite the fact that he hates it and never wants to take over the company like everyone expects him to. A very important character is his Grandpa Portman. A personal favourite of mine! Since Jacob was little he told him stories of an island with extraordinary children were held safely from the monsters attacking them. Realistically this was a place for children to escape German Nazi's, but he wasn't lying when he said these children were extraordinary! And he has pictures throughout the novel to prove it! The floating girl seen on the cover, the man with two mouths, the invisible man, the dog with a girls head, the very peculiar twins and much more!
Everyone in Jacobs family believes that Grandpa Portman is insane, but not Jacob of course. Just near the end of chapter one Jacob gets a call at work from his grandfather in a panic saying "their coming" and he needs the keys to his gun cabinet. Keys taken from Jacobs dad for grandpa Portman's own safety. So Jacob calls Ricky for a ride to his house to try and calm him down. When he arrives the house is tore apart, almost looking like someone broke in but he knew it was all caused by his grandpa. As he went through the house he noticed the back door was slashed open so instinctively he ran out knowing his grandfather had wondered into the forest. After running through the forest he finally saw him. His grandfather face down on the ground. He rolled him over to see that his stomach had been slashed open aggressively and he was slowly but surely dying. His last words to Jacob were: "Find the bird. In the loop. On the other side of the old mans grave. September 3rd 1940." This is when Jacob looked up from his now deceased grandfather to see a man with testicles coming out of his mouth staring at him only to leave once Ricky came in after him. This image hunted his nightmares for months.
Jacob saw a shrink for months after because no one would believe him. He lost Ricky as a friend and was now completely alone with everyone he loves thinking he is insane. He went over his grandfathers last words over and over in his head many times "Find the bird. In the loop. On the other side of the old mans grave. September 3rd 1940." He decided that in order to understand these words and what happened to his grandpa, where all the stories arose from, he needed to go to the island Grandpa Portman always talked about in his stories. He convinced his parents it was all right to go as long as one of them chaperoned him. His father was an aspiring author working on a bird book for money, after hearing the island was infested with birds, it didn't take much convincing for him to be willing to go. When the arrived at the island after many plane and fairy rides they discovered that there wasn't much to this small island of the coats of Whales. One hotel and not much else. From here Jacob sets off to find the house that his Grandfather spent years in and even more years talking about.
Question:
Jacob struggles with not having many friends or being very close with his family. The person was most close with dies by the end of the first chapter (Grandpa Portman). Do any of your characters in the novel you are reading relate to this lonesomeness? I believe that he becomes so obsessed with his last words and what his stories meant because he was always alone thinking about what happened and rethinking the stories he told and if there is truth to them. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
