Book Review; The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


TJ Klune has written a great novel for looking at the world of bullying, mocking and name calling through the eyes of an educator. But in this great novel, it uses the medium of fantasy to really get us to the point where we realize the dangerous levels that humans can sink to when they start labelling other humans as “The Other” or “The Outcast” or “Weird.” This book takes us into the world of Magical Youth. It’s a world that some of you may say you don’t want to enter, unless you can put your biases aside about Magic and go into the world of the We all fall into this form of labelling starting about the time we reach puberty, when our eyes to the world are opened and we truly begin to notice the world in a different manner than we have for the earlier ages and stages of our lives. Adolescents can be super cruel to others whom they label, but fortunately we have a lot of people who are professionals at directing fact that we discriminate differences, away from the bullying, mocking, and name calling that can ruin other people’s lives in a callus and uncaring fashion. When these same malicious behaviors move into the adult world and are modelled by high level adults to other adults and to our children, we perpetuate this tearing apart and degrading of others by picking on natural human relationships, appearances and differences which have existed since life was first created on the planet. Linus is the Caseworker in this book, but in reality, he is our “Teacher”! As a caseworker he is the investigator and examiner of the schools for the kids who are “Magical” in his part of the United States. His role is to make sure that these boarding schools are run and managed properly by the teachers and administrators so that the special needs of the magical children are always put first, Thus, the students will be able to live in a loving, caring and fulfilling environment as they be if they were able to live with their true families. Linus is therefore looking at each school as if it were a true “Family” and not just another “Institution” where the Magical kids can be hidden from the rest of the world. As the story progresses, Linus is so good at his job that he is selected by Extremely Upper Management to go to the most difficult school on the planet where Gnomes, Forest Sprites, Changelings, and even an Antichrist can live, isolated from the nearby town of Marsyas where the locals eschew any contact with the “Magical”, and even plot against it. I loved the inner tension of the book which continually throws Linus into situations that would tax any normal human’s abilities to handle with anything other than terror, anger, or madness. In the end, we ourselves learn the meaning of acceptance and a lot about our own inner fears and foibles that are the baggage everyone carries. By cogitating on the meaning of the book, which is truly about “Family”, we can all learn to be a bit more accepting of others despite the baggage we were brought up with. Hope you enjoy the read!










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