Reviews for Unnameables

The average rating for Unnameables based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-03-25 00:00:00 Hubertus Peter As a baby, Medford Runyuin was shipwrecked on Island, where everything is named after its use and everything must have a use. Anything that does not is Unnameable, and should be destroyed. And anyone that makes or does Unnameable things should be banished. This is of particular concern to Runyuin, who has been secretly carving beautiful, Unnameable objects. The best advice that I can give in reading this book is to avoid thinking about the setting much. Booraem had a good idea (a society where anybody who doesn't do useful work is banished) and ran with it into the implausible. Everything on Island is named after its use, so a cow is now called a Greater Horned Milk Creature. But I just can't see how Greater Horned Milk Creature is a more useful name than cow. This is aside from the fact that, though these names have been used for generations, people are still constantly having to correct each other. I'm sure it's because Booraem didn't want to confuse her audience with too many of these alternate names, but at this point it shouldn't even be necessary. The motivation for the entire island going about this restrictive way isn't properly explained. They're following a book of household advice, written in the 1700s. And this lasts for three centuries. I never quite got the leap from finding the book quite useful to treating it as sacred writ. It's a cult, but an entirely non-religious. Yes, this entire community is governing every aspect of their lives by what they find in a 300 year old almanac, because they just do. I guess Booraem wanted to take religion out of the equation, but she left a motive vaccum in its place. The moral (that people should be encouraged to exercise their creativity) and concept (society that rejects creativity as a career) are sound enough, but Booraem sure took the long way around. The pacing is very, very slow. Shockingly so, considering that this is being marketed at 9-12 year old readers. The first 70 pages are nothing but exposition and infodump, and the next 100 pages are almost painfully slow. The (lack of) action could have been greatly condensed, especially since there was so much repetition. Unfortunately, the resolution was too quick, done mostly by characters who'd done little or nothing to that point and so have no motives for what they do. Booraem should have cut a few conversations that revolved around whether it was a chicken or an Egg Fowl and spent more time developing her characters.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-11-28 00:00:00 Tiffany Moore This is an allegory that works on many levels, made rich with well-portrayed and multi-faceted characters. Which, I guess, renders it not a true allegory since the characters are not all confined to single traits or symbolic equivalents. At the very beginning, I was dubious: thinking that the symbolism and "names" are all too transparent and too easy to predict. And yet, with the blusterous arrival of the Goatman and then all the tangential but significant side trails and events, the story drew me in and kept me highly interested and entertained. I bated my breath, hoping for a satisfying and well paced ending, and was not let down. I very much appreciate the rich imagery, the successful world-building, and the economy of the text -- also its gentle humor in the friendly way these simple folks behave. I'm also so pleased that the Unnameable acts (what one might easily interpret as "art" or "craft") are given a made-up name of "runyuin" (which has the word "ruin" embedded -- I wonder if this is even intentional) so that the interpretations can be surprising from minds not as set as mine. I can see how this book might be of great use in a 4th-6th grade classroom since it is both well-crafted and can generate good conversations! p. 186: Medford was conscious first of a deadness in the air. His hearing seemed to have dulled, as if something were soaking up the sound. He knew, suddenly, that he was in the presence of paper, a great deal of paper. Or on p. 226, while Boyce "interrogating" the young people why Medford is out of jail and what they are doing at 2 in the morning, and finding out that the Goatman is also present, he said, "Let's make tea."