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    The Witch's Boy
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    The Witch's Boy
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    The Witch's Boy
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Witch's Boy

    Written by Michael Gruber

    Narrated by Denis O'Hare

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    A wondrous journey through the realms of magic.

    They call him Lump. Ugly, misshapen — more goblin than human child — abandoned as an infant and taken in by a witch, he is nursed by a bear, tutored by a djinn; his only playmates are the creatures of the forest, whose language he learns to speak.

    But when Lump inevitably stumbles into the human world, his innocence is no match for the depths of people's cruelty, which turns his heart to stone, and fuels a vengeance that places him and his witch mother in deadly peril. Yet these disasters also send Lump on a journey of self-discovery, to realms deep within the earth and far beyond mortal imagination.

    In this stunning fantasy debut, Michael Gruber has created a world that is at once deceptively familiar and stunningly original, a world of cruelty, beauty, legend, truth, and above all, wonder. Readers will delight in the author's ingenious retelling of classic fairy tales and will marvel at the stunning new tale of a boy raised by a witch, a cat, a bear, and a demon.

    A HarperAudio production.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateMar 29, 2005
    ISBN9780060842093
    Unavailable
    The Witch's Boy
    Author

    Michael Gruber

    New York Times bestselling author Michael Gruber is the author of five acclaimed novels. He lives in Seattle.

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    Reviews for The Witch's Boy

    4.5/5

    10 ratings7 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Fairy tales are usually for kids, but not this one. The Witch's Boy a dark story about what happens when humans explore all of their horrible human ways is part bildungsroman, part fable and part a commentary on human behavior. Or perhaps a better description is that the novel is a rich set of observations on the contradictory nature of human behavior. None of the characters are completely good as we normally see in fairy tales, but there's something human in all of them. Not all of the evil characters are truly bad, which is also a well known trope of this genre. That doesn't mean the novel is a bad mix of everything, it is a well crafted and satisfying story. We learn about an ugly boy who is found in the forest by a witch. We learn nothing about the boy's background and all we know is that even as a baby the boy is ugly as sin. No matter how ugly and revolting the boy is and no matter how much the old witch hates the outside world, she can not resist but take the boy in and nurture him. In this task she is assisted by a large bear, a smartass cat and a demon.In rapid succession the boy, is adopted mother and everyone around them are flung through a rapid series of experiences that each teaches them about their roles in life and the harsh reality we all have to learn to cope with. Only at the very beginning do we think nothing is different from any other fairy tale. Lump however starts off as an innocent little boy, who through circumstances transforms into the ogre he thinks he looks like and after which everything ends unsuspectingly appropriately (although not happily ever after). The exact same can be said of all the other characters, they exist in what feels like a real world where everything makes perfect sense without the fairy tale perfection. Even though the world is fantastical and anything can happen, Michael Gruber instills his characters with such humanity that we can understand the bad choices they make when under the irresistible influence of magic or the impossible to cope with struggles of human existence.Interwoven will all the magical bravura are numerous references to well known fairy tale stories. Famous characters from stories like Hansl and Gretl or Pinocchio make their appearance but in slightly different ways then we expect them to, which adds another layer of depth to the story another unexpected aspect for us to take in as readers. All this is in aide of an author who shows us that things don't always turn out the way we expect them to, but that those endings are perhaps more satisfying then if everything turned out perfectly. The story deals with loss, love, beauty and its repercussions, jealousy, power and the many disappointments we all deal with throughout our lifetimes. Quite a lofty goal to pack into a novel but Gruber pulls it off splendidly. If you're not afraid of a book that plays with established stereotypes and if you're willing to suspend your belief that good is always perfect and bad is always evil, then you will be highly satisfied with this read.
    • 4/5
      I started this book thinking it would be a good Halloween read, when really it was so much more. The witch (who had no name through the whole book, which I really liked) was painted like a natural witch, one who is in tune to nature and all its intricacies, which was a nice break away from the traditional witch role in fairy tales.I especially like the way classic fairy tales such as Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and Hansel and Gretyl were intertwined into the story and rewritten with slightly different slant.This story is a true Fairy Tale and will appeal to any who are fond of such classic stories, magic, fantasy and the like.
    • 3/5
      I really enjoyed the audio version of this. The narrator, Denis O'Hare, did a wonderful job with the voices. Lump is a very unlikeable character for most of the book. After a while I became impatient wondering when things would turn around. Lump was abandoned as an infant and taken in by a witch. He leads a very unconventional childhood, and eventually brings hardship to his family. Folk and fairy tales are given a remix throughout the novel, and makes for some fun.
    • 4/5
      Yet another recommendation from a fellow LTer, The Witch's Boy was every bit as delightful as I had hoped. It tells the story of Lump, a boy who was abandoned as a baby and raised by a witch, with the help of a bear-nursemaid. Gruber manages to tie in a number of classic fairytales, though his versions are somewhat different from those we all know. The story follows Lump through a charmed (if less than happy) childhood, through a disastrous adolescence, and ends with him as a young adult. Although this is definitely a fantasy novel, it's also very much a coming-of-age novel, in the best sense. Lump is screwed up, in a pretty serious way, and Gruber doesn't shrink from portraying him as a complete jerk. As a protagonist, he's not very likable for most of the book. The reader understands why he does the things he does, but can't help but want to smack him upside the head sometimes. Oftentimes, if the reader is me.One of my biggest complaints about modern children's/ya literature is that it so often tries to paint the world as more kindly, or people as more benevolent than they are. In some books (such as Little Lord Fauntleroy, one of my all-time favorites) this makes sense in the context of the novel; in others (I'm blanking on an example right now), it doesn't, and just feels contrived. The Witch's Boy, on the other hand, painted the world as a diverse place; some of the people are horrible, while others are generous and loving. Kind of like the real world, eh? Since the book can be really sad, and some pretty awful things happen, I wouldn't recommend this for really little ones, but its ultimate resolutions make it highly recommendable for junior high readers (or adults, of course).So good job, Mr. Gruber. You get a solid thumbs up from me, both for ingenuity with your plot, and for honesty in your portrayal of humanity.
    • 5/5
      I've read thirty-two books so far this year. I would put it in the top 10.I LOVE twists-on-classics even before Gregory Maguire came out with "Wicked." Angela Carter does some great short stories. Fables is a great graphic novel series. Post-Maguire, Jasper Fforde has done a couple of kick-ass series (Nursery Crimes and The Eyre Affair/Thursday Next) and Frank Beddor's "Looking Glass Wars."My description: Goblin Lump is left as a baby in the hollow of a tree for a witch to find. His nurse is a bear, his tutor is a demon prince, and his mother's confidant is a cat. The witch can't bear to spend much time with him, but when she does, she spoils him and never lets on that he's anything but a beautiful boy. Once he grows and realizes the truth, he becomes sulky and selfish. He wastes all his mother's sacrifices and puts them all in danger. Growing up, he meets many different characters. The name is familiar to you and I, but the stories make it appear we've been lied to all these years. The biggest mystery is who is Lump. If we find out, he may perish.I enjoyed the extras in the book: an interview with Gruber, his advice to writers, the background of the story, and his top ten "weird books" (which are most of my faves, anyways).Awesome cover as well. :D
    • 4/5
      An odd take on fairy tales. It mixes up Rumpelstiltskin, Cinderella, Snow White, and several other stories in a very clever way. Highly recommend if you liked Wicked or enjoy take offs of fairy fairy tales.
    • 5/5
      A story that skirts around fairy stories and magically interweaves reality into the tale. Deft and amusing this is an entertaining story of an ugly child who is rescued by a witch and ends up learning about life the hard way.I loved the story and wished it went on longer, this is an author I will read more of in the future, his modern-day detective stories are entertaining but his young adult fantasy is simply wonderful. It was a very satisfying read.