Reviews

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? by Henry Farrell, Mariana Moreira

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shandra's review against another edition

5.0

I LOVED What Ever Happened to Baby Jane from start to finish. Jane is a trainwreck while Blanche is her own kind of self-contained disaster. There's this animosity between the sisters which is terrifying yet understandable, easy to relate to for anyone who has a sibling and experienced 'sibling rivalry', and completely engrossing. I could not stop reading it until the ending which was so shocking it was perfect!

The edition I read also included the short stories "What Ever Happened to Cousin Charlotte?" which was the inspiration for the film "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte" and was even more chilling than Baby Jane's story, "The Debut of Larry Richards" which was a thrill-ride packed into a tiny amount of pages, and "First, The Egg" which was disappointing to me in comparison to all of Farrell's other writing I'd been exposed to up to that ending story. It felt as if it was a terrible plan to end with that piece when it was -to me- the weakest of the three shorts as well as nowhere near the quality of Baby Jane's story.

I have wanted to read this for a long, long time. I'm so happy I did. If it's on your TBR, I'd recommend giving it a go because it's fast reading, fast-paced, and anything but fast-or-loose with the characterization of the eternally memorable Hudson sisters.

nmh2323's review against another edition

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4.0

4.5 Loved it. Very close to the movie. Can’t give it a 5 because I’m not sure I loved it because of how much I love Bette Davis and the movie. So 4.5. Edwin thing was different and Mrs. Bares was more of a character too.

ben_golding45's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-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

3.0

theycallmelech's review against another edition

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2.0

I feel like I like the 50s/60s horror genre more than the actual books

fatalframe's review against another edition

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4.0

li esse livro em meados de 2020 e o mesmo me fascinou tanto que caí num rabbit hole do beef entre a bette davis e a joan crawford, as duas atrizes principais presentes na adaptação. é um terror psicológico delicioso com personagens femininas bastante bem escritas (pelo menos na epoca que eu li eram) e com personalidade, doidas mas com personalidade.

uma historia sobre o mundinho das child stars, hollywood, a terceira idade e os estragos mentais que a junção dessas coisas fazem na cabeça de um ser humano.