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    The Call: A Novel
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    The Call: A Novel
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    The Call: A Novel
    Ebook252 pages4 hours

    The Call: A Novel

    By Yannick Murphy

    3.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    “Yannick Murphy, while being one of our most daring and original writers, is first and foremost an exquisitely attuned observer of human behavior. . . . Murphy’s work provides pretty much unexceeded reading pleasure.” —Dave Eggers

    The warm, wry, and patient voice of a veterinarian father tells the heartfelt story of his young New England family enduring a moving trial of loyalty, hope, and faith after they are confronted with an unthinkable crisis. Acclaimed author Yannick Murphy’s intimate narrative style and lovely prose will enthrall readers of Rivka Galchen, Padgett Powell, and Murphy’s own Signed, Mata Hari. The Call is a “triumph of quiet humor and understated beauty” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) from an author that the New York Times Book Review calls “an extraordinarily gifted fabulist.”

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateAug 2, 2011
    ISBN9780062092496
    Unavailable
    The Call: A Novel
    Author

    Yannick Murphy

    Yannick Murphy is the author of The Call; Signed, Mata Hari; Here They Come; and The Sea of Trees, as well as two story collections and several children's books. She is the recipient of a Whiting Writers' Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Award, a Chesterfield Screenwriting Award, a Pushcart Prize, and the Laurence L. & Thomas Winship/PEN New England Award. Her work has appeared in The Best American Nonrequired Reading and The O. Henry Prize Stories. She lives in Vermont with her husband and children.

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    Reviews for The Call

    3.5/5

    71 ratings25 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Great quick read!
    • 3/5
      The only thing about Mack McAvoy that's not completely average is the LONG list of phobias he has... so many that he even has a phobia of phobias. The only thing he doesn't seem to be afraid of are the school bullies, and in a bizarre twist, he actually saves the life of Stefan, who is 15 in the 8th grade and the worst bully of all. For this, Stefan says to all that Mack is "Under My Wing." Add to this a nasty looking old man called Grimluk who can stop time while talking to the two boys, and telling Mack that he is the First of the Twelve, and must find the rest of the group to save the world from the Pale Queen, who's been waiting 3,000 years to destroy it. Alternating between Grimluk's experiences with fighting the Pale Queen and her forces thousands of years ago, and Mack's newfound quest in the present, this is a riproaring ride, perfect for Lightning Thief fans! Short and hilarious, this is perfect for 6th grade.
    • 3/5
      ***NOTE MY REVIEWS OFTEN CONTAIN SPOILERS***David "Mack" McAvoy is a bright, but average twelve-year-old with caring, but somewhat neglectful parents. When he saves the school bully - Stephan's life by helping stem the flow of blood after the boy puts his arm through a window he is taken under the big brute's wing. Though at first he isn't sure this is a good thing, he's grateful for the protection when an old man shows up informing Mack is fated to be the leader of The Magnificent 12, a group of twelve-year-old's, who through magic must save the world from the evil mother of all monsters, The Pale Queen. He might have ignored the man, but for the aged assassin and monsters who show up at his middle school to kill him. And so Mack and Stephan embark on a journey around the world to locate the rest of the magnificent twelve. But can a group of twelve-year-old's really save the world?In a way I'm glad that I read the second book in this series before reading the first. Don't get me wrong, it's a good book filled with adventure and some funny scenes, however it pales in comparison to the hilarity of its sequel - The Trap (review to be posted on release date). While this book might have received a higher rating from me than it did, I probably wouldn't have bothered to pick up another book in the series which is very obviously geared to children, not really the type of book meant to expand to include adult interest. The difference between this and The Trap is even though they're both clearly geared toward children The Trap keeps you laughing from beginning to end so you don't really mind the immaturity of the book as an adult reader. This book has funny moments which make you smile, but it doesn't reach the same level of funny as The Trap does.What makes this adventure novel so appropriate for children is that Grant takes the adventure and makes it out right silly. And though his topics are somewhat violent in nature, he manages to skip the really violent parts by giving the reader two intertwining story lines at the same time. In some chapters you are in the modern world with Mack seeing his world turn upside down. In others you are three thousand years in the past with Grimluk, engaged in a war against the Pale Queen. None of the chapters are really gruesome or gory and parts that you would expect to be scary are so silly in nature that they're laughable. Grant engages in a wonderful method of bringing adventure to children with a distinctive voice and original style. To be honest the book probably deserves a higher rating but it's hard to give it that with the comparison to its sequel so fresh in my mind.I don't know if I'd so much call the characters well developed, however I would call them memorable. I don't think the characters are meant to be well developed in this story because the more realistic you make them, the less laughable they seem. As the goal of this adventure novel is laughter for once I think this is a positive thing. There's Mack with his numerous phobias freaking out about everything. Stephan, the dumb but brave bully ready to protect him. With a bunch of other characters along the way. My favorite character in this novel is the Golem whose mostly portrayed though journal entries and text messages. Because he has a brain made from mud, clay and magic he takes everything literally. So for example when a teacher asks if Mack is still devouring books, he says yes and promptly eats a book for her then can't understand why he gets in trouble. If everything else in the book was deadly serious, the Golem's passages would still be enough to keep the mood light and children laughing.Overall this is an excellent tale of adventure and laughter that I believe children, especially boys will love.
    • 3/5
      Mack MacAvoy is an ordinary 12-year-old kid, with a long list of phobias from dentophobia (fear of dentists) to phobophobia (fear of phobias). The one thing that he's not afraid of is trouble. When he saves the life of Stefan, one of the school bullies (there's one for every social group), Mack's life takes an unexpected turn.Grimluk is another 12-year-old from a very, very, very long time ago. He is known as one of the Magnifica. He and eleven others must defeat the Pale Queen before she destroys the Earth. During the ensuing battle, she is only imprisoned for 3000 years.Now that 3000-year end date is close at hand, and it's up to Mack to find the other eleven 12-year-olds to bring together The Magnificent 12 and defeat the Pale Queen once and for all. Lots of obstacles stand in thier way, including the Pale Queen's daughter, Princess Ereskigal, and her many many minions.A laugh-out-loud adventure that alternates the story between Mack in present day and Grimluk way, way, way back when. Michael Grant has created very relatable characters (the human ones at least) and hilarious situations in a great new series. Book Two will be coming out in Fall 2011. If you like this, I also recommend the Nathan Ambercrombie Series by David Lubar or vice versa.Ages 9-12Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (August 2010)ISBN: 9780061833663 Available as an eBook
    • 3/5
      Liked this first book in the Magnificent 12 series. It is funny and full of adventure for David, the reluctant hero. My most favorite parts were the notes from David's golem. Might make a good Review Crew book.
    • 1/5
      Can we say juvenile? Explaining the plot by using a double time line, with one in pre-historic times, with the cartoon mindlessness of cave-people (Grimluk), really drags this story down. I did like sidekick Stefan, but this is not one I care to visit again.
    • 3/5
      Rounding up from 2 and a half stars.

      Disability tag for two elderly and debilitated characters, both portrayed as grotesque and horrible, even though only one is a bad guy.

      Gender-politics tag because the major villains are female, and while there are some neutral-to-positive female characters, this is a great example of the puerocracy/paedocracy at work: 12 year old boy has to defeat the evil females and also decide how much to embrace the good females.

      Warning for animal harm (against poisonous snakes) that read as all-too-realistic when compared to later, cartoonishly drawn, battles against high fantasy monsters.

      Mack himself is 12, very clever, a smartass, and terrified of a long list of specific things, meaning he isn't at all afraid of the things people usually are. It's charming. He's a good Every-Kid.

      Meanwhile, Mack's bodyguard and former bully is a 15 year old blond Adonis named Stefan, who can pass for 21 and who is devoted to Mack. If Mack weren't 12, the slash would write itself. As it is, I could happily read a G-rated romance between them while Jarrah (awesome mixed race Aussie girl) saves the world. Puppy love = adorable.

      Anyway, I read this because it was free and decently reviewed among middle school set librarians. The writing is nothing great (and doesn't pretend to be, breaking the 4th wall all the time), but it's a fun little adventure.
    • 4/5
      Mack, age 12, has every kind of phobia you can imagine. So when he's targeted by the school bully, of course he's scared. But he ends up saving the bully's life, and in turn the bully vows to protect him. Fast forward to the middle school hallway the next day, where time is stopped by a wizard who seems to be after Mack. Suddenly he finds out he's part of a group of teens called the Magnificent 12, who's mission it is to stop the Pale Queen. Told with tons of humor.
    • 3/5
      Not often do I have to abandon a book before I finish it, but I just couldn't get into this fully. I think it will still have an audience with younger readers, but it was just a bit too silly for me to fully appreciate the story. I started to lose interest when the green man accosted Mack in the washroom, but was too slow to even stab him, because he was so old. This was disappointing for me because I LOVE the Gone series, and was hoping for something magnificent from Grant, but aimed at a younger audience.
    • 4/5
      I love when middle grade books aren't patronizing. I love when children are not beat over the head with the fact that they are not adults and cannot possibly comprehend big words. I love it when authors do not talk down/write down in their books for children. The Magnificent 12: The Call by Michael Grant is such a book. It is genuinely funny, even from my adult ivory tower I chuckled quite a bit. What sold me on this book was the comparison to Monty Python. Now, I know the blurbs they put on a book are supposed to be enticing, they are supposed to make you want the book. BUT, how many middle schoolers know what Monty Python is? Really. If I was to scream BUT NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISTION at an eighth grader, would they understand me? Probably not. Mack MacAvoy is our intrepid hero. He is twelve and is fairly average, or as the book would say, has a case of mediumness. He is afraid of heights, the dark, enclosed spaces, but fearless in the face of bullies. The school Mack goes to has bullies for every clique. That passage in the book, BTW, is very very funny. Of course, Mack runs afowl of the bullies, and is about to get creamed when he actually winds up saving the king of the bullies, Stefan, thus coming under Stefan's protection. More craziness ensues, Mack gets a golum in his image, meets a crazy old dude named Grimluk AND discovers he is one of the Maginificent 12 and must find the rest of the 12 to defeat the villain.Instead of my usual rumination, I thought I would let the text speak for itself, as I have lots of pages folded with quotes that I laughed my face off at, having all the humor of a 12 year old."But there was one bully to rule them all , one bully to find them, one bully to bring them all and in the darkness pound them." - pg. 4You had me at the LOTR reference."Grimluk wasn't sure. He didn't know what a mummer's game might be, and millennia would pass slowly by before Google would be created to answer questions such as this." pg. 86Ah, snark after my own heart."Of course he can text. He's golem,' Rose said, 'not an adult.'" pg. 94LOLOLOLOL. Yeah, my parents can't text. Granted, I am an adult, but still."One of the rules of Great Literature is: show, don't tell. But one of the other rules of Great Literature is: don't go on and on with boring scenes where nothing happens but a lot of talking." pg. 140True dat.
    • 3/5
      David "Mack" McAvoy wants you to believe that he's not a hero. He has a huge list of phobias (including a phobia of phobias), he's constantly being bullied, his parents don't even seem to know he's there, and yet he's the one who has been chosen to help save the world. At least that's what Grimluk, the ancient man who appeared in the middle of the hallway one afternoon, has told him. Mack sets out, with his new friend (and old bully) Stephen, to seek out the remaining eleven, so they can complete the circle and defeat the ancient threat of the Pale Queen. Michael Grant relies on an interesting premise in this first book in the Magnificent Twelve series. In execution, he stumbles a bit, the action is poorly described and confusing, while the dialogue is somewhat silly at times. However, the books brevity, the underlying mystery of who the Pale Queen is, as well as the tongue-in-cheek remarks of Mack and Stephen, keep the reader interested. Readers between 9 and 12 who appreciate Brandon Sandersons "Alcatraz" series, "The 39 Clues" by Linda Sue Park, or "The Sister's Grimm" series by MIchael Buckley will enjoy this series as well.
    • 2/5
      Very meh; a few references to Ulysses and we are forced along with the perambulations of an everyman, a New England veterinarian burdened with human quotidian concerns until a pair of events yield resonance to more philosphical concerns. It isn't bad by any stretch but hardly illuminating.
    • 5/5
      LOVED this one! I am so glad that I own it, too. This is a book that I will read and read.

      First, the main character is a veterinarian in a very rural area, where they don't even get good television reception. The radio goes in and out, sounding like spacement are transmitting messages. The flow of the book is in paragraphs detailing one of several prompts: Call, Action, What the Wife Cooked for Dinner, What the Kids Said to Me When I Got Home...and on and on. I love the flow of this and the clever writing style. It was very easy to follow, progressed the story nicely and indicated mood, scene and internal thought.

      The Call was also a very real portrayal of family life. There are spats, tiffs, laughter, a crisis, family time, dinners, another crisis, tears, hospitals. It is one-day-at-a-time living at its best. There are no rose colored glasses here and no tidying up at the end. We never learn what the spaceship is doing (Yes! There is a spaceship). We never find out who volunteers for the Head Potty Cleaner job. Does the dog ever have puppies? What did the doctor say about Dorothy's leg?

      It was like James Harriot, taken down a few notches and made much, much more real. I will read everything by this author.

      Highly recommended.
    • 3/5
      This book was okay. At times I really liked it, and it brought a smile to my face. At other times, when I was wanting the story to progress the style became a bit tedious.
    • 5/5
      Do you love epistolary novels - stories written in letters, emails? I do and if you do, you will embrace this clever and remarkable book written in the form of a veterinarian's call log. A rambunctiously loving family - the vet, his willful and hilarious writer wife, and their three beautifully drawn children, are the source of the extreme gentle pleasure that The Call arouses for the reader. Cows and horses, goats and sheep are born, get ill or injured, and seem to randomly die or survive, only partially due to the skill of the doctor. When the same situation arises in his own family, the writer keeps the story taut as the family falls apart and mends, along with their small farming community. An unexpected arrival brings even more medical dilemmas and a most satisfactory closing. Most highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      Picked this book up because of the unique narrative writing. Also trusted the endorsement by Geraldine Brooks whose historical fiction I've enjoyed. A veterinarian's story in rural New England, written in a diary format. Terse at the beginning and more involved by the end. Writing style matches the emerging serious plot. Worth reading because of the novelty and the view point. KH
    • 4/5
      The daily rhythm of a veterinarian's family in rural New England is shaken when a hunting accident leaves their eldest son in a coma. With the lives of his loved ones unhinged, the veterinarian struggles to maintain stability while searching for the man responsible. But in the midst of his great trial an unexpected visitor arrives, requesting a favor that will have profound consequences - testing a loving father's patience, humor, and resolve, and forcing husband and wife to come to terms with what "family" truly means.
    • 4/5
      Better than average. Not earth shattering. I liked the plot. A man's son is shot and ends up in a coma. The man spends this time searching for who shot his son but instead learns more about himself and his family. It's written pseudo journal entry style which I normally like I just think some of these really were just so disjointed. While you never miss much some actual dialogue would be kinda nice.
    • 4/5
      Written in a terse diary format: Call; Action; Result;Thoughts; what the children said, what his wife cooked for dinner, etc. Charming and quirky at first, and although it opened up after awhile it grew tedious by the end. The diarist is a veterinarian, so the calls and actions were interesting, as were his thoughts about physics, philosophy, his family. All in all, a captivating book.
    • 4/5
      I'm always drawn to books that are unique in their narrative style, so when my librarian friend showed me the Call/Action/Result etc blocks of narrative in this book I was immediately intrigued. I didn't even care to read the description on the back cover, I just knew I wanted to read this book. (Incidentally, I did read the description on the back after I finished the novel, and it's obviously written by a publisher, not the author, because it too neatly says what the book is "about." The book is more nuanced than the blurb allows.)

      If I had read only the blurb and not known about the unique style, I probably would not have the read the book, because I have little direct interest in farms and vets and horses or hunting, which are all included in the narrative. However, I did enjoy the book, because I do like stories about families, honest relationships, struggles, a touch of whimsy (the mother "receiving" signals from the spaceship), some unexpected developments, and a lack of sap.

      It's the "lack of sap(piness) that I most appreciated about the book. There's a tragedy and doctors and hospitals, but the book does not dwell on the drama of any of these events, it just goes through the actions with some objectivity and resolve. That is not to say that emotion and struggle are removed. The turmoil is implied and seen through the character's "What I Thought While Driving" moments and the conversations with wife and daughters. Human struggle is felt in a very refreshing way.

      The same is true of the characterization of the other family members. Through the few actions and discussions of the wife and daughters and son, they are round characters even if they seem like background characters.

      This book is well crafted and original. That alone is recommendation for reading.
    • 4/5
      Written as entries from a rural veterinarian’s call sheet, The Call is a pleasing and odd little book that had a lovely sly sense of humor that pleased me. I was surprised how the author managed to tell the story (which involves a hunting accident and the vet’s son) and convey the details of one family’s life with such convincing warmth, humor and goodwill. I also felt it told the story of a marriage that felt real and lived-in—something you don’t often come across. Make time for it.
    • 5/5
      This novel lets you live vicariously in rural Vermont, with Martin, Jen and their three young children. They have a simple, full life (not quite homesteaders), but the post 2008 downturn is increasingly affecting his veterinary practice. Theirs are the typical joys and stresses affecting couples raising a family, and Yannick Murphy portrays these extremely well. When tragedy strikes, you share the pain and worry, and witness the changes in the family dynamic, but it is well worth the trip. I finished the book wanting to read her other novels.
    • 4/5
      The Call by Yannick Murphy is narrated by a rural vet whose son has been precariously shot by an unknown hunter. As the boy lies in a coma, the man makes his calls and realizes it is most likely that, in his rural home of 600 or so people, his customers know who shot his son, causing him to become obsessed with uncovering the identity of the mystery hunter. All the while, he and his family continously sight an unidentified flying object, which becomes a beacon of hope during their time of crisis.This novel was fresh and beautiful. The narration was original and the author was able to develop the characters with an ease and natural ability that few writers possess. Every sentence in this book seems well thought out and deliberate. In fact, certain passage can be taken for tiny poems. For example: "What is taking place is as layered as something in nature. I won't ever be able to figure it out. It is the pond surface rippling, the meandering grooves of bark on a tree, the tall grass and milkweed leaning over in a strong wind looking like a form of a man lying down on it, only there is no man." (p. 220) "WHAT THE WIFE SAID IN BED WHILE THE LIGHT OF THE FULL MOON CAME IN THROUGH THE WINDOW: Somebody turn off that light." (p. 13) "WHAT THE COYOTES SAY: You have crossed over to where we live and now our howls could be the howls of your own heart you are hearing, or just us, our coats slightly ruffled from the November wind." (p. 34)I highly recommend this book. It would make a wonderful selection for a book club.
    • 1/5
      I always try to say something positive, but the best I can come up with here is that many people seem to like this book. To me, it was mediocre at best. In fact, I actually disliked it. The author can put together a polished sentence. But the narrator is annoying, as is his wife, and since this is the story of a family, it's hard to keep reading about them. And the book's format, which is set forth as entries in a journal, was extremely annoying.There are many better books to read. I kind of want those hours back.
    • 4/5
      A highly original structure moves the pace of this little novel along briskly. As the seasons go by in rural Vermont, a mildly eccentric large animal vet catalogs his work, his family, his dinner and his thoughts. He cures some animals and kills others. He reacts with thoughtful wonder at the beauty and drama of his wife and children. He ponders physics and the recession. And he watches matter-of-factly as the lights of an alien spacecraft circle his house. I found this pretty delightful.