If you want a word to sum up Ransom Riggs’ “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children,” look no further than its title. Peculiar: strange, odd or unusual. Although not quite revolutionary, the novel’s subtle, peculiar twists on the popular fantasy and young adult genres took readers by storm in 2011 with a fine balance between the ordinary and the extraordinary.
Jacob Portman is a typical adolescent living an uneventful life in Florida until the his grandfather’s traumatizing death, which launches our protagonist into an exploration of the man’s past. The teenager finds himself on a Welsh island and, eventually, in the company of some anachronistic, magical children who need his help against an lurking, unseen evil with ominous plans. And there’s a girl, of course. Saying too much would spoil the plot, but the story itself is not unheard of. The little twists — peculiarities, if you will — are what set “Peregrine” apart as a best seller among many similar works.
Peculiarity number one: photographs. Scattered throughout the novel are authentic vintage photos that add an element of reality to the work of fiction. A boy posing with a couple of dolls becomes a Doctor Frankenstein figure in the work, only more eerie and powerful. An already beautiful still of two silhouettes against a tunnel of light becomes the entrance to an alternate time dimension. Riggs is artful in his integration of the photos — which are intriguing alone — into a plot that gives them a whole new meaning. They are organically placed so that some even seem as if they were taken for the novel.
This was a completely intentional effort, according to Riggs. In an interview with The Daily Californian, the author stated what he thought was most interesting about his work. “The photos,” the author deadpanned, then laughed. “I picked them as sort of a grabby thing that made people go like, ‘That’s weird.’” He explained, “I tried to keep one foot in reality with actual things that happened in history.” The photos add authenticity so that the novel reads more like a real-life narrative and less like a brick-sized fantasy novel of old.
This integration of history brings us to peculiarity number two: the novel’s twisting of time. Riggs doesn’t stick to pure history in “Peregrine”; he surpasses that, adding a time travel layer that allows for more possibilities. Growing up with the influence of “The Chronicles of Narnia” and “Back to the Future,” Riggs is no stranger to nonlinear time. In his novel, he focuses on time loops, which allow for both alternate realities when they are broken and time travel when one jumps through them. Think of a cross between the films “Source Code” and “Star Trek.” The possibilities of time travel inevitably lead to questions of immortality, a timeless issue — pardon the wordplay — that “Peregrine” explores. Slight spoiler: The villains, predictably enough, are trying to render themselves immortal by manipulating time.
A notable nonpeculiarity in the novel is its main character, and this is indubitably vital to the success of “Peregrine.” Like in most YA novels, Jacob comes fully equipped with dry sarcasm, hormones and that chip on his shoulder of the slightly misunderstood — he’s a teenager. But unlike in most YA novels, in which the adolescent perspective can come across as whiny or just not believable, “Peregrine” has a protagonist who is likable because he is so honest and straightforward. It is easy to believe and get invested in his story, making “Peregrine” more of a page-turner.
So what’s next for Jacob and his author? “Well, I can’t give away too much,” Riggs said. “But the first book set up a lot of the world and its rules, and now we’re going to get a lot more action.” Much of the next book, “Hollow City,” takes place in 1940s London and picks up where the first left off, with Jacob and the peculiars looking to thwart their enemies’ efforts. In the meantime, readers can content themselves with the recently released paperback edition of the book, which includes an interview with Riggs and an excerpt of the sequel. The author will also be appearing at Books Inc. in Berkeley on Tuesday, June 11, at 7 p.m.
Contact Josephine Yang at [email protected].