Customer Reviews: Read 47 more reviews...
 An Amazing Book! December 8, 2005
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Beyond the Burning Time is a wonderful book! Once I started it, I couldn't put it down! Kathryn Lasky has a talent for explaining and telling about the Salem Witch Trials. The book is about twelve year old, Mary Chase and her family. This book has amazing detail! It feels like you are in Salem Town and you can feel the paranoia of the Chase family. The trials they go through are too much for me! All in all, Beyond the Burning Time is a wonderful, well- written novel that anybody can love! So..... READ IT!!
Burning with RAGE!!! March 17, 2004
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Mary and her brother, Caleb, lost their dad to a raging fever after he caught a chill. Their mother was widowed, but still wanted to fulfill her husband's dream of growing/making things that would be shipped around the world. They finally did it, but when they get it going, Mary's mother is accused of witchcraft. There have been some girls who have been "afflicted." They are the ones who cried out that they saw the "shape of Mary's mother" doing witchcraft. Caleb thinks that he sees a pattern of the people being accused. He thinks that this whole "strangeness" is due two a rival of two groups over money. Mary is positive that her mother isn't a witch. She is determined to save her mother before it's to late. Can she save her mother in time with the help of her brother? Lasky has captured the thoughts and feelings of Mary and Caleb. It feels like you are right there with them. You want to cry for them and RAGE AT THE UNFAIRNESS OF IT ALL along side them. I thought that this novel was very emotional. It told of the unfairness of the Salem Witch trials. It also had examples of discrimination and tolerance.
My Review February 20, 2004
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Beyond the Burning Time
By: Lasky, Kathryn
Reviewed By: R. Gandhi
Period: P.1
It starts out in the village of Salem. Mary Chase and her widowed mother, Virginia Chase, tend a farm with the help of a friend named Gilly. Gilly is soon chased away because he was caught spying on Virginia Chase. Caleb is Mary's brother and works as an apprentice nearby at a shipyard. Soon rumor spreads around that witchcraft is going on in Salem. Innocent people are wrongly accused, taken away for a dehumanization exam, given a trial, and later hung. Mary Chases' family isn't affected until Virginia was accused. Caleb is frightened and takes Mary to Boston where Mary works in a tavern. However, Boston is where Gallows Hill is located. Also, the new governor wants to continue the witch trials. Therefore, Caleb and a new character, Captain Coatsworth chart a plan and save Virginia Chase before her hanging. Virginia gets her foot amputated and later marries a Captain in Jamaica.
This book was very intoxicating! Since I am deeply interested in the supernatural world, I thought the book was great! The author was also descriptive. I could see a movie of the book in my head as I was reading. One great example is, "The girl's tongue lolled out, long as an eel. Her eyes widened. She began making the most piteous cries." Another great example is, "...dusk had settled thickly on the land. They moved quietly through the deepening shadows to the lilac bush. Inside the house they could see the glow of several candles and kerosene lamps."
This book was not very dislikable. At times it got somewhat boring. However, you could read on without falling asleep. Also, directly after the tedious part came something that was quite interesting. One example is when Gilly came to his door and saw an underskirt that was blown to his door accidentally. This short part was a bit tedious. As the story goes on he spies on Virginia to see what her legs look like because he has never seen a woman's leg. This is how he was chased away.
My favorite part was when Abigail Williams becomes afflicted. The author becomes more descriptive. Abigail Williams is described to do many unusual things. One unusual thing is listed above when her tongue lolled out like an eel's. One of the most disrespectful things I thought she did was saying her father's name. It was disrespectful because if you were afflicted and you said someone's name, it was like accusing them of being a witch. Her father is a Reverend and was saying a sermon at the time.
 So far a 14 year old reader January 28, 2003
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I am only on chapter 16 of this book but so far I must say that it is very enjoyable. I just started reading it but once I read it I could not put it down. There are some dull points to the story however such as when the author goes on for a page about Gilli's eating habbits. The book is very detailed and though it doesn't have much in the line of action, it is some how still addictive with it's suspence. If you enjoy stories about long ago when many people were thought to be witches then you will most certainly enjoy this colorful tale of witch trails, lies, and suspence.
Very good historical fiction October 16, 2002
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Beyond the Burning Time was a gripping account of the Salem witch trials told through the eyes of a 12 year old girl named Mary Chase and her family. Mary is caught in the turmoil of the Salem witch trials when her mother, Virginia Chase, is cried out as a witch. Now, with the help of her brother Caleb, she must save her mother from the evil of the village. Will they succeed? A great historical fiction that shows the inner turmoil of the village and the innocent victims in a greater light. I liked this book because it showed how much the victims of the Salem witch trials suffered and also showed how far the girls of the community would go to cry out on people as witches. However, there wasn't really that must character development, and you couldn't connect with Mary Chase, the protagonist as much.
|
