- Hardcover: 278 pages
- Publisher: Harper Teen (July 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 006166796X
- ISBN-13: 978-0061667961
- Product Dimensions: 17.9 x 13.7 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,461,339 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Nothing but Ghosts
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover
Ever since Katie lost her mother, she and her father, who restores old paintings, have rattled around in their big house, almost consumed with grief. Nothing is the same without her mother; Katie abandons her friends, her interests, and spends time remembering. As a balm for her soul, Katie gets away by taking a summer job at a nearby estate, digging up the garden and soon enough a mystery to go with it. In the midst of discovering another woman's story, Katie begins to clarify her own, to reach out and embrace life and love in just the way her mother might have wanted.
It's easy to explain why I loved Nothing but Ghosts. It is deep and meaningful and poignant, relieved by the mystery and the hint of a love story, written in absolutely stunning language. Kephart's prose is the kind that you get lost in; almost poetic in its beauty, it had me thinking about certain lines, going back to pick up the pieces of something I'd just discovered, and at times just marveling at how effectively, simply, but gorgeously she gets Katie's feelings across. There are connections throughout the book and I can't wait to go back, read it again, and pick up a little on what I missed, because I know it's there. This is a YA novel, but is easily appreciated by adults, particularly because it is so full of substance.
This book truly gets Kephart's talent across in its depiction of Katie's grief. Grief is impossible to define and at times it certainly feels that everyone's grief is different, every loss is different. Yet somehow in this little novel, Kephart has written the most realistic depiction of grief that I have ever read.
Everything looks like caution afterward, everything inside me feels old and used and cracked, and people say, "Oh, Katie, you've handled your mother's passing so well," and I think, Handled. Handled? I'm barely breathing, can't you tell? And somewhere out there Jessie and Ellen are laughing, just the two of them, in the back of an old theater, and they think that I've forgotten them, maybe, but I haven't. I never would - they just remind me of my mother, they just ask about my mother, and that's not a question I want to hear, even if I knew how to answer.
- p. 132-3.
Caution is a theme that runs through the book, as if Katie needs to step carefully without her mother's protection, as if she needs to warn off the world because she has been damaged and hasn't healed enough yet. There are so many meanings within this book that I'm sure someone else will draw something completely new from it that I hadn't even considered. It's thoughtful, quiet, but huge in its impact.
The plot itself is intriguing and I didn't see where the mystery was going. I loved the little touch of romance. I thought a careful, slow romance with a boy heading off to college soon, someone unconnected to her mother, was perfect for this stage in her life. I sat down and read this book in only a couple of hours, it was that addictive, and then I kept thinking about it when I'd finished. For me, this is a hallmark of a great book. So often I put them down and forget all about them, but this one, I'm remembering. I can't wait to read more by Beth Kephart.
It's easy to explain why I loved Nothing but Ghosts. It is deep and meaningful and poignant, relieved by the mystery and the hint of a love story, written in absolutely stunning language. Kephart's prose is the kind that you get lost in; almost poetic in its beauty, it had me thinking about certain lines, going back to pick up the pieces of something I'd just discovered, and at times just marveling at how effectively, simply, but gorgeously she gets Katie's feelings across. There are connections throughout the book and I can't wait to go back, read it again, and pick up a little on what I missed, because I know it's there. This is a YA novel, but is easily appreciated by adults, particularly because it is so full of substance.
This book truly gets Kephart's talent across in its depiction of Katie's grief. Grief is impossible to define and at times it certainly feels that everyone's grief is different, every loss is different. Yet somehow in this little novel, Kephart has written the most realistic depiction of grief that I have ever read.
Everything looks like caution afterward, everything inside me feels old and used and cracked, and people say, "Oh, Katie, you've handled your mother's passing so well," and I think, Handled. Handled? I'm barely breathing, can't you tell? And somewhere out there Jessie and Ellen are laughing, just the two of them, in the back of an old theater, and they think that I've forgotten them, maybe, but I haven't. I never would - they just remind me of my mother, they just ask about my mother, and that's not a question I want to hear, even if I knew how to answer.
- p. 132-3.
Caution is a theme that runs through the book, as if Katie needs to step carefully without her mother's protection, as if she needs to warn off the world because she has been damaged and hasn't healed enough yet. There are so many meanings within this book that I'm sure someone else will draw something completely new from it that I hadn't even considered. It's thoughtful, quiet, but huge in its impact.
The plot itself is intriguing and I didn't see where the mystery was going. I loved the little touch of romance. I thought a careful, slow romance with a boy heading off to college soon, someone unconnected to her mother, was perfect for this stage in her life. I sat down and read this book in only a couple of hours, it was that addictive, and then I kept thinking about it when I'd finished. For me, this is a hallmark of a great book. So often I put them down and forget all about them, but this one, I'm remembering. I can't wait to read more by Beth Kephart.
Format:Hardcover
Katie misses her mother, who recently died of cancer. She tries to find things around the house that help her feel close to her mother's spirit. As summer begins, Katie knows she will need something to keep her busy while her father, an art/painting restorer, works obsessively in his studio. The answer comes in the form of a landscaping job at the Everlast estate.
Working with the full-time groundskeeper and caretakers of the estate, Katie spends her daytime hours with her hands dirty and her brow sweaty. The work is tiring but strangely satisfying.
As she works, she begins to wonder about the strange stories told of Miss Martine Everlast and her reclusive lifestyle. The woman has been dead for some time, but the mansion is still cared for by a man known as Old Olson and a couple who have been employed there for years. When Katie and the others are assigned to excavate a hole in the garden, it seems some of the long-buried secrets of Miss Martine might finally be uncovered.
The detective work that results helps give Katie yet another purpose during that long summer. Her frequent trips to the library to sift through boxes of what the librarian calls "local lore" occupies her scattered thoughts and gives her conversational material to distract her and her father as they deal with their grief. Understanding another family's secrets might make understanding her own family easier.
Beth Kephart, an accomplished author, takes readers into the lives of people who have suffered loss and are struggling to deal with the changes it brings to their lives. It is evident through Kephart's story that no two people grieve in the same way, yet dealing with loss is a universal issue. Using the backdrop of the local mystery adds a suspenseful twist to Katie's search to hold onto the memory of her mother.
Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"
Working with the full-time groundskeeper and caretakers of the estate, Katie spends her daytime hours with her hands dirty and her brow sweaty. The work is tiring but strangely satisfying.
As she works, she begins to wonder about the strange stories told of Miss Martine Everlast and her reclusive lifestyle. The woman has been dead for some time, but the mansion is still cared for by a man known as Old Olson and a couple who have been employed there for years. When Katie and the others are assigned to excavate a hole in the garden, it seems some of the long-buried secrets of Miss Martine might finally be uncovered.
The detective work that results helps give Katie yet another purpose during that long summer. Her frequent trips to the library to sift through boxes of what the librarian calls "local lore" occupies her scattered thoughts and gives her conversational material to distract her and her father as they deal with their grief. Understanding another family's secrets might make understanding her own family easier.
Beth Kephart, an accomplished author, takes readers into the lives of people who have suffered loss and are struggling to deal with the changes it brings to their lives. It is evident through Kephart's story that no two people grieve in the same way, yet dealing with loss is a universal issue. Using the backdrop of the local mystery adds a suspenseful twist to Katie's search to hold onto the memory of her mother.
Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
24 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
A gorgeous novel
23 Nov 2009
Format:Hardcover
Nothing But Ghosts was absolutely beautiful. There was something so calming about this novel - I can't say that it was exciting necessarily; it is better described as engrossing.
The story unfolds so perfectly; I found the story to be compelling and engaging. There are two main plot lines in Ghosts: Katie's and that of the mysterious old woman Katie works for. Beth Kephart wove the two stories together perfectly to create just the right balance of past, present, and future.
I have never lost a parent, thank goodness, but I know many people my age that have. The closest experience that I can relate to losing a parent is losing my grandparents. Still, I could empathize with Katie's grief and confusion over the death of her mother; the disbelief that someone can be vibrant and full of life and then be gone forever. Even though my grandfather passed away a few months ago, I still forget that he is gone sometimes and when I remember and it hits me, I feel the pain of his loss all over again. I can only imagine that Katie, living in the house that she once shared with her mother, surrounded by her things, her room untouched, exactly the same as it was when she was living, and feeling distanced from her father, must feel. Kephart wrote this aspect of the novel particularly well.
I loved the mystery in this novel! Katie's quest to uncover the truth about the old woman who was a socialite in her youth, but has grown to be a recluse, was one of my favorite aspects of Nothing but Ghosts. I was amazed by the Kephart's skill as all the pieces of the puzzle slowly came together. I loved that I didn't figure out the secret until near the end of the novel, it is a bit anticlimatic when it is too easy to figure out the mystery. I love the fact that the mystery brings so many of the minor characters out of the background as well.
There is also a love story within Nothing but Ghosts. This aspect of the novel isn't really a main plot line, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. When I started the novel, I wasn't really sure that there would be a romantic plot line, so I was pleasantly surprised when one developed.
Nothing but Ghosts is an amazing novel and I will definitely be reading Kephart's other novels! Ghosts is a novel that I need to have a copy of on my bookshelf!
The story unfolds so perfectly; I found the story to be compelling and engaging. There are two main plot lines in Ghosts: Katie's and that of the mysterious old woman Katie works for. Beth Kephart wove the two stories together perfectly to create just the right balance of past, present, and future.
I have never lost a parent, thank goodness, but I know many people my age that have. The closest experience that I can relate to losing a parent is losing my grandparents. Still, I could empathize with Katie's grief and confusion over the death of her mother; the disbelief that someone can be vibrant and full of life and then be gone forever. Even though my grandfather passed away a few months ago, I still forget that he is gone sometimes and when I remember and it hits me, I feel the pain of his loss all over again. I can only imagine that Katie, living in the house that she once shared with her mother, surrounded by her things, her room untouched, exactly the same as it was when she was living, and feeling distanced from her father, must feel. Kephart wrote this aspect of the novel particularly well.
I loved the mystery in this novel! Katie's quest to uncover the truth about the old woman who was a socialite in her youth, but has grown to be a recluse, was one of my favorite aspects of Nothing but Ghosts. I was amazed by the Kephart's skill as all the pieces of the puzzle slowly came together. I loved that I didn't figure out the secret until near the end of the novel, it is a bit anticlimatic when it is too easy to figure out the mystery. I love the fact that the mystery brings so many of the minor characters out of the background as well.
There is also a love story within Nothing but Ghosts. This aspect of the novel isn't really a main plot line, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. When I started the novel, I wasn't really sure that there would be a romantic plot line, so I was pleasantly surprised when one developed.
Nothing but Ghosts is an amazing novel and I will definitely be reading Kephart's other novels! Ghosts is a novel that I need to have a copy of on my bookshelf!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
An uplifting story about grief
9 July 2009
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
After the death of her mother, Katie takes a summer gardening job at the estate of town recluse Miss Martine who hasn't been seen outside since she was 16. Katie herself is burdened with grief, but she has to wonder what kind of tragedy would make you voluntarily disappear from life. With the help of two brothers and a glamorous librarian, Katie begins to decode the mystery and gain the strength to go on.
I admit, ever since the death of my own mother when I was 19, I tend to shy away from books where the mother is recently deceased or dying. I'm just always afraid they'll be too depressing, too sad to handle. But Beth has done a beautiful thing here - she takes us to the truth of what it's like to deal with loss (the too-big house that feels empty, the withdrawing from friends, the keeping busy to dull the pain) and then lets her characters (and her readers) find comfort and a renewed sense of purpose.
The story elements, the well-drawn characters (Katie's father, chic Ms. McDermott, and estate caretaker Old Olson were favorites), and spare, lyrical writing all contribute to making this a genuinely affecting reading experience. In fact, as far as books about grief go, I'd rate it up there with Kate DiCamillo's THE TIGER RISING.
I admit, ever since the death of my own mother when I was 19, I tend to shy away from books where the mother is recently deceased or dying. I'm just always afraid they'll be too depressing, too sad to handle. But Beth has done a beautiful thing here - she takes us to the truth of what it's like to deal with loss (the too-big house that feels empty, the withdrawing from friends, the keeping busy to dull the pain) and then lets her characters (and her readers) find comfort and a renewed sense of purpose.
The story elements, the well-drawn characters (Katie's father, chic Ms. McDermott, and estate caretaker Old Olson were favorites), and spare, lyrical writing all contribute to making this a genuinely affecting reading experience. In fact, as far as books about grief go, I'd rate it up there with Kate DiCamillo's THE TIGER RISING.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Beautiful Story
2 Aug 2009
Format:Hardcover
There are so many wonderful things to say about NOTHING BUT GHOSTS, but I think Ms. Kephart's writing is truly stellar and it is what makes this book extra-special. I have not read any of Ms. Kephart's other books, but if they are anything like this one, I certainly plan to in the very near future. As much as I appreciated her writing style, I wasn't totally surprised by how beautiful and honest her writing is because I am a regular follower of her blog. Although I must say that reading an entire novel was a different kind of treat for me. I am just so grateful that I could spend an entire afternoon reading this book and appreciating Ms. Kephart's gorgeous prose.
Another thing that I really enjoyed about NOTHING BUT GHOSTS were the characters that Ms. Kephart created in this story, especially Katie. I absolutely loved Katie's voice and found her to be such a very real young woman. My heart absolutely went out to Katie because she lost her mom at a time when she needed her the most -- those difficult teen years. I also found it incredibly painful to see that she isolated herself from her best friends as part of her grieving process. As I read this novel, I desperately wanted Katie to find some happiness in her life. I so wanted her to be able to come to some kind of understanding about her mother's death (and even her mother's life.)
I also really liked how there was an almost mystery aspect to this novel. While Katie's father was trying to unravel the meaning behind a painting that he was working on, Katie was attempting to figure out the mystery behind a reclusive woman. With the help of a very hip librarian (whom I absolutely loved) and Katie's co-worker and potential boyfriend, Katie eventually figures out the secrets behind the mysterious woman. As Katie learns the painful truth about this woman's life, she also discovers valuable things about herself and the ghosts in her life.
I just can't express how terrific NOTHING BUT GHOSTS is. I think if you have ever dealt with loss on any level, then you will appreciate this story. Ms. Kephart's writing is just amazing, and there is also no doubt in my mind that you will fall in love with Katie and the other characters in this story. It truly is one of my favorite books of the year!
Another thing that I really enjoyed about NOTHING BUT GHOSTS were the characters that Ms. Kephart created in this story, especially Katie. I absolutely loved Katie's voice and found her to be such a very real young woman. My heart absolutely went out to Katie because she lost her mom at a time when she needed her the most -- those difficult teen years. I also found it incredibly painful to see that she isolated herself from her best friends as part of her grieving process. As I read this novel, I desperately wanted Katie to find some happiness in her life. I so wanted her to be able to come to some kind of understanding about her mother's death (and even her mother's life.)
I also really liked how there was an almost mystery aspect to this novel. While Katie's father was trying to unravel the meaning behind a painting that he was working on, Katie was attempting to figure out the mystery behind a reclusive woman. With the help of a very hip librarian (whom I absolutely loved) and Katie's co-worker and potential boyfriend, Katie eventually figures out the secrets behind the mysterious woman. As Katie learns the painful truth about this woman's life, she also discovers valuable things about herself and the ghosts in her life.
I just can't express how terrific NOTHING BUT GHOSTS is. I think if you have ever dealt with loss on any level, then you will appreciate this story. Ms. Kephart's writing is just amazing, and there is also no doubt in my mind that you will fall in love with Katie and the other characters in this story. It truly is one of my favorite books of the year!
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