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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
I was glued to this book while I was reading it, and could not wait to get back to it when I was not reading it. But, looking back after finishing, I think you as a reader need to be fully invested in Nick and Hannah's relationship as a Great Love in order to love the book, and I wasn't quite there.
Don't get me wrong: I loved the fact that their relationship is messy and we see second thoughts about spending forever together. That felt real, something that young couples who are serious about each other actually go through before deciding to tie the knot. But I also don't know if we see enough of their sustained good times before Hannah's disappearance.
Also:
On a superficial note, the design of this book is excellent. It's a little more elongated than most books (to seem more like a notebook/journal?) and the cover art is perfect for its content and mood. I love the sort of retro designs and fonts we are starting to see on new books, and being a sucker, it will always catch my eye. Hint hint, publishers...take my $!
Don't get me wrong: I loved the fact that their relationship is messy and we see second thoughts about spending forever together. That felt real, something that young couples who are serious about each other actually go through before deciding to tie the knot. But I also don't know if we see enough of their sustained good times before Hannah's disappearance.
Also:
Spoiler
maybe this is silly, but I was expecting to find in the Ghost Notebooks some kind of future that Hannah was afraid to have, lending more justification to her suicide. But it was all fairly mundane stuff.On a superficial note, the design of this book is excellent. It's a little more elongated than most books (to seem more like a notebook/journal?) and the cover art is perfect for its content and mood. I love the sort of retro designs and fonts we are starting to see on new books, and being a sucker, it will always catch my eye. Hint hint, publishers...take my $!
Based on the description of this book I expected it to be a different story than it turned out to be. And I wasn't a fan of the story that it was.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
So this is one of those books that you're fairly certain, from early on, is a low star read. And then the shoe finally drops and the rating jumps up. It took me about 100 pages to actually get into the book. And even at that point, I thought this was a book that wanted to be a ghost story, but was gonna end up just being about a manic pixie dream girl who kills herself and then the main character, a regular white Joe, can have a spiritual journey or whatever . That's not what this was. It was a ghost story, which I was hoping for, but it was also about grief and mental health and fear of life. I identified with every subject mentioned. I will say that it stumbled along. Especially in the beginning, I couldn't gather whether this was a ghost story or something tamer/non horror and that was a negative aspect for me. At times it felt like the author couldn't decide either. In this part of the novel, I was sure this was at best a 3 star read. But once Hannah died and Nick had to start working through his grief and the mystery of why she died things really picked up. I was pretty satisfied with the answers. I dont feel that there was much ambiguity in the ending, which I prefer. I will mention that Dolnick's writing style is a bit annoying at times due to large sentences that have a lot of commas and should really be broken down. I'm talking like long, run on sentences. I also could have lived without the baby birds scene .
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Mental illness, Suicide
dark
This was a very subtle read. Sort of a haunting story of sorts, it’s really more of a realistic portrayal of a slow descent into madness with some supernatural elements attached to it. I hesitate to refer to it as literary, but it also has that sort of flair to it in a sense.
Still, if you’re looking at this as a “couple moves into a haunted house” story, you’re going to be heavily disappointed unless you’re willing to open up your thinking on it a bit. It’s a great read, just not what I expected (and in a good way).
Still, if you’re looking at this as a “couple moves into a haunted house” story, you’re going to be heavily disappointed unless you’re willing to open up your thinking on it a bit. It’s a great read, just not what I expected (and in a good way).
Compulsively readable but lacked the thrills that I expected. It's more an examination of grief and the hidden parts of a relationship than a ghost story. Which is fine but I did feel a little let down by the premise of a possible haunting that never fully materialised.
Great story concept, I think if I felt more love in the actual relationship I would have believe the ending more?
This book felt like a modern day Shirley Jackson work. There were a few twists that I feel like I should have seen coming, but I didn’t. I liked this book and I actually couldn’t put it down for the last 100 pages. I do wish that there would have been more background on the “ghosts” and more of the writings of Wright, but that is just the history nerd in me
Not an ending you'd expect....
But it's a bit annoying of a read because details don't add up. For instance, they move into the museum a month before it gets cold enough to need the heat. So maybe August or September. But after they are there a month, they find a nest of new born birds. I'm no ornithologist, but aren't birds born in the spring?
And how did he walk 15 miles, wearing pajama bottoms and sandals, in the rain, through underbrush and complete the trek in 7 hours? Without water. OK maybe he drank rain.
But still worth reading as long as you don't expect great literature.
But it's a bit annoying of a read because details don't add up. For instance, they move into the museum a month before it gets cold enough to need the heat. So maybe August or September. But after they are there a month, they find a nest of new born birds. I'm no ornithologist, but aren't birds born in the spring?
And how did he walk 15 miles, wearing pajama bottoms and sandals, in the rain, through underbrush and complete the trek in 7 hours? Without water. OK maybe he drank rain.
But still worth reading as long as you don't expect great literature.
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
grief the abyss the spirits!! :(