January 2020: “Guided By The Ghosts” by Sean Haughton

Plot Summary (Caution: Spoilers!)

George Stevenson is a ten-year-old boy like many others. He likes football (translation for Americans: Soccer) and Star Wars like every other kid his age, but he doesn’t have friends and has trouble connecting. Let’s be honest, the situation is worse than his parents know, and the way other children and the school have responded has not helped. George is miserable and isolated.
Then something extraordinary happens. George looks out his window late at night to see two ghosts the same age as him. These two ghosts also struggled in life, and in death, they learned a few things they can now pass along. Now, in one incredible philosophical and therapeutic journey, George has a chance to alter the trajectory of his life for the better.

My Overall Response:

Sean Haughton takes readers through this wholesome, heartwarming tale that takes advantage of parallel comparison and realistic dialogue that sounds like a precocious ten-year-old to show how the experiences George has changed his character for the better. The philosophical and therapeutic lessons provide benefit to a reader. Additional ambitious details add unique discussion points of historical and current relevance in the United Kingdom without allowing them to overpower the story.

The philosophical and therapeutic lessons I appreciated most in this story are:

Skepticism can be removed from Negativity. Be willing to question everything.

Spiritual awakening can be found in your own back yard – don’t automatically reject western philosophies.

Feel your emotions. They’re there. Accept them and give them space to exist.

The most ambitious details of the book were the memories of the ghosts. I believe that these allowed for some series of topics of discussion to be brought up. These details round the ghosts out and make them much more human and realistic. These details also immediately imply additional information about the ghosts’ lived experiences.

I appreciated the references to the religious tensions of the 1990s in the UK because it is so relevant to current affairs, albeit indirectly. For those interested in reading more, I recommend the extensive body of research on the “secularization of Britain” and a variety of factors (e.g., economy, education, immigration, Cold War, the rise of the European Union). I admit I am somewhat tortured that the author only barely touched on this, but at the same time, it meant that I spent an entire afternoon reading old research papers and educating myself. I can’t say I’m disappointed, and honestly, I think the amount of information provided is much more appropriate to a younger audience.

Overall, I love this delightfully wholesome story about a little boy from a loving home that needs some help learning how to process and deal with the outside world. I love that the ghosts aren’t evil, and if you’re looking for that kind of book, look somewhere else.

LGBTQA Friendly?

George is ten. It’s not unfriendly toward LGBTQA members of the population, and the internal struggles George’s character faces are shared by any “out-group” or individual that feels isolated. While LGBTQA presence is not directly mentioned, I think the topics in the book are valuable (given my personal experience).

Grammar:

Update: I have spoken with the author and these have since been corrected for future editions of the book.

For future editions, there are two consistent issues that do need to be addressed.

1. The dialogue often has additional unnecessary punctuation marks. Example (pg. 27) “‘We can’t remember our names.”, the girl interjected.”  This is an easy fix because it’s consistently present.
2. The word “corporeal” is used where I believe the author may have meant the word “incorporeal.” Example (pg. 62) “He felt like throwing up, but once again felt corporeal, as though his physical body no longer existed.” It’s a consistent issue through the book, so it should be easy to go back and address.

While there are other grammatical or punctuation issues that may be present, I will not address them here because they do not interrupt the reading experience.

Twilight Zone Moment:

Every book has at least one. The issue I am stuck on is how the ghosts can remember the names of other people but not their own names. This makes it a bit confusing as to why they remember specific details as opposed to others.

Want to know more about the author?
You can buy Guided by the Ghosts here. To read more about Sean Haughton you can visit his blog here, Twitter here, or Instagram here. You can view his other books here.