“The
odd was the ordinary at Alistair Grim’s.”
When it comes to Gregory Funaro’s Alistair Grim’s Odditorium, truer words
have yet to be written. Meet Grubb, an orphan whose adopted mother is dead and
whose adopted father, a chimney sweep named Mr. Smears, makes him do all the
work while he drinks away their wages. Grubb’s life is hard at best, but he
makes the most of it. One day, when he’s twelve or thereabouts and working on a
particularly difficult series of chimneys, a pair of rascals gets him in big
touble. Terrified of Mr. Smears’s reaction, Grubb stows away in a rich man’s
trunk. Before he knows it, he’s indentured to Mr. Alistair Grim, an eccentric
collector whose specialty is Odditoria—that is, anything living, inanimate, or
otherwise that possesses magical properties. When a talking pocket watch
accidentally summons Mr. Grim’s arch-nemesis to his Odditorium, it’s up to
Grubb to set things right—and earn a permanent place in the Odditorium family.
Grubb is a fascinatingly complex hero. In
some respects, he’s a typical orphan with fears and insecurities about the
people he considers family. He loves Mr. Smears even when the man mistreats
him, and misses Mrs. Smears terribly. Despite this, he possesses an inner
strength that’s unheard of for boys in his age group, yet fits him like a
glove. He’s as sharp as a knight’s blade and clever to boot, plus humble enough
to own up to his mistakes and try to change for the better. Combine this with
his wit and desperate longing for a place in the world, and he becomes incredibly
charming and likeable.
The worldbuilding is just as fantastic as
the cast. From the empty little cottage where Mr. Smears lives to the slick
black walls of the Odditorium and the bustling London streets, every scene and
setting overflow with an abundance of life. By the magical way it’s described,
almost anything could be Odditoria, be it menacing castle walls or the simple
joy of being part of something big. Adding to the effect is the fact that a great
many things that appear ordinary are actually Odditoria themselves, so that the
reader is constantly on the lookout for magical people and objects.
This being a children’s tale, there is little
content worth a warning. Although Mr. Smears is a harsh man who mistreats and
occasionally beats Grubb when things go south, it’s evident that he truly does
care for the boy, at least a little bit. Characters swear in the most fun of
fashions, exclaiming, “Great poppycock!” and “Good heavens!” on a somewhat
regular basis. While there’s a lot of gasping and sighing, and a tad too much
information-dumping, the content is clean and respectable. The villain of the
piece is a cruel Odditoria-collector with an army of monsters at his back, so
there are battles, duels, and other things of that sort, though nothing graphic.
One character recounts the tale of the time his brother was framed for murder
and lost contact with his daughter. Grubb notices that a couple of girls are
beautiful, but, being twelve or thereabouts, does not pursue them.
I
would recommend this book to kids and kids at heart who yearn for a bit of
adventure in their ordinary lives. Grubb is a fascinating boy in a beautifully-written
world, and embarks on a marvelous adventure that’s sure to keep readers on the
edges of their seats. Even a few instances of info-dumping don’t slow the
pacing down for long. This might be a good one to read aloud to one’s child, or
it could just as easily be read to oneself; either way, Alistair Grim’s Odditorium is a must-read. Congratulations, Gregory
Funaro: this beautiful piece definitely deserves five stars.
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