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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
This book was so dark I loved it! I'm not usually one for novels with a historical setting, but the premise of this intrigued me enough to give it a go. The story follows a schoolteacher, who is nearly 30 and unable to find work elsewhere due to a scandal, arriving in a very small town to take up her new post. From there many unsettling things begin to happen but she manages to make a few friends and enjoy teaching her new class. However, things start to get creepier and she becomes more and more impacted by them, something that apparently happened to the previous holder of her post too...
This story is told through her personal account in a journal of sorts, so of course a highly unreliable narrator, you can feel her descent into paranoia and in the last 150 pages or so, ecstasy.
Honestly, this was so unnerving throughout, with a cast of really interesting characters with believable backstories of their own all coming together to create an atmosphere of isolation and mystery.
Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press for providing an eARC for me to review.
This story is told through her personal account in a journal of sorts, so of course a highly unreliable narrator, you can feel her descent into paranoia and in the last 150 pages or so, ecstasy.
Honestly, this was so unnerving throughout, with a cast of really interesting characters with believable backstories of their own all coming together to create an atmosphere of isolation and mystery.
Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press for providing an eARC for me to review.
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
girl crush: “you’re kind of off putting rn and actually I think you’re going insane OH and you’re really stinky”
Ada: “what if I fucking bite you huh”
I loved this book. The writing style, the atmosphere and scenery, the buildup, the social commentary. It was so easy for me to love Ada and my heart hurt for her so often. I think Gish did a really good job of setting the dominos up and they fell almost perfectly.
Ada: “what if I fucking bite you huh”
I loved this book. The writing style, the atmosphere and scenery, the buildup, the social commentary. It was so easy for me to love Ada and my heart hurt for her so often. I think Gish did a really good job of setting the dominos up and they fell almost perfectly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Violence, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Murder
Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Gaslighting
Content warning for compulsory heterosexuality resulting in sexual assault/coercion.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
3.5 ish stars. I enjoyed this, but it was a very slow start for me. I think the descent into madness was really well done but I do wish it was a little creepier.
This is a spell-binding debut novel that had me by the throat right from the beginning. It is a delicious exploration of power, longing, and respectability-politics, a rage at the failures of society that is constantly simmering just beneath the surface.
I really did enjoy this novel, but there are a few things that feel important to know going in. Firstly, this is listed as both “literary fiction” and as “horror,” and by the end that certainly makes sense, but it takes a long time for the horror elements to kick in. There is the ever-oppressive reality of being a single woman in the early 20th century, and that is horrific, I suppose. But what would be considered the more conventional horror elements don’t really start appearing until 2/3 of the way into the novel. There is a very small sprinkle at just after the 1/3 mark, and another at the halfway mark, which all does a good job of ratcheting up the tension as you get deeper and deeper into the story. But up until the final act, even those early horrific elements could be hand-waved away, if you really wanted to. I thought the final act was really tense and breath-taking and I loved it, but I would have liked some more horror elements sprinkled in a little earlier, so it felt like more than just an exploration of the pastoral turn of the century. If you go in expecting horror from the beginning, which is kind of what is sold in the blurb, you might be disappointed. If you don’t cling to that expectation, though, then the ride is a lot of fun.
Secondly, the entire story is told through journal entries. I always struggle with this as a narrative device, because the device itself tells you something about the ending, and the narrative constantly needs to find reasons to have the protagonist accurately writing these thoughts down. I think if the epistolary nature was dropped entirely the story would be just as compelling, if not more so, because it leaves more space for the ending to leave you twisted and taken by surprise. However, using this technique did allow the author to make some time jumps that could have felt awkward in a more conventional narrative. It also allowed for a few wonderfully poignant chapters, such as one that just contained a single sentence but said a whole lot more. Lastly it did allow a style of writing that would be befitting a school mistress living in the early 1900s, so the vocabulary and the aesthetic all made sense, it didn’t feel forced. It isn’t my favorite literary technique but is was used well here, and Gish exploited some of the things it allows for without falling into the trap of really stretching credulity about how/when/why this would all be written in a journal.
So, this novel did two things I generally don’t prefer, which is to say saving almost all its horror elements for the final act and using a journal-entry narrative device. On top of that, historical fiction isn’t one of my go-to genres, either. And yet, still, I really, really enjoyed this book. That is saying something. The characters were all compelling and felt real and exciting. The setting/world felt genuine. It wasn’t anything groundbreaking, what I would expect from a small out-of-the-way village in the early 20th century, but it didn’t feel like a contrivance, but instead felt really lived in. Maybe most importantly, the story flowed really well--I didn’t want to put it down once I started. It really did grab me right away, and I felt genuine discomfort and concern at the many traumas injustices our protagonist experienced, which made the journey all the more wild and emotionally resonant. I definitely recommend this novel, especially for anyone who see the sharp fangs hiding just under the skin of societal expectations and anxiously awaits for them to snap shut.
I want to thank the author, the publisher ECW Press, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I really did enjoy this novel, but there are a few things that feel important to know going in. Firstly, this is listed as both “literary fiction” and as “horror,” and by the end that certainly makes sense, but it takes a long time for the horror elements to kick in. There is the ever-oppressive reality of being a single woman in the early 20th century, and that is horrific, I suppose. But what would be considered the more conventional horror elements don’t really start appearing until 2/3 of the way into the novel. There is a very small sprinkle at just after the 1/3 mark, and another at the halfway mark, which all does a good job of ratcheting up the tension as you get deeper and deeper into the story. But up until the final act, even those early horrific elements could be hand-waved away, if you really wanted to. I thought the final act was really tense and breath-taking and I loved it, but I would have liked some more horror elements sprinkled in a little earlier, so it felt like more than just an exploration of the pastoral turn of the century. If you go in expecting horror from the beginning, which is kind of what is sold in the blurb, you might be disappointed. If you don’t cling to that expectation, though, then the ride is a lot of fun.
Secondly, the entire story is told through journal entries. I always struggle with this as a narrative device, because the device itself tells you something about the ending, and the narrative constantly needs to find reasons to have the protagonist accurately writing these thoughts down. I think if the epistolary nature was dropped entirely the story would be just as compelling, if not more so, because it leaves more space for the ending to leave you twisted and taken by surprise. However, using this technique did allow the author to make some time jumps that could have felt awkward in a more conventional narrative. It also allowed for a few wonderfully poignant chapters, such as one that just contained a single sentence but said a whole lot more. Lastly it did allow a style of writing that would be befitting a school mistress living in the early 1900s, so the vocabulary and the aesthetic all made sense, it didn’t feel forced. It isn’t my favorite literary technique but is was used well here, and Gish exploited some of the things it allows for without falling into the trap of really stretching credulity about how/when/why this would all be written in a journal.
So, this novel did two things I generally don’t prefer, which is to say saving almost all its horror elements for the final act and using a journal-entry narrative device. On top of that, historical fiction isn’t one of my go-to genres, either. And yet, still, I really, really enjoyed this book. That is saying something. The characters were all compelling and felt real and exciting. The setting/world felt genuine. It wasn’t anything groundbreaking, what I would expect from a small out-of-the-way village in the early 20th century, but it didn’t feel like a contrivance, but instead felt really lived in. Maybe most importantly, the story flowed really well--I didn’t want to put it down once I started. It really did grab me right away, and I felt genuine discomfort and concern at the many traumas injustices our protagonist experienced, which made the journey all the more wild and emotionally resonant. I definitely recommend this novel, especially for anyone who see the sharp fangs hiding just under the skin of societal expectations and anxiously awaits for them to snap shut.
I want to thank the author, the publisher ECW Press, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
slow-paced