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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
It wasn't lost on me that they brought up a few times how they stole the land from the Native American's so "the land is rightfully theirs". When the same thing starts happening to them that their ancestors did to the Native Americans it puts into perspective how truly terrifying and barbaric it is. (Not that the characters ever put two and two together....)
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
4.5 rounded up for Goodreads. Very compelling slow-burn story in which the tension builds and builds. Love the ending and the overall message of the book. The main family was easy to root for and to sympathize with.
Nunca había escuchado de Joan Samson y es una pena porque este es un libro muy interesante. Hay algo interesante en que sea el único libro donde podemos adentrarnos a su mente.
Aunque algunas de las ideas presentadas me parecen peligrosamente conservadoras, la atmósfera es súper inquietante aunque realmente la mayoría de los horrores del libro son sugeridos.
La idea más prevalente -y que considero más alarmante- es como a veces permitimos toda clase de cosas solo por dejarnos llevar por la corriente, a pesar de que nos causan incomodidad o incluso nos parecen inprácticas, inútiles o hasta poco éticas.
La otra cosa que me pareció llamativa es que, como suele ocurrir en la realidad, los protagonistas no siempre están enterados de todos los sucesos que ocurren en la historia y mucha de la información es obtenida de segunda mano. Esa falta de certeza, el juego del teléfono descompuesto y leer entre líneas hace que los eventos vayan desarrollándose sutilmente, siempre dejando una sensación de que las cosas no están completamente bien pero sin poder determinar exactamente qué está sucediendo.
Aunque algunas de las ideas presentadas me parecen peligrosamente conservadoras, la atmósfera es súper inquietante aunque realmente la mayoría de los horrores del libro son sugeridos.
La idea más prevalente -y que considero más alarmante- es como a veces permitimos toda clase de cosas solo por dejarnos llevar por la corriente, a pesar de que nos causan incomodidad o incluso nos parecen inprácticas, inútiles o hasta poco éticas.
La otra cosa que me pareció llamativa es que, como suele ocurrir en la realidad, los protagonistas no siempre están enterados de todos los sucesos que ocurren en la historia y mucha de la información es obtenida de segunda mano. Esa falta de certeza, el juego del teléfono descompuesto y leer entre líneas hace que los eventos vayan desarrollándose sutilmente, siempre dejando una sensación de que las cosas no están completamente bien pero sin poder determinar exactamente qué está sucediendo.
I don’t remember where I heard about this book - probably some Book Riot list. What makes me sad is that some random Facebook list isn’t where I should have heard about this. There’s a place for this book in the American horror catalog, alongside The Lottery, where nothing is more unsettling than a small town that starts going wrong.
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Unsatisfied. Didn’t feel the horror. Had an eerie theme and mood set but not horror. Slow-paced with excessive dialogue.
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
sorry to Joan Samson, but I found it impossible to enjoy a slow burn horror when one of the major twists is spoiled in the introduction (Grady Hendrix, we are not on good terms).
dark
tense
slow-paced
Perly Dunsmore, the Auctioneer, is an extremely terrifying person- the way he wormed into Harlowe, his insidiously charming manner was anger-inducing. Moreover, I think the book is well-done in the type of horror the author Joan Samson was trying to portray of the everyday man coming into contact with a devious individual preying on a small town and their ideas of community and keeping to the "old ways." He seemed to know just how to begin his plan with increasing police presence and then following with auctions. The fear and tension in the book slowly ramped up as the auctions continued, and as the reader we can't know how difficult it is to divorce yourself and your family from the community, as well as the generations of your family that have lived on your land. There is an immense amount of pride at play here in several respects, and you get to a point and wonder if that is still enough to keep a family going.
So with that, I still had issues with the book mostly due to the repetitive back-and-forth of much of its narrative. I was into the book for the first half, but until the end where John Moore leaves town to try to get help, all the waffling in-between got a little tiresome. It's realistic to waver if there's so much at stake to lose, but I really wanted the story to do something else after a certain point. The tension of Dunsmore as a villain had well sunk in by that point, as well as my anger how the community was continually getting duped. I just wanted someone to do something besides Ma, Mim and John bickering. So though the book isn't that long, the quiet nature of it could only keep me interested for so long. If only we cut a bit of the middle portion out.
So with that, I still had issues with the book mostly due to the repetitive back-and-forth of much of its narrative. I was into the book for the first half, but until the end where John Moore leaves town to try to get help, all the waffling in-between got a little tiresome. It's realistic to waver if there's so much at stake to lose, but I really wanted the story to do something else after a certain point. The tension of Dunsmore as a villain had well sunk in by that point, as well as my anger how the community was continually getting duped. I just wanted someone to do something besides Ma, Mim and John bickering. So though the book isn't that long, the quiet nature of it could only keep me interested for so long. If only we cut a bit of the middle portion out.