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3.38 AVERAGE
3.38 AVERAGE
Na história acompanhamos um ricaço que após perder o pai, precisa assumir as rédeas de uma antiga mansão inglesa. Ele tem um filho e tendo a total noção de que ele não pode cuidar de tudo sozinho ele resolve contratar uma governanta, e assim conhecemos Helena Kingshaw e consequentemente seu filho, Charles Kingshaw. Helena deposita grandes expectativas nesse emprego, o vendo como uma espécie de recomeço e espera que nasça uma grande amizade entre os garotos, afinal ambos tem praticamente a mesma idade, o que poderia dar errado? O que acontece, não é exatamente inesperado, os meninos se detestam e passam rapidamente ao antagonismo. Como eu disse antes, essa não é uma leitura fácil, ela vai se arrastando e arrastando ao ponto em que você não percebe que caiu em uma armadilha. Foi exatamente essa a minha sensação lendo esse livro, ele te causa uma espécie de irritação/inquietação que é crescente e você acha que é somente relacionado ao enredo, uma espécie de impaciência, mas que na realidade nada mais é que a sensação de impotência que permeia toda a obra. Há adultos aqui, mas eles estão tão focados nos próprios propósitos que simplesmente preferem ignorar o que está acontecendo culminando em seu inevitável final. Não é exagero dizer que essa história me causou pesadelos, neles Kingshaw dava vasão a todos os seus desejos obscuros com relação a Hooper, em outro, o "vizinho bonzinho" (uma criança que de tão normal passa nos ser estranha) acaba virando uma vítima (acidental ou não) do Hooper e a culpa recai sobre os ombros do Kingshaw. E não seriam esses meus próprios anseios? Já fui criança um dia, todos nós em algum momento já passamos pela situação de não ser ouvido por um adulto?! Passamos, não passamos, ou talvez não lembramos. O posfácio do livro vale a conferida, nele a autora conta como durante um certo período se isolou em um lugar lindo e teve uma espécie de bloqueio, foi ao ver dois meninos brincando que ela teve um vislumbre dos seus personagens, tão diferentes daqueles garotos. Ela também fala algo muito interessante, que mesmo hoje ela não consegue pensar em um final diferente para essa história, e sendo muito sincera, eu também não.
P
I read this in my foundation IB year (equivalent of 2nd year of GCSE's) and its tragic and horrifying story of bullying really bothered me at the time. The parents in the book royally sucked...and all in all, a very good book, and so heartbreaking.
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was one of the most disturbing books I have ever read. I can't actually say that I enjoyed it, in fact it was painful. The bullying that Kingshaw suffers with no help or way out makes for very bleak reading.It was a horrible nightmare that just seemed to go on and on with an inevitable ending. Susan Hill is an amazing author but I still wish I hadn't read this, I think it will stay with me for a long time. Btw, nominations for worst parents ever here - stupid blind bastards!
It took me such a long time to finish it. Took me a couple of pages to get into it, but it was good. If one can call a such a book good, i mean. It gives a good portrayal of a world of a kid who is constantly being bullied and feels unloved, does not have consistency in his life and security. A disturbing read but I belive important.
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
a dark story about the fear and terror of childhood.
although i wasnt completely captured by the writing style, Hill creates such moody settings and great stories with a cast of memorable and detestable characters.
overall a dark, twisty read that i enjoyed.
although i wasnt completely captured by the writing style, Hill creates such moody settings and great stories with a cast of memorable and detestable characters.
overall a dark, twisty read that i enjoyed.
challenging
dark
slow-paced
I had to read this book for school, and ever since I started reading it, I was wishing for it to end.
I found it so difficult to get through the book because of a lot of factors, one of them being how slow paced the story was because of its long descriptions. Another factor was how much of a sad and tragic story this is: poor Charles Kingshaw was practically dragged by his mother to a house inhabited by a plain evil kid, Edmund Hooper, and his father.
I found it so painful to sit and read through all the horrible things Hooper did to Kingshaw, everything he wanted to say but nobody paid attention to, not even his mother.
I started to understand the dynamics of the book like hallfway through it, but it still was an unpleasant and uncomfortable thing to read.
I believe the fact that the characters in this book are children was what made me so uneasy and incredibly sad, because for me, being a very sensitive and motherly-like person, it was honestly so painful to see Helena Kingshaw, a mother that cared more for herself than for her child, a mother who prpefered her soon-to-be-husband's child to her own, a mother who did not understand her child nor did she care much about what he thought about situations, a mother who didn't believe in his kid, a mother who saw her 10 year old boy floating in a small river, obviously dead, and didn't pay much of attention to it, she just hugged the boy who was responsible for her son's death, as he smiled at himself in accomplishment.
This book was very eye opening to me regarding subjects like bullying, hope, evil, depression and death, which are basically this book's themes.
It really opened my eyes to how pure evil can be literally found anywhere, even inside a ten year old boy. And how even the most innocent people, the most hopeful ones, can be brought down and be submerged into such darkness, one they can't quite be pulled out form.
Still, I have to give Susan Hill some credit, not only for the symbolysm in this book which was actually very clever and strategically placed, but for the courage it must have taken to write such a sad story about a boy constantly bullyiing another one: constantly reminding him about his fears, making him face them in such an unhealthy way, taking advantage of Kingshaw and being so hypocritical about everythng, lying, manipulating, so thirsty of power.
This was, hands down, the most painful and heartbreaking book I have ever read. The ending was incredibly sad, however, it couldn't have ended any other way: Kingshaw gone, and Hooper finally becoming The King of the Castle.