Intro

My name is Holly Cooper, and this is my blog about the book Uncle Montagues tales of terror by Chris Priestley.Enjoy!

Annotations and quotes

   In this book the notes and quotations can reveal a lot about the person who has spoken, such as their emotions and the relationships between the characters. In the 

Un-door after Maud makes a spectacle of herself in the seance, Harriet takes her outside and says 'What is the matter with you?' (p.54). The author says she 'hissed' it which makes me think that he wanted to create a uncomfortable atmosphere. This suggests that Harriet and Maud's relationship is rather strained and they do not always get on. After Maud replies 'I don't feel quite right ,' (p.54)Harriet makes a cold comment; 'you ain't right in the head if you ask me,' this also proves the tension between Maud and Harriet. As you can probably see already in this short piece of writing, the quotes that I have picked out display what you can find out about the relationships and emotions of the characters involved. This is also demonstrated in 'The Gilt Frame'. In the beginning of the story Christina is quite sour towards everyone especially her serving girl Eva. Eva says her mother is a very kind women and that Christina should be ashamed for being selfish when her mother does not bring back a present from London. Christina says to Eva 'How dare you criticise me,'... 'I suppose you think its very amusing that we are to be paupers' (p.139).She tries to change her ways but alas she can not.

My Summary

This book is one of the most favourite books that I have ever read. I liked the scary aspects of it but I also LOVED the complex story lines and the way that the author kept you hanging on a thread until the last minute . In 'The Gilt Frame' Christina finds out that the Painting that her mother bought back was not a painting but a mirror which explained the whole story. I would definitely recommend reading any of Chris Priestley's books as they are all exciting and thrilling.

I think that when the author was writing the book he was thinking about the final story and how all the different stories connected. The final story in the book threads together all the other stories, it is shocking and makes you feel a great sense of realisation.

Analaysis

For my analaysis I have chosen the very first paragraph of 'Through the woods' which is the introduction to the book, where Edgar is making his way to his uncle's house.

(page 9)



   'The way to Uncle Montague's house lay through a small wood. The path coiled between the trees like a snake hiding in a thicket, and though the path was not long and the wood not at all large, that part of the journey always seemed to take far longer than I ever thought it could.'

    this is in first person.

    This is an interesting adjective; I liked it because rather than just saying the path curved between trees it says 'coiled' which makes the sentence more interesting to read.

    This simile gives an exellent description of how the path coiled between the tree like a snake.


     Adjective.


    Edgar thinks that this part of the journey takes longer than the rest but it only 'seems' that way. This suggests that Edgar is scared by this part of the journey and he wishes to hurry past the path yet it feels very long to him.