One word can describe this book. Meh.

It took me nearly six months to even read this, the majority of that time period was spent avoiding it. Why? Mostly because it just couldn't seem to hold my attention for very long. It would be gripping and exciting for a while, and then I would find I didn't care... and the pattern just went on and on (which is shocking because that rarely happens to me). While Gopnik does get creativity marks for his ideas (some of them were really brilliant and unique), I just found it really hard for me to connect to the story (which is why it took so long for me to actually pick it up again and read). Not to mention I didn't care very much for any of the characters. In fact I only liked Mrs. Pearson, Charlie, and some of the other window wraiths (don't ask me their names because I can't remember it's been so long).

I wanted to like this book, but it was just wasn't for me. :(

Wow! This book was simply amazing and enrapturing! I never knew this book would be this awesome - I'm glad I decided to buy it (it was only $1 at Half Price Books ~ :D) ! This is such a well thought out story, and has a lot of deep thinking and...wow. My mind is kind of reeling from what was going on, and at some points it was hard to follow because Oliver seemed like such a smart/witty/intellectual boy! Wow. Haha, it was a really interesting read, and I really really really enjoyed it.
Even though there are some plot holes, whatever. I love this (:

Although I do must say that the text can be quite confusing & the vocabulary FAR exceeds 10 year old vocabulary. I'd say this is more of an older teen/adult read, for I doubt a young kid would understand this book at all.

I picked up this book on a whim without knowing much about the story. Turns out it's a blend of some of my favorite stories, particularly Through the Looking Glass and Man in the Iron Mask. It does justice to those references while creating some wholly new fantasy from French History--I particularly loved his Moliere insertion.

When I was ten, my mother came home with a pretty, gold-wrapped novel that I actually thought was for her at first. She handed it to me, and said she found it *somewhere* (where? I don't know. Still haven't seen it in a book store.) Then she just left me there on the floor with it while she went off to go do some adult stuff, or whatever it is that adults do. Drink champagne and talk about politics? Hell if I know.

That was the first time I fell in love.

It wasn't one of the characters I fell in love with. (Okay, lies - I did fall for Gil Hornshaw a little.) It was all of them. It was Oliver and Neige and Charlie and Mrs. Pearson and the Man in the Iron Mask and François and Molière and Richelieu and Gil and Tyrone and everyone. EVERYONE. The King in the Window marks the fourth book I ever read that made me sad when it was over because I loved all the characters too much, and didn't want them to go. (The first three? The Tale of Desperaux, My Dog Ate It and Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great, respectively.) I was hooked. For a while, they popped up in my doodles and my conversations and I think I even mentioned them in a school assignment, once. Know how I was able to get away with that?

Well, this is a smart book. That's really the best way to describe it. It teaches you things. Maybe they're simplified, or maybe they're not a hundred percent accurate, but they're there. I went into it not quite understanding the concept of irony, and came out with an idea of how some people see quantum physics. So when the phrase "irony and metaphor in the rhetoric of Molière" popped up in my badass grade 5 gifted class homework, you could have called the teacher "slightly surprised." That would, of course, be an understatement, but you see where I'm coming from.

On the topic of the actual storyline, my biggest issue with the whole book is the way it cuts around without much in the way of transition. Mind you, that's me being nitpicky, and it's a pretty harmless complaint. I remember being thoroughly shocked not because of Charlie being sucked through the glass of Coke, but because it felt like there wasn't quite enough leading up to it. Same goes for the whole smuggling-clams-on-public-transport thing and WOW I just realized how weird that sounds without context.

On the other hand, the book does a great job of taking a completely incomprehensible, acid-trippy idea and making it not only readable, not just comprehensible, but enjoyable. With all the bizarre shit that goes on, it would have been awful easy for Gopnik to slip up and make it Shayna Gladstone levels of cheesy. That never happens. Instead, it's funny, and it does a great job of tying back to its roots in n  Through the Looking-Glassn.

So if you're ever looking for a playful joyride that simultaneously makes you smarter ("Irony is sarcasm plus time") and kills IQ points ("Ollie, sooner or later, everything comes back to the Beatles"), maybe consider checking this one out. You'll never find it, of course, but at least now you'll have a reason to loiter in the kids' section at Chapters.

There is a good story here, but as it says in the book - there is too much rhetoric. The author gets really caught up on his clever use of wordplay (which probably works well with his other job as a NY Times writer) but tends IMO to bog the story down. For a Young Adult novel I think it may be a bit advanced.

This one was weird but fun, a "reflective" story full of metaphors and irony. I loved the Mrs. Pearson/"the witty woman" character. Made me want to try a pain au chocolat for breakfast and spend less time staring at this computer screen so much.

Really deep. Takes a lot of mental concentration to understand. Great book, but the characters are too young for a young adult book, and the wording and understanding level is most likely above grade level.

This was probably the strangest book I've ever read.

I think I'd describe this as mindboggling AND superb. I found Adam Gopnik's The King in the Window a fascinating read.

The book starts out normally enough- a young boy, Oliver, and his family, living in Paris. However, when he puts on a crown that came courtesy of a cake from a bakery, he sees a reflection in the window that looks like him...but isn't him. And so begins a insane and thrilling and quirky journey.

I read this a while ago but from what I recall, Gopnik blends fantasy and adventure and technology and so much more, into a wonderful book. There are so many elements going on in this book, and I really loved how Gopnik invokes characters from classic stories (not going to spoiler-ify this though, so I'll keep mum) into his plot. There is a alternate universe(-ish) reminiscent of China Mieville's Un Lun Dun, and the concepts that Gopnik introduced made me really think. It's definitely a journey of self-discovery for Oliver- oh, and along the way, he saves the world!

Overall, an good, imaginative book.

This was an incredibly difficult book to read. The story itself was quite good, if rather grandiose, but the writing was uneven and clunky, and not one character's dialogue rang true. Also, E-ticket rides in Disneyworld? Not since the 1970s.

Ok, I first read this book a long time ago, when I was in MG, and I loved it so much I ordered a used copy from Amazon after searching the used bookstores in Singapore and coming up with nothing. So I'm more than a little biased about this book.

The King in the Window is about Oliver Parker, an American boy who has been living in Paris almost his whole life. He's not particularly extraordinary, nor is he exceptionally evil. He's perfectly normal. One day, however, he puts on a paper crown, and quite forgetting it was there, declares himself the King of the Window. As it happens, there is a King of the Window, and Oliver is not only the new king, he has to lead the Window Wraiths to defeat the Master of the Mirrors.

In a way, Oliver reminds me of Bastian from The Neverending Story. Neither of them are particularly extraordinary, and for Oliver, this is quite ruthlessly emphasised. Bastian became a hero quite by chance, Oliver was made into a hero as part of someone else's plan. Oliver, isn't particularly eloquent (thought he slowly learns, a little), nor is he exceptionally quick witted or cunning (that would be Mrs. Pearson and Neige). He is, however, a lot less irritating than Bastian, and I was rooting for this not-quite-outsider the whole time.

Apart from Oliver and the window wraiths, there are a whole host of supporting characters. Neige, the French girl who lives in Oliver's apartment; Mrs Pearson, a Brit with an acerbic wit; Charlie, Oliver's American friend who has very particular ideas of how adventures are about to go and a lot more that I haven't touched upon yet. I loved how they all interacted, and I thought the fact that they all had something to teach Charlie was interesting.

I suppose if I have a little dissatisfaction, it would be about how the author generalises about France and America. But to be honest, most of the time, I thought all the detail the author gave helped me imagine the Paris of that book. The stereotypes of nationalities did give me (not the younger me, though) pause every now and then, but I suppose it was done in the interest of not dwelling too much on details that don't really matter.

Overall, this book lived up to my memories of it. I really enjoyed it, and the hardcover version I ordered is beautiful! I'm glad that I ordered it, and I have no regrets.

This review was first posted at Inside the mind of a Bibliophile

One of my favorite winter reads. A strong stand-alone fantasy book that takes children seriously, and encourages thoughtful reflection (pun intended) in all readers. Enjoyable to re-read and discover missed hints; like many great Kentucky books, this has an affection for Paris and keen sense of place that makes the city as much a character as any other. Fun for those who like merging of fantasy and modernity (PJO-like) and those who like historical allusions.