Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Edward Tulane is a much-loved china rabbit who belongs to a little girl named Abilene. She dresses him in an extensive wardrobe of expensive clothes and treats him like a best friend. When Abilene and her parents sail for England on the Queen Mary, Edward comes too. However, he is thrown overboard by some very bad boys, and gets caught in a fisherman's net. The fisherman brings the rabbit home to his wife, who treats it much like a child she had lost earlier in life. This is the pattern of the rest of the novel: Edward is loved, but torn away from those who love him. His experiences grow increasingly dark, until at last he is restored to Abilene when she is a grown woman and the mother of her own little girl. After having thoroughly enjoyed The Tale of Despereaux, I began DiCamillo's newest book with great anticipation. However, I found it to be a grim and depressing story. It bears a strong resemblance to Rachel Field's Hitty: Her First Hundred Years in the sense that it's about a doll (though Edward would hate me for calling him one) who has no control over its fate and is at the mercy of its owners. However, Hitty has many ups and downs in her life. Some of her adventures are quite exciting, and she has many happy years along with the bad. Edward's narrative is full of pathos and unpleasant adults such as Lolly, the "lumpy" woman with too much lipstick, who throws Edward in the garbage; the old lady who nails Edward to a pole in her garden; Sarah Ruth's drunken, abusive father, who broke her last doll's head under his foot; Neal the cook, who smashes Edward's head on a diner counter and in essence kills him; Lucius the doll mender, who repairs Edward only for the money he can make; and even Pellegrina, Abilene's grandmother, who tells the harsh story of a princess who is turned into a warthog and slaughtered by hunters, and who refuses to rescue Edward when he reappears on the streets of Memphis many years later. I had originally intended to give the book to my young niece, but now will not. I honestly don't think this book is appropriate for young children. Reviewers are targeting readers from grades 2 through 6, but I found it disturbing to read as an adult. The message-that a life without love just isn't worth living-is too sophisticated for young children, and perhaps a bit dangerous for anyone. Near the end of the novel, a doll in Lucius' shop tells Edward, "If you have no intention of loving or being loved, then the whole journey is pointless. You might as well leap from this shelf right now and let yourself shatter into a million pieces. Get it over with. Get it all over with now." The positive message-"Open your heart [and] someone will come for you"-is overshadowed by the unrelentingly dismal events of the book. Edward is urinated on by a dog, buried in a garbage dump, loved by a dying child, publicly humiliated, and murdered by a cook who wants to be paid for a meal. One of the darkest scenes of the novel-his use as a scarecrow by an old woman-is accompanied by a distressing full-color illustration: Edward is clearly being crucified. He is wired by his hands and feet to a wooden cross, and his rabbit fur ears are nailed above his head. The crows have been pulling at the threads of his clothes, cawing at him and mocking him. Edward, the sun setting behind him and stars appearing overhead, looks as lonely and forsaken as anyone or anything I have ever seen. In another episode, little Sarah Ruth, dying of a respiratory disease, loves Edward passionately when her brother Bryce brings him home. However, she eventually stops eating, begins coughing up blood, and dies in Bryce's arms. A dreadful scene ensues as Bryce and his drunken father struggle over possession of the body, crying and screaming at each other. In yet another dark scene, Edward is murdered by Neal the cook when Bryce cannot pay for a meal. Edward seems to go to heaven, where he finally has wings, Sarah Ruth is a constellation, and all the people who had loved him are happy and content. Of course, Edward isn't even allowed to remain here because when Lucius the doll mender glues all the broken pieces of the rabbit's head together he returns to consciousness and the loneliness and sadness of his earthly life. The only good adults in the book are weak and powerless; the strong ones are cruel and heartless. It has been a long time since I have responded so passionately to a book, but The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is grim, painful, and bleak. I would never read this book to a child, and it seems hard to believe it was originally intended to be a picture book. While the ultimate message-that anyone can learn to love-is a worthy one, it is difficult to discern in the overwhelming misery of Edward's existence and the cruelty of human nature.