Crispin: The Cross Of Lead (2004) - Plot & Excerpts
AVI2.0 Review: With warnings, gender changes, and a post script!I just dawned on me that the stupid plot revealing subtitle is there because Avi means for this book to be the start of a series, and a quick check shows that there is a sequel. Avi has a unique skill at flattening characters. Everyone pretty much sounds the same as every other character. ShHe also has a knack of making herhis characters unlikable. Not in the I hate them sort of way, but in the why do I give a (If you are under the age of 17 please look away for one word) fuck what happens to them way. If I had read this book as a child it would have bored me to death. I would have hated this book. As an adult I could read it in a couple of hours and pass over the dryness with the greatest of ease. There is nothing exciting really in this book. The action is telegraphed so poorly before it happens that there really aren't any surprises. I'm starting to think now that Avi meant for Crispin to be her his Harry Potter. Orphan kid, mysterious past, befriended by some big oaf of a man, those kind of silly subtleties. I don't have too many (any?) facts to base this on (just like I had no facts to base the idea that Avi was a woman on, but that doesn't stop me from saying things), but there is the feeling that this is Harry Potter with all of the fun vacuum sucked out of it.Why Avi is critically acclaimed is beyond me. This is the second of her his countless books I have read, and each of them has been blah. The first one I could see appealing to kids, but it was too moronic for me to stomach; and this one I don't see who the audience is, except maybe Middle School teachers always on the lookout for new instruments to torture their students with. The wealth of little historical day to day facts in the book will be fodder for many a (If you are under the age of 17 please look away for one word) crappy teacher to bore the (If you are under the age of 17 please look away for one word) shit out of students for a long time to come. Post Script, for Children. I, the author of the review you just read, am sorry if I have been the first to scar your young minds with foul language. It is wrong to curse, and it shows your ignorance, that is until you are older and then it shows your immaturity, but maybe not your ignorance. This is a distinction you will need to face yourselves when you get older. But if you have read this review, let me offer you some words of encouragement that I wish had been offered to me: if your teacher loves this book and you do not love it, don't think there is anything wrong with you. Also do not think that it means you are just not the type to like books, or that there are no books out there for you. This is not a good book. Your teacher by liking this book, is possibly the type of person who deep down knows very little about books. Also there is possibly some unspeakable trauma in his or her past has driven him or her to be a teacher and is attempting to take all the goodness out of books and turn them into something that they feel deserve to be hated and despised. Sadly, teachers are good at ruining things, doubly sadly (don't ever use that phrase yourself, it will make you look stupid, be smarter than me) there are very few good teachers out there. I hope that if you are reading this you have one of the awesome teachers. If you don't have one of them, realize that your teacher is a very disturbed individual, and something happened that either killed his or her desire to live and/or make everyone else in the world see the world as joylessly as they do. Try not to hate them, but feel pity for them. They need love. Don't try to hug them though, that could end badly. Just feel pity and offer them love at a distance.
I'd like to give this Newberry winner by Avi 3.5 stars but that's not an option. So, when forced to choose, I'll go with three. This is Avi's 50th book (amazing!) and is historical fiction based on research. Avi did research into the time period and one of the characters, John Ball, is based on a real person. At the end of the book Avi explains his interest in the period began in college when he read about the Peasants' Rebellion and a series of lectures he attended on the late Middle Ages. This interest in the time period is evidenced particularly at the beginning and middle of the book. For those less familiar with some of the feudal terms, a glossary is provided at the end.From the start of the book Avi situates the reader into a feudal time period in which England is still reeling from the impact of wars and the plague, is rife with political and church corruption, and in which a majority of the people are living in impoverished conditions. Crispin, the main character, lives a life of poverty with little hope or expectation for betterment in this life. He is bound by religious doctrine and societal expectation that teach one to accept and not question. This is a story of morality and change. It questions what is family, demonstrates the corruption of unchecked power, and ultimately offers a glimpse of hope through change (personal and societal). Avi's end of the book interview explains that he is seeking to write a story that is a prelude to (and ultimately window into) the reformation of a culture and how difficult change is. As you read the story it is clear that the ruling class live a very different life and wish to maintain it at an enormous cost to the serfs who live as slaves. Avi also indicates that he is seeking to emphasize a "philosophy for change." He states that if we understand that change is part of history (of the human experience), then change is something that is a thread through time and that we are capable of creating & engendering change. The reason this is important in this review is that while the beginning of the book appears to be realistic for the time, the end of the book does not appear to be realistic. (Hence the 3 star review). How the book wraps up does not seem to be authentic, regardless of the change that has occurred within Crispin. That said, I did enjoy the book, but I think that a caveat of unrealistic ending needs to be articulated. The book is certainly in line with Avi's stated philosophy of change, but the authenticity, particularly at the end, is somewhat compromised.
What do You think about Crispin: The Cross Of Lead (2004)?
The Cross of Lead is a very interesting book. I liked it, but I don’t know if it is for everyone. It is kind of a tired story line about being accused of a crime he didn’t commit, reminded me of the fugitive. His arch-enemy is John Aycliffe, who for some reason does not like Crispin. I found the English phrases interesting, such as the term Wolf’s Head, meaning that anyone who sees the boy can kill him. There is some mild violence of Father Quinel having is throat slashed while helping Crispin escape, but nothing to graphic. Predictably, he meets an adult named Bear who mentors him in juggling, staying alive and eating rabbits. They go into a city where they find themselves entangled in a mystery. I am sure for a teen reader this book will be interesting and fascinating. It is well written and has an easy to read lyricism to the text. For the older reader who might be more familiar with the plot line, it might get a little boring. It is a great book for about a 5th grader, give or take a grade level. It is full of questions and secrets to answer. Students should get really engrossed in it.
—NSAndrew Liebergen
This is definitely a page-turner. It is mind-bogglingly well-written, impossibly riveting, and well-plotted. However, I did have a couple problems with this that kept it from venturing beyond 3-star range. First of all, I really did not like the choice to put this book in first person at all (and that's unusual, considering a third person narrative is sometimes actually enough to automatically subtract a star off a review). We could still get access to Crispin's deepest thoughts and worries without hearing his story told in his voice. The narrative is very matter-of-fact, and frankly, disturbed me. But some of Avi's descriptions and the fact that his writing is so darn gorgeous makes up for it. Also, I thought that the extreme amount of action, sometimes with blood and gore involved, was a bit too valiant of an attempt to get boys to read literature. Yes, it won the Newbery, and because of that a lot of females will read this too, but I thought this would have still been a great story without the sword-fighting and Crispin's freak personality change in the last couple chapters. Recommended, and very hard not to crave the sequels.
—D.C.
Great example of historical fiction. However, this fact makes the story a bit more obscure for children. Set in the 1600's where the general population was almost considered the property of the landowner and at their mercy. If the Lord of the Manor is an unkind or even brutal man this made life very difficult and sometimes down right dangerous.This story is one that should be discussed with an adult after reading to understand the historical significance.Not really suitable for young children. I'd say 5th grade or higher.I did like the character of Crispen as narrator, it added some honesty and innocence to an otherwise some-what brutal world.
—Lisa the Librarian
