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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The writing is amazing. The narrative is complex and well crafted.
This book is odd. I doubt I can muster an acceptable explanation but it is all at once a gothic adventure exploring warped religious influence through multiple unreliable narrators.
Almost like a Scottish, post-modern, Crime & Punishment that’s 200 pages.
Im feeling a lot of confusing emotions about this which is how I know it’s a new favourite.
Almost like a Scottish, post-modern, Crime & Punishment that’s 200 pages.
Im feeling a lot of confusing emotions about this which is how I know it’s a new favourite.
challenging
dark
slow-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
This was recommended to me by a colleague after I talked to them about gothic literature, and I really did find it to be a good illustration of early meta-fiction and gothic tropes. The prose was hypnotic and confusing at times, which added to the fantasicm and insanity.
I really enjoyed the 'editor's' section the most, because while biased, it definitely paints a more vivid and imaginable portrait of the characters' lives and what transpired between them. The omniscience blends with these fictive elements and gives us the first indicator of truth being malleable. It did confuse me from time to time when characters had similar names, but as I started to understand the background of Robert and George, it became a bit easier. The 'memoirs' themselves were a little harder to follow, and more confusing with overuse of pronouns and underuse of names. Sections detailing Robert's sightings of apperitions and listening to the speeches of Gil-Martin were good, but again, very winding and made it so I spent two to three weeks reading this.
Use of dialect became popular in this era of fiction which I knew from other texts like Dracula, but it unfortunately made it even harder to read and knocked my motivation. I do usually like to be challenged by what I read, but this went a little bit too far because I had to imitate a Scottish accent in my head to penetrate meaning. What was actually interesting about this choice, though, is that it is used as a class signifier. Despite both characters in an interaction being Scottish, only the servents are ever given dialectic speech, and Robert is always given articulated and perfectly spelled dialogue as if he's English.
I can see myself trying to re-read this, maybe in reverse order where I tackle Robert's narrative before clarification from the editor. I would also still recommend this to people and gothic lovers especially because it's a good one to take a look at for religious zeal and the supernatural.
I really enjoyed the 'editor's' section the most, because while biased, it definitely paints a more vivid and imaginable portrait of the characters' lives and what transpired between them. The omniscience blends with these fictive elements and gives us the first indicator of truth being malleable. It did confuse me from time to time when characters had similar names, but as I started to understand the background of Robert and George, it became a bit easier. The 'memoirs' themselves were a little harder to follow, and more confusing with overuse of pronouns and underuse of names. Sections detailing Robert's sightings of apperitions and listening to the speeches of Gil-Martin were good, but again, very winding and made it so I spent two to three weeks reading this.
Use of dialect became popular in this era of fiction which I knew from other texts like Dracula, but it unfortunately made it even harder to read and knocked my motivation. I do usually like to be challenged by what I read, but this went a little bit too far because I had to imitate a Scottish accent in my head to penetrate meaning. What was actually interesting about this choice, though, is that it is used as a class signifier. Despite both characters in an interaction being Scottish, only the servents are ever given dialectic speech, and Robert is always given articulated and perfectly spelled dialogue as if he's English.
I can see myself trying to re-read this, maybe in reverse order where I tackle Robert's narrative before clarification from the editor. I would also still recommend this to people and gothic lovers especially because it's a good one to take a look at for religious zeal and the supernatural.
thé first half was dull (editor’s narrative), as i could not quite see the relevance of it at the time of reading. However, the confessions of the sinner himself are enthralling and incredibly emotively written. his descent into self destruction and complete ignorance of the extent of his choices are incredibly rarely in literature described as perfectly as this. if the editors narrative was not so dull i would hold this book very, very highly
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
reflective
slow-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
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:
Yes
oh my GOD it took me a while to realise but this bitch was CRAZY
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A really interesting concept in the way it explores the consequences of religious fanaticism. However, it was too drawn-out for my taste and became rather dull; I think it would have worked better as a short story.
dark
mysterious
tense
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
I struggled to stay focused with it, maybe because of the lack of chapters and the continued flow of consciousness. I did like the concept of the two opinions, the editor and confessor but it was hard to track what was going on