age: YA
recommend to: fans of Tim Burton and Henry Selick
rating: 4/8 tentacles
High-schooler Charlotte Usher is essentially invisible: she has no friends and most of her classmates simply ignore her. She has spent all summer diligently making herself over into the type of person she is certain popular boy Damen Dylan will want and feels confident that all her dreams are about to come true. Sadly, just as she is setting her plan into motion, she chokes to death on a gummy bear. Now literally invisible, but still determined, Charlotte clings to her plan and desperately looks for a way to make it happen—viewing her death as merely a minor setback.
Ghostgirl is a fun, ghoulish read that fans of Tim Burton and Henry Selick will probably enjoy. (I would love to see them do a film of this.) Charlotte’s quirkiness and determined optimism save Ghostgirl from spiraling into a woe-is-me-I’m-invisible-and-alone sob story. Instead, Hurley’s novel reads like a delightfully and absurdly morbid teen quest for recognition.
I did have some issues with plot resolution, and not the kind that can be fixed by a sequel. The two major obstacles of the story are Charlotte’s pursuit of Damen and her ghosty pals’ attempts to save their drafty Victorian Manor, first from buyers and then from condemnation. In order to “pass on” they must successfully complete a task assigned to them by a mysterious higher power, which we find out at the start of the novel is “protecting” the house by keeping it uninhabited. They have a bit of trouble doing this because Charlotte, distracted by her designs on Damen, is not being very helpful and often inadvertently messes things up for the other ghosts. By the end of the book, the Damen plot thread is sufficiently resolved, but the Passing On business gets kind of glossed over.
(GETTING SPOILERY FOR A BIT)At the climax of the story, when Charlotte finally chooses responsibility over personal gain, there is a sort of Magical Hooray Moment when we find out that Charlotte’s decision means all the ghosts can pass on. I don’t buy it. It’s a bit too deus ex machina for me. I don’t understand why all of the ghosts’ fates were resting on Charlotte’s epiphany of selflessness and not the resolution of their own issues. As a result of this, the conclusion felt bungled and vague. I wish it was set up more thoughtfully and also that Hurley elaborated more on all of the ghosts’ deaths. It might have been more effective for the ghosts to help each other solve/avenge each other’s deaths in order to pass over, especially since Hurley has already told us that each ghost came to a strange and unexpected end. Instead, they have to save an old house for no good reason except that someone told them to. (END SPOILING)
Ghostgirl made me chuckle at times and mutter “ugh gross” under my breath at others. I appreciated the Young Frankenstein and Edward Gorey references. The physical book is gorgeously designed, with it’s Gothic lettering, black and pink Victorian patterned endpapers, and the pink roses adorning each page. I will read the sequel if someone finds it and puts it in front of me.
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