Like so.
The main character, Candy, has lived in the aptly named Chickentown her entire life. Apparently, literally everything in this town has to do with chickens, their livelihood and all their entertainment.
Barker has a number of small illustration on a number of pages, but he also has paintings that show characters and places that he has described. The paintings are beautiful and they have helped me visualize his world because some of his descriptions have been a little confusing but the paintings have made his other characters easier to visualize as well.
I am also finding the world he created fascinating because the world is made entirely of islands. There are twenty-five islands in all, fifteen islands fall under the Islands of Day, nine fall under Islands of Night, and one lone island known as the 25th hour. Each island corresponds to an hour in the day. It's a brilliant idea, especially be each island is unique to that time of day and is stuck forever in that one hour, and all of the people and creatures and flora and everything else is made in the image of the island's specific hour. It's one of the coolest ideas I've ever encountered. Here's a map (also painted by Clive Barker) for fun and future reference!
Can you explain more about this book and world? I am not sure how it all comes together and how it works.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds awesome. it would make a great sci-fi movie, which brings me to my next question, is this set on a specific planet or something? i would also like it if you would explain the Candy character better, because based on your description, im imagining both a farm girl, and a peppermint chicken. im pretty sure its none of those. so when you read this book, does him imagery reflect the art he gave for the book? I'm actually pretty interested in this idea, but you didn't give too much description. maybe you can give us a summary and some quotes? tell me what you think of this candy character. "...and all of the people and creatures and flora and everything..." so this book doesn't just include people? and what is flora? this sounds a lot like Pokemon. maybe you need to call up this Clive Barker and tell him to leave Pokemon alone.
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds really interesting and sounds a bit odd but I think that’s why it interest me. I haven’t seen the book but I can imagine the imagery that you discussed with the illustrations throughout the book. All the illustrations sound appealing and I would definitely try to find the book to get to see them one day. Also, I can imagine how the illustrations would make the book better and attach a reader and get me to continue to read. For me at least the illustrations would be a type of incentive to continue to read, almost like a type of prize awaiting every now and then as you continue to read. The setting sounds very interesting as well and sounds really vivid. Also, the character, Candy sounds interesting, is she human? I only ask because she is living in the town with all the chickens and it makes me want to read the book to see what you are actually talking about. It just sounds so odd and different that it makes me want to read about it and see what the book is about.
ReplyDeleteAlright, time to try this again.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find really interesting about this is that pretty much everything has to do with chickens. That is really hilarious to me, especially with the bad "Chickentown" pun thing going on. Like, could it be more obvious that everything has to do with chickens? I really like that you included the pictures in the blog; that made this a fun read.
One thing that confuses me, though, is what you said about each island corresponds to an hour in the day. What does this mean? Does each hour look, sound, smell, and/or feel different in this world? Actually, this is starting to remind me of a part of The Hunger Games (sorry, it won't let me underline or italicize) sequel, Catching Fire, where *SPOILER ALERT* the entire field on which the seventy-fifth hunger games takes place is in the form of a clock, and an event happens within each of the twelve wedges during the hour that the wedge corresponds to.
If you could talk a little bit more about what you feel about the goings on in the book, that would be really cool. I'd love to hear more about what you think of this book as I am feeling the urge to read it.
That was interesting! Looking forward to the next post!