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2.55 AVERAGE
2.55 AVERAGE
The book begins with pages upon pages of the main character writing a letter and telling his girlfriend things she already knows in order to fill the reader in on his background. Skimming indicates that he later writes a letter to his father that includes an actual conversation they had with one another.
That sort of lazy storytelling just makes me furious so I'm walking away.
That sort of lazy storytelling just makes me furious so I'm walking away.
Good suspense, but not a good pay out. The main character is a little odd from the beginning if he writes letters that detailed and narrative. But I finished the book, which says a lot, and I enjoyed the writing.
I started reading The Turning and found it really annoying (and sloppy, from a story construction standpoint) that Jack was writing his girlfriend letters that were filled with details she would already have known. This wasn’t just the details of how he got the job on the island, which I might have forgiven, but also her father’s name and the number of siblings she has. I enjoy a good retelling, so I came to Goodreads to check out the reviews and see if it was worth it to stick with it and see where Prose goes with this revisit of The Turn of the Screw. It appears that it’s not worth it; DNF it is.
3.25*
Maybe this is just what I needed right now, but I liked this book a little more than I thought I would - especially after reading a few reviews about it. I agree with a few of the reviews I read that the way this way written doesn't make sense. A high school student writing letters to their dad and girlfriend explaining events happening on a remote island where no technology is allowed in today's society didn't really work for this story line for several different reasons.
First, this kid smuggles his video games and his laptop there so he can write letters ... how was he printing these off though? Or was he actually hand writing them? I didn't quite understand that part of it. But needless to say, there were certain things he would bring up in his letters that the people reading would already know and so wouldn't need to be stated in a letter to them. These moments were clearly for the reader to learn things about the other characters, but it didn't work. Secondly, I work with high school students all day and no high schooler would use the kind of vocabulary or descriptive words/phrases that Jack did in this novel. I really had to suspend my belief for that (along with a couple other things). I think this would have worked just as well told in the first person without the letter format.
I did, however, enjoy the story line and wanted to know how things were going to end. I wish some parts had been a little better developed and/or explained. For example, Jack talks about people wearing really old fashioned (or overly dressed) people in the story including the children he is going to be watching - but this is never explained or explored more than Jack stating his observations about the children. I felt like something was supposed to come from this, but it turned out that it was just supposed to add to the mystery and strangeness of the children. The entire strangeness of the children could have been much better developed and built upon to increase the creepiness of the book, but nothing more than observations were made. I will say, this would be a good gateway book for a middle grade/high school student to read; it would be a good way to see if they enjoy suspense/mystery books.
Maybe this is just what I needed right now, but I liked this book a little more than I thought I would - especially after reading a few reviews about it. I agree with a few of the reviews I read that the way this way written doesn't make sense. A high school student writing letters to their dad and girlfriend explaining events happening on a remote island where no technology is allowed in today's society didn't really work for this story line for several different reasons.
First, this kid smuggles his video games and his laptop there so he can write letters ... how was he printing these off though? Or was he actually hand writing them? I didn't quite understand that part of it. But needless to say, there were certain things he would bring up in his letters that the people reading would already know and so wouldn't need to be stated in a letter to them. These moments were clearly for the reader to learn things about the other characters, but it didn't work. Secondly, I work with high school students all day and no high schooler would use the kind of vocabulary or descriptive words/phrases that Jack did in this novel. I really had to suspend my belief for that (along with a couple other things). I think this would have worked just as well told in the first person without the letter format.
I did, however, enjoy the story line and wanted to know how things were going to end. I wish some parts had been a little better developed and/or explained. For example, Jack talks about people wearing really old fashioned (or overly dressed) people in the story including the children he is going to be watching - but this is never explained or explored more than Jack stating his observations about the children. I felt like something was supposed to come from this, but it turned out that it was just supposed to add to the mystery and strangeness of the children. The entire strangeness of the children could have been much better developed and built upon to increase the creepiness of the book, but nothing more than observations were made. I will say, this would be a good gateway book for a middle grade/high school student to read; it would be a good way to see if they enjoy suspense/mystery books.
Review contains spoilers of both this book and Turn of the Screw by Henry James.
This story is (heavily) inspired by the Turn of the Screw by Henry James. Prose switches the gender on the main character, instead of a young woman pining after the affections of her absent employer this time we've got young Jack headed to an isolated island with no WiFi or even landline, cut off from the modern world. His job is to take care of two young children for the summer.
The children are strange, they act stiff and formal, like relics from another century. They seem to be keeping secrets, but Jack is determined to teach the two dour children how to have fun over the summer.
He doesn't get very far in that endeavor, though, because soon he's wrapped up in the mysterious goings on in the house. He sees apparitions everywhere he turns, a beautiful young woman and a older frightening man who has some sort of hold over the lovely ghost.
Finally Jack figures out that the two ghosts are Lucy and Norris, two former employees who had a big influence on the kids, and not a good one. In fact Norris liked to play strip poker for souls! Um...yeah.
The story is told in epistolary format, Jack writing letters to his girlfriend Sophie and his Dad and receiving letters from them. Sadly, this format did not work in this story at all. The letters were extremely clunky and unrealistic. Jack would transcribe conversations he'd had and letters often included phrases like, "You already know this..." but I'm going to tell you again for the sake of narrative.
Then Jack goes the way of Jack Nicholson in the Shining. He continues to write letters, though they become more and more incoherent, which again doesn't work very well in this format.
It's never really explained why the two kids act like they're straight out of Victorian Times. Norris and Lucy don't seem like they were influencing them to do that. It was just to make them creepier?
Oh well. Read the Henry James and forget about this one. Too bad.
This story is (heavily) inspired by the Turn of the Screw by Henry James. Prose switches the gender on the main character, instead of a young woman pining after the affections of her absent employer this time we've got young Jack headed to an isolated island with no WiFi or even landline, cut off from the modern world. His job is to take care of two young children for the summer.
The children are strange, they act stiff and formal, like relics from another century. They seem to be keeping secrets, but Jack is determined to teach the two dour children how to have fun over the summer.
He doesn't get very far in that endeavor, though, because soon he's wrapped up in the mysterious goings on in the house. He sees apparitions everywhere he turns, a beautiful young woman and a older frightening man who has some sort of hold over the lovely ghost.
Finally Jack figures out that the two ghosts are Lucy and Norris, two former employees who had a big influence on the kids, and not a good one. In fact Norris liked to play strip poker for souls! Um...yeah.
The story is told in epistolary format, Jack writing letters to his girlfriend Sophie and his Dad and receiving letters from them. Sadly, this format did not work in this story at all. The letters were extremely clunky and unrealistic. Jack would transcribe conversations he'd had and letters often included phrases like, "You already know this..." but I'm going to tell you again for the sake of narrative.
Then Jack goes the way of Jack Nicholson in the Shining. He continues to write letters, though they become more and more incoherent, which again doesn't work very well in this format.
It's never really explained why the two kids act like they're straight out of Victorian Times. Norris and Lucy don't seem like they were influencing them to do that. It was just to make them creepier?
Oh well. Read the Henry James and forget about this one. Too bad.