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spookymadds13's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I will be thinking about the hidden complexity of this book for a long time after finishing it. This book started off slow but once it got going I enjoyed it. The plot was a bit confusing at points due to the chapters going back and forth between perspectives. There's definitely a lot of grey area in this book, and I think for someone to really enjoy it you have to be okay with living in the grey and being left with some unanswered questions and ambiguity.
erintowner's review against another edition
3.0
There were some wisdom nuggets in this book. I loved the stuff about cults and mother/daughter relationships. Unfortunately I felt like it dragged a bit toward the end and left some loose ends to the story. Some of the reveals were obvious early in the story (possibly by design, it didn't ruin the story) but the ending was surprising. I wanted to like this one more than I did.
badseedgirl's review
4.0
Pinning down the timeline in this book was an incredible challenge for me. I like to know what era I am reading about, it helps me while visualizing the story. Seriously, I probably don't watch that many movies because the stories I see in my own (sick, twisted) brain are so much more entertaining.
Cora's story is present day, that was an easy pin-down, what with all the references to social media and how she talks about her feelings of anxiety when she is away from the internet. I mean come on, the author Samantha Hunt practically stamped the word "millennial" of her forehead. When I was reading her story I was comfortable visualizing today.
That being said and with a reference to one of the characters ages, I have deducted Ruth and Nat's story is from sometime in the early 1990's (or late 80's) but for some reason every time I would start to read their parts of the story, I kept visualizing 1920's dust bowl. Maybe because of the orphanage setting and the whole spiritualist séance thing, and a door-to-door salesman who is really a conman, and cults. Or maybe it was their manner of speech but, It felt like a story that was out of time, and it felt very disconcerting for me to realize that I was visualizing these two stories in a way that makes no sense.
Still, I enjoyed the story, and each time I realized that Cora was in a location that Ruth and Nat had also been to, I got this wonderful little thrill, like when you bite into a York Peppermint Patty. (And if you got that reference, congratulations you are from the same generation as Ruth, Nat, and Badseedgirl.)
I do have to say, there really was no surprise in the revelation of the plot twist in the end. I mean the foreshadowing was so think it was probably closer to "fiveshadowing." But all and all, I enjoyed the story and the duel storylines were tight enough to keep me engaged right to the end. But I did wonder, am I the only one who got the feeling that Ruth wanted
Cora's story is present day, that was an easy pin-down, what with all the references to social media and how she talks about her feelings of anxiety when she is away from the internet. I mean come on, the author Samantha Hunt practically stamped the word "millennial" of her forehead. When I was reading her story I was comfortable visualizing today.
That being said and with a reference to one of the characters ages, I have deducted Ruth and Nat's story is from sometime in the early 1990's (or late 80's) but for some reason every time I would start to read their parts of the story, I kept visualizing 1920's dust bowl. Maybe because of the orphanage setting and the whole spiritualist séance thing, and a door-to-door salesman who is really a conman, and cults. Or maybe it was their manner of speech but, It felt like a story that was out of time, and it felt very disconcerting for me to realize that I was visualizing these two stories in a way that makes no sense.
Still, I enjoyed the story, and each time I realized that Cora was in a location that Ruth and Nat had also been to, I got this wonderful little thrill, like when you bite into a York Peppermint Patty. (And if you got that reference, congratulations you are from the same generation as Ruth, Nat, and Badseedgirl.)
I do have to say, there really was no surprise in the revelation of the plot twist in the end. I mean the foreshadowing was so think it was probably closer to "fiveshadowing." But all and all, I enjoyed the story and the duel storylines were tight enough to keep me engaged right to the end. But I did wonder, am I the only one who got the feeling that Ruth wanted
Spoiler
Cora and Nat to hook up in the end. I really feel that is what happened. Cora made a point of saying that there was not much age difference between them in a throw away line when they meet at the lodge, just saying.justbeth's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
ebodi8pg's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
laila4343's review against another edition
5.0
Wow.
What started out as this creepy freakshow orphanage story morphed into a page-turning, chilling thriller, and then into something so haunting and beautiful I was blinded by my tears. I'm kind of in love with this book.
What started out as this creepy freakshow orphanage story morphed into a page-turning, chilling thriller, and then into something so haunting and beautiful I was blinded by my tears. I'm kind of in love with this book.
travisclau's review against another edition
3.0
A novel that resonates with so many gothic novels before it -- you can hear Brockden Brown's Wieland through the figures of The Father and Mr. Bell. It self-consciously plays with the tropes of the ghostly supernatural, cultish religiosity with a kind of humor that is perversely dry. Its absurdity in both plot and dialogue work precisely because Hunt knows her genre and its countless permutations. I was taken most by the novel's "split form" of tracking two female characters from two different generations. It is haunting to see the parallels between Cora and Ruth, bound not only by blood but by similar trauma. The novel resists resolution in the ways we might want it, but as the novel itself demonstrates, the complex relationships between mothers and daughters don't tie up as easily as we might want them to. The deus ex machina endings of typical gothic novels just doesn't work here: “I’m not getting anywhere. No start, middle, or end.”
melissagallant_'s review against another edition
3.0
The story was unsettling and original, but somehow it just didn’t hold my interest. The ending was satisfying, the ideas interesting, and the hint of the supernatural just ambiguous enough – but I didn’t connect to the story or find the characters intriguing enough to love it.