Reviews for Smugglers Notch

The average rating for Smugglers Notch based on 2 reviews is 1.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2021-04-28 00:00:00 Celita Morrow It's been a long thirty years since the golden age of Apple Paperbacks, and so it was kind of fun going back to one of them and seeing how they used to be. That said, I'm not entirely sure what Byars was going for with The Two-Thousand-Pound Goldfish. It's a genuinely creative and fun idea on the surface, the story of a boy whose imaginative fantasies help him cope with his dysfunctional family life. That said, Warren's fantasy world often just feels half-done and left on the sidelines, while the book's lessons and themes on dealing with a bad parent are extremely problematic. The story revolves around Warren Otis, a boy whose family has been broken apart by his absentee, "eco-activist" (terrorist) mother, who is wanted by the FBI for her crimes, while Warren's grandmother wants nothing to do with any of it, and his sister Weezie, who is still secretly in communication with their mother. Warren finds escapism from his troubled family with his strong imagination and his dreams of making horror films one day, his favourite idea being for a monster picture about a giant goldfish. This in itself wouldn't be so problematic, except that The Two-Thousand-Pound Goldfish ultimately makes it out to be that Warren's grandmother, who doesn't want to be involved with Warren's criminal mother anymore, is the one in the wrong. It portrays Warren's mother as the underdog environmentalist who Warren and Weezie should stick by no matter what - the book doesn't really point out why a neglectful, abusive or dangerous parent who values their political causes over their children is the kind of parent that a child owes no obligation to. I remember reading this book in junior high and wondering about that, and now that I'm older, I've wondered what kind of ill-thought morals this story suggests to younger readers about having to deal with the trauma of a neglectful parent or a parent involved in criminal activity. The Two-Thousand-Pound Goldfish also jumps back-and-forth from fantasy to reality in a confusing, slapdash sort of way. Rather than intermingling the two in a subtle way like the films Big Fish or Bridge to Terabithia, Warren's imaginative ideas just sort of pop in and out of the story here and there in a distracting, underdeveloped manner. I will say that The Two-Thousand-Pound Goldfish has a good lesson about doing something constructive with your imagination rather than just escaping into it and hiding from life entirely. Warren is a good role model for younger readers in that respect. By today's standards, and probably even the standards from the era in which the book was originally published, I think a lot of readers might see a problem with some of the book's other messages about what obligations and responsibilities any child would have to a parent like this, rather than showing readers ways to realistically deal with a criminal parent rather than getting involved with whatever mess your parent makes on their own.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-09-12 00:00:00 Emma Johnson I usually like this author's work, but this book really dissapointed me. Warren is a young boy who daydreams of the horror movies he hopes to one day make. His daydreams help him escape his real life that consists of a eco-terrorist, missing mom, a older sister who really doesn't pay attention to him, and a grandmother who has wiped her memory of his mother. His horror movie escapes are interesting, but overall, this book just doesn't really come together for me. Am I suppose to feel sorry for the mother who chose terrorist ideals over her kids? Am I suppose to admire Warren for loving his mother even though she does the things she does? I just didn't enjoy this read. I won't reccomend this book to anyone.