Reviews

The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco

_atarry's review against another edition

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2.0

Genuinely so boring. The plot was so basic and nothing really happened.

rosesareblue's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

kelinickole's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.5

heather_harrison's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

3.25

 The Girl from the Well follows the story of Okiku, a vindictive ghost that stalks predatory men as a result of the horrific death she experienced 300 years ago. She doles out not only karma against their transgressions, but also seeks to free the children they have harmed; who are bound to their killers so they can move on from their next life. 

She meets Tarquin (Tark) - a young Japanese American teenage boy with strange tattoos, and something else which is stuff off about him. His mother has attempted to kill him twice now, and so with Tark and his cousin - we embark on this creepy tale. The relationships between these two and Okiku is amusing and heartfelt. 

Okiku, the narrator of the book have a penchant for counting things, which really just kept pulling me out of the audiobook. 

It feels like Chupeco did a good amount of research surrounding the Japanese aspects of the story. However, there was one seemingly throwaway line which really just threw me headfirst out of the story - 

"2004. Gruesome discovery in Queensland, Australia. Fully clothed body found washed up on the beach in North Narrabeen in Sydney and soon identified as a Patrick Neville, 52. A local cars salesman... Sharks and other large fish are not known to inhabit this particular coast..." 

To which I say - Sydney is not close to Queensland, another state which borders the state Sydney is located in. Likewise, there is no end of the sharks and other large fish that are found between these two locations. This careless oversight seems at odds with how well thought out the rest of the story and research would have been. 

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keelreads's review against another edition

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5.0

I enjoyed this book so much more than I thought I would and am so glad that I read it!

Narrated by a ghost, the girl from the well herself, Okiku. Okiku is a vengeful ghost, seeking justice for the souls that met an unfortunate end, those murdered by monsters. She decides fate and enacts her terrible vengeance on the monsters with evil and murder in their heart.

She is a drifter, wandering until she finds her next victim, that is until she meets Tark. Tark is a young boy, a teen with evil trapped just under his skin where the sigils, the tattoos keep the evil at bay in his body. Tark is a vessel, meant to trap a dark evil built by many dark spirits and has been so for a decade. Tark doesn't really know what's going on, just that his mother has tried to kill him, she's "crazy" and he believes that he may be going crazy too.

Okiku knows differently though, she knows that this evil is not Tark's doing. This spiritual vigilante turns great protector as she watches over him. She could fight the evil, kill it before it has the chance to do so to Tark, but if she kills the evil beneath his skin, the same fate will find Tark.

amybraunauthor's review against another edition

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4.0

This was a strange, creepy book, yet well written and engaging. The plot and writing are definitely unconventional and require focus. For much of the first half, the characters rarely use their names. Since the story is being told through the eyes of a vengeful ghost, it makes sense from a structural standpoint. Readers should be willing to suspend their disbelief and trust that Chupeco is capable of telling this story.

Much of the plot is told through a sequence of events that ultimately lead to an explosive finale. Overall, it seemed like there two stories tied together, and I was a bit surprised when the first one ended so quickly.

The main character is also a bit challenging to define. Technically, there are three of them, though there was a bit of head-hopping that made it difficult to tell which character was in control of the scene, especially when the ghost was written in first person POV as compared to Tark and Callie, who were in third.

The one thing I truly, deeply loved were the haunting visuals and playing with the prose. It made for a delightfully creepy atmosphere and some truly bloody, horrifying scenes. This is not a book for younger readers as it gets intensely graphic at some points.

All in all, I did enjoy this book and its unconventional story. It made for a different reading experience and I recommend it for Halloween or whenever you want to curl up with a good ol' ghost story!

stellareadsalot's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging inspiring lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

chemwitch's review

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3.0

Okiku is everything. The other characters were.. meh? Rtc if I stop being a trash bag

peachyclaudia's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad fast-paced

4.5