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kalleigh's review against another edition
2.0
I had a hard time with this one as the genres for it were “horror”, “mystery”, “gothic”, “thriller”, etc. and it was absolutely none of those things. So because of that, I felt disappointed when I got to the end as I kept waiting for said themes.
There was one scene that had potential to fit some of these boxes but then it turned into reasonable adults talking it out and everything was fine.
This is a story about a family who had a bad day in 1999 and struggled to move past it. Even the bad day didn’t need to be built up as much as it was. I’m not sure why all of the secrecy throughout… it all pretty much lead to nothing.
There were some characters that were meant to be red herrings but again, lead to nothing. Other characters had predictable outcomes and the story lacked the suspense needed to really give the feeling of a good twist.
Go in with an open mind knowing it’s the opposite of the genres listed and you will probably enjoy it. The writing is beautiful and descriptive and I liked learning about the different sisters and their lives. It’s ultimately a story about nostalgia and that family comes in all shapes and sizes.
I just didn’t love that I was waiting for something more. It fell a bit flat for me.
There was one scene that had potential to fit some of these boxes but then it turned into reasonable adults talking it out and everything was fine.
This is a story about a family who had a bad day in 1999 and struggled to move past it. Even the bad day didn’t need to be built up as much as it was. I’m not sure why all of the secrecy throughout… it all pretty much lead to nothing.
There were some characters that were meant to be red herrings but again, lead to nothing. Other characters had predictable outcomes and the story lacked the suspense needed to really give the feeling of a good twist.
Go in with an open mind knowing it’s the opposite of the genres listed and you will probably enjoy it. The writing is beautiful and descriptive and I liked learning about the different sisters and their lives. It’s ultimately a story about nostalgia and that family comes in all shapes and sizes.
I just didn’t love that I was waiting for something more. It fell a bit flat for me.
josiesprobablyreading's review
dark
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death
georgie24's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
gabriella10's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
carolridley's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
blessedjess's review against another edition
4.0
If you’re looking for a mysterious time slip novel that is thick with sibling rivalry and family dysfunction set in a gothic-like seaside house then this is the book for you. Three sisters all with different mothers bonded together by an eccentric artist father and an incident that has haunted them for 20 years. Two of the sisters are tight but one has always struggled being on the outside of their twosome. When they all come back to the seaside ancestral home for a reunion, they start to see signs that someone else knows about what really happened one fateful ecliptic night. The author does a great job of keeping a haunting atmosphere throughout the book. With unreliable characters giving three different points of view, the reader is constantly trying to see what the truth is and what are just lies that have become time passed truths. While there are times that I found the back and forth between the characters and times difficult to follow, the mystery kept my reading. A bit of a slow start, the twists and turns are worth the effort to continue reading this mystery. Thanks to NetGalley and The Penguin Group for an advanced ecopy for an honest review.
whatfern_reads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
3.0
eshalliday's review against another edition
5.0
The Birdcage by Eve Chase
There's a punchy energy to ‘The Birdcage’ that grabs you right away:
The dramatic engagement is immediate, and I really enjoyed the thrill of that.
Chase handles split narrative and dual timelines adroitly. Once you have each of the three half-sisters firmly set (name, appearance, family background), it is a pleasure to knit together the separate strands of action in your imagination, as the two plots (1999 and 2019) unfold for each sibling. In fact, it's what makes the novel so addictive, and the technique keeps the book fairly clipping along.
Flora is riveting to read, Kat brisk, but it’s Lauren who will have most readers emotionally engaged:
In fact, each character, even those on the peripheries, are remarkably convincing and observed with fine attention to detail. The family, and Angie, in particular, fairly leap off the page in full technicolour:
Perhaps this is because the reader gets multiple views of each character (Kat’s character portrayal is painted by both Flora and Lauren; Lauren's is coloured by Kat and Flora, et. cetera):
This speaks volumes for how deftly the author has balanced the three viewpoints within the split narrative. This stands, also, as testament to how successfully the dual timeline is juggled. The novel - not only despite, but positively thanks to - its complexities of structuring, is a truly fluid thing and so pleasing to read.
Eve Chase's writing is really zesty:
Chase’s use of inventive simile makes her work particularly energetic to read:
Luxurious passages of description, coloured by the attitudes and memories of the sibling with control of the viewpoint, pepper the action-driven and dialogue-rich plot, and are delicious to read:
Another effective contrivance is the parrot, Bertha, who mimics spoken phrases in the speaker’s own voice. This mechanism allows the characters to hear, after the fact, what’s been said by others (often about them) in the household. This potent little device works wonderfully to create tension and intrigue, at the same time undermining the girls’ inner monologues and unsettling the reader. It also functions, in the most satisfying way, to loop everything round in the denouement.
And the funny thing is, usually a constant prefiguring or foreshadowing of ‘the thing’ that the reader doesn’t know – the event to be revealed as the crux of it all – would grate with me. But it’s not tiresome at all in ‘The Birdcage'. I felt a measured excitement as, bit by bit, the mystery was revealed. Chase lets her reader guess in the 2019 narrative at what’s happened, long before she reveals it in the 1999 storyline. But this also works well. The plot, once weare clued-in, erupts in such a flurry of action that you’ll be tumbling too wildly towards the climax by that point to catch your breath until it’s finished.
Be prepared to lose a couple of days if you pick up ‘The Birdcage’: this book is addictive. I couldn’t bear to put it down, and I relished every time I opened it again.
My thanks are due to Penguin Michael Joseph UK for an ARC via Netgalley, in exchange for this honest review.
There's a punchy energy to ‘The Birdcage’ that grabs you right away:
‘the cat-paw-quick movement of her father's sketching hand’
The dramatic engagement is immediate, and I really enjoyed the thrill of that.
Chase handles split narrative and dual timelines adroitly. Once you have each of the three half-sisters firmly set (name, appearance, family background), it is a pleasure to knit together the separate strands of action in your imagination, as the two plots (1999 and 2019) unfold for each sibling. In fact, it's what makes the novel so addictive, and the technique keeps the book fairly clipping along.
Flora is riveting to read, Kat brisk, but it’s Lauren who will have most readers emotionally engaged:
‘Lauren manages a trembling, transformative smile. She’s got one of those plush French-movie mouths with a slight overbite that can only be carried off by someone gamine, with psychological complexities. […] The sweet quirkiness that Lauren’s always worn, like a floaty blouse, now seems to be constructed from a denser, heavier fabric.’
In fact, each character, even those on the peripheries, are remarkably convincing and observed with fine attention to detail. The family, and Angie, in particular, fairly leap off the page in full technicolour:
‘The Campari-red plume of hair. The triumphant smile on that slack, sensual mouth. The starburst of lines around those blown-out mad-green eyes.’
Perhaps this is because the reader gets multiple views of each character (Kat’s character portrayal is painted by both Flora and Lauren; Lauren's is coloured by Kat and Flora, et. cetera):
‘Clearly out there, in the world, Kat matters. Before this trip, Flora hadn’t realized quite how much. And it kindles a confusing conflict of pride and jealousy, even though she’d rather die than admit either sentiment to Kat. Pouring a glass of water […] she vaguely wonders how it is that her own life has got smaller and smaller while Kat’s has expanded globally, hot and light, like some sort of astonishing gas.’
This speaks volumes for how deftly the author has balanced the three viewpoints within the split narrative. This stands, also, as testament to how successfully the dual timeline is juggled. The novel - not only despite, but positively thanks to - its complexities of structuring, is a truly fluid thing and so pleasing to read.
Eve Chase's writing is really zesty:
‘Kat sucks in her breath, Cornwall’s rapid approach registering as one tiny shock, then another, until it’s like dozens of acupuncture needles bristling on her scalp.’
Chase’s use of inventive simile makes her work particularly energetic to read:
‘the sea’s thunderous boom – like hundreds of whales thrashing their tails at the same time’
‘The surrounding fields have a tremulous sheen, like the silky flank of a panting black horse.’
Luxurious passages of description, coloured by the attitudes and memories of the sibling with control of the viewpoint, pepper the action-driven and dialogue-rich plot, and are delicious to read:
‘Dad’s proper studio was an old button factory in London’s East End. […] But at Rock Point he “mucked around” and I’d seized the role of helper, mixing things, washing brushes, organizing. […] Unlike my sisters, I’d learned its language: scumble and saturation; fat over lean; filbert and fresco; top-tone and tooth; gesso and ground. The stories sat in the fat metal tubes of paint. Bone Black was made of charred animal bones. Cobalt gave you cancer. Lead White sent you curly whirly cuckoo. Vincent Van Gogh sucked his paintbrushes and chopped off his ear: Dad would demonstrate this, taking a palette knife to his own, pretending to saw, making us all giggle.’
Another effective contrivance is the parrot, Bertha, who mimics spoken phrases in the speaker’s own voice. This mechanism allows the characters to hear, after the fact, what’s been said by others (often about them) in the household. This potent little device works wonderfully to create tension and intrigue, at the same time undermining the girls’ inner monologues and unsettling the reader. It also functions, in the most satisfying way, to loop everything round in the denouement.
And the funny thing is, usually a constant prefiguring or foreshadowing of ‘the thing’ that the reader doesn’t know – the event to be revealed as the crux of it all – would grate with me. But it’s not tiresome at all in ‘The Birdcage'. I felt a measured excitement as, bit by bit, the mystery was revealed. Chase lets her reader guess in the 2019 narrative at what’s happened, long before she reveals it in the 1999 storyline. But this also works well. The plot, once weare clued-in, erupts in such a flurry of action that you’ll be tumbling too wildly towards the climax by that point to catch your breath until it’s finished.
Be prepared to lose a couple of days if you pick up ‘The Birdcage’: this book is addictive. I couldn’t bear to put it down, and I relished every time I opened it again.
My thanks are due to Penguin Michael Joseph UK for an ARC via Netgalley, in exchange for this honest review.
entangled_bookshelf's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.0
A thrilling tale of a Cornish house and the mystery that none of the family dare to mention...
This book overall was gripping and a thrilling read which did give an eerie effect. However I found a few aspects of the book annoying, including the characters and the writing style. And the big mystery didn't live up to my expectations in the end.
I do think Eve chases writing is good though so I'd like to check out more of her books with a different plot which I may enjoy more.
This book overall was gripping and a thrilling read which did give an eerie effect. However I found a few aspects of the book annoying, including the characters and the writing style. And the big mystery didn't live up to my expectations in the end.
I do think Eve chases writing is good though so I'd like to check out more of her books with a different plot which I may enjoy more.