Jacob’s Ladder by
Brian Keaney
I have deeply conflicting views about Jacob’s Ladder. On one hand, I love the concepts
presented in the book and the plot is actually quite brilliant but on the other
hand, the writing is rather stodgy, which wastes the clever plot and drags the
story down.
The protagonist in the book is Jacob (duh) who wakes
up one day in a field without any memory prior to waking up. He is met by an
elderly man, Virgil, who brings him to a town of some sort where he is put into
a dormitory with other boys of his age. In the dormitory, he meets kind and
friendly Toby and aloof and sneering Stefan, along with a bunch of other boys.
All the boys are dressed in gray and they have dinner in a
central meeting place where tons of other boys and girls come together.
Jacob
learns that their dormitory is only one of many and that all the children are
in the same boat as him. They have all woken up one day in the field with
completely no recollection of their life before that awakening moment. In the
day, the children are put to work. There is a bus assigned to every dormitory
and the children in each dormitory are ferried to empty plots of land where
they have to pick up the stones. The rationale for clearing the stones from the
land is to build more dormitories because whoever is running the place is
anticipating more amnesiac arrivals.
Jacob
is unwilling to settle into the mindless routine that is expected of them. He
rebels in various ways (refusing to pick up the stones or staying back in the
dormitory when he is supposed to be clearing the land) but fails miserably each
time. Eventually he decides to run away. By then, he has heard of the Palace of
Remembrance which is a sort of legend amongst the children. It is rumoured to
be the residence of the King and Queen of the land and it is said that anyone
who arrives there will get his memories back and be returned to his previous life.
Thus Jacob decides to set out for the Palace.
Two of
his good friends, Toby and Aysha (a girl living in another dormitory who
arrived on the same day as Jacob) decide to accompany him on his journey.
The
rest of the story deals with the trio’s quest to find the Palace. Along the
way, they face several setbacks. They run out of food and water, encounter some
ghosts that try to bewitch them into staying, come face-to-face with feral dogs
that want to eat them and Jacob gets tricked by a strange man who shares some similarities
with the witch in Hansel & Greta.
In one pivotal scene, Jacob has to climb a long long ladder that seems never-ending
which gives us the title of the book.
Does
the Palace of Remembrance really exist? What do Jacob and his friends face at
the end of their journey? You’ll have to read the book to find out the ending.
Let’s
talk about the pros of the book first. The story is obviously well thought-out.
The writer, Brian Keaney, leaves some puzzles and hints along the story and at
the end of the story, most of these resolve nicely to form a coherent story. If
you’re a sharp reader, you may even guess the truth before the writer reveals
it.
Clever
plot aside, what I really enjoy when I read the book are the themes explored by
Keaney. One key theme is perseverance. On his quest, Jacob faces many
difficulties and there are times when he comes close to throwing in the towel.
But at each key moment, he will cast his mind back on what he really wants,
grit his teeth and soldier on.
This
perseverance is very similar to resilience and it is the key to success. Read
enough stories about successful people and you will realise that most of them
faced a lot of hardships before they achieved success but instead of giving up,
they chose to plod along the difficult path, believing firmly in their dream, before
they finally became successful.
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| Life is a bed of roses - not! |
This
is an important lesson, especially for Singapore’s affluent children. Many of you
don’t have to worry where your next meal is coming from or if you would have
enough money to pay the school fees. But when you enter society and begin your
working life, unless you are lucky enough to have extremely influential or
wealthy parents, you’ll realise that life is not a bed of roses. But you know
what? It is the struggle that makes life meaningful.
Related
to this theme is the theme of passion. Jacob firmly believes in his goal and
that is what drives him on, even during the darkest moments of his quest. Do
you have a passion? Do you have something that will motivate you, give you
hope, even when you are feeling down? Don’t worry if your answer is no. Take
the time to think what it is that you enjoy doing. Then see if this is
something that can sustain you when things seem dire and begin exploring from
this point.
I also
like Keaney’s take on second chances. He suggests that many second chances are
squandered and although the book ends on an optimistic note, one may forgive
him for the overly neat conclusion for this is after all a children’s book and
he did do enough work throughout the story so that the ending doesn’t feel like
too it’s much of a copout.
Now,
the cons. Actually there is only one and that is Keaney’s style of writing. He writes
in a very simple and direct manner and is very sparing when it comes to
descriptions. The advantage of this is that the book is easy to read, but at
the same time it makes the book dull.
As
such, I would recommend this book for beginning readers, children who find
picture books too easy and are beginning to move on to proper books. Or you
could close an eye to the dull language and just read for the ideas.
You
could get the book from Amazon by clicking on the link below or borrow it from
the library if you’re interested.
Rating:
3/5
Suggested
for children aged 9 and above.
By TCC
