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erebus53's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
It's New York in the 1950s, and an off Broadway actress has lost her wits.. if she ever had them in the first place. In a setup remeniscent of The Yellow Wallpaper, Ginette is told she needs to be some place quiet, so she takes a cheap apartment at 19 Howard Ave. She doesn't realize it's haunted, and now the house won't let her leave.
People have always considered her a bit touched, so the police get confused when she calls them to report a murder, having seen the ghost of a woman next door, and a strange man outside her own window.. but there might be something to it.
The story is not told in chronological order but that actually adds to the tension. Ginette is diagnosed agoraphobic and dosed with some unlabeled pills by a doctor. Nobody takes her seriously, and that seems just as horrific for it's realism, as hearing ghostly screams and voices in your supposedly empty basement.
Being a shut-in and having people talking about you is a serious tension right through the whole book. A young woman alone, with no supports, she latches-on to the first kind person she meets, and people-watching to give her life a sense of normality, has some unforeseen consequences.
This one reminded me a bit of the Patricia Arquette TV series "Medium". Short and not very deep, but interesting.
People have always considered her a bit touched, so the police get confused when she calls them to report a murder, having seen the ghost of a woman next door, and a strange man outside her own window.. but there might be something to it.
The story is not told in chronological order but that actually adds to the tension. Ginette is diagnosed agoraphobic and dosed with some unlabeled pills by a doctor. Nobody takes her seriously, and that seems just as horrific for it's realism, as hearing ghostly screams and voices in your supposedly empty basement.
Being a shut-in and having people talking about you is a serious tension right through the whole book. A young woman alone, with no supports, she latches-on to the first kind person she meets, and people-watching to give her life a sense of normality, has some unforeseen consequences.
This one reminded me a bit of the Patricia Arquette TV series "Medium". Short and not very deep, but interesting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Chronic illness, Murder, Stalking, Confinement, Drug use, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit
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