Odd to report that Maniac Magee, which I have just read, also by Mr Spinelli and covering some similar terrain, is much less interesting. Maniac Magee is a young lad who lost his parents in a slightly absurd locomotive accident, rejected his grandparents, and became a homeless waif who drifted (or rather ran) through the streets of his home town, touching many lives and changing things in many ways. Which sounds like a brilliant book. Only my summary is loads better than Spinelli's extended version, even if I do say so myself. because the version that Spinelli gives us is an incoherent stream of stuff happening, and - WHEEEE!! - more stuff happening, and - HEY!! - look out, here's some more stuff happening. There's something about a frog; a knot; lots of luridly sketched characters, one of whom is called Mars Bar; there are some bison - or were they yaks? - or something, anyway; and an old geezer with a lifetime of disappointments weighing him down; a sort of Boo Radley character who terrorises the local children; pizza; and all sorts of stuff.
None of which adds up to very much in the end, and leaves one with a disquieting sensation of not actually having not actually read the book at all, moments after the final page is finished.
No star
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