My Debatable Gateway into Analog Horror: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Salutations, Potentially Happy Readers! If you didn’t recognize me, the author of this blog post, from the nickname I’ve given to you all, it’s Jemina! I’ve finally gotten to a stable enough point in my mental health to actually do a bit of reading, but more so I’ll be reminiscing; I first read this book ≈2 years ago. I won’t be revealing too much in terms of spoilers, but like my other blogs, I’ll sort of journal about what this book means to me, and how it made me feel. Here be… not really any spoiler-dragons. You’d be lucky to find a Hollow in the corner.

The time has come again where if I don’t write this blog, it might be too late in the blog-cycle to have all the posts timed well. So here I am again, disappointingly having not finished another subject. My goal is to be transparent, but I’ll have to admit, the reality that this is the third blog I’ve written where I haven’t finished the book, is sad. But hey, I have finished it at least once!

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children first drew me in from its creepy cover, an old black and white photo of a floating girl. Coupled with its long, unique title, my first assumption was that the novel would give an interesting take on the cruel asylums popular in the 1800’s. A ghost story, maybe? 

    As I began reading, I could sense the build-up and foreshadowing to something life-changing to our protagonist’s: Jacob’s, perception of the reality of his world. Miss Peregrine’s Home (as this book and the following series is commonly abbreviated to) was definitely more fantasy than horror, with magical elements and wholesome romances instead of dark, heart wrenching backstories. Not to say that the events of Miss Peregrine’s Home didn’t also have gruesome elements, including terrifying monsters and war crime-committing kidnappers, but it was a lot more happy and upbeat than I was expecting. Honestly, it was a pleasant surprise. 

Looking back, my reading of this book marked the beginning of my ever-growing interest in the darker and edgier aspects of fiction and fandom. I used to be very intolerant of any media involving scary themes, but through hard work, persistence, and a realization that this kind of mindset would leave me very, VERY unprepared for the real world, I’ve come to appreciate eerie, unsettling stuff in art. While the Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children series doesn’t necessarily fall under the scary story genre, the remarkable story building heavily involving and interweaving with these creepy antique photographs does seem very analog horror-esque, at least to me.

The reason why I’m writing this blog post at all is because I’ve been very interested lately about popular video series and ARG games, containing analog horror elements. It’s fascinating and super cool, and looking back, I’m crediting Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children for my new hobby. For anyone who would enjoy a unique blend of visual and written components in novel form, I highly recommend trying out this book!

        - Thoughts and prayers, Jemina Feng