One thought on “The Apothecary”

1. Sweet and entertaining, but not what I expected.It s the year 1952, and 14 year old Janie is living a happy, carefree life with her parents in Los Angeles One day, while walking home from school, she notices a black sedan following her, which causes her parents to panic and make some sudden decisions Suspected of being communist sympathizers, they feel like they have no choice but to pack everything up and move to London.Starting school in London is harder than she ever imagined Janie hates ever [...]

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2. Janie is a bright, all American girl living in Los Angeles in the 1950 s Her world is like a lovely dream, until her parents tell her that they must pack everything and hastily leave the country to avoid being detained and questioned as suspected communists Days later, they arrive in dreary London, still recovering from the aftermath of WWII Janie is immediately homesick, especially when she attends school for the first time wearing the wrong clothes and feeling left behind in her classes But ev [...]

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3. I can be a very smug librarian sometimes It can get me into trouble Take my reaction to the cover of Maile Meloy s The Apothecary, for instance Here we have one of the lovelier illustrated book jackets to come out in recent years Illustrator Ian Schoenherr really put his heart and soul into it So what was my initial reaction I picked it up, noticed the American robin on the cover paired with the image below of some buildings raising the British flag and sniffed, That s not an English robin I was [...]

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4. I really liked this middle grade adventure story The writing style is very good and story is promising enough Its actual audiences are young adults but I think anybody who likes magic and adventure can enjoy this book.It s 1952 and Janie is a 14 years old American girl living with her parents in California As her parents become suspected as Communists , they decide to move to London and work for BBC Janie doesn t like this change in her life and starts her new school skeptically She meets Benjam [...]

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5. I loved it One of my all time favorite books, because it s just the right blend of romance, fantasy, action and realistic fiction all together After I finished, I just sat in a sort of daze, because I d never been that affected by a book regarding emotions, period It was amazing.

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6. THE APOTHECARY is the kind of middle grade historical thriller that younger audiences or readers who are interested in the actions rather than the thoughts and motivations of characters will enjoy best I couldn t help feeling like it relied a little too much on old fashioned attitudes toward WWII era enemies and allies in its portrayal of foreign characters It was disconcerting to see Jin Lo, the Chinese chemist, portrayed as a beautiful, poised, elegant, and a little snooty woman who casually [...]

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7. THE APOTHECARYBy Maile Meloy Putnam, 2011Despite its widely positive reception, I am baffled how Maile Meloy s fifth book, THE APOTHECARY her first for Young Adults could engage a serious writer s talent, even as a holiday from seriousness There are investments in the historical framework of 1952, in the Los Angeles of that time with McCarthyism and the black list , and the London of that time The author has done research and invested time and setting with realistic detail The heroine, fourteen [...]

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8. When literary writers shift gears into writing for young adults the enterprise is risky Will they overload the narrative with complexities of language or ambiguities of perspective that swamp the action Will they create central characters that are believably complex children or adolescents In Maile Meloy s case the payoff was worth the risk, though any reader of her previous works would expect this to be the case She is a writer of deceptive simplicity whose tales are full of details that are ri [...]

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9. 95 points for an original story with scientific interest and authentic Cold War detail despite belonging to the overdone YA magic genre 5 for Southern California 15 for making the Latin teacher the villain 50 for a ridiculous Latin error 50 for letting the otherwise wonderful illustrations be marred by SAME LATIN ERROR 10 for Chinese character 30 for describing Chinese character with hair like a silken rope and a kung fu kick 15 for gratuitous sequel trolling Sum 50.HEAR YE, AUTHORS AND EDITORS [...]

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10. I wish I could give this 10 stars I loved this writer s style and story immensely It s labeled for young adults but forget that it is as delightful for adults of all ages as for teens Set in 1952 Los Angeles and London, you ll love Jane, Benjamin, Pip, the Apothecary and maybe even Sarah At the time of the Communist witch hunts in the USA, two screenwriters move to London with their daughter to write for the BBC to avoid being arrested as Communist sympathizers only for their daughter to get tie [...]

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11. I m telling you, my BEA shelf might be getting less crowded but it s still full of all sorts of fantastic gems The Apothecary was one of those books I didn t even have to read the blurb for when I grabbed it at the BEA That beautiful cover sold me on the spot To my intense delight the art continues on to the inside, although my copy is missing a lot of it because it was so advanced ,as if I need excuses than that to buy a finished copy.The Apothecary is not just another pretty face though, the [...]

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12. Shoulda known The NYT review that was instrumental in my reading this waxed all poetic about Meloy s adult fiction and then said something to the effect that the reviewer was worried when commencing this because it was gasp o the horror fantasy, but Meloy s writing carried it off.Really That s what snobbish reviewers think is good fantasy What do they know if they don t have anything to compare it to Some writers of adult fiction can carry off YA with grace and verve I m not sure Meloy did The s [...]

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13. It s 1952 and 14 year old Janie s parents have just been blacklisted, which means a move for the whole family from Los Angeles to London Janie experiences major culture shock not only is post war London gray, cold and drab, but also they have to put pennies in a meter just to heat their flat, there is still rationing, and the students at her new school are learning Latin.Mostly, the students seem fairly snobby, but one boy, Benjamin, appeals to Janie Intense and defiant, he wants to be a spy, no [...]

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14. Because I have been watching Fullmetal Alchemist I have been trying to find some good books that include alchemy So I picked up the Apothecary which said included some alchemic like action After reading it found that the book was geared towards younger readers The story also takes place around the cold war and the races to build atomic bombs Other than that there was really no historical element that I found I would say the alchemic magic was interesting and was the only thing that kept me inter [...]

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15. The story of an American girl who moves to England with her parents during the Cold War, after her parents are suspected as Communists She meets a boy who wants to be a spy and whose father, the apothecary, has a magic book and is in trouble because of it When real spies show up looking for the book, the two children set off on the kind of quest you want from a book like this This time, the quest, the characters, the world building, the magic, are in top form, so good that this book has set me o [...]

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16. Fabulous read Written for the young, enjoyable at any age Please read my full review here cineastesbookshelf

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17. In the book, The Apothecary by Maile Meloy, 14 years old Janie Scott moved to London from Los Angles and met the apothecary and his son Benjamin One day, the apothecary was kidnapped by the Soviet and he gave Benjamin his ancient book the Pharmacopoeia and told him to protect it from the people who want to take it Benjamin and Janie used the magic from the book and found the apothecary, but all of them are chased by the Soviet because the apothecary is trying to stop a powerful bomb from the Sov [...]

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18. InhaltVon Amerika ins langweilige England Eine drastische Ver nderung, die Janie berhaupt nicht gef llt Noch immer erkennt man die Spuren des Zweiten Weltkrieges, der erst vor wenigen Jahren endete Warum gerade England Warum gerade diese de Schule Warum gerade Benjamin, der Janie in ein waghalsiges Abenteuer entf hrt Benjamin w re gerne ein Spion, und aus anf nglichem Spiel und Spa wird bitterer Ernst, als er von seinem Vater, einem Apotheker, ein Buch in die Hand gedr ckt bekommt Die Pharmacope [...]

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19. The Apothecary by Maile Meloy, a middle grade novel, can be read by all ages for its fine drawing of history along with meditations on family, war, power, freedom and the threat of nuclear weapons If this seems heavy freight for adolescents be assured that these deeper themes are carried along by adventure, budding romance and magic.Janie Scott, the daughter of two successful Hollywood writers is wrenched from her comfortable life in 1952 Los Angeles when her parents take a job writing for BBC t [...]

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20. I received an ARE of The Apothecary by Maile Meloy during a visit to the Penguin offices in New York At first I put off reading it because I didn t feel tugged by the jacket synopsis, but once I started reading I couldn t put it down This was one of those rare books that made me say, Just one chapter before bedOkay, one Last one, I swear What I liked about The Apothecary from the very beginning was the voice of first person narrator Janie Scott She s witty, intelligent, and she sounds like a re [...]

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21. Jane is uprooted from her California home when her parents, screenwriters, decide to leave the country rather than face the McCarthy era witch hunt for communists and communist sympathizers They go to London That Jane is initially dismayed by the idea is an understatement, but soon her new life takes some crazy and unpredictable turns that lead her on a wild adventure filled with spies and alchemy fit for the big screen We were on a nuclear test site with an untested antidote The Soviet Navy was [...]

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22. Imagine you are uprooted to unfamiliar country, and thrown into an unfamiliar world of magic, secrecy, and strangely, nuclear physics In Malie Meloy s The Apothecary, it s 1952 and Janie Scott is enjoying life in sunny Los Angeles until she is tailed by government agents one day after school After learning this, her parents got spooked and moved the family immediately to gray, cold and dreary London, a change she s not too happy about, considering her lack of friends, horrid classmates, and of c [...]

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23. The Apothecary is, by all accounts, a book that sounds up my alley It s 1952, and Jane s parents move their family from Hollywood to London, England in order to escape the Red Scare Jane enrolls in a school and meets a mysterious apothecary and his son, gets tangled up in magic and adventure and la Benjamin, the son, really wants to be a spy, but his dad wants nothing to than for him to follow in his footsteps But when the apothecary is kidnapped and cryptic, threatening messages are left behin [...]

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24. Note I keep changing my rating between a two and a three I wish there were half stars This book didn t bore me, but it did disappoint me, because it had great promise.I like this genre of books, and the main characters were interesting I also thought that making it a historical fiction book was interesting, but overall I thought the execution was poor The explanation of how the Apothecary worked was not very convincing Either have a scientific explanation or a magical one instead this book tried [...]

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25. The mix of Cold War drama and old school alchemy is unusual but totally works The spunk and energy of Meloy s prose feels very old fashioned hence the Nancy Drew comp and yet her relationships feel modern Janie is a delightful protagonist, a smart girl who prefers pants to skirts and is doing her best to keep her feelings for her partner in crime hidden This becomes exceedingly difficult in a particularly memorable scene in which Janie and Benjamin test a truth serum by asking each other who the [...]

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26. Rounded up Really a 3.5, I think The writing is clear and strong, descriptive The story is inventive Details are wonderful.But the age of the protagonist feels confused to me, even for 1952 And the bad guys and politics feel flat and simplistic, for a book which has attempted to address such matters It s as if Meloy intended to get into these issues in a serious way, but then lost steam or her initial project was edited into a simpler one Also, I struggled here, as I do with a lot of books incl [...]

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27. It s 1952 and the Scott family has just moved from Los Angeles to London Here, fourteen year old Janie meets a mysterious apothecary and his son, Benjamin Burrows a fascinating boy who s not afraid to stand up to authority and dreams of becoming a spy When Benjamin s father is kidnapped, Janie and Benjamin must uncover the secrets of the apothecary s sacred book, the Pharmacopoeia, in order to find him, all while keeping it out of the hands of their enemies Russian spies in possession of nuclear [...]

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28. I loved this Another review described it as a magical Cold War spy novel and weird as that sounds, it s a good description of this book It mostly takes place in 1950s London and the historical details are very well done I loved the characters, especially Janie the interrogation scene at the police station was downright awesome the bird parts were also awesome and I loved the way Meloy wove magic into the story The ending was a little rushed and the book makes a point to say that the bombing of H [...]

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29. Apothecary is a fast moving book that is full of excitement and danger, with unexpected turns everywhere If you are the kind of person that doesn t like dragged out beginnings, then this book will definitely work for you Janie is just a normal girl living in California, when her life is thrown out of orbit In the next couple weeks, her whole life takes a turn when she meets Benjamin Burrows and his father, the Apothecary.

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30. I really like this book so far it is really good and I like that there are like potions and stuff 9 27 read 10 mins9 28 read mins9 29 read mins9 30 read mins10 1 read mins10 2 read mins10 3 read mins10 4 read mins10 5 read mins10 6 read mins10 7 read mins10 8 read mins10 9 read mins10 10 read mins

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