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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The tragic story of a family as told by one of the daughters who is known as Girl A after her escape. We learn bits and pieces of the horrific conditions these children lived through at the hands of their parents. A good psychological thriller.
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
This book is loosely based on the Turpin family, a House of Horrors story. While it's impossible not to feel sickened, gut punched and disturbed by what the siblings endured, the writing felt too sterile and fragmented to achieve full impact.
challenging
dark
mysterious
things i don't know having finished this book:
- how to classify it
- whether i liked it
- what happened during it
- what happened at the end of it
so, 2.5 stars i guess? but rounded down to 2 because of my LEAST FAVORITE TROPE showing up (iykyk).
- how to classify it
- whether i liked it
- what happened during it
- what happened at the end of it
so, 2.5 stars i guess? but rounded down to 2 because of my LEAST FAVORITE TROPE showing up (iykyk).
I personally didn't like the writing of this book
‘You don’t know me, but you’ve seen my face.’
Alexandra Gracie, now a successful lawyer based in New York, tries to keep her family in the background. As ‘Girl A’, she is the one who escaped her family home, the ‘House of Horrors’, where she and her siblings were neglected and abused. But the death of her mother in prison requires Alexandra to return to the UK to deal with her mother’s estate.
As I read this novel, I was overwhelmed by questions about how abuse victims can be invisible for so long and what drives people to become abusers. I thought that Ms Dean managed a fine balance in the novel. She was able to convey the impact of abuse without an overload of graphic detail. For me, the central question became: how do children who survive such horrific abuse function as adults? There were once seven siblings. Those who survived have difficult relationships with themselves, with each other and with outsiders. To face the future, Alexandra must revisit the past. She also needs to negotiate with her siblings. Will they agree to her plan for the family home? I think that Ms Dean has created a masterpiece peopled with well-developed characters. It is difficult to read and unbearably sad in places. I finished the novel, hoping for a better future but knowing that the past will always be present.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Alexandra Gracie, now a successful lawyer based in New York, tries to keep her family in the background. As ‘Girl A’, she is the one who escaped her family home, the ‘House of Horrors’, where she and her siblings were neglected and abused. But the death of her mother in prison requires Alexandra to return to the UK to deal with her mother’s estate.
As I read this novel, I was overwhelmed by questions about how abuse victims can be invisible for so long and what drives people to become abusers. I thought that Ms Dean managed a fine balance in the novel. She was able to convey the impact of abuse without an overload of graphic detail. For me, the central question became: how do children who survive such horrific abuse function as adults? There were once seven siblings. Those who survived have difficult relationships with themselves, with each other and with outsiders. To face the future, Alexandra must revisit the past. She also needs to negotiate with her siblings. Will they agree to her plan for the family home? I think that Ms Dean has created a masterpiece peopled with well-developed characters. It is difficult to read and unbearably sad in places. I finished the novel, hoping for a better future but knowing that the past will always be present.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith