Millions

Product Information

Steven Lenton hails from Cheshire where he spent many a school holiday working in the family Pom-pom Factory, packing poms and designing new products. Although I do think it would appeal to the more intelligent readers in the 10-13 age group, a lot of the humour and commentary is probably aimed more at an adult level of understanding.

Because the story is told from the sweetly naive perspective of Damian, it is filled with many silly but poignant observations. Even with all the fun and twists that transpire as one grand scheme leads to the next, Boyce also conveys the message that, indeed, money can be a burden. I think that if the book included more action and events occurring then it could be better but the book didn’t take any big unexpected turns and didn’t include anything adventurous or out of the ordinary which is what I didn’t like. This is a noteworthy book with a truly deep and emotional side to it that perfectly combines fun, adventure, and humor into the sensitive issues.We follow Damian and Anthony (brothers) through everything they do with the money before the day when the pound gets changed for the Euro. I loved the poignant humour in it, and I thought that there was an unexpected amount of philosophical depth. Frank's first book, Millions, won the CILIP Carnegie Medal in 2004 and has been shortlisted for a number of awards, including the Guardian Children's Fiction Award 2004.

Damian's obsession with "being excellent" made him an unusual and memorable main character whose circular, well-intentioned and slightly batty attempts to make sense of adult worry-logic and comfort himself with it would resonate with anxious conscientious young readers.I don’t think I would make any major changes because there wasn’t much wrong with the book however if I had to change something it would be to build suspense and add action because I found the book very bland and not very exciting. Anthony and Damian Cunningham are two English school boys and together with their combined knowledge of saints and money they must overcome many obstacles. It's a story about 2 brothers who are each dealing with the loss of their mother in different ways, and a father who reminds them to be excellent. Having worked with director Danny Boyle on Millions, Danny asked Frank to be part of the team creating the Opening Ceremony for the London 2012 Olympics. Damian is obsessed with saints and builds himself a little hermitage to live in down by the railroad tracks.

At the end, Anthony says, “And so they failed to make proper use of their once in a life time investment opportunity and they all regretted it ever after. The author also used a lot of symbolism and figurative language throughout the story representing things like family, the boys’ mother and greed among other things. My least favorite part of the novel was when the boys’ do not accept Dorothy into their home to make dinner. Damian, on the other hand, feels the “weight” of the money on his shoulders, and constantly looks for needy people and good causes whom he can help out. A fun story is Millions, with a lot of gentle and very British type humour that in particular my inner child has massively and totally enjoyed reading, but I certainly do wish, or rather my older adult self does wish that Frank Cottrell Boyce would make in particular his three main characters in Millions a bit more developed and nuanced, that Damian were less a goody-goody wanting to give all of the discovered Pounds Sterling to the poor, that his older brother Anthony would be just a trifle less mercenary, less spend-happy, less selfish, and that the father would not be depicted by Boyce as so massively clueless (and in many ways often functioning rather like a plot device, like a textual tool).The boys’ are scared she is going to replace their mom when Dorothy makes lasagna from scratch just like their mom used to and they don’t want a new mom.

Conflicts arise throughout their family as the burden becomes to much to bear and secrets are becoming harder to keep.As a child I would have read and enjoyed this several times, for the simple adventure once, and then a reread for figuring out the mysteries and puzzles and the how-to of economics, and then a nostalgic reread would have given me a chance to appreciate Damian's obsession and visions. As contrast to all of that filthy lucre, Damian is obsessed with the ideas of goodness and excellence. Dễ thương quá chừng luôn, khép lại năm 2017 bằng một cuốn sách viết về vấn đề làm mình đau đầu nhất năm 2017 là tiền bạc nhưng mà cách tiếp cận cuốn sách đáng yêu, nhân vật dễ thương, cốt truyện cũng hài hước nữa, kiểu như tiền bạc là gánh nặng thật sự (theo đúng nghĩa đen nhé).