Hey ForeverBookers,
How are you all today? I hope you’re well.
I’ve just finished reading Skellig, which was a book I read in year 7 in school. I don’t think I enjoyed it then but I did more so now.
Skellig tells the story of a young boy, Michael who’s just moved to a new house because his parents have just had another baby. His little sister is ill, and needs hospital treatment though. The house they’ve bought to move into needs remodelling as an old man lived there before, and couldn’t keep up with it. Michael and his dad are the ones that work on the reparations. When Michael happens across a deserted space he makes a discovery, which alters how he sees life. He and his friend, Mina, who doesn’t go to school because her mother thinks she’s too good for it try to make sense of this discovery. What happens come the end, I’ll let you read for yourself but I really enjoyed it!
Readathons!
Grief is topic bought up in Skellig because Michael’s little sister almost dies and another character deals with death too.
Spoilers Below…
“He was filthy and pale and dried out and I thought he was dead. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I’d soon begin to see the truth about him, that there’d never been another creature like him in the world.”
This is from the first page of Skellig. It’s significant because this is who Skellig is. He’s a creature that Michael doesn’t understand to begin with. Can he come to understand him and why he’s there? Skellig is a very fast paced book, which I suppose is because it’s a children’s book at heart although I’m an adult and I think I enjoyed it more now! We had no preamble before Michael sees this creature. It’s only revealed that he’s called Skellig at around the half way point in,
“We won’t be long,” I said.
Mina kissed his pale cracked cheek. She stretched her arms once more around his back. Her eyes burned with astonishment and joy.
“Who are you?” she whispered.
He winced with pain.
“My name is Skellig.”
Mina is a young girl who lives across the way from Michael’s new home. She’s a smart arse, but that’s not made fun of in this book. Her mum doesn’t believe in her going to school, so she’s homeschooled because they believe that “schools inhibit the natural curiosity, creativity, and intelligence of children. The mind needs to be opened out into the world, not shuttered inside a gloomy classroom.” Mina is very matter-of-fact, until she meets Skellig. Michael doesn’t really attend school either, because of what is going on with his sister. He’s allowed the time off, though.
Skellig is a mystery throughout the novel, to us the reader and to Michael and Mina.
“They say that shoulder blades are where your wings were, when you were an angel,” she said. “They say they’re where your wings will grow again one day.”
“It’s just a story, though,” I said. “A fairy tale for little kids, isn’t it?”
“Who knows? But maybe one day we all had wings and one day we will all have wings again.“
“D’you think the baby had wings?”
“Oh, I’m sure that one had wings. Just got to take one look at her. Sometimes I think she’s never quite left heaven and never quite made it all the way to Earth.”
She smiled but there were tears in her eyes.
“Maybe that’s why she has such trouble staying here,” she said.
I watched her, wondered what she’d say if I told her about the man in the garage. I didn’t tell her.”
All Michael wants is answers, throughout Skellig. Answers pertaining to his sister’s condition, answers pertaining to Skellig, even answers pertaining to why he had to move house. His young mind can’t process all the thoughts he needs to. Michael won’t tell his mother about Skellig because he doesn’t want to appear weird, she’s got enough to worry about with his little sister, after all.
The end was really touching. In Michael’s mind, remember we’re seeing events from his POV, Skellig is some impressive angel like creature. He gives up his life for Michael’s little sister, who they call Joy at the end of the novel.
Overall, I enjoyed rereading Skellig a lot more than when I was 11/12 years old, when I was in school. It has a charm that other novels I’ve read don’t. It wasn’t action packed but what was there was a very sweet story with a great message—don’t stop believing!
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