Tuck para siempre (Trumpet Special Edition) (1975 original; edició 1989)

When I first read this, I was younger than ten years old. I remember because I thought Natalie Babbitt was Natalie Imbruglia, and thought how cool she must have been to write both this book and the hit song "Torn" that was on the radio all the time. A gentle note to little kid me: they're not the same person, and this book came out twenty years before the song did. I didn't understand half the book when I read it the first time. I read it again when I was like...thirteen or something. I remember thinking it was amazing, and rolling my eyes at the movie adaptation trailer. While dramatic, I knew it would take serious padding to make into a movie. Now I've read it as an adult. The book jacket describes a suspenseful, plot-charged story, but the reality itself is a character study of utter slowness. It's supposed to be that way, in my mind: shows the reader just how boring immortality combined with invincibility would be. A lot of dark concepts are brought up in a book intended for children, but they're explored in ways that...I guess work. At the same time: hey Jesse. I get that you're starved for new company, but you just asked a ten-year-old to marry you. I don't care that it's the 1880s. That's creepy. And the kidnapping, and the--so many action-y parts of the book were actually unsettling, but couched in the slowness of the writing, I couldn't be scared. I feel kind of gross now. I think this is a specific kind of book for children, and I'm glad it's still around. I might get copies for my nieces, or tell them about it. ( )

So sad.
Gods do I love this book. ( )

It's a pity that this book has become cliche from too much reading too early and a bad movie. I can't bear to read it again, the memory of it is still fresh, though not the plot. That memory of loss is too strong. ( )

Kindhearted ten-year-old Winnie Foster gets caught up with the Tuck family and their secret. Winnie can hardly believe their story, yet when it leads to tragedy, she comes to their aid in a surprising way. The story seems too dark for its intended audience since Winnie witnesses a murder and helps the murderer escape from jail. Yet is it any darker than the fairy tales I loved as a child? ( )

This is a children's fiction on how a little girl stumbled upon a family of four who are immortal. The family became immortal after drinking water from a magical fountain. Details of how the fountain works is of little importance in this story. The point the author is trying to make is how unhappy the family is with their immortality, and how death, though seemingly horrible, is actually the natural and desirable ending for all human beings. At the end of the story the girl, invited to receive immortality herself and marry one of the immortal family members, ignored the invitation and chose to live and die as a mortal instead. I wonder why she made this choice (the book doesn't say....). She seemed to really like the guy who proposed to her. Why leave him living forever all by himself then? I guess the author is trying to make her point that death is indeed a more desirable end. ( )