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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Loved the premise but everything about it was underdeveloped. The story still centered around men in a way that hindered the full reimagining of Bertha and Lucy in 1970s San Francisco. That said, the setting was great and the world-building had potential —just needed a lot more. Still a worthwhile read if looking for something empowering to read about rebuilding and living life in the shadow of toxic and abusive relationships. Also, nothing like Mexican Gothic in content but similar in terms of genre.
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this novel!
This premise had me PUMPED. But it's not the first classic literature-inspired book that's been a huge let down for me. With Dracula's Lucy as the narrator and Jane Eyre's predecessor Bertha (aka Bee) as her side kick, out to defeat the curses of their past relationships with monstrous men, I really wasn't sure how this coule go wrong. The set up was good (despite the first-person, present-tense which is just never going to work for me), and I loved how creatively these two classics were meshed together. But the hook didn't last for the long haul and I found myself less and less excited to pick this up the further I got into it. By the 60% mark I was ready for it to be over. The end wasn't bad, and I enjoyed how it all wrapped up well enough but ultimately it felt like too long fanfiction that took characters but none of the depth or beauty from its sources of inspiration.
This premise had me PUMPED. But it's not the first classic literature-inspired book that's been a huge let down for me. With Dracula's Lucy as the narrator and Jane Eyre's predecessor Bertha (aka Bee) as her side kick, out to defeat the curses of their past relationships with monstrous men, I really wasn't sure how this coule go wrong. The set up was good (despite the first-person, present-tense which is just never going to work for me), and I loved how creatively these two classics were meshed together. But the hook didn't last for the long haul and I found myself less and less excited to pick this up the further I got into it. By the 60% mark I was ready for it to be over. The end wasn't bad, and I enjoyed how it all wrapped up well enough but ultimately it felt like too long fanfiction that took characters but none of the depth or beauty from its sources of inspiration.
medium-paced
Really great premise and set up and I loved that it was based in SF but I found the character a bit one-note, the inner monologue SO boring, and the world building a bit underdeveloped.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
TO BE UPDATED AS I MAKE A MORE COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW
Enjoyable! Weaves together the central ideas of abuse/trauma with the ideas from the two central novels well. Solid, but this book LOVES to be so blunt with imparting its themes and central metaphor through both the narration and the imagery. It’s very direct and reiterated often. Not necessarily bad, since I love a book with a strong sense of its own central themes, but I kind of wish it let us put the ideas together ourselves sometimes. Ending was satisfying with the rest of the book. Liked the exploration of different ways people handle and heal from trauma, as well as how people treat them. The magic and shifts in how it is wielded seemed a little contrived sometimes, but overall I liked it and how it fit into the ideas of the original two novels.
Also liked the strong focus on female relationships and its careful avoidance of villainizing those manipulated by the main antagonists, even when they take harmful actions. Of course this book is in dialogue with the two original novels, but to me, it seems like it is also in dialogue with the larger enviroment of today’s vampire and gothic-derived fiction.
Also, embarrassingly, I was in fact expecting Daisy to turn out to be Gatsby Daisy, and she did not. But it’s a book about tragic women from classics, alright. I think she served a good purpose as she is, though.
Enjoyable! Weaves together the central ideas of abuse/trauma with the ideas from the two central novels well. Solid, but this book LOVES to be so blunt with imparting its themes and central metaphor through both the narration and the imagery. It’s very direct and reiterated often. Not necessarily bad, since I love a book with a strong sense of its own central themes, but I kind of wish it let us put the ideas together ourselves sometimes. Ending was satisfying with the rest of the book. Liked the exploration of different ways people handle and heal from trauma, as well as how people treat them. The magic and shifts in how it is wielded seemed a little contrived sometimes, but overall I liked it and how it fit into the ideas of the original two novels.
Also liked the strong focus on female relationships and its careful avoidance of villainizing those manipulated by the main antagonists, even when they take harmful actions. Of course this book is in dialogue with the two original novels, but to me, it seems like it is also in dialogue with the larger enviroment of today’s vampire and gothic-derived fiction.
Also, embarrassingly, I was in fact expecting Daisy to turn out to be Gatsby Daisy, and she did not. But it’s a book about tragic women from classics, alright. I think she served a good purpose as she is, though.
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
The main characters spend a lot of time letting their abusers walk all over them. Got about halfway through and just couldn’t continue through the stupidity of it all and their inability to move on from or fight against the men who wrecked their lives. What’s feminist about this book?
Interesting idea but incredibly meandering. Lots of assumptions need to be made going in, and I'm missing context to be able to understand. Maybe because I haven't read Jane Eyre before???
Lucy Westenra and Bertha Mason hit Haight Ashbury during the summer of love, stumbling into some of the key events in what is possibly the first gothic hippie novel