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34
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| 1250894484
| 9781250894489
| 4.19
| 395
| Jun 18, 2024
| Jun 18, 2024
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liked it
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**spoiler alert** It is important to note that most of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, tou
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that most of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the book's subject matters & those detailed in my review overwhelming. I suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters that contain reflections on the death of a loved one, slavery, racism, substance abuse, bigotry, scenes depicting the graphic death of a minor, & others. The salivating need to redeem the sacred soul leads to follies. Characters whose plight feels burdened by reality present readers with interesting subjects. The digestion of their story is unmoored by the current of other nutrients, the substance they offer is all their own. Yet, the troubled reality of those who receive no forgiveness, no calming finality to their torment, offer stories that are given as warnings rather than common truths. I received this book in the evening. The post had come late & I had not been expecting the gift I found. I was quick to share my joy with my book-loving friends, & those whose relationship with literature differs quite significantly from my own. My enthusiasm was purely materialistic. I cannot rationalize that I receive books to review; this is something my young small-town self would find absurdly cool & to this day, a wave of humbling joy overcomes me. The background is given here because I had not heard of Vercher before receiving his book. I can confirm to you that the sunset’s gift of this story has left me longing for more of the author’s work. In truth, as I spoke about my enthusiasm, & my humbled gratitude, in response to receiving this book, I wondered if I would be the target audience. Had the publisher been correct in sending me this book? Would I be able to appreciate the labelled scars on the skin & souls of the characters? The synopsis left much to the imagination & I ruminated on what possible avenues the author might take in order for his main character to tell his story. If one is looking for a sad story, one is in good company here. Rather than adopt the genre of magical realism tinged with creatures of old school horror—the likes of which have been done before in this setting—Vercher offers the reader their own home; asks them to turn off the lights, & listen to the hum of silence, deafening them with anguish. In essence, this is a story about grief. The main character begins to speak to his son who died in a car accident, with him at the wheel. The chapters follow the narrator as he attempts to push through the wall of bricks that he has built, unconsciously, around himself. He shimmies over mounds of regrets, sadness, & hollowed-out spaces that reflect his shortcomings to himself. The story he shares with the reader is complicated & simple; he is sad. However, the main character is also angry; his failure to be a better person resulted in years of frustration for his son & left him reeling in his last moments, grasping for safety with a parent who was never there to offer it. While reading this story I began to wonder how I would explain it. What words would I use to recount my experiences with the plot & how would I describe the setting? Did I enjoy this story? Was the moral of the story tangible? Did the main character experience growth or regression? Was this a story that all readers may be able to appreciate? Though I have come to find the answers to these questions less easy to present in writing, the answer overall resides squarely with one’s own awareness of society. In recent years, the subject of ethnicity, race, nationality; the abstract demise of community, & the Land, have circled spaces intended for open discourse. Those among us who have been made to perish lock-jawed in the dirt find that the trees that shade their unrestful repose have grown strong; ignorance cannot survive forever. Yet it does persist. The reality that led the tomb to be shattered; the intentional sinking ship; the fire to the crops; the genocidal intent to eradicate; all these things live in the bones of those who wander the earth desperate & hopeful to find what has been lost to them. The main character has experience with these subjects on a more intimate level than simply through discussion. It is here that the reader will choose their path & decide how they will interpret the story. On the one hand, a reader may revel in the magic that colours the perimeter of this story. The main character experiences a shift in his physique as he slowly transforms into a jellyfish. He spends days fearing the worst, losing sleep, & speaking to shadows, only to return to the water from whence he originated. On the other hand, readers may interpret the dual narrative as a secret whispered to those who saunter the shores of experience; the exposure to a broken fraction; attempting to live life not wholly one part, but neither insufficient in either. As a person who empathizes with the reality of the main character, I found the dialogue that circled his truth to be presented authentically. Chapters explored the shifting tide of the diminished attention span, as those around him who are one with the identity they hold, discouraged him from expressing himself further, noting that no one cared to read about that anymore. The frustration will surely mount in readers who recognize the truth in these statements; though, it is certainly powerful to share, what feels like a majority of people are not listening to understand but to suck dry the oyster so they may declare themselves full. The narrative presents readers with snippets of blatant reality. Not everyone is given a spot at the table, some people aren’t even told that there is a table, left altogether unaware of a gathering. What may render this honesty difficult for certain readers to stomach is that it is presented by a character who is nearly, entirely, unlikeable. Readers who are led by logic & whose own days have been brimmed with an intimate acquaintanceship with humanity will have no trouble discerning value in what the main character is trying to communicate, even though he was a negative force in the life of his child. I found the inclusion of such negative traits an interesting choice. Certainly, if one is among the crowd of those who tire of conversations that include race, one may decide upon this being the perfect reason to duck out; people are angry & so why listen? On the other hand, I appreciated that the main character was redundantly flawed. This did not discount his reality. Indeed, if one studies the flow of the main character’s regression to a sea creature, the puddles of a grief-stricken parent, or simply the sorrow of a person who is intentionally misunderstood & ostracized because of what others see in him, this story speaks clearly about the empathy that is lacking in our communities. Why is it so difficult to accept that anger expressed is not an indication of fault in logic? As the story progressed & the main character struggled to stay face, the plot explored the burly nature of imbecilic reasoning. Characters flew on to the page to express that seeing is believing & then quote the Bible as rationalized jargon that may support them in their crimes. These people wanted to continue to enslave the souls of those who perished deep into the earth, denoting value in success for a job well done rather than an intricate understanding of what it means to love someone. By this I mean, that a person who loses without the ability to see, once more, what has been taken; a person whose sight witnesses despair & the similar, if not same skin walking villains protrude through the gentle flow of life; this person will never grow beyond the ignorance they wield. Certain aspects of this story lingered without giving the reader further clarity into their presence. The main character speaks of his grandfather who was a terrible man; What does this mean? What changed in the days they spent together while the main character was a child? Did this man express racially derogatory sentiments? Did he leave the property—the plantation—to Malcolm because he wanted him to know that no matter how brilliant his melanin, how deep his brown eyes, or how thick his locs were; deep down he would always be the product of malice? I cannot begin to know the answers to these questions though, I believe that the book does not necessitate me having clarity into the burdened soul of a bad man. Rather, I believe this book wants readers to reflect. Why would any of this have taken place? Readers like me may wonder at the forgiveness that is not given to the main character. The soothing nature of the water sings back to him as he escapes the burden of being the person that he is in a world that does not accept any portion of his identity. There is no winning in a system where a person needs to break off pieces of themselves to fit keyholes & purport terminology that is neutral & inauthentic. I was glad to see him enveloped by the water that cups the land, the ecosystem that shields life from humanity. Ultimately, this book was interesting & perhaps that is enough. When I think back, I am troubled by the aggression of the main character & flummoxed by his intentionality when treating others poorly. The flashbacks as his son grew up offered this story well-needed intimacy with the narrator, without which readers might be left wondering where to offer their sympathies. Truthfully, I felt moved by mournfulness as the narrator revisited the death of his child; the destruction of a life that had yet to experience the good that does thrive in the world, due to the unfortunate seething anger of his parent. This left me with deeply wounded gloom. My appreciation of this story mirrors the familiar twinge that beats deep in my mind. The sleepless nights & chatter with Grandfather Moon; the seething torment of rivers burdened with molasses; the life that seems utterly devoid of the tranquillity satiated by the ignorant, & an existence that is kept in the profoundly cavernous shadows of the self, unspoken to those whose boisterous cries decry an end of all things passed, though their pruned Capillaries drip downstream. Readers may cherish the story that speaks truth into darkness even if only for the ghosts. Reprieve from misunderstanding & a hollowed existence for the fault of a shape that has been disavowed though crafted originally by a spirit whose mania romanticized the very scoundrel it created, is all but absent. Such is the nature of the tormented, invisibly apparent, tremors of sorrow. Thank you to Celadon Books & John Vercher for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Apr 07, 2024
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Apr 07, 2024
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Hardcover
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33
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| 1439152799
| 9781439152799
| 1439152799
| 3.89
| 80,290
| Nov 09, 2010
| Mar 2021
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None
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Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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not set
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Feb 04, 2024
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Paperback
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32
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| 1416550534
| 9781416550532
| 1416550534
| 3.95
| 119,031
| 2006
| Mar 03, 2009
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it was amazing
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**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, theref
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book as well as those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters which contain reflections on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the consequences of war, Shell Shock, psychological distress, violence, financial insecurity, substance abuse, suicide, grief, & others. There is something magical in voyaging through time via the story held in a book. When I first came across Morton’s writing it was by chance. Having wandered into a local bookshop one afternoon after work, I found myself drawn to “The Clockmaker’s Daughter” (2018). I have since read this very book twice & am making my way through all of Morton’s published work in anticipation of her April release. Because of fate—a stroke of luck—the tendency for my heart to be drawn to the promise of a marvellous story, I was lucky enough to find myself a lifetime love in everything that Morton has put on to the page. When Grace Reeves was fourteen (14) she began working in service for the family who dawned the halls of the house on the hill; Riverton. Life for Grace was not easy as she maneuvered her way into a home full of inhabitants who were familiar with her mother, her life, & who felt no need to welcome her presence with kindness. The time she spent waging war against dust mites & saturated floorboards left her intimately acquainted with a lifestyle that was never to be her own. The period of time in which these parts transport the story is but one of two moments in which the reader becomes familiar with Grace. During her recollections, Grace is seated sturdy in a chair, watched over by Sylvie, her caretaker. The days that once saw Grace roam on foot & attend to the needs of others have long since given way to the final grains of sand in the hourglass of her life; hardly able to escape if she tried. What makes Grace such a charming narrator & main character is her ability to welcome herself as she is into the truth that she knew. Never does Grace try & pretend that she is someone she is not. During her moments of remembered ignorance, poor choices, sadness, & anger, she transports the reader back in earnest for she feels no need to shade us from a sun that rises habitually. Though this is my second time reading this book I find myself once again far too eager to simmer on the plot; rather disenchanted from the prospect of writing a review. This is always a peculiar feeling for me as I have always loved discussing what I have read. Yet, when I find myself at the end of a Morton-written story I find myself faced with the weight of realization. Therefore, before beginning my jaunt down a lane littered with rose petals & blooming dandelions, allow me a moment of pure praise for the author. It is not easy to write a good story. Many cultures of people place different values on storytelling, my own people view the tradition as essential; delicate in its virtue & sublime in its vitality. Even knowing this, there are few people within the human species who have the knack required to transport the mind of the bipartisan. Certainly, one can swoop another person on a whim down a laneway riddled with dramatic twists & bludgeoning goons but, to allow a listener—a reader—to walk down a path on their own, guided solely by the words whispered through shadows…that is a skill unmatched. Morton has repeatedly showcased her ability to weave a tale bolder than the mountainside. In every plot that Morton incites, she welcomes the reader to go through it alone; believing that every reader is equipped with enough courage, intellect, & heart to walk the road that will journey them through time, the lives of the unseen, & expose them to the treachery that exists in their communities snuggly between people like you & me. I appreciate this very much. I cannot say enough positive things about an author who works their skill. It is one thing to be insatiably talented, another ordeal entirely to know one’s own talent so well as to recognize how to shape it into a masterpiece. I hope all readers have the chance to come across books written by authors who care so very much about the work they are producing. As Grace becomes accustomed to her life in the big house, the number of inhabitants grows. David, Hannah, & Emmeline arrive to spend time with their grandparents & delve into a world of adventures across the property. The Game, as Grace calls it, takes up the majority of their time. Each of the children dream of a world where they can be free; a person all to their own liberated from the society that trapped them into titles & behaviours. Though this particular aspect of the story does not necessarily reveal itself in any obvious sense, it might appear to the reader as though the children spend the entirety of their short lives chasing an imaginary image of life. This becomes a sadder point on which to reflect given David’s wistful choice to enlist in WWI & subsequently die on the field of battle in France. While reading this story I found myself eager to correct certain actions or behaviours of the characters. Why did no one think that the war would be gruesome? Certainly, many other battles took place up until this point in time, yet many young people were eager to make a name for themselves in bloodshed. Why didn’t Frederick respond to his son while he was alive? How could a parent watch their child walk off to war & ignore their correspondence, with the heavy heart of someone who recognized the dual mistakes played by their persons? It is so easy to watch as a bystander & make judgment calls; I have the benefit of the safety of my home while reading this, and I am not called to the front. Some people retain the naivety that war is a game. Certainly, egos alter the perspective of death & destruction. Children are enlisted as soldiers, young people are pawns in a darkened arena without a choice. I wish someone along the line might have stepped in, & revealed that death is never so far away as it appears; is a stranger in the night via the creaking floorboards of our houses & sneaks into our rooms through whistling winds cold from their long journey. We would, however, not have a story if someone had done this. We might even have a different life outside of fiction if representatives had cautioned of the world's evils. We cannot alter the past. Because of this fact, we watch Hannah & Emmeline drift apart from the bond that they once held. Each sister began to grow in a direction that was representative of a desire misunderstood by the other. I found the way that Morton wrote about their relationship to be very honest & appropriate for the time period. Though one might note that both characters could have easily been women in a multitude of moments in time, they fit snuggly in the years in which this story takes place. The relationship & behaviour they exhibit with regard to themselves, each other, & those around them revealed a far larger picture than that which Morton paints. The plight for freedom, regardless of the cost, takes centre stage in this plot. Our young & incredibly ignorant narrator wanders through life seeking a breach from the constraints of her own life. She no longer wants to be alone but cannot tie herself to any person who would bring her the heartfelt warmth she so desires. I suppose that growing up in the earlier years of the century did not help her quest to find fulfillment. She did not have the liberty of asking for help, of telling a friend she wished they were closer; of spreading her love for Alfred in any way other than in secret. Each other character seeks their own validation in a world that has set the stage for a play in which they hold no substantive roles. How are any of these women meant to survive in a world where they are not wanted, not needed? They spend their lives on the wrong side of a swinging door waiting to be admitted into the room. I found this to be very sad to read. The conclusion of this book had me reflecting on all the ways in which the characters failed but also, the ways in which they failed themselves. Maybe things might have been different if Hannah & Emmeline had spoken. Maybe if no secrets were kept nothing would need to be kept hidden. Maybe if the world had allowed for the young sisters to be themselves in childhood they would not have felt so different from each other. There is no way to know for certain that things would have changed if by a single alteration. Hannah was always ignorant of life. She never questioned whether or not Grace actually knew shorthand, she assumed. She never gave way to rhetoric when speaking to Grace because she retained her taught beliefs; Grace was a servant to the house. Regardless of how much progress each of the characters made, they remained stiff in their ways of ignorance. I suppose this is not so different from the non-fictional world which is what makes this story all the more devastating. If I could revisit this story for the first time, I would. I will read this book again in a couple of years because I find the flow of reality intermingled with the fantastical events, a flash of honesty in a world of hidden secrets. I came upon the final scene this time around wishing that things would be different. Why did anyone need to die? Why is death the final straw for conflict? I do not have the answer to that, nor with regard to this story or in real life. What I do know is that this book brings out a habitual cycle of reflection for me. I cannot escape the desire to read Morton’s books a thousand times over for the flow of the reveal; the deceit, the honest truth of our entities. Our inability to be ourselves in a world that has sectioned us off to be fictional characters in a twilight zone of our dreams. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Jan 05, 2023
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Dec 31, 2022
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Paperback
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29
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| 1788951514
| 9781788951517
| 1788951514
| 4.16
| 221
| unknown
| Sep 29, 2022
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really liked it
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**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, theref
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book as well as those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters which contain reflections on the death of a child, graphic descriptions of body decomposition, suicide, abuse, child endangerment, violence, parental neglect, psychological distress, graphic descriptions of hunting practices, the death of an animal, & others. On Bird Rock Island, things go missing & the minds of the owner go along with them. The land that houses a history unknown & uncharted even by the most diligent record keepers, reeks of malice & malaise. During the summer when their father decided that his girls should come to him, Jess & Rosie Oliver voyage hours by train, boat, & through hostel layovers, to arrive at the island to spend their two (2) dedicated weeks of the year with their father. The disappearance of Rosie, who is still in the recovery phase of an unnamed illness, changes the dynamics in a situation that Jess was already eager to escape. This book asks the age-old question with a twist: does a person exist if they aren’t remembered by anyone? I would like to take a moment to highlight the severity of the content warning for this book. This story is categorized in the Young Adult Fiction genre however, a great deal of the subject matter is dreadful & might have a severely negative impact on the mental well-being of a variety of readers—no matter their age. Within this story, repeated instances of parental neglect are depicted. Some of these instances result in the very graphic & violent death of the child in question whereas others lead to children being abandoned; their mental stability utilized against them in a power play. Please be kind to yourselves & heed the warning of advancing no further within this book or my review if you should not feel it appropriate to do so. When the reader meets Jess she is attempting to recollect a series of events that took place over the course of two (2) weeks. Our narrator is 15 years old & is at a place where she wants to focus on the things in life that bring her a sense of fulfillment & joy. Her family situation leaves much to be desired & many of her monologues revolve around the frustration she feels at having to adapt to a new familial situation. I truly appreciated this aspect of the story because this is a facet of life many people have to deal with. Nathan, Jess & Rosie’s father, has married Kate & they’ve had a child together. Neither Jess nor Rosie has ever met their 6-year-old younger brother. Therefore it is not a mystery to any reader why there is a level of disconnect between the narrator & her parent. Though I appreciated that this situation between characters was explored in with an honest approach, the parenting style in this story emulates the ones we see in stories taking place in the 80s & 90s where parental figures express a level of apathy towards the occurrences that take place & have an overall disconnect between their title as a parent & their acted responsibilities. This approach can work well within a plot but I found it bizarre to see such a lack of care within a story published in 2022. That is not to say that I do not acknowledge that this style of parenting is alive & prominent in the world—I do. What I mean to say is that there were multiple instances wherein Nathan was seemingly written as attempting to approach the relationship with Jess & Rosie in as healthy a way as possible even though he only saw them for two weeks out of the year. He then turns around & ignores signs they are emitting that things aren’t okay. These instances can surely be intended plot devices; ensuring the reader develops an unclear image of the adults within the story, sometimes being frightening looming figures, other times the ignorant wanderer unsure of anything. In my opinion, it would have been to the benefit of the story to have both Nathan & Kate developed with a bit more detail & attention to their depth as individuals. It was strange that Jess & Rosie had never met their younger brother in the six years since he was born. It was strange that neither Kate nor Nathan would be on edge knowing that Rosie had spent an elongated period of time in hospital for an illness that had everyone fearing she might not recover. This instance in particular is one that made me question the trajectory of the story. On the one hand, I appreciated the ambiguity that was taken when presenting Rosie & her stint in the hospital. On the other hand, I would have appreciated it detailed clearly given the fact that every other instance of gore & terror is presented to the reader with ample adjectives & adverbs to ensure that nothing was glossed over. I truly admire a book that can set the tone for itself clearly & I enjoyed that Bell wrote such a story that went about presenting terrible things in as clear a fashion as possible. There is certainly something to be said for ambiguity & secrecy yet, this story flourished under the declaration of horror. I link the desire for Rosie’s hospital stay to be written with more clarity alongside the graphic violence that Conall experienced because they are very similar. Both children experienced a devastating blow very early in their lives & for those readers who might be living similar situations or circumstances taking the time to present Rosie’s illness for what I suspect it to be, may very well help other such children too. Based solely on the fact that Jess fears that Rosie might relapse if her emotions start to move in a downward-facing motion, I suspect that Rosie might have been hospitalized for either/both, suicidal ideations or attempted suicide. This deduction is made because Jess is constantly keeping an eye on Rosie’s mood & the way she is experiencing various scenarios. Even when Jess writes that she didn’t feel necessarily positive or happy about something, she wanted to make sure that she was putting forth her most enthusiastic response & behaviours so that Rosie’s mood was kept elevated & optimistic. I say this as someone who has experience within this domain; stories that present this subject matter are vital & can save the lives of children by presenting a gentle & subtle reminder that they are not alone in this life. Certainly, this is all speculation. However, when Nathan thinks that Jess is losing her sanity after Rosie has disappeared, he expressed that he cannot stand by & tend to her mental health needs & so she will be sent back to live with her mother, cutting the holiday short. This, again, leads me to believe that Rosie was placed under medical care because of a fear for her life & well-being that was not linked to a virus but to invisible malice. It is important to remember that young people, & children, experience mental illness too—depression, anxiety, neurological conditions, consequences of abuse, etc. are not simply things that plague the psyche of the aged among us. This story highlights Conall’s experiences with horrific parental neglect & shows the readers that even though the haunting that took place was a tragic consequence of Conall’s lack of emotional well-being, the repercussions of parental abuse are not imagined or fictional, they are real. During his life, Conall was sent to the Workhouse after his father could not—would not—care for him. Conall was told that his mother was dead whereas she was not & was then sentenced to death for inadvertently killing a guard after being attacked. For those who have an acute awareness of the horrors that have taken place across the globe in institutions like the Workhouses, it is not difficult to imagine what Conall was experiencing during his sentence. His father helped him escape only to tell him that he would have to be kept in the basement section of the lighthouse so that no one would suspect he was around & therefore neither he nor his father would be sent to their deaths for evading criminal persecution. I praise Bell, once again, for the way in which she introduced this character & the ways in which she went about describing the horrors of his life. When Jess & Will meet Conall in the Stranger’s Room in the Lighthouse there is no long-drawn-out sequence that sees the book stall. Bell ensured that the information that the reader was required to know was given in a seamless fashion & allowed the series of events to be felt in all their morbid entirety. I could not help but think that this story would prosper well if tweaked a bit for an older audience. The horrors explored within the narrative are stark & truly maddening in their honest portrayal. There are so many aspects of this story that remind me of Classics, specifically those within the Horror genre. One can easily link the experiences of Charlie & his paralyzing fear of the kitchen to the experiences of Tommy & the cellar in David H. Keller’s “The Thing in the Cellar” (1940). Many of the themes explored within this narrative ring true for aspects of the genre that lay like maggots’ eggs inside the membrane of the reader; rotting the genteel thoughts of the mind until they are consumed & forever after changed. I appreciated the inclusion of Scottish lore such as the Bean Nighe. The lore regarding two-way mirrors & the fear of having one’s spirit stuck behind the glass was a beautiful touch to this spooky story. I was eager for Jess to discover that the things she did not understand were not necessarily aspects of reality that are ominous. I was proud to see a young protagonist so certain of herself & her quest to save her sister. This leads me to my next point & one which I believe many readers will appreciate—the relationship between Jess & Rosie was loving & kind. I am so pleased & truly grateful to have come upon a story that presents sisterhood as a relationship between people that can be kind, loving, patient, empathetic, thoughtful, & positive. Though Jess & Rosie recognize how different they are & how their own personal interpretation of events & occurrences might vary, there is never a moment when the two are paired against each other. The entire story revolves around keeping up the memory of those we love. It was wonderful to see a pair of sisters know they could rely on each other while not needing the snarky dialogue often included in fictional female relationships, to push them along. When Charlie tells Jess that they forgot Rory on the island, she does not push him aside nor neglects his feelings. The relationship between all the siblings is one that sees them genuinely want the best for each other, even when they do not have the history to back their connection; Jess & Rosie recognize Charlie as being a younger sibling & do not subject him to torment for the sake of letting out their emotions. I appreciated the connection that all the young people drew between each other & how their trust in one another helped them solve the mystery of the forgotten. In all, this was a wonderfully haunted story of mirrors, phantoms, & lore. The premise sequestered itself between tiles of black mould & darkness to present the reader with a terrible tale that the washerwoman in the fog could not make clean. I am grateful to have read a story that had my pupils dilate like the eel’s before he snacked on the skin of the forgotten child in the basement. Thank you to NetGalley, Little Tiger Group, Stripes Publishing, & Alex Bell for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Sep 15, 2022
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Sep 18, 2022
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Paperback
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28
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| 3.53
| 8,872
| Feb 07, 2023
| Feb 07, 2023
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did not like it
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**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, theref
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book as well as those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters which contain reflections on financial insecurity, kidnapping, psychological distress, bigotry, racism, child endangerment, the death of a child, suicide, violence against an animal, & others. In a small town within the State of Texas flows the poisonous gas known to the residents as the smell of crisp new dollar bills. Under the watchful eye of a woman playing the part of a jolly Saruman—one who gifts her money to all those who will adopt her every whim & fancy—the Spite House lies solitary & daunting within the woods. Eunice Houghton is the last remaining member of the Houghton family. In a bid to not be met with the ghosts of victims her ancestors hung to death, Eunice decides that standing on the doorstep of the Crypt Keeper’s layer is as good a time as any to endeavour a paranormal investigation so that she may be free of what haunts her. Truly what better reason is there to do good in the world than because you want to maintain a facade to save face? If it wasn’t clear, that last sentence was written sarcastically. Rather alike are my feelings towards this story & the things it asks the readers to feel when meandering through the plot—ridiculous. First & foremost, this book is done a huge disservice by being presented as Adult Fiction. The dialogue alone is incredibly juvenile & might be better suited for a matured Middle Grade or Young Adult Fiction audience. There are rather few, if any, aspects of this book that lead it to thrive within the Adult Fiction genre. Should the author & editors rework certain aspects to encourage the flow that is already present within this story, I believe that the piece in question will see many eager young readers devour what might be their first introduction to Horror. Unfortunately, because this book was received in my eager hands at the ripe old age of adulthood & presented to me as one such book that an adult would devour & which would insight dread, fear, turmoil, & terror into the hearts & minds of matured homo sapiens, I am left rather disappointed in what resulted in being an incredibly corny story that truly blew past its ideal audience in a plight to present itself along Titans of the genre. This style of Horror is dramatic, mawkish, & filled with elements of a teetering fantasy that require the reader to abandon their inhibitions to be able to move through the novel swiftly & without muscle cramps to their cerebellum. That said, I think that Compton had a clear idea of the world he wanted to present & the characters he wanted to see flourish within this plot. Though there were certainly far too many chapters granted to an array of characters—we do not need to hear everyone’s take on everything, this is incredibly tedious & amputates the thrill the author is attempting to build—I acknowledge that the voices of each character were clear. Compton presented emotions & motivations in concise ways that fit within the world he crafted. This approach to Horror truly requires the patient reader or, more realistically, the reader who is easily spooked. For those such as myself, this long-drawn-out approach to a mysterious occurrence that turns out to be not so mysterious after all feels like a cheat & had me rolling my eyes. I return to my original points here when saying that this story would prosper in the hands of younger readers who have perhaps not been acclimated with the graphically morbid genre that is Adult Horror Fiction. Stories like this are important because everyone deserves to have the opportunity to dip their toes into a vast array of genres. In that same breath, one is not crafting a substantial Horror when one is littering the story with pitiful characters, all of whom make ridiculously stupid decisions & are troubled to their core, rendering them unreliable narrators. Again, seasoned readers will easily piece together where this plot is going & the ways in which it will approach arriving at its final conclusion. These same casually joyful readers might not be left wondering how a body that was buried in a locked coffin might escape in that same body without markers of decomposition. Or, perhaps, they might not wonder how a body that was practically desecrated in a bomb blast made its way to recuperating its limbs. I understand that the subject matter in this story is otherworldly—it’s not supposed to make sense to the logical world in which we live. However, it does have to make sense in terms of the writer's world. What faults this premise is the author’s lack of substantial explanations. Certainly many cultures of people are familiar with the folklore of the Changeling. I just read a Goosebumps book—“Let’s Get Invisible” (1993)—that presented some of the aspects of this lore alongside the beliefs associated with mirrors. This leads me to wonder why this Adult Fiction’s details simply state that a Devil-like entity was responsible for the Changeling occurrences. Where did this entity come from & how long has it been chasing random souls to reincarnate them in a bid to gain their spiritual matter for its own? What is the purpose behind reincarnating people such as Frederick Emerson when the demon could go after people who would truly do damage? To what goal is this endeavour succeeding? Did the demon want to see the underdog have a win against Uncle Sam? What is the point? I’m aware that not everything has a necessity for meaning but in this case presenting a life-altering demonic entity that casually resides in a random house in a random township in Texas makes me feel confused, not afraid. There were so many arbitrary occurrences in this book that I didn’t have time to care about any of them. We follow Eric for too long in his ramblings of his grandfather perhaps being a reincarnated Changeling for me to care when we finally got to the end & the demonic entity got its stage time. Frederick was an exceedingly aggressive man who assaulted a dog because it was protecting its home & owners, just to say to Dess that one has to act so one is not acted upon. The gratuitous reliance on threats of violence was exceedingly high throughout this book & within circumstances that did not necessitate it. Was it right for Eric to accuse Emily (“Millie”) of being racist against Black folks because she wrote an article questioning the totalitarian practices of a Millionaire in rural Texas? No. Was he valid in questioning the motives of everyone in the town given they were only acting kindly due to the promise of money? Yes. Much of what transpires in this story could have been cut to the quick if Eric had acted in any semblance of reason. It’s bizarre to me that he would take his two (2) children through the American South where they hadn’t been treated with dignity only to jump at the first instance where an entire town is flamboyant in their ‘acceptance’. Perhaps he had yet to see “Get Out” (2017) I make note of Eric’s behaviour because I could not rationalize his actions. I appreciate what it is to live in financial insecurity—having little opportunity to cherry-pick your endeavours. However, this whole scenario read as bashfully ignorant, especially because Eric was involving his children. There was no forethought in his mind as to how this would impact them & I can certainly appreciate that the forward moving of the plot is thanks to his shocking inability to ask questions, of any kind. Regardless, I was frustrated with his character. I didn’t want to see Dess have to act older than her years because she felt the need—-responsibility—to care for her parent whom she deemed catatonic in life. I felt horribly for both the children & also for those who met their demise & were left to haunt the house that they were killed within. I cannot even begin to list my questions with regard to this because, again, it makes no sense. Why would the children become evil after death? I suppose one might regard this in terms of its hidden meaning; our intentions do not dictate whether what we are doing is truly being taken in the ways in which we desire. The children who died within the house received no reprieve & were transformed into little devils roaming the corridors in search of a sacrifice for the demonic entity that killed them. Why he did that, I cannot begin to know. If a demon can roam the earth reincarnating dead matter, why stay in a house in the middle of the woods that could easily be burned down? The reliance on a building that is of no substance, given that it was built purely out of spite by Peter Masson, is bizarre & illogical. Lest we take into account the natural progression of nature to overtake the abandoned building. I digress. This leads me to my next point; how long had Eunice been attempting to prove there were ghosts in the Masson House? Why was the house in her possession & not a descendant of Peter Masson? Why would she keep this house in her possession given the curse that plagued her family was around prior to its construction? What did proving there were ghosts bring to her fear of dying? This woman is well into her eighties, long gone is the time to confront a demonic being whom you suspect is waiting for you. The whole thing just felt so boring to me. Where am I meant to gather the empathy to feel bad for a woman who manipulated society into performing her every whim because her financial situation permitted it? The reliance on the hangings being the reason her family was cursed simply disconnected me from the story; I do not care that you are being haunted by people whom your family killed at whim. It feels weird that these same spirits are written as grovelling morons waiting like mosquitoes for a piece of flesh to appear. You would think they would want to rest with the rest of their deceased family members & not spend their time antagonizing a child—Stacy—into feeding Eunice to them. As is evidenced in this review, I did not enjoy this story. I was hoping that this would be a story of haunting occurrences & utter terror. Rather, this was a story that fore-fronted the grief & banality of decisions made under duress. Eric’s course of action was absurd & truly those made by a man who was withheld by bereavement. I would have appreciated it if he questioned one of the events transpiring. It might have added some level of depth to his character to wonder why a random elderly lady was giving away six-figure salaries to people who would stay in a house on the hill. Alongside my qualms with the plot, there was a substantial level of edits that had been overlooked. I acknowledge that at the time I am writing this review the book has not yet been published & therefore these errors may have been resolved by the date of publication. Primarily among these errors was the misspelling of character names which made it difficult to track who a character was. For example, Peter Masson was often called “Pete” by both himself & other people. Another instance of this is Lukas Masson being referred to interchangeably as “Luke”. As well, when Peter is in France, the French portion of the story should be edited to reflect the correct spelling of numbers. We do not say “dix-neuf cent dix-neuf” this would be a direct translation from English. Rather, 1919 is written as “mille neuf cent dix-neuf”. When all is said & done, this was not a book that had me as the target audience. I know that none of my friends or family would have recommended me this book, but I know some of them might enjoy it because it is not written as being a distinctly horrific Horror story. The haunting of the Masson House plays second fiddle to the roaming of Eric & the enumerable point of view chapters that clutter the book. The raving paranoia experienced by a multitude of the characters was sad but never left me to feel any levels of empathy as the flow of the story & the way in which it was written was like boogie boarding on Tsunami sickened seas. I have confidence that this book will be appreciated & adored by people who are easily scared. Those that can walk the dark halls at night & imagine The King of the Dead & the Dead Men of Dunharrow roaming in the periphery waiting to combat the oath that sent them into the hills all those years ago as the demon in the house watches them in throbbing anticipation. Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge, & Johnny Compton for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
Sep 11, 2022
|
Jun 24, 2022
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||||
24
| 
| B09RHLM6H8
| 3.42
| 5,662
| May 24, 2022
| May 24, 2022
|
it was amazing
|
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, theref
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book as well as those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters which contain reflections on graphic descriptions of physical decomposition & body fluid, gore, disease, sexual promiscuity, body mutilation, & others. The house that Louise shared with her husband, Edward Wilk, will be repossessed by the bank. The life she knew in comfort from the one she worked to obtain has shifted & Louise will be leaving Manhattan for the Buffalo home that housed the Wilk family for generations. On the eve of their departure, in November of 1900, Louise ensures that all the preparations are made & she reflects upon the moment when she first saw the vacant home of her partner in a photograph depicting the shadow of a being unknown within the home. Ruthnum’s writing is pointed, simplistic & morbid. There is no necessity in sautéing the words with thick saucy prose; the vernacular employed within this novella leaves the reader with the immediate sensation of being shadowed in a room near a closing door; the only door to the hallways & subsequently a way out of the house. Perhaps you have known the gumption of Gothic Horror that slithers trepidation across dated, shafting floorboards within desolated abodes. Perhaps you have come upon this book seeking the satiation that is felt when coming upon an orchard of chills. You have come to the right place. One may read this book ostentatiously for the horror alone; unflinching when the pink tips of the nail bed pinch their way through Edward’s tear ducks. One may also approach these 94 pages with the exaltation of someone who has come upon an author who seamlessly showcases their craft by describing the growing entity that slurped power from Edward’s brain, nestling itself in between vertebrae to become the new man we see him become at the end of the story. Whichever way you choose to interpret or absorb this story you will be left with sentiments of humour, for truly, the line that distinguishes laughter from screams is quite thin. What better reaction to a tongue that falls deadly out of a gaping mouth like a slippery slug on the rotting carpet of an abandoned home, than to laugh? Nothing is funny, certainly the opposite. However, Ruthnum’s writing is poignant to the point of being obscene. There is truly no greater way to approach a novella of horror than to teeter the line between morose decomposition & gory rebirth. The dual interpretations of this story will leave a reader pondering the implications of the character’s actions for hours after the completion of their read. Is the irony lost on any reader that Edward, the brilliant & respected surgeon of New York State is unable to riddle himself out of a deteriorating & rotting body? I should think not. Yet, not once does the author indicate that his sojourn through extramarital affairs is a reflection of incompetence or lack of moral stability. Edward is simply drawn to the physicality of what is around him in a bid to further a desire to become utterly & completely singular by exploring the duple exchange. Where do these encounters leave Louise? Louise works in the same field as the surgeon & is unperturbed by cleaning molten bedpans. Her sole desire remains to become a nurse so that she need not showcase gratuity for financially motivated employment. Louise person married Edward, not for the intimacy that he could offer her physically, for certainly, she received proximity to all those whom she healed with dedicated action; but for the absorption of the comfort his person brought into her life. I cannot say that I inherently understand the reasons behind any of the choices made within this story. Why would Louise choose to delve head-first into Edward’s carcass, disappearing from her individuality in life? Was she reliant on his body in a different way than Edward was when seeking out the pulsating flesh of other people? I suppose both chose to enter the bodies of other people to feel more themselves. The action of penetrating the entity of another individual holds a rather steep significance within this book. How much could Louise have truly felt a place within Edward when she had never visited the crevices in his shell? What is the significance of a lack of sexual reproductive organs on this new ‘Louise Wilk’? Are Louise & Edward alive in this sarcophagus or have they meshed together to an unrecognizable height which leaves them lacking in a singular body? Could one interpret that the metamorphosis of the two (2) individuals, living within one body, reflects the concurrent expressions of those who feel that there are no two without one; those who express coming to be in the mistake of anatomy that does not suit their soul? I suppose it should depend on the reader. Though, I am inclined to feel that this avenue is a worthy one to explore. A blossoming tether of imagery & personification of the flower that presents itself to Louise in the darkened apple orchard is brutal. Here the neutral entity expresses simply wanting to be alive, not wanting to destroy or repulse; no inherent negative or violent desires are held within the deconstructed razor flower. One could certainly look upon this creature as a simple reflection of the human species. How often we have bent over backwards to remain steadfast whilst simultaneously halting our own progress around every corner; unable to meet at the halfway point of consensus & respect. Edward’s brain is alive in his body though every other part of him has been absorbed by the flower. The mind is the driving force behind our presence in life. It is with appreciation & inflation that the flower leaves Edward’s brain unperturbed, surely knowing that Louise will grasp at the opportunity to revive the mental stamina of her husband though she will never be held by him again. When the final scene cuts like the nails through Isabel’s scalp the reader is presented with the concluding opportunity to regain their stance on their feelings towards this story. Is this one of metaphors or one of demise? The petals that warp around vertebrae slowly grow with the reimagined ‘Louise Wilk’ & tether themselves to be steady & slow, making certain to not outgrow the carapace that shelters them in this life. Friend or foe is the one who steadies themselves in the unknown; our fears, hopes & uncertainties, quantifying in the depths of places unvisited by the conscious abilities of our own entity. Thank you to Edelweiss+, Undertow Publications, & Naben Ruthnum for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
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not set
|
May 16, 2022
|
May 17, 2022
|
Kindle Edition
| |||||||||||||||
27
| 
| 9781777091798
| 3.12
| 75
| unknown
| Jul 14, 2022
|
it was ok
|
**spoiler alert** When German documentarians, Bernhard & Julie make their way into the Kandy province of Sri Lanka with the intent to film clips of th
**spoiler alert** When German documentarians, Bernhard & Julie make their way into the Kandy province of Sri Lanka with the intent to film clips of the devastating effects of climate change on local farmlands, they come across a local folktale whispered amongst farmers. The legend of an entity that floats through the jungle with seeds for eyes & lures children with tenderness; always keeping an eye on the health & wealth of the lands, seeking to protect the nourishment that it requires to prosper. Throughout this novella, a multitude of characters, each with their own dramatic backstories, find their way to the house only to become lost in the horror that befalls the property. There is always room on my library shelf for a book that requires me to research topics. Though I enjoy stories that lead me down familiar roads, there is something to be said for those who leave me seeking to learn more. This is one such book. Riddled to the brim with folktales & lore, the Sap Mother is an entity that was sprinkled into the story just enough to leave me feeling intrigued yet, I did not feel that enough dedicated detail was given to her or any of the characters to leave me feeling fearful. I wonder if this is due to the length of the book or if it is because the story is being presented in book format, that the intensity of the lore is lost upon me. Should I find myself watching this story unfold, I should think that I would enjoy the film very much. I am not one to comment on something that I have no knowledge of. I will always do my due diligence in terms of research materials that were previously outside my realm of understanding. When it came to seeking to understand who the Sap Mother was for locals, especially those in the farmlands of Kandy, I came up empty-handed. It was incessantly difficult to find any information about a Sap Mother, an Anik Amma, or a White Lady in local lore which made the author’s note a bit confusing. There are ample texts dedicated to explaining the phenomenon of The White Lady for different nationalities of people; the concept appears to be quite common among humanity. However, I could not find anything specific outside of a couple of quick mentions of general descriptions. The White Lady is a woman who wanders around luring men to their deaths, essentially. However, after coming up short in terms of specific information regarding this entity I relied heavily on the descriptors given to us in the book. I acknowledge that the author is recounting some of the stories that he has been told & am in no way seeking to claim falsehood when stating that I could not find information about this entity. Rather, I wonder, why we are given so little. In the context of the story, the Sap Mother is said to be a protector of the land. Given the level of reliance that the local people have on a generous rain season to ensure that their crops grow, the Sap Mother wanders around taking seeds as payment for guardianship. My first moment of confusion arose when we were told that the Sap Mother gets her strength from the young, feeding on their life force to sustain her. Does this mean that she kills them or does this mean that she finds joy & sustenance for her tasks, in the presence of children? What leads me to question this is that—& perhaps this was the point—the Sap Mother is simultaneously presented as good & evil. She kept a child captive with her during the entirety of his life in the jungle after he ran away from the house that mob members were barging into. Yet, we are also meant to believe that she is simply angry at the house for rotting the land & sucking it dry from water. What is the link between the Sap Mother & the House of Drought other than they both inhabit the same place? Why were the children captive within the walls of the house? Who made it so this house held secret rooms? Are we to believe that the Englishman who built the establishment had directed it to be built as such? If not, where do the supernatural aspects of the story come into play when it comes to leading people to be imprisoned within the walls of the House of Drought? Wouldn’t the Sap Mother want to set the children free from a house that was ruining the land she sought to protect? I understand that this story relies fully on the make-believe aspect of storytelling. For example, everyone who was trapped inside the Drought House would have died within three days, especially if the house was sucking them dry of any/all moisture. I appreciate that not every aspect of an entity of local lore may be completely understood or accurately translated. However, this story would have benefited from more elaboration. Rather than hearing a villager recount some of the stories & experiences that she had, more than twice, we could have seen the characters of the documentarians do personal research. Perhaps they were in the early stages of their project but, seeing as we read about them gathering final clips of the house for the film I think not. Bernhard & Julie would have added more than a disjointed link to the history of the house had they participated in the research. Seeing them be told by third parties what happened in the house felt a bit boring & I know that’s not a great descriptor but, every flashback to the present time saw me waiting for the next section of explanation about the actual people that lived in the house. With that being said, some editing could have been done to have these pieces of the story flow with more ease. I do not think it necessary to read about every group of people’s impressions of the palace especially when each of these was the same, one from the other. The dialogue grew to feel increasingly disjointed & I cannot pinpoint if this was intended in an attempt to write the English text how someone who spoke another language would speak it—utilizing intonations, emphasis, etc.—or if the author could have benefited from another editor. As well, I had no reason to believe that the characters held the nationalities that they did. There could have been further German employed to reinforce where the characters were meant to be from. I originally thought that the employment of “ja’” in place of “yes” was due to spelling errors & it wasn’t until a German word was used that I understood why this was being done. In cases such as this, it would be positive to have the English book be written in authentic English speech & not adopt the speech patterns of another language. Words can be utilized within the text to confirm who is speaking & what language they are speaking but, to do both feels disjointed. Ambiguity is generally fine, I enjoy it in Horror but, in this case, I was waiting for something catastrophic to happen to lead me to feel enthused about the book. When Hemantha is probably killed by the Sap Mother I couldn’t help but wonder, why. This is meant to be a peaceful being & yet she murders a random person for being inside the house she hates? Is she single-minded or can she intone that these people walked through the forest in which she lives to seek shelter in the house? Did anyone find his body? This leads me to question, again, what the connection between the House of Drought & the Sap Mother is. Is the house evil or is it simply haunted? Is it haunted because of the Sap Mother or is it haunted because the Englishman gave less than 2 cents for the land & the people? When all is said & done, I enjoyed the thought & motivation behind this story more than I enjoyed the story itself. When the house captures Bernhard I didn’t care, I was eager to be done reading. Jasmit’s side quest to release the person who saved her after 20 years felt ridiculous; I’m sure it was difficult for her to return to the house but come on…this person sacrificed themselves in coming to save you, please be better. With some editing, this story would flow very smoothly & ultimately that should be the goal; to have a horror story transition effortlessly through terrors & fears, with bumps in the night & strange light, into the solitary confinement of a man without willpower. Thank you to NetGalley, Stelliform Press, & Dennis Mombauer for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
Apr 09, 2022
|
Apr 09, 2022
|
ebook
| |||||||||||||||
22
| 
| 3.89
| 1,834,186
| Dec 1847
| Jan 29, 2003
|
it was amazing
|
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, theref
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book as well as those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters which contain reflections on physical abuse, child endangerment, psychological abuse, substance abuse, & others. This is my second time reading this book. As younger generations become made aware of the Classics—the books that hold the entirety of literary weight on their shoulders—I have heard many conflicting opinions about what this story is truly about. Having read this book several years ago I felt it was my responsibility to revisit the pages of Brontë’s controversial work; reminiscing about the horrendous characters that plague the pages & the detailed actions of their terror upon everyone who crosses their paths. I would be loathed to say that this is a romance. I cannot begin to imagine why anyone would call upon the characters of Heathcliff & Catherine as models of true love & longing. That being said, I can appreciate that a great many novels found in the romance genre portray less than healthy relationships as well as detrimental views on what should & can be expected of a partner. Therefore, I must acknowledge that the same people who view torrential relationships as the epitome of romance might very well regard the love found in this story as something that would transcend the ages. Many people have read this book. It is required reading for University courses & is highly referenced in popular culture. In that same breath, the simple act of recognizing a piece does not lead one to an understanding of its moral or plot essence. For this reason, I will begin at the start. This book is riddled with antagonists. It is a story that leads the reader to question whether or not it is appropriate or wrong to seek to sympathize with any one of the slew of characters. When Heathcliff is introduced into the story one is automatically filled with despair. This is a child that was, assumedly, abandoned by their parents to a life of begging on the streets of a city in the hopes of securing food for survival. When Mr. Heathcliff (Sr.) brings the child home he is abused by the eldest of the two biological children in the home. Physical blows are commonly employed in a fit of longing to degrade Heathcliff into recognizing that he is beneath everyone else. His genetic makeup is referenced often enough that the reader can deduce that the ‘gypsy’ child is not ancestral to England—his skin holds more melanin than everyone else in this story & it seems, everyone else in the town. At no point is Heathcliff given a fighting chance. The Patriarch does express fond feelings for his adopted child but does not treat any of the children with an exuberance of kindness which might leave them with the class & gentility to treat another person with respect. The epitome of the relationships of everyone under Wuthering Heights’ roof is the exemplary character & brute ability of one to surpass the other. Though we read about Catherine becoming friends with Heathcliff, there is no clear demonstration of goodness amongst anyone in this story. This fact is highlighted as we move forward. As adults, once the violent children find that their characters have been unmoved by the passing of their parents, their loved ones or the change of the times. Of course, there are instances wherein we are privy to their desire for peace, both amongst each other & within themselves. It is rare enough that a person might be filled to the brim with evil. Yet, Heathcliff cannot speak to Catherine about his growing love nor can Catherine pause her insistent idiotic monologues for long enough to observe that she is not alone in her feelings towards Heathcliff. There are so many instances within this book that left me riddled with irritation. Most of the secondary characters felt like wet noodle versions of whole people. I suppose this can be expected when they are paired to be contrasted to behemoths such as Catherine who pushes her husband to the brink of death by pursuing a romantic relationship with Heathcliff; & just as Heathcliff physically abuses everyone under the roof of his house throughout the longevity of his adult years. The facts which might leave one with sentiments of sadness towards these characters soon evaporate, never to be found again. Yet, I have loved this book since my first time reading it. Enough praise cannot be given to the author who is able to include fully dimensional characters who all hold so much hate in their hearts yet perpetrate such hatred in unique ways. To marry the sister of your enemy knowing it would cause them pain, to scam them out of their estate; to watch that same person cry out into the night because they feel an inch of remorse for the absence of the person they did love. That is not to say that I would want to be the Catherine to Heathcliff; I’d rather not die of hysteria because I cannot find it in myself to manage my own emotions & spew hatred & malaise onto everyone in my environment. But, I can appreciate that reading about Heathcliff feeling the absence of Catherine might lead one to want to believe that what he felt was love & not, shall we say, selfish regret for what he cannot possess. Every time I think about this story, I am led to want to read it again. The imagery plays so powerfully in my mind & with every reading I have come to find new things to grasp; further understanding & depth within a story of antagonists who played the game of chess against themselves in a bid to overthrow another player who was in the midst of a solitary game themselves. For those who have claimed that it is not enjoyable to read about horrible people, you are correct. There is little pleasure to be derived from reading about repeated abuse, selfishness, willful ignorance, greed & violence. However, if you can look past the simple evil that is presented & seek to place your mind within the gloomy moors you might find much to be appreciated. The writing style is one which I have cherished deeply; reading a story through a verbal retelling is wonderful & I truly appreciate the involvement of secondary & tertiary characters who reveal the hidden quirks of those primary characters we assume ourselves to know & understand. I am certain to revisit this book again in the future. How can there be so much to long for within the actions of those who seek to repel any ounce of tenderness? I have found there to be an abundance when the author evokes visceral writing. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
Mar 06, 2022
|
Apr 04, 2022
|
Paperback
| ||||||||||||||||
23
| 
| B09CD81MFZ
| 3.84
| 44,173
| May 03, 2022
| May 03, 2022
|
it was ok
|
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, theref
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book as well as those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters which contain reflections on rape, colourism, substance abuse, child endangerment, parental abuse, & others. Beatriz marries Rodolfo for his social status; she wants the money that was taken away from her after the politically motivated murder of her father; to regain her place amongst the social elite, though she would never state that these are innately the things that she wants. Rather, Beatriz boasts about accepting Rodolfo’s proposal so that both her & her mother can leave the home of her aunt, who housed them after the death of their father & exile from the community. Yet, all the while, Beatriz is ravenous to declare Hacienda San Isidro her home, her possession, her property, & hers alone. To which I am left wondering whom amongst the slew of self-serving characters am I meant to root for? Firstly, I acknowledge that many unseasoned, casual, readers will find many things to love in this book. Throughout my entire reading experience, I knew that I was not someone for whom this book would have been recommended because I have read too many books to meander behind the hand-holding, poor literary approach of the author towards a subject matter that could have blown me away. That is to say that the scene & time period in which Cañas wrote this story is one that is riddled with intrigue & mysticism, two things this story would have benefited from. However, following the lead of such a main character as Beatriz leads one down a road that sees them exiting the interest they held towards any of what was being written. The political situation in Mexico during the time period in which this story was set (1820-) is one that could have been presented with a bit more depth. There is certainly nothing innately wrong with leading the reader to further their knowledge by doing their own personal research but, this does stunt the flow of reading as one must pause to ensure that the political details that are being swept past, are well comprehended & to ensure that their relevancy to the story is accurate. Therefore, I think had Cañas introduced the story with a foreword about the scene that would be set, I feel we would be left with the profound feelings of unease & struggle that we are meant to feel emanating from the pages throughout the story. What reinforces the disconnect between the scenes presented to the reader & the plot at large resides solely in the ineptitudes of the characters. This is a story that has been done many times before & should you be in the market for a decent haunted house I encourage you to start at the source. In my experience, books that are sold as a retelling of a principle that has already been succeeded upon by another author, fall flat by their inabilities to build on their own merit & originality. What renders Beatriz’s story one that is unlike any other you’ve read before? Was it very difficult to gauge who the murderer was after being introduced to Juana & her laughter regarding a mutilated rat? I think not. This is very unfortunate because the author paired beautifully intimate cultural aspects of lore & mysticism within the plot to add distinction to its storyline yet failed to render these serious aspects of the story. The dialogue that follows each character grew to be some of the most cringe-worthy I have read in a while. Asking me to believe that because Beatriz was the ‘daughter of a general’ would render her capable of any of the random things she decided to try & accomplish, is laughable. This is a character who proclaims she has a deep & respectful relationship with her mother yet never once has a conversation with her regarding her plan to marry a rich man to help them better their situation. Why is that? How am I to believe that this character is anything but idiotic when all she has done the entire story is be brain-dead bananas? Beatriz took it upon herself to seek out a wealthy man who had the means to grant her, her every wish. She wanted to not have to do the physical labour & menial jobs that her aunt was imposing upon both herself & her mother because they were social & political pariahs. I found it absurd that I was meant to feel fondness toward Beatriz. She might be a good person, deep in her soul, but her actions do not prove that to be true. She never speaks to her mother about her marriage until she is well-passed accepting Rodolfo’s proposal. She moves to San Isidro without consulting with her mother & plans to bring her mother to the new house, without ever asking if this is what she would want. Beatriz never makes any effort to befriend Juana whom one might rightfully wonder at; why is this woman working the fields of a property that is allegedly her family’s? Everything that Beatriz chooses to do is because she has set herself the goal to do it alone. Is it necessarily bad to want to better one’s life? No. Is it weird to exclude the only family you love in all your plans for social climbing & sleeping with ‘the enemy’? Yes. What I find to be the most noisome aspect of this story is the request for me to look past the banal mental abilities of the main character. Surely, these stories succeed as they do because the women are never in a position to ask questions & they never feel it appropriate to ponder anything. Yet, I cannot in my right mind believe that this is actually true. One can certainly be raised to not speak out of turn & one can most definitely not feel it their place to ask about a dead family member—respectable topics of conversation to be abided—yet, one most certainly wonders about the disjointed events transpiring around them. I understand that Beatriz could not outright ask Paloma what happened to Rodolfo’s first wife but, there needs to come a time when women are not being written as imbeciles simply because they were outwardly treated as such. It’s insulting to read an entire book wherein the main character is a floundering fish out of water because she refused to grasp any straw placed near her hand due to her infallible desire to oust anyone not aligned with her goal of possessing her own home. Is it so farfetched to think that the man who gawked at you because of your skin tone might also be a shallow, mean-intentioned person? Rodolfo proves to have no redeeming characteristics yet we are to look past all this because Beatriz cannot read the room. This is rendered an extremely weird decision because Beatriz wallows about the treatment she received from her aunt regarding her skin pigmentation. Again, here lies an insanely important topic to be properly introduced within the book & yet, it is employed simply to grant distinction between women. How was colourism altering Beatriz’s lived experiences? Her father was a very respected general--from whom she inherited her complexion--yet we read not about what prejudices befell a person who was darker than another. It is not enough to simply insert key phrases about becoming ‘darker with sun exposure’ for the reader to glean the insane mistreatment that people experience due to colourism. As well, what differentiates colourism in Mexico (in this time period) from what we see happening today? The primary reason for which I felt this book would find enjoyment in the hands of causal versus habitual readers is that the details presented in the dialogue border on redundant. Beatriz is constantly telling us that she is the daughter of a general & will therefore vanquish her demons. We circle this thought process endlessly & see her screaming down the staircase evermore. We read about an evil part of Andrés while never seeing this come to fruition & rather watch him fall in love with Beatriz because she never had the gumption to question what she didn’t understand. I think we should be more kind to one another but, to sit with someone who tells you they are a witch & not blink an eye does not lead me to believe you’re an accepting person, it leaves me to believe that you’ve no girth to your personality & haven’t the brains to think of anything to say. Posing a question isn’t a negative thing. It’s ok to ask what it means to be a witch—truly what does it mean in connection to the town & Mexico as a whole? What place is left for Andrés in the rational world of his peers? The town seems to adore him yet, he has to remain hidden due to the general political views of the country but, how many other people are witches too? How did he know that hearing voices was not something else entirely? So much of the intrigue we should have felt vanished when we are led towards the conclusion it appears we had already arrived at chapters before. For example, Beatriz sees that the corpse within the wall has a specific necklace, then she dreams about the demon apparition of the first wife, then we walk to the grave only to have Andrés confirm to us that her body isn't there....we already knew that? Why did we have to read about this thrice, if not more? Had the author presented new information at that time this all would have been validated but again, we circle the same things over & over again. Granting the characters no depth to their beings prevented the story from blossoming into a horrific tale of a body crumpled into a wall; a serial rapist turning a blind eye to the murder of his victims; political outrage & violence; torture, torment & fear. Every single character in this book is a shadow of the people they should & could be. What rendered the relationship between Beatriz & Andrés so special save for the fact that neither of them cared a lick for looking further into the mental state of the other & were seemingly bonded by trauma? What happened to Juana as a child to make her so distant from the social requirements that would be imposed upon her? Why did Rodolfo not care about Beatriz’s father or his involvement in the war? I will applaud Cañas for some of the more gruesome supernatural aspects of the story. My favourite was the body in the hall. The visual descriptions given to the ghost corpse as it slowly raised an actively decomposing arm towards Beatriz, were superb & I wish there had been more of that. However, I realize that for certain readers this might not be what they were looking to read & therefore regain my stance that, this is not a book that is necessary for habitual readers of horror for, there is little that is horrific about this story. I read another review that stated something along the lines of; if all the supernatural occurrences were removed you would have a better story & I am inclined to agree. What did it add for us to read numerous scenes in which Andrés was attempting to summon the ‘dark’ parts of himself to exorcise the house? Save for the few cool descriptions of an angry ghost, there wasn’t much to pique my interest in this plot. I couldn’t care less about the haunting of a woman who loved her rapist husband's violent tendencies that coincided with her murderous desires. I couldn’t find it within me to feel propelled forward through pages at end of a blossoming ‘love’ between characters who were all talk & no show when it came to having a backbone. Why did Beatriz want Andrés to abandon everything he knows for her? She had nothing in the city but her mother. All the friends & acquaintances she grew to know & appreciate were in this town yet, she expected Andrés to simply walk away from the life he had been building to follow her in her quest for....what? I could not get behind Juana appearing at her leisure whilst Beatriz was rampaging through the house ripping wooden beams away. Rodolfo must have known that Juana killed his wife. He willingly did not go into a wing of the house, nor ever check why it was blocked off. He never sought to ask why he was not summoned when his wife died so that he could attempt to be present for her burial. I doubt it. All in all, this isn’t the worst book I’ve ever read & I find myself at a loss to want to continue writing this review because I know & recognize that this is a book that many people will love, for valid reasons. I am happy to know that it will find itself in the hands of its ideal reader. However, I find myself disappointed that so many opportunities were passed over within the plot to render this the tale of a truly mind-numbingly scary haunted house. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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May 06, 2022
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Feb 19, 2022
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Kindle Edition
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20
| 
| 1631611763
| 9781631611766
| B09Q6HFT83
| 3.31
| 62
| unknown
| Feb 20, 2022
|
it was ok
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**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, theref
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book as well as those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters which contain reflections on gore, animal abuse, excessive violence, kidnapping, & others. In 1903 a lawyer travels to the countryside to stand over the bed of a dying man, to update his final Testament that reflects the whispers of the man before passing on. Unfortunately, Gerard realizes that his bedroom door is being locked from the outside, day in & day out, & his only source of social interaction is the delivery of his meals by a morose servant who seems to vanish at the drop of a hat. Back in the city, Realyn awaits with desolate dread, the return of her fiancé; having pleaded with him to not traverse the countryside for no other reason than she felt in her bones that he should not go. Amongst the cast of characters that the reader encounters we see the flummoxed behaviours of people who are both miraculously courageous in the dead of night & suddenly withheld by fear in broad daylight. Every bizarre action culminates in a grand battle of brute force & will against the demons who manifest themselves into beauty & beast. Readers who are knowledgeable about the work of Bram Stoker will immediately recognize this book for what it is; an exact replica of the delivery of "Dracula" (1897). I can appreciate when an author seeks to pay homage to a classic piece of literature however, I could not piece together the premise of this plot with a thick enough thread to lead me to the conclusion that Stoker’s estate might view this as being a tribute rather than a copycat. Early on in my reading, I posed the question as to whether or not "Nosferatu"’s (1922) fate would befall this work as well or, perhaps had there been some understanding between the two parties that I am not aware of. Therefore, because I am unfamiliar with the legality behind the decision to entirely replicate the plot of "Dracula" in this modified work, I shall review the book at face value & speak no further on the similarities between the two works. I will praise Hault for what he sought to achieve with this book. I truly think that with some tweaking & changes, made to the delivery of the story, he could have great success in translating his story into a movie format. The scenes that were intended to render terror & horror would so delightfully play out in a film & I do feel hopeful that this book will find its way into the hands of someone who could recreate the gore written in this story so as to really terrify audiences of all ages. That being said, I found myself laughing more often than I thought was intended. I truly appreciated the desire for Shapeshifters & Changelings to feature in this plot. However, the writing style left something to be desired. Often, due to the intense similarities between Stoker & Hault’s delivery, I felt confused if the story was taking place in a more modern setting or in times of old. Due to this, & the inconsistent approach of vocabulary & grammar of the characters (primarily the women), I was unable to fully immerse myself in the story. By this I mean, sometimes Raelyn would speak very eloquently & as a woman in the United Kingdom of 1903 might be expected to vocalize things. Then, she would employ curse words & be saying she wanted to murder someone & run rampant in the middle of the night chasing blood trails. Had the character been developed over the course of the story I might have viewed this shift appraisingly. Unfortunately, her character & that of Jayda’s felt somewhat out of place in the time & period in which the story takes place. Perhaps I need it explained to me but, how is a woman who is weeping into her journal about the departure of her husband, the same person who is opening her door in the middle of the night when she knows there is a terror out in the streets mutilating animals? This same person is said to be a doctor but, looks upon her cousin, Nathan, who is very evidently having a psychological break, & decides to leave him to his own devices even after watching him consume an entire rat in a single gulp. The inconsistencies made it difficult to appreciate all the effort that was put forth in vanquishing the demons because everyone made such pitiful decisions throughout the story. This book would benefit from a longer lead-up to the panic that the characters experience. Gerard is in the castle for something like two (2) nights & is immediately in hysterics because the door to his room is locked. He rants on & on about being a prisoner right after arriving & there was little build-up to his feeling that way. This alongside the descriptions of babies being kidnapped in the surrounding village & the appearance of a demonic ape; I wanted to understand the actual dread that was being trailed throughout the story but, I had to laugh because we read so little of anything to allow us to feel afraid. It is difficult to write horror, I am not taking that away from the author & I am not saying that they did a horrendous job. What I am saying is that the scene in which Nathan eating an entire rat is gruesome & should be played up. Instead, Raelyn walks away thinking “ew”. The scene in which a giant-fanged primate is gripping the side of the estate as Gerard holds on to bricks for his life should have been further explored & because the story was written through journal entries, if a character was too frail to explain something, we didn’t hear about it again. The folktales surrounding Shapeshifters live in almost every culture & society of people. The stories following these horrific creatures are as common in our verbal histories as any other. It would have been to the benefit of the story to lean into that. This story had so many good opportunities to instil horror into the hearts of the reader; mothers watching their children adopt adult-like facial patterns & perform absurd physical actions only to fall into death days later is horrific — describe that further, tell me what the surrounding areas think about these happenings. Overall, had the retelling of folktales & myths been done in a different way I think I would have really loved the story. The combined efforts of Shapeshifters with Changelings were so very interesting & the addition of gruesome behaviour from otherwise psychotically sane individuals was enticing. Had we explored that further, rather than the emotional ineptitudes of all the characters, I would have felt more favourably about the book. I will hold out hope that this story becomes a movie because I truly feel as though the scenery could present a viewer with a horrific story. Thank you to NetGalley, TCK Publishing & Lucas Hault for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Feb 10, 2022
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Feb 10, 2022
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Kindle Edition
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1
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| 9781250832764
| 3.85
| 102,615
| Mar 18, 2021
| Sep 2021
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did not like it
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If I can clock the twist in the first two (2) pages of a book, along with the entire layout of the plot-it is certainly not a book worth reading. I si
If I can clock the twist in the first two (2) pages of a book, along with the entire layout of the plot-it is certainly not a book worth reading. I simply do not have the energy to describe how dreadfully disappointing this book was for me.
...more
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Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Oct 03, 2021
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Oct 03, 2021
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Paperback
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25
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| 0316323705
| 9780316323703
| 4.24
| 639,789
| Aug 1938
| Dec 17, 2013
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it was ok
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**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, theref
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book as well as those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters which contain reflections on abuse, suicide, terminal illness, mental disability, gender equality, murder, sexual promiscuity, & others. What are the markers of a good book? How do our subjective interpretations of the banal & bland, transform a shallow spike of intrigue into the famously acclaimed classic by du Maurier—one that is referenced & recreated into plots newly published for our consumption? I cannot begin to know. I enjoy classic works of literature. I appreciate their presentation, the writing style & the lengths taken by the authors to ensure that a great story is written. However, I was immediately dumbfounded upon beginning this book. This is an incredibly trite narrative given to the reader by a stained copper penny of a person left too long in the rain. The narrator of this story begins recounting her tale of love & longing to the reader sometime in the future when she & her husband, Maximilian de Winter, spend their days languidly soaking up the sun in some foreign hotel. She had dreamt of Manderley, her husband’s family estate, & finds herself drifting into the recesses of long-kept memories of her time there. Given this revelation that both partners—the narrator & her husband—are alive & well, much of the suspense one might assume in this book is dashed, we already know the end so what is the reason for reading this story? The format undertaken by older publications is the aspect I appreciate the most. I enjoy reading a story that is delectably written; a craft put forth into prose that sweeps me away, unawares, to the location of the story & nestles me in the corner of the room with the characters chatting away as my eyes absorb every word on the page. Yet, for all the romanticizing notions put forth in this book, I am left utterly devoid of feeling. The narrator who is without a name begins her recollections at the ripe old age of 22. She is employed as something of a professional companion & personal assistant to an elderly woman who is without etiquette & so, our narrator finds herself consistently blushing past recourse due to the actions of her employer, tying her into the social blasphemes. One can certainly relate to being in the presence of someone who is without worry regarding their tone or unending questions & therefore I found this particular section of the story interesting to read. The reader is truly given the bare minimum in terms of character profiles; the emphasis is rather on the assumedly ravishing foreign land & the warm sunshine that sheds new light on the opportunities that life may grant the characters. A lack of character profile did work positively in the case of this story because I do not think I would have cared to know more than I was told. The narrator is naive, ignorant, rather dumb, dull & dreary for the bulk of the entire book & yet, I could not help but believe that there was truly nothing more to her & so did not find myself longing for anything further than what was being shown. The same could be said for Maxim. Who is this man really? We know so many surface-level assumptions about his character from the point of view of the narrator yet, never once during the entire story was there an instant where I felt that the information which was being revealed rang true. I do not believe that the narrator knew her husband more nor less after the revelation that he killed Rebecca. I believed none of anything, to be honest. I don’t believe that Mrs. Danvers was an evil witch of a person throughout the entire novel because the reader is given only what the narrator sees & as someone who is familiar with grief, I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of pain towards Mrs. Danvers’ character. This story takes place in the English countryside—a part of the world known for its lack of sentimentality—with dreary weather in comparison to the French seaside in which the de Winters fell in love roaming the roadsides for hours every day. How might our silly-minded little narrator perceive Mrs. Danvers more than the way that she did; as a skeleton-skinned aging woman who held nothing but evil in her heart. This is what I expect from someone who is as dense as the head of a screw. Perhaps the reader is meant to regard all of what we are told with a grain of salt. Perhaps du Maurier wrote this book, not for the plot itself but to grant the reader an intricate look into the mind of someone who didn’t have one, to begin with. I suppose this is all very mean-spirited of me but, I find it difficult to read books wherein the simplest of tasks could be completed had not the main character been an ignoramus. The number of times we have to watch this young girl wander around Ben & totally disregard everything he was saying because he was developmentally disabled & she couldn’t think to put two & two together & piece what he was very plainly said, was incredible. I won’t be speaking about the representation of disabilities in this review because this book was published in 1938 & therefore we can all acknowledge that the chances of any of the representation being stellar are zilch. Perhaps what is most ironic of all is the fact that the main character is totally & completely incompetent in the face of everything that is obvious. How did she never think that Ben, who had been active on the grounds during Rebecca’s tenure at the house, might be talking about her every time they were around the water & boats? What else is the main character actually thinking about safe for Rebecca? That is all she ever talks about, all she ever thinks about; all her actions are predicated on thoughts of what Rebecca’s actions were or would have been. It’s absurd that she never thinks to link any of the situations around her. Can I appreciate that this story took place during a period in time when women were granted very few freedoms & therefore might it be accurate to assume that the main character had little opportunity to be better than she was? Certainly. Yet, her total lack of depth & suffocating inability as a human being were highlighted in contrast to every other woman around her. Even the Bishop’s wife, whose life consists of playing social cards & being content, had more of a personality than the main character who could not think to converse beyond simple one-word rhetorics. Once again, I acknowledge that this might have been du Maurier’s intent. Was I meant to feel frustrated towards the main character because she spent all her time in a dreaming state & gave me nothing of value during my reading experience? Was I meant to feel annoyed that the ‘twist’ came suddenly & left just as swiftly because the main character cared only to focus on proclaiming love for a 42-year-old man who hadn’t cared a wink up until that point, to tell his young wife that he loved her or that he was gland she was around? Was I supposed to feel disconnected from a narrative that saw two characters absolutely miss the point—who cares if Rebecca was sleeping with every man in town, it seems Maxim is unable to make profitable relationship decisions given he married the main character after knowing her a handful of days. Structurally this story could have been shortened a significant amount. The flow was constantly stunted by a repetition of what the reader already knew simply to highlight that the main character had to simmer over the information again. This is certainly an accurate representation of someone who might be experiencing anxiousness however, to read such a long book with such an amplitude of redundant information & scenes; this approach dragged the book into the depths of its peril. I would have been glad to read this book had I had a bit more patience for the absurdly tiresome experience of the main character; a person who has no sense of self, a person who longs to be loved by a man who could not stand up for himself. There are aspects of this story that I appreciate many people enjoyed & I am certainly able to acknowledge wonderful writing when it is due but the bulk of this plot was totally lost in the absurd number of times the narrator runs away from a situation; please at least eavesdrop so I don’t have to read 400+ pages of useless information, waiting for you to get the confidence to inhabit your home. An aspect of this book I found interesting for comparison's sake was the general approach to ‘final words’. With everything we now know about circumstances surrounding mental health & the very thin line that some people tread before being led to their end, utilizing a note that Rebecca left for her cousin as evidence that she would not have committed suicide was very sad to read. The story divulges that Rebecca was sick with what we might assume to be cancer & therefore her death in the boat is concluded to have been by suicide. Yet, Favell cannot acknowledge that she would have left him a note if she wanted to end her life. I suppose that if there is one thing to take away from this story it is; the imminent happiness one might see from someone who is suffering from suicidal ideations or, the promise of a later moment either by plans made or notes left, do not indicate that a person is not experiencing mentally taxing thoughts. This scene should be used as a reference to all to remind ourselves that we truly do not know how another person is feeling. Communicating amongst ourselves is important, none of us are mind readers. Ever so much as we might wish that the promise of another moment together is what we both want, the hardship of living with mental illness—specifically those that consume a person’s thoughts of leaving this life—is never to be downplayed. A smile in one moment does not dictate happiness in the next. When all is said & done, du Maurier had a story & she told it. She wrote all the characters to be drudgeries & I do applaud her for that because they felt like whom she wanted them to be; her ideas translated onto the page for me, all these years later, to be reading a story that she wrote so long ago. This is not a book I would recommend to others as something they must read while time allows it but, not one I would say is an utter waste of time given the subject matters do spark conversation & where are we without our words—silent, verbal, written & imagined. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Jun 05, 2022
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Sep 24, 2021
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ebook
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4
| 
| 0143135538
| 9780143135531
| 0143135538
| 3.65
| 6,826
| Sep 19, 2019
| Jun 09, 2020
|
liked it
|
**spoiler alert** To be honest, I am still unclear about how I feel about the story. At face value, Purcell has written an interesting story about som
**spoiler alert** To be honest, I am still unclear about how I feel about the story. At face value, Purcell has written an interesting story about someone fleeing their past & stumbling upon a house of people within which, one person seeks to rejoin hers. I suppose what makes this story difficult for me to adore is the pace that the plot undertakes to transmit the details which are to render the reader ‘spooked’. Hester, the main character & primary narrator is in her early 30s & has spent the entirety of her adult life as a personal maid. By her own account, & one which we never really delve into, death follows her & seeps itself into the people for whom she is employed. There are instances wherein Hester hints at it being her parents who instilled the idea within her, that she was cursed. However, at no point in the story do we explore Hester’s family, nor her life before her employment. Therefore, we are never given a clear picture of who our narrator is. I can appreciate it when a book leads the reader to draw their own conclusions. However, the majority of Hester’s dialogue circles around the immense guilt she feels, all the while never giving the reader a reason to want to root for her to ‘be better’. Had we explored a bit more of the circumstances that accounted for Hester having such terrible anger issues perhaps I would have been led to appreciate the complexities of this character. Unfortunately, I found myself perplexed by her continuous reflections of appreciation for the houses in which she worked, her sudden alcoholism, her self-imposed nurse’s title, & hints at a less than stellar family life. Not having the main character for whom to root is not a make-or-break detail in a book, at least not for myself. However, reading about minute instances in a person’s life only for those to be the sole details we are given to form a total conclusion of Hester as a person/character isn’t great. She comes into a house where the house owner, Miss Pinecroft, simmers in her reflections on the past. Had we had the opportunity to tie Hester’s past into her present actions I would have felt the significance of meeting an elderly person for whom the past has encompassed every waking moment of her life. Miss Louise Pinecroft is very well nearing the end of her life & sits in a room dedicated to bone china which, we discover, is in part forged with the bones of a group of men who came to reside on the island in the hopes of discovering a cure for Tuberculosis (TB) when Louise was twenty (20) years old. Having lost her mother & two siblings to the disease not long before we meet her & her father, the reader learns that both remaining members of the Pinecroft family are immeasurably devoured by grief. The introduction of local lore is where the story began to crumble, at least such is my opinion. It is a thin thread to tread, attempting to write physical/mental distress alongside folklore in the hopes of leading the reader to question whether or not both could be plausible & whether or not, the legends of those who creep in the night are the reason for so much terror. I did not feel as though this was successfully achieved in this particular story. The reason for this is that the characters were not established enough as standalone members of the world in which they lived for me to question whether or not something paranormal could have influenced the state of events that transpired. It was enough for me to look at Dr. Pinecrfot, for example, & deduce that the man was on the brink of mental collapse. His lapse into delusion was further emphasized by his decision to seclude himself with people who were rapidly dying of TB therefore, inducing traumatic reactions which his psyche which would inevitably lead his sanity astray. It was no surprise to see him attempt to ‘save’ Louise by murder, therefore removing her from a world that cruelly took away the family he so loved. There was a lot of talk about some of the local lore but I felt as though it didn’t actually intertwine with the characters & their experiences. It takes little information to understand that grief & mental illness can absolutely collapse a person into psychosis. I needed to be given more than a simple bright orb that floated around Hester some nights after she had experienced mental duress throughout the day, to believe that these mystical beings were present. Perhaps, had we explored a bit more of each character I would have been led to appreciate the fact that belief in such lore was probable. I get it, sometimes it’s easier to believe the fantastical rather than the absolute devastation which is found within the human species. A quick recap on Creeda leads one to understand how this is possible. As a girl, she was kidnapped & abused. Practicing protective actions against fairies is easier than confronting the fact that the people who abused you are still out in the world, most probably repeating what they have done. There is a final aspect I want to touch on & I will preface this by saying that I have no authority on the matter; Rosewyn. I am severely unsure how to interpret this character & their participation, or lack thereof, in this story. I think what renders me so unsure is the fact that Rosewyn didn’t need to be part of the story; there didn’t need to be a person with developmental delays in this book for anything else to have happened. By that I mean, what Rosewyn brings to the story is the threat of her suicide in the final scenes. During the entire time, we are within the house, we see this character so few times as to make those in which we do, bizarre. We see them under duress almost every time they are in scene a yet, we are never given any character markers for them as individuals, they are simply ‘simple-minded’ & that’s it. What was the point of that? There didn’t need to be a person constantly locked in a room, crying themselves to sleep & distressed by abandonment. Why was her character included? What did her disability bring to the story if only to highlight what most people already know; that people with disabilities have been consistently treated poorly. Overall, I did enjoy reading this book & finished it within a couple of hours. It’s a very quick read as Purcell is a good writer. Comments regarding the plot itself do not reflect her abilities as an author. Most of my comments could be addressed through dedicated editing. I will continue to read works by Purcell as I do enjoy the stories she crafts, though, I have often been left wanting at the end of my reading experiences of her books. Therefore, let me advise that if you are looking for a story that introduces the reader to the genre without being a slow burn (i.e. a long read), which houses some one-dimensional characters (i.e. not complicated to become involved with), which explores a story which is straightforward with hints of ‘outer-worldly’ (i.e. can be spooky if one is not as I am & is able to fully appreciate things for what they are at face value); this is a good book to select & I am certain that many people will enjoy. For myself, I would have desired more details about Hester; when she walked off the cliff there was nothing tying her to me—why should I care? What made this person the way that they were? Give me details about a person who is meant to leave me feeling uncomfortable & disturbed; lead me to understand why & how a person can snap on a dime. Write to me about the ways in which Louise’s nights were spent gazing through blinding eyes onto shelves of fine china built on the backs of the skeletal remains of people she had hoped to save. Give me the details of that distress; riddle me with the guilt Louise felt at being the sole survivor of her family. Let the grief linger in the rooms that shelter the cold air; make me feel as though I’m trapped in a house that numbers the locks. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Dec 07, 2021
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Aug 14, 2021
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Paperback
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6
| 
| 0141199350
| 9780141199351
| 0141199350
| 4.01
| 117,804
| Jun 1848
| Jun 28, 2012
|
did not like it
|
**spoiler alert** There are seldom things more frustrating for me than when I encounter a book that I really enjoy, only for it to take a nosedive at
**spoiler alert** There are seldom things more frustrating for me than when I encounter a book that I really enjoy, only for it to take a nosedive at the halfway point & become an absolute disappointment. Unfortunately, this was one such book. The first half of this story was great & I was really excited to read my first book by Anne Brontë. Having quickly scrolled through the reviews I noted that many people enjoyed this book so I was eager, as ever I am when embarking on a Gothic Horror read, to find myself among them. I appreciated the setting & the characters. A story that takes place in an age when little freedom existed, point-blank, & zero freedom existed for women, set alongside an abandoned manor within a small village with curious inhabitants ; I was intrigued. Brontë did not have to put much effort into world-building as this was a scene I could easily picture & it required little effort to place the characters in their subsequent roles as they came around. I also enjoyed the concepts explored, though the dialogues were a wee bit dry at times; child-rearing & the equality of the sexes during a period in time when equality was a non-existent term in one's vocabulary. This made the story of interest to me as I had not read a book of this time period that explored similar themes in such a way. Then we have the introduction of our secret resident of the abandoned manor (Helen? - I can't quite remember, they left so little impression on me). Again, I was intrigued & sought to learn more about the mysterious circumstances which brought her to inhabit this little village. However, soon we got to a point in time when our narrator, Gilbert, offers the reader some letters which were part of Helen's journal which she offered for him to read to gather a better understanding of why she was pushing Gilbert away when he made relentless advances. This is where I began to lose hope. I suppose it takes a decent level of suspended belief for one to read a book which is in the form of letters to a third party & then in which said letters host a 200+ page recount of past events re-written by the narrator (a story, within a story, within a story). We are to read through 200+ pages of things that I didn't need to read about. In my humble opinion, we could have made this part 50 pages tops. Every single event was recorded as though we needed to read about Arthur Sr. being a tool when it was fairly obvious from the first encounter that he was a loser. Instead of cutting to the point, we have to drudge through details of Helen wanting to blindly love a man who gives her every reason not to. Going over & over how bored & unhappy she is , we get it, you're in a toxic relationship, get me back to the letter part of this story so I can find out what's happening. Maybe I'm not equipped at this time to appreciate the ample details that Brontë put forth to write this story. Though I can appreciate the themes & the plot & I'm sure it would have been very cool to read about child-rearing in a different way & to explore the variety of relationships that exist. However, I found this book to be an excellent bore with characters who were so obviously evil or good that my reading experience felt spoilt by the mere fact of nothing has been as terrifying as I hoped it would be. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Jul 11, 2021
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Jun 03, 2021
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Paperback
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26
| 
| B00CGHRC06
| 3.61
| 14,881
| 2013
| Oct 08, 2013
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did not like it
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**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, theref
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book as well as those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters which contain reflections on abuse, child endangerment, death of a child, sexual abuse of a minor, suicide, psychological distress, graphic descriptions of body decay, & others. Eliza Caine is 21 years old when her last remaining parent dies. She is orphaned in a house that does not belong to her, in a city that sees her roaming the streets without opportunity for a welcomed male gaze, working tirelessly in a school for girls. Eliza is something of a lost soul which is ironic for so too is her own father who wanders alongside her in all her future adventures. Coming to a head, the ghost of her father & the ghost of a homicidal mother fight head-to-head over Eliza; lest we forget the two children who wander the grounds of this abode at which Eliza was hired to be their governess but, like Eliza’s common sense, the children’s needs fall to the waste side in this gothic horror style novel wherein ghosts rule the world of the living & the abuse done on to children sees adults more perplexed on the repercussions of abuse than on the safety of the children around them. I learned long ago to keep my expectations low when reading gothic novels. There are very few authors that can do the genre justice & these are outnumbered by those who grasp at the basic concept, once thought to be done right, & reproduce it to no end. Few readers have not become familiar with the plot employed within this book: a young woman accepts a job as a governess to children inhabiting a strange & secluded home. During her time employed at the house, she encounters ghastly things that make her question her sanity & those of the children, for surely young people might also be the demons haunting this house. In all, this is an overdone layout & one that rarely shows the fruits of the labour of writing. While reading this book I found my mind wandering to all the other mediums in which I have come across this same story before. What differentiates this book from others is its disjointed framework, one that left me questioning the seriousness of this work. The primary example I would like to employ towards this point touches on the subject of linguistics. I am certainly not an expert on English, nor am I an expert on Victorian English, however, there was a significant disconnect between all previous works taking place during such a time period & the discourse presented in this book. The use of the word ‘trauma’, specifically, is misused. When Eliza & Mr. Raisin are speaking about a series of abuses that Santina experienced during her childhood they reference that traumas affect us all our lives. However, the word ‘trauma’ was being utilized as a means of expressing distinct physical wounds per its introduction into English vernacular in 1690 & would only begin to be used to reference psychotic, psychological, & undo mental stresses in 1894, this being a total of 27 years after the story takes place. There are of course other such words that are whimsically tossed around & joining these with some of the personal approaches to gender, societal expectations, child-rearing, religion, etc. I could not help but feel put out. This book is not written in an authentic way so as to leave the reader with confirmation of the time period. The plot of this story is seemingly nonexistent. Eliza comes to Gaudlin Hall to care for children & yet spends all her time pestering people for the story of something that does not concern her. Certainly, upon learning that she is the sixth governess in under a year, there might be some explaining that would need to be done but, this story takes place in 1867, people died of bizarre occurrences all the time — they still do — so what would lead Eliza to feel that the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the previous governess’ were abnormal? Truly, one could regard each of the incidents & conclude with justifiable reasoning that they were accidental. That would be the point of having the deaths take place as they did. Yet for all her boasting of smarts & intelligence, Eliza amazes the reader by simply being able to place one foot in front of the other so little is she able to grasp at the straws of the obvious. I understand & appreciate that most gothic-style stories are written with just such a woman at the head. However, the extent to which Eliza’s character was without reason & made absurd decisions was overwhelming. This is a character who declares that she would never leave the children on their own, so much does she love them, while simultaneously running to the village on her first morning at the house to inquire about the whereabouts of the parental figures. She then spends hours in the village, eating scones, talking with people, & bullying others for information, all of which is none of her business. Finally, once she believes that there might be information to garner, she returns to the house to assume the role of a similar caretaker to the children as their own mother, with a little bit less psychosis & a bit more ego. The aspect of this book that I found the most troublesome was the approach to abuse. The sexual abuse done to children was touched on quite a bit as several characters had been made aware of predators in their community & others had begun exploring the topic in conversation, profiting off rumours of such events. However, when it came time for characters to action their intentions, those primarily pertaining to the safety & wellbeing of children, the adults always proved themselves to be incompetent. Why did Isabella have to die? Why did we read an entire story in which Eliza was caring & kind to Eustache but seemingly ignored Isabella — a child who was long subjugated to the abusive tendencies of her mother & would have faced the repercussions of such abuse in the visual formats as her mother violently attacked two people. This poor child is treated like a plague by all those around her & then finally ends up being crushed to death by the foundation of the house in which she grew up, only for the one person she had hope in, to leave the premises happy as a clam that she got to raise Eustache as her own child & be rid of Isabella’s weird tendencies. This is such a travesty. There were so many opportunities for the author to explore some depth of the subject matter as he employed the realities experienced by children so frequently that it left the absence of maturity a gaping hole. Throughout this entire book, we explore how trauma presents itself in various ways. Santina became crazed with the sole caretaker responsibilities of her children because she was worried that they would be subjected to abuse at the hands of others. Isabella was closed-off & emotionally stunted because her mother was oppressive & dangerous. The little girl who was abused by her teacher evoked behaviours of extremism. Yet, all the while Eliza never cared about that. What Eliza cared about was men & their impact on her & within her life. She did not care for the well-being of women nor did she care for their friendship. She spent her time imagining being Eustache’s parental figure; Mr. Raisin’s wife; the loving companion to the male teacher who was a child predator; the list goes on. What did it bring to have her constantly daydreaming about what it would be like to be with a man in a romantic way? It brought nothing. This entire premise brought down the quality of the story significantly & rendered Eliza to be a most unlikeable character — more so than she already was. At the end of the day, there are books of higher quality lining the shelves of libraries & bookstores alike. There are books that see action fulfilled by characters with forethought & depth; events transpiring due to logical series of movements; ghosts performing tricks that impacted those they haunted in dreadful ways. However, I could not find it in myself to care that Eliza stuck her hands into scalding water. I could not believe that there was no twist for surely it was obvious that the ghost of her father was pining for her safety against the attacks done by the obvious ghost of Santina? The trajectory of this story took no turns, held no twists & was just what one assumed it would be but, somehow lesser even than that. ...more |
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1
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not set
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Jun 21, 2022
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May 27, 2021
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Kindle Edition
| |||||||||||||||
5
| 
| 0143039989
| 9780143039983
| 0143039989
| 3.82
| 312,326
| Oct 16, 1959
| Nov 28, 2006
|
it was amazing
|
**spoiler alert** What I appreciate, so very much, about Jackson is her ability to weave a double plot into a single story with such formidable ease.
**spoiler alert** What I appreciate, so very much, about Jackson is her ability to weave a double plot into a single story with such formidable ease. I have said it once & shall say it again—Jackson is an incredible writer with a seamless ability to tell stories. Four (4) strangers gather at an abandoned house that is nestled safely in the hills, many miles from the nearest village. The house is eerie & shadowed due in part to its geography but also because of the varied tales of terror that bolster its reputation as being a haunted house. These strangers gather together under the pretence of scientific exploration. Three (3) of said strangers have been given no information pertaining to the study, so as to not sway their experiences. The series of events that follow lead the reader to form their own conclusions; is the house in fact haunted or are these characters projecting their own torments onto the walls of the old house? In my opinion, it doesn’t matter if you think the house is haunted or not. The point of the story is to hide a story within a story within a story. Firstly, the house was built by a man who wanted to please his wife, so he built them a home that was a labyrinth & had tilted axes that would imbalance anyone inside. I’m not sure that anyone who adored another person would want them to be stuck within a labyrinth of a house, I will leave you to form your own conclusions with regard to the original homeowner. This man then abandons his children to seek another wife, over & over again. These children grow to host animosity towards each other because they were never shown anything but abandonment growing up & have only the house as any proof that they were once parented by someone. The sisters fight all their lives. The rumours surrounding them go so far as to state that one sister stole from the other in the depth of night. I suppose to do that you really must hate to see the other person, so much so that you are pushed to wander in the dark for things that you think are worth more than your relationship. The eldest sister was said to have taken in a ‘companion’ from the village because she couldn’t bear to be alone & this girl helped around the house. This might be interpreted as a wholly platonic endeavour but, one usually does not leave great possessions (i.e. the house) to someone whom one does not deeply care for and/or love, so read into that what you will. The fact that this companion was then led to taking her own life in an attempt to rid herself of the turmoils that surrounded her does lead one to believe that the relationships she held with the eldest sister were more than a simple working arrangement. This book was also written in a time period in which anything other than the cis & straight relationship was nowhere near an acceptable option & one might conclude that the village & the younger sister drove the companion to take her life as they made it an absolute terror to live the way she did. Up until this point, many people have been putting others in harm’s way because of their own selfish endeavours. It’s no surprise then, that Dr. Montague invites people over to the house to confirm for his own sake, whether or not it is haunted. Eleanor grew up in an abusive home—one might conclude that the rocks that ‘fell’ on the house were in fact the collective social awareness of people around her knowing that her mother was an abuser but ‘losing interest’ & ‘soon forgetting’ about it after Eleanor grew up enough to make believe everything was fine outside of the house for her own sanity. By this, I mean compartmentalizing her abuse in any hopes of having a ‘normal’ life in society. Theodora was said to be able to read minds. Luke is said to be a liar & a thief. Dr. Montague is single-minded & assumes that everyone is immature & childish. Mrs. Montague is set on discovering a lost soul but isn’t able to accept the fact that Eleanor has just made it through years of seclusion, having to care for an ailing parent while her sister refuses to offer her any support whatsoever. Arthur is at the head of a boys’ school in which he boasts of worldly knowledge being shared with the youth but again, spends his time fulfilling his ‘macho’ ‘manly’ role in society while totally ignoring any warning signs of anything other than the single-paved-path which he walks on. I would not say that this novel will leave you with a feeling of terror or fright. Perhaps if you read it at night or on a stormy day when you are alone at home, you might. There are a couple of good little spooky scenes, but this felt like more of a sous-entendu story rather than an outwardly scary haunted house tale. Therefore, keep in mind that Jackson’s strong suit is writing about women who have been absolutely demolished by society & those around them, whom they have had no choice but to trust. ...more |
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1
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not set
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Jul 18, 2021
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May 04, 2021
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Paperback
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13
| 
| 0349007675
| 9780349007670
| 0349007675
| 3.83
| 1,422
| Nov 13, 2018
| Jun 06, 2019
|
it was ok
|
At the end of the day & when all is said & done; I’ve read this story before, split into other books. When I was making my way through this story I wa
At the end of the day & when all is said & done; I’ve read this story before, split into other books. When I was making my way through this story I was hoping that something would transpire to set it apart from all the others but, nothing ever did & I was left disappointed. I am glad to see a character who has physical impairments navigate their way through the world with a good head on their shoulders, familial support & a decent sense of self. Clara wanted to be a part of the world & worked very hard to realize that. Though she had a condition that made her subject frequently to broken bones, therefore rendering most things impossible, she still pushed herself to make her mark in society & I applaud Fletcher for writing the main character who was eager to surpass whatever (& anything) presented to them. Unfortunately, in that same breath, Clara was so beyond rude, that I really could not get behind her as a character. Imagine going to someone else’s house (for work, mind you) & spending all your time pestering everyone at the house because you have an over-active curiosity. I felt a lot of second-hand embarrassment because I could not imagine doing everything she did. Read the room for goodness sake; people are uncomfortable talking about the past residents of the house. I understand that for the purpose of the novel much of the progression in the story comes from Clara being a busy body with no social skills & noting that everyone is a ‘loser’ because they don’t get along with her in the same way that her parents did but, holy cow give it a rest. By page 100 Clara becomes such a rude, self-centred prick I was surprised that I made it that far in the book. Fletcher is a good writer but the way this story was written left a bit to be desired. A lot of the story is fillers; Clara ponders how everyone around her is a simple village person, how her mother has just died, she talks to herself about how she thinks people are acting strangely, etc. I didn’t feel as though the scenes were ever set & but, maybe that was intentional as Clara had little to no experience outside her house in London. However, I found a lot of her dialogue redundant & it was difficult for me to believe that everyone would be so blissfully accommodating to her annoying questioning. I certainly would have told her to eat crow & busy herself with her job. This leads me to Clara’s reason for being at the house; to plant flowers. Maybe I’m missing something but it felt a little contrived to think that someone who could hardly maneuver themselves in an exchange of goods at a store, let alone someone who just learnt about the garden where these plants were coming from (the month before) was suddenly the plant expert & was going to plant (alone) all these flowers in this massive greenhouse. There was a crew specifically hired to tend to the garden, the lawns, & the landscape as a whole & yet this random girl is hired on with no previous experience to tend to an entire greenhouse on her own? Again, maybe I’m missing something but, along with the fact that Patrick leisurely let her leave the house to go do physical labour, the whole thing felt improbable. While reading this story I couldn’t help but recall a handful of other novels that approached the same topics in a way that left me wanting while reading this one. I think we could have done without the entire Veronique plot because truly, how many times do we have to utilize the abuse of women as plot points; it’s tried. The story behind Mr. Fox & his random desire to focus energies on the outside of a beautifully decrepit house rather than the inside repairs was interesting enough; we had a lot to go with in terms of exploring the village, the house, even if we held a little ghostly intrigue, a plot point we needed not, the staff, Clara herself (we spent 100 pages on her backstory). We could have even benefitted from a perspective change to that of Charlotte (her mother) to reveal the final twist. Overall, this book could have been a novella & would have benefitted from a shorter format & possibly a less unnerving main character. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Jun 2021
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Apr 15, 2021
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Paperback
| |||||||||||||
31
| 
| 0140437460
| 9780140437461
| 0140437460
| 3.74
| 6,663
| Dec 1864
| Jun 01, 2001
|
it was ok
|
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, theref
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book as well as those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters which contain reflections on abuse, psychological distress, physical assault, extreme violence, grief, & others. The primary reason for which I write reviews is so that I am able to transfer my thoughts & better analyze my feelings. When one is writing, one is engaging a part of the brain that requires a second’s extra time before the letter becomes a word & that word a series of ideas. I do not write perfect reviews, languages set obstacles in my way; an eagerness to get the thoughts out of my head rushes my fingers; the process as a whole requires patience & time. We all encounter errors & stutter in our mannerisms. Yet, here is an author who had every opportunity in the world not to do that. Le Fanu sat & wrote nearly 500 pages of plot that had nothing of substance to offer but to rid the reader of an annoyance that I cannot rightly name. I do not endeavour to read the Classics in ignorance. I am aware that times have changed & shifted. I recognize that what might have been a truly ghastly tale of horror upon publication may very well be a common occurrence in the society in which the reader lives at that moment. Unfortunately for me, this is exactly what has occurred in my case. I wanted to read this book because it is highly regarded & has been placed on the lists that boast the scariest stories ever told. I find myself once again, disappointed. The reader meets Maud, the main character, as she sits in a gorgeous bourgeois house in the countryside of England. Maud is 17 at the beginning of this story but she is writing these recollections of her youth from an undistinguished moment in the future. Her recollections often include forethought & acknowledgement on her behalf that some of the events that transpired might be viewed differently by anyone else, anyone who had more life experience than she did. I appreciated this inclusion as it allowed both the author & their main character the liberty of exploring the banality of the story. Maud is an heiress to a grand fortune & her entire life up until the passing of her father is filled with blissful ignorance. This story is sectioned into three parts & though this may be used as a proper device to draw the interest of the reader & engage their levels of curiosity, in this case, it did nothing but leave me wondering when the action & bulk of the story might take place. As was likely to happen, I had a favourite part of the three & felt the weight of my disappointment more acutely because I preferred the first part over the second & third. Le Fanu did a phenomenal job of setting the scene in the first section; making life as cloistered & dull as it could be. All the while, the reader is reminded that Austin Ruthyn is a brilliant man of very literary pursuits. This detail is important because it allows the reader to engage with the story as a whole. Austin, Maud’s father, is not hidden from the world like his brother, Silas, because of any forces outside of his control. He remains abreast of society because he does not necessarily agree with everything that happens & the choices those in charge make; never being able to reach the height of their positions. He remains well-respected, simply a person who enjoys their company so much that they do not feel lonely. Maud on the other hand suffers because of this isolation & goes through life completely out to lunch. I find it difficult to reflect emotionally on this story because it wouldn’t have gone anywhere if the main character had any semblance of a clue. It truly wouldn’t have gone anywhere if the legal system that prevailed at the time was worth an ounce. Silas was accused of brutally murdering a man inside his own home, a man to whom he owed a great deal of money. Because the room appeared to be sealed from the inside, the courts deemed it a suicide & not a murder. We are so lucky to have been made aware of the fiendish practices of the unsavoury through the works of Agatha Christie, Rex Stout, & many others. I wonder if they ever chanced an opportunity to read this book & thought the premise a ridiculous crux at which to lean the entire plot. This is where I remain at an impasse. Surely, for its time, this story allows readers to appreciate that the legal system could not be wrong. Who indeed could kill a person in an allegedly locked room? A locked room that was sealed from the inside, mind you. In today’s day & age, with all the literature, film & exposure to the reality that has filled our days since the publication of this book, the concept does not seem as impossible as it might have in 1864. Let us pretend for a second that Silas didn’t actually murder anyone. He’s still a mean person. He remains a brute & someone to whom the gentile side of life does not appeal. Yet, knowing this, Austin still bequeathed his own daughter to his care, assuming that if she were to randomly die, Silas would get the entire fortune. This is a bizarre choice. This decision does not align with the person that we are meant to believe Austin to be. Why would someone so smart, aware, & cautious of details choose to place his child in the home of someone he knew was neglecting his own children? I suppose we all do very dumb & silly things from time to time but, this is a bit extreme. I say this & remember that there is an entire section within this novel that hints at being more than what it is. The evil French governess who roamed the property, tormenting & thieving from Maud felt interminably long to me. So long, in fact, that I welcomed the second section with open spirits because at least then, the book was moving in a different direction. I could not find it in myself to care about the wildly peculiar ramblings of a woman who should not have been hired as the governess in the first place. Yet again I find myself questioning the man who is meant to be smart. Your child is crying & scared & all you have to say is, to get over it. Given the fact that Maud is recollecting these events, it was safe to assume that she survived whatever befell her. Certainly, if she had been abducted by the people on the property her journalling might be indicative of an end-of-life testament. But in all, everything felt too quaint for that to be the case. Silas never read as a great villain. He was dependent on Opium the entire time we knew him & was constantly zoned out from reality because he consumed the drug at leisure & without measuring it before consumption. I failed to find the languid body of someone high on Opium to be as terrifying as it was meant to be. At what point was I meant to look upon the decaying man before me & think that he was some looming demon in the night? We already know he’s capable of murder. I gathered by the brutality of the crime that he didn’t give a lick about committing cruel acts & so it was tedious for me to read through 445 pages of the same ramblings from Maud, trying to convince the reader that her Uncle Silas was a tender & good man. Again, Maud couldn’t grasp the intention of sentences told to her clearly in plain language so I do not put any weight into what she may or may not believe her uncle capable of. Because of this, the story wound around in circles. Maud blushes, she is annoyed, she is studious, she cries all of the time & she wants Milly to be a more posh individual. Nothing really happens which is not necessarily bad but, when I am promised a tale of daring psychological thrill, I expect to find that within the plot, at least once. Unfortunately, this story felt interminably long. I paused quite often to wonder at what might possibly occur that was not already wagered from the synopsis or, to be kind, from the introductory chapter. Overall, I do not begrudge reading this book but it was not what I had hoped for. This was long & drawn out in such a way that made me hope for one of the phantoms of the old houses to come alive in a vampiric way so as to draw some blood from the stone which this plot proved to be. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Dec 23, 2022
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Jan 10, 2021
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Paperback
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9
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| 0994630603
| 9780994630605
| 0994630603
| 3.91
| 26,450
| Jul 20, 2016
| Aug 14, 2016
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it was ok
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**spoiler alert** I will preface my review by saying that, had I known this was a book involving zombies/the undead, I wouldn’t have read it. Coates d **spoiler alert** I will preface my review by saying that, had I known this was a book involving zombies/the undead, I wouldn’t have read it. Coates did a good job in her writing. I would definitely read more of her work in the future. My review is based on the fact that I did not enjoy the main character, Adrienne, & found a lot of what she did to be totally left-field-dumb & secondly, I don’t enjoy un-dead/zombie stories so when this was revealed to be the twist (the haunting) I lost interest & had a hard time believing any of the story. This being said, if you’re someone who can easily immerse yourself in this kind of story then you might really enjoy it. The twist comes in the reveal that Edith had a twin sister who totally ravaged her entire family at the age of nine (9). First of all, I know this might be possible however, the extent of the damage that was done to the family makes me question how none of them were able to outrun her or, even just not be subjected to her mutilation. Even believing that she has outer-human powers, there were four (4) adults present in the massacre; none of them could get away. The second point in this plot reveal, which makes little sense to me, is why Eleanor is an adult in her haunting. She was killed as a child, as told by Edith. Why is her corpse that of a grown/aged adult? Does the fact that she killed people with time left on earth allow her deceased body to continue to evolve? Given the fact that it would be her spirit (soul or whatever you want to call it) that is affected & connected to the paranormal powers which allow her to not exit her body forever, why would her body, which would have decayed, age? I felt a little confused by that, but maybe someone else completely got it & this was a non-factor to them. I have to say that I generally do not enjoy stories where the antagonist (especially in hauntings) will continue to come back. I couldn’t shake the annoyance that Eleanor would continue to come back every couple of years. Why not scatter her ashes to make it harder for her to manifest? Or, why not just burn the house? She’d have nowhere to come back to & no purpose. Adrienne is young when she moves into Edith’s house so, many of her actions I tried to forgive based on the fact that her parent had recently passed away & she was without money, just trying to figure everything out. However, her ignoring Wolfgang’s, her cat, signs of distress (repeatedly) made me want to scream. If an animal is showing those signs there’s a reason. She could have saved herself a lot of trouble if she just paid closer attention to her cat (whom I loved, by the way). I know that it works best for the story to make Adrienne feel out of place in her new house but, gosh did I wish she just boiled some water & cleaned the rooms. Hearing her just sit around & talk about things she didn’t like or things that were dirty made me annoyed. She has ample time, especially before the haunting begins, to clean the house, learn its layout & start to organize it in a way that she likes. She could have posted some of the items in the house for sale to make herself some extra money. Instead, she eats cup noodles for days & relies on the (unbelievable) kindness of someone who has created a fake account for her utilities. Overall, the beginning of this book wasn’t bad. I did somewhat enjoy the small-town feel of the development. If you don’t mind zombies, some lack of basic decision making & a great cat sidekick (who really carried the story), you’d enjoy this book. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Dec 18, 2020
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Dec 18, 2020
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Paperback
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3
| 
| 3.75
| 70,902
| 1983
| 2016
|
did not like it
|
**spoiler alert** I cannot even fathom where to begin this review. This book was one of the very worst stories I have ever come across both in terms o
**spoiler alert** I cannot even fathom where to begin this review. This book was one of the very worst stories I have ever come across both in terms of writing & plot. Being a total of 200 pages I was flabbergasted by my own struggle to make it through without repeatedly stumbling in my reading & wanting to abandon the book every couple of pages. I should say that, if you are someone for whom Horror is not the preferred genre or if you are young & seeking something that is light; both in terms of storyline & the paranormal, then you might very well enjoy this book. My full support to you if you do. I have read that some people really disliked the introductory chapter wherein Arthur, our main character & narrator, is introduced to us on the eve of Christmas; sitting in a large country-side estate, while his family shares spur-of-the-moment ghost stories. My reason for enjoying this chapter so much was because it was the only instance that felt authentic. Arthur is a very boring, bland, sullen type of character & everything he encounters & pursues follows suit of those characteristics. However, him sitting idly by, as his step-children (which is most often emphasized in a way that makes me assume that this might be due to the time period or culture), share stories by a dying fire, fits his character in such a way as to make him almost likeable. His simple tendency to not actually share anything with his family, of whom he has been a part for over 14 years, instead of making the decision to wander off alone & write down his past experiences with the paranormal, is fitting & overall makes sense for his character. Unfortunately, we are meant to rely on this person to share a gruelling story of terror & dread. Therein lies my main issue; nothing happens because Arthur is invaluably unable to recount anything in any effective way so as to render the weight of his experiences anything other than far-fetched ridiculous memories. Hill spends a great deal of time wandering in circles throughout her writing; we read about ambiance & setting, often. This is not necessarily a bad thing but, I understand that the mist is looming, I understand that you cannot see through it. I understand what mist is & if I were truly uncertain, having it described to me four (4) different times was not going to make it any clearer. After the scene was set, we have to read about Arthur’s interpretation of the weather in every chapter as though we couldn’t gauge for ourselves how unpredictable the weather would be in the English countryside; as though this isn’t, in current times, well-known for the majority of us. We spend so much time on weather, environment, & Arthur’s observations of meteorology that the actual girth of the story was lost in the process. Seeing as Arthur doesn’t have many redeeming qualities about him when the ‘Woman in Black’ appeared to us I was so underwhelmed that I couldn’t even bother to care. We walk in circles about a sickly woman appearing at random & then read about Arthur being kept in the dark as to who she is & the impact she held over society. Then, that’s it, we’re at the end of the 200-page book where, you guessed it; everything happens within a couple of pages & voila, fin. Stella dies, his son dies & everyone is riddled with dread & guilt & sorrow. There was no tension built-up throughout this book, no sentiments summoned to hint at looming terror, no foreshadowing of horrors; there was mist, marshes, a big house & rooms filled with the scent of damp. I wish that this book had been edited in a different way. There was potential for the story to be scary but, we required a different narrator—one who underwent some form of distinguished regression throughout the story. Arthur reads as being exactly the same in his youth as when he is writing the story in his midlife. I appreciate that his self-reflection could impact the translation of his personality over the years however, even when he was being fully honest with himself about his innocence; was he really young & innocent or was he always glum & dull? In any case, Hill’s writing of a character with few redeeming characteristics was well-done. I felt absolutely nothing for Arthur save annoyance. He would tell us about something happening in the house only to, a couple of phrases later, recount that same event or go over an action to counter something he had done (here’s looking at you—opening all the curtains only to close them again several moments later as though we couldn’t have filled those lines with other things). To conclude, this was not a book I enjoyed in the least. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
|
not set
|
Dec 21, 2021
|
Oct 10, 2020
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Paperback
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my rating |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
34
|
| 4.19
|
liked it
|
Apr 07, 2024
|
Apr 07, 2024
|
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33
|
| 3.89
|
not set
|
Feb 04, 2024
|
||||||
32
|
| 3.95
|
it was amazing
|
Jan 05, 2023
|
Dec 31, 2022
|
|||||
29
|
| 4.16
|
really liked it
|
Sep 15, 2022
|
Sep 18, 2022
|
|||||
28
|
| 3.53
|
did not like it
|
Sep 11, 2022
|
Jun 24, 2022
|
|||||
24
|
| 3.42
|
it was amazing
|
May 16, 2022
|
May 17, 2022
|
|||||
27
|
| 3.12
|
it was ok
|
Apr 09, 2022
|
Apr 09, 2022
|
|||||
22
|
| 3.89
|
it was amazing
|
Mar 06, 2022
|
Apr 04, 2022
|
|||||
23
|
| 3.84
|
it was ok
|
May 06, 2022
|
Feb 19, 2022
|
|||||
20
|
| 3.31
|
it was ok
|
Feb 10, 2022
|
Feb 10, 2022
|
|||||
1
|
| 3.85
|
did not like it
|
Oct 03, 2021
|
Oct 03, 2021
|
|||||
25
|
| 4.24
|
it was ok
|
Jun 05, 2022
|
Sep 24, 2021
|
|||||
4
|
| 3.65
|
liked it
|
Dec 07, 2021
|
Aug 14, 2021
|
|||||
6
|
| 4.01
|
did not like it
|
Jul 11, 2021
|
Jun 03, 2021
|
|||||
26
|
| 3.61
|
did not like it
|
Jun 21, 2022
|
May 27, 2021
|
|||||
5
|
| 3.82
|
it was amazing
|
Jul 18, 2021
|
May 04, 2021
|
|||||
13
|
| 3.83
|
it was ok
|
Jun 2021
|
Apr 15, 2021
|
|||||
31
|
| 3.74
|
it was ok
|
Dec 23, 2022
|
Jan 10, 2021
|
|||||
9
|
| 3.91
|
it was ok
|
Dec 18, 2020
|
Dec 18, 2020
|
|||||
3
|
| 3.75
|
did not like it
|
Dec 21, 2021
|
Oct 10, 2020
|
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