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myweereads's review against another edition
5.0
“Beware when mad dogs lurk, for lurking they shall bite, and biting, shall bite again.”
Have you ever read a book which seems straight forward that leaves you hauntingly unsettled? Let me introduce you to The Other 😟
It’s the summer of 1932, the twins Niles and Holland Perry with their entire extended family are living in New England coping with the tragedy of the death of their father. Niles and Perry are close like most twins and they can to an extent read each other’s minds however they are also quite different. There are sudden deaths and freak accidents beginning to surface in this town. Grandmother Ada who came from Russia is a women full of wisdom and many tales. She looks after Niles and Holland and helps them with their mother.
After finishing the book I was back tracking and going through each character and looking for things I had missed to explain why I had not foreseen the ending. The characters all have strong personalities and the world through their eyes was written in such a way I felt I was there. Grandmother Ada after the twins is a prominent character. I was torn, I seen her as a sweet grandmother but also as a villain but mostly felt sorry for her. The twins have a unique bond but the main factor of the story is how well Niles is coping with grief and is he on the border of sane/insane. The story is chilling and haunting in a Shirley Jackson way. It is a psychological horror there’s no doubt however it requires a lot of patience from the reader. The first 2 parts are full of wonderful imagery with snippets of disturbing scenes like a dangling carrot in front of a rabbit to keep you reading 🙈 Part 3 hits you like a car crash. Everything comes to the forefront and all at once. It’s like a disturbing assault on the reader which is why it left me unsettled. I wanted to put the book down but I couldn’t, even though it fell that way I had to know what was happening. An unusual but clever way of telling a story of horror but as creepy as it was I enjoyed it at the end and again a five star read for me. 👍🏽
Have you ever read a book which seems straight forward that leaves you hauntingly unsettled? Let me introduce you to The Other 😟
It’s the summer of 1932, the twins Niles and Holland Perry with their entire extended family are living in New England coping with the tragedy of the death of their father. Niles and Perry are close like most twins and they can to an extent read each other’s minds however they are also quite different. There are sudden deaths and freak accidents beginning to surface in this town. Grandmother Ada who came from Russia is a women full of wisdom and many tales. She looks after Niles and Holland and helps them with their mother.
After finishing the book I was back tracking and going through each character and looking for things I had missed to explain why I had not foreseen the ending. The characters all have strong personalities and the world through their eyes was written in such a way I felt I was there. Grandmother Ada after the twins is a prominent character. I was torn, I seen her as a sweet grandmother but also as a villain but mostly felt sorry for her. The twins have a unique bond but the main factor of the story is how well Niles is coping with grief and is he on the border of sane/insane. The story is chilling and haunting in a Shirley Jackson way. It is a psychological horror there’s no doubt however it requires a lot of patience from the reader. The first 2 parts are full of wonderful imagery with snippets of disturbing scenes like a dangling carrot in front of a rabbit to keep you reading 🙈 Part 3 hits you like a car crash. Everything comes to the forefront and all at once. It’s like a disturbing assault on the reader which is why it left me unsettled. I wanted to put the book down but I couldn’t, even though it fell that way I had to know what was happening. An unusual but clever way of telling a story of horror but as creepy as it was I enjoyed it at the end and again a five star read for me. 👍🏽
cristinarivas88's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
bookshopvampire's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
paigepeploe's review against another edition
Main reason is I needed to return this to the library, but also I was more than halfway through the book and felt like nothing happened and there wasn’t much that compelled me to keep going.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death
heatherlynn6's review against another edition
dark
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
2.0
inciminci's review against another edition
4.0
In an article on this book, Grady Hendrix discusses how it is on par with "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Exorcist", all three being written in the same era but “The Other” never quite making it despite its brilliance. Now, I have only watched the movies and not read the books of the former two, so I can’t really compare them on a textual level. But having just finished listening to the audiobook of the latter, I am still wondering how that could be?
"The Other" is the quintessential evil kid story. And I'm no horror historian, but I understand it might be the creator of a very specific and fascinatingly creepy subgenre within that trope that has been used as the pointe or twisty ending to many movies and books ever since. So, it is today seen as a little washed out and doesn't really surprise anymore. I think it is this work’s strength that, even though it must have been shocking for its time, it doesn't rely on the mere revelation of a twist to be a great book - the psychological tension that permeates throughout the story, the interaction between the characters living in a Connecticut small town in the 30s, family relations are all themes that are treated so masterly here that they alone are worth a read. Notwithstanding the beautiful prose.
I have to add that I listened to the audiobook and I can't praise the late narrator William Dufris high enough. His reading voice was so gripping yet sooo creepy, so wonderful that it added infinitely to my enjoyment of this book!
"The Other" is the quintessential evil kid story. And I'm no horror historian, but I understand it might be the creator of a very specific and fascinatingly creepy subgenre within that trope that has been used as the pointe or twisty ending to many movies and books ever since. So, it is today seen as a little washed out and doesn't really surprise anymore. I think it is this work’s strength that, even though it must have been shocking for its time, it doesn't rely on the mere revelation of a twist to be a great book - the psychological tension that permeates throughout the story, the interaction between the characters living in a Connecticut small town in the 30s, family relations are all themes that are treated so masterly here that they alone are worth a read. Notwithstanding the beautiful prose.
I have to add that I listened to the audiobook and I can't praise the late narrator William Dufris high enough. His reading voice was so gripping yet sooo creepy, so wonderful that it added infinitely to my enjoyment of this book!
zhzhang's review against another edition
DNF. I cannot get the book at all, and did not feel the suspense or horror.
silvan's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0