The Night Tourist: Summary and book reviews of The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh, plus links to an excerpt from The Night Tourist and a biography of Katherine Marsh.
The Night Tourist
by Katherine Marsh
Hardcover: Sep 2007,
240 pages.
Paperback: Sep 2008,
256 pages.
Jack Perdu, a shy, ninth-grade Classics prodigy, lives with his father on the Yale University campus. Smart and introverted, Jack spends most of his time alone, his nose buried in a book. But when Jack suffers a near fatal accident, his life is forever changed.
His father sends him to a mysterious doctor in New York City -- a place Jack hasn’t been since his mother died there eight years ago. While in the city, Jack meets Euri, a young girl who offers to show him the secrets of Grand Central Station, the secrets only true urban explorers know about. Fifteen flights below the train station, however, Jack discovers more than just hidden tracks and mysterious staircases. He has stumbled upon New York’s ghostly underworld, which may provide Jack with a chance to see his mother again. But as secrets about Euri’s past are revealed, so are the true reasons for Jack’s visit to the underworld.
Masterfully told, The Night Tourist weaves together New York City’s secret history and its modern-day landscape to create a highly vivid ghost world, full of magical adventure and page-turning action.
BOOK REVIEWS
BookBrowse
If you're familiar with the Orpheus myth, you'll have a good gist of how the story will progress, but not without some unexpected twists and turns, and an ending that, despite the odds, manages to surprise. A couple of times, convenience for the sake of the storyline takes the place of credibility (would Jack's father really have let him travel to New York by himself, especially knowing what he did about Jack?); but such contrivances are few, and overall Marsh stays true to the essence of the original story while putting a modern and very witty spin on the timeless themes of love, loss and longing. Full Review (832 words).
Media Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
Teenagers knowledgeable about mythology and appreciative of sophisticated wordplay will especially enjoy this intricate read.
Children's Literature
This novel has an unusual situation, but it may be hard for older middle school or high school readers to be patient and stick with the story.
Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. [T]his intelligent and self-assured debut will compel readers from its outset, and leave them satisfied as it explores universal themes of love, loss and closure.
The Washingtonian - Whitney Spivey
Although Marsh eloquently combines her interests in ancient Greece and historical New York, The Night Tourist lacks depth in the fantasy realm. The author spins a colorful tale of an extraordinary underworld, yet she often uses the supernatural context to facilitate events that merit more explanation. Too often, events fall into place a little too easily.
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by A Reader My review This was a very exciting book filled with many plot twists and an ending that readers like me will never expect.
Rated of 5
by A Reader Good Book This book was a good exciting adventure. For readers who like mythological adventures in the modern age.
War, natural disaster, reckless gods and the recognition of impermanence in the world are just some of the threads that AS Byatt weaves into this most timely of books. Linguistically stunning and imaginatively abundant, this is a landmark.
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(832 words).
Publishers Weekly
The Washingtonian - Whitney Spivey
of 5
by A Reader
of 5
by A Reader
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