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25 of 26 found the following review helpful:
A Daughter's Review Nov 09, 2009
By Anne Rice
"Anne Rice"
My father, Howard O'Brien, wrote this novel when I was a small child living on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans. And I remember my father reading chapters of the book, as he wrote it, to my sister, Alice Borchardt, and me. Both of us grew up to be novelists, and when I pick up the Impulsive Imp today, I can see its undoubted influence on my own fictional style. It is a richly imagined and unforgettable story. Thanks to the efforts of Tamara Tinker, the Imp is now available to a wide readership, and I think it will delight children of all ages, just as it delighted the author's daughters so many years ago. An enchanting read. Highly recommended.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
An Impulsive Read May 12, 2007
By T. Tinker
THE IMPULSIVE IMP is anything except impulsively written. It is nuanced fiction possessed of some of the darkness of J.K. Rowling's stories and some of the bright inanity of Dr. Seuss. It is, above all, an episodic work that can be read chapter by chapter, picked up and put down, without losing the thread of the narrative. I recommend it without hesitation as a fun and fascinating walkabout for nine to twelve year olds.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
Are you sure you're alone? Dec 12, 2009
By Georgie Pendragon
"G.Pendragon"
God help me, but I have impossibly fallen head over madness for the fairy story known as The Impulsive Imp. I am reminded of some of my favourite tales by George MacDonald, a pioneer in the realm of the child-based fantasy novel. There lingers a special appeal and honour of an innocence discovering it's place in the world and yet not forgetting itself. There is definitely an audience that needs to be awoken to this particular charm and styling.
This meticulously preserved and finitely edited tale is a sure fire medicine for the whimsical palate of the modern reader. Author Howard O'brien, shows his sincere moxie for story-telling and fans of his daughters..none other than the world renowned Anne Rice and Alice Borchardt...mistresses of the supernatural themselves, will be delighted to find the concentrated seeds of their inherited and parentally-promoted literary talent, and recognize the familial gift with a nifty immediacy.
Once immersed in the tale of the Imp, it is close to watching a Disney-Pixar film. Such a fine method for description is employed that the words define a magical visual essence. Definite food for a busy mind as we are led from the birthplace of The Imp, an animated wooden splinter come to life in a chimney crevice whose every movement and fancy elevate us to giddiness...through his adventures through a huge world comepletely oblivious to his wily existence.
Don't we all feel that way sometimes? We can learn a lot from this little Imp. From his technique for dealing with a monstrosity of a landscape and certainly from his exquisitely wrought character.
Do yourself a favour and fall in love with the Imp, and let the intrigue and charm carry you anon.
I would also advise encountering the amazing literary talents of his daughters Anne Rice and Alice Borchardt (who were actually entertained by their father's Imp tale as children), also his son-in-law, the poet/painter Stan Rice and grandson Christopher Rice. This is a family of writers, poets and painters to be reckoned with.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Instant Classic Dec 13, 2009
By Carey Parrish
"Writer"
The Impulsive Imp is a highly imaginative and thoroughly entertaining fantasy abouta mischievous imp and the problems he encounters as he maneuvers his way through the house he inhabits. He isn't very happy about sharing the house with the familywho lives there either. Nor with their cat. From creating chaos through efforts such
as rifling the pantry and over seasoning soup, to befriending a small mouse and confronting a cat named Drip, the Imp proves resourceful and clever as he goes about his nocturnal jaunts. The family's housekeeper suspects its two children of being behind the shenanigans she has to clean up, but then the Imp escalates his efforts to
include hidden clothing, flooding the kitchen, and thwarting the housekeeper's attempts to catch the mouse who has become his friend. A very thought provoking children's novel which teaches the lesson of taking what's important as such, without coming off too heavy handed, The Impulsive Imp is really a fascinating read that adults will also find enthralling, entertaining, and ultimately a tale they will want their children to enjoy.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Feels A Children's Classic Waiting To Be Fully Discovered Nov 14, 2009
By Gary Swafford
"gary swafford"
Imagine if Dickens had been living in the mid-twentieth century...and was haunted by a mysterious nocturnal presence in his home...
Or perhaps if an unknown manuscript by Lewis Carroll had been discovered...
Or if Roald Dahl had transplanted to New Orleans sixty years ago and was the father of two special little girls...
Two little girls destined to be great writers...
And that the father decided to put to paper the fanciful tales he told his daughters. If so, the book could very well read like Howard O'Brien's children's book written for his girls who would grow up to become Anne Rice and Alice Borchardt, "The Impulsive Imp."
This is an utterly delightful and imaginative story of a chimney Imp wrecking havoc in the lives of a husband and wife and their two young children, Alice and Alan, along with their maid (who has one of the most incredible literary names ever given an irascible, put-upon house servant, Septuagesima--"Seppy" mercifully for short).
Someone, or something, is suddenly causing mischief in the household of brother and sister Alice and Alan and their increasingly dismayed parents. Each day the family wakes up and yet another disaster has mysteriously occurred during the night. Of course Alan and Alice get the blame at first, of course the family grows more and more frantic as havoc ensues unabated. Little are they aware that as they sleep an Imp born from a bit of wood in their chimney has come to life and is turning their household upside down as they sleep in blissful ignorance.
"The Impulsive Imp" feels like a children's classic waiting to be fully discovered. I was very impressed by this book and at first actually felt a bit sad that it is the only book by the late Howard O'Brien. Then I realized that readers should be grateful that we do have at least one book from this fine writer with an incredible imagination which he passed on to his daughters, both of whom have written many great volumes, a number of them classics. O'Brien has one of the most gifted descriptive abilities of any writer I've ever read. The cookie gorging Imp's stomach is "hugging the cookies," he observes that "the good smell of food is 'bragging,'" stove flames "tickle the bottom of a pot," and so forth.
It's easy to imagine an expanded life for "The Impulsive Imp." An audiobook, a stage play, an animated film perhaps. And while it would be nice for the book to be accompanied with pictures, they really aren't needed. O'Brien paints colorful pictures with his words, words first imagined and told to his beloved daughters at bedtime. And now, sixty years later, these tales are this delightful book which can be enjoyed by us all, and we the reading public are the richer for it, and there's another fine volume to take down from the shelf of great children's stories.
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