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“No matter if I plug my ears it still calls to me.”
This is a 3.5 star review rounded up because this is a beautiful piece of work. It’s a jarring portrait of womanhood in the early 1900’s, there were many scenes in this that made my blood boil. It’s definitely a slow burn and does a good job of setting the scene of Ada’s life in Lowry Bridge. I admittedly would’ve enjoyed the story more if the horror elements were more in the forefront - I was really intrigued by the Grey Dog and I feel like we didn’t learn much about it, nor did it play a huge role in the story, I found myself wanting more. I really enjoyed Ada’s love of the outdoors, and liked the musings on God in relation to the natural world. Overall, I’d recommend this if you’re looking for a feminine rage, sapphic story with some horror intertwined.
This is a 3.5 star review rounded up because this is a beautiful piece of work. It’s a jarring portrait of womanhood in the early 1900’s, there were many scenes in this that made my blood boil. It’s definitely a slow burn and does a good job of setting the scene of Ada’s life in Lowry Bridge. I admittedly would’ve enjoyed the story more if the horror elements were more in the forefront - I was really intrigued by the Grey Dog and I feel like we didn’t learn much about it, nor did it play a huge role in the story, I found myself wanting more. I really enjoyed Ada’s love of the outdoors, and liked the musings on God in relation to the natural world. Overall, I’d recommend this if you’re looking for a feminine rage, sapphic story with some horror intertwined.
Full disclosure: the author is one of my closest friends and the version I read was a draft. That being said, I wouldn't give a book five stars or recommend it to my other friends if I didn't genuinely think it was deserving.
Elliott asked me to read the draft because she knew I would give honest feedback if something wasn't working. She did not expect me to come back and say "no notes; it's perfect", and I actually didn't want to for fear that she'd think I just didn't care enough to read it closely! This is going to sound like a terrible thing to do to a friend, but I tried so hard to find fault with this novel. Grey Dog is so good that I failed. I read very little historical fiction and even less horror, so I felt like I couldn't help on anything genre-specific, but I looked closely at character; setting; pacing; and dialogue and couldn't suggest a single change. The one short scene that I initially thought could potentially have been cut ended up paying off later; nothing rang false; and I could clearly envision the settings.
Even though I'm not a particular fan of horror, I loved how atmospheric and creepy this was. I also thought that Elliott found a really nice balance with the more disgusting elements of the story - it never felt gratuitous. There's a beautiful subtlety to this novel, and I could feel how much care was put into it.
I'm proud of you, Elliott.
Elliott asked me to read the draft because she knew I would give honest feedback if something wasn't working. She did not expect me to come back and say "no notes; it's perfect", and I actually didn't want to for fear that she'd think I just didn't care enough to read it closely! This is going to sound like a terrible thing to do to a friend, but I tried so hard to find fault with this novel. Grey Dog is so good that I failed. I read very little historical fiction and even less horror, so I felt like I couldn't help on anything genre-specific, but I looked closely at character; setting; pacing; and dialogue and couldn't suggest a single change. The one short scene that I initially thought could potentially have been cut ended up paying off later; nothing rang false; and I could clearly envision the settings.
Even though I'm not a particular fan of horror, I loved how atmospheric and creepy this was. I also thought that Elliott found a really nice balance with the more disgusting elements of the story - it never felt gratuitous. There's a beautiful subtlety to this novel, and I could feel how much care was put into it.
I'm proud of you, Elliott.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Grief, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Classism
A good woman. How odd that the phrase has such a particular meaning. One might say “a good man” and mean anything—there are as many ways of being a good man, it seems, as there are of being a man at all. But there is only one way to be a good woman. It is such a narrow, stunted, blighted way to be that I wonder any woman throughout history has been up to the task. Perhaps none of us ever have.
save me sapphic gothic fiction, save me.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The writing was good but, i have to say that i was more interested in the hot narrator voice than the story lol.
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense