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honnari_hannya's review
2.0
I swear I'm going to start writing more coherent reviews.
While I wanted to love this, it didn't really do much for me in terms of the story itself. The entire plot is basically given away by the blurb on goodreads/the flap copy. And if you know even a little bit about the historical treatment of "hysteria" for women, then you already guessed the long and short of whatever else happens in this book.
Even without the dead giveaway of the plot, it also felt like it was moving far too slow. I tend to enjoy slow, atmospheric pace, which this novel definitely has. The schoolhouse, the birds, the widow, the repression—the markings of a good gothic—but it doesn't really deliver on the promise of darkness and sinister intentions. And I don't even count the doctor, who is a really awful man, because he only appeared about 80% into the book, did some horrible things and then left without much ado.
I do have to praise Beams on successfully building up Caroline and the readers' sense of dread. However, the fact that the breaking point happened when most of the book was already done didn't leave much time for us (both the reader and Caroline) to sit with the truth we have to confront. I felt rushed towards an ending just as I was starting to feel it coming.
At the same time, this book also should have ended about a chapter and a half earlier. I didn't really see the point of the chapter on Boston. It felt like too neat a bow to close out a story like this, and it felt almost phoned in to meet a certain wordcount (at best) or a "happy" ending for Caroline (at worst).
I think I definitely would still pick up another book from Beams, because her writing is gorgeous and she just has a very compelling style. But this was not it.
Summary: The novel opens with Caroline and her father, Samuel, thrilled about the appearance of a bird that has only ever been seen once before called the Trilling Heart. Samuel and his student/apprentice, David, take it as a sign of good fortune and set about making plans for their great enterprise—opening a school for girls and teach them in the same way boys are taught, in order to prove women's minds can be enlightened and that they can be an equal match to their future husbands.
However, things go awry when they welcome their first class of eight girls, and a strange and inexplicable illness begins to fester amongst them—that eventually leads Caroline, Samuel, and David to confront their long-held secrets, resentments, and repressed desires.
While I wanted to love this, it didn't really do much for me in terms of the story itself. The entire plot is basically given away by the blurb on goodreads/the flap copy. And if you know even a little bit about the historical treatment of "hysteria" for women, then you already guessed the long and short of whatever else happens in this book.
Even without the dead giveaway of the plot, it also felt like it was moving far too slow. I tend to enjoy slow, atmospheric pace, which this novel definitely has. The schoolhouse, the birds, the widow, the repression—the markings of a good gothic—but it doesn't really deliver on the promise of darkness and sinister intentions. And I don't even count the doctor, who is a really awful man, because he only appeared about 80% into the book, did some horrible things and then left without much ado.
I do have to praise Beams on successfully building up Caroline and the readers' sense of dread. However, the fact that the breaking point happened when most of the book was already done didn't leave much time for us (both the reader and Caroline) to sit with the truth we have to confront. I felt rushed towards an ending just as I was starting to feel it coming.
At the same time, this book also should have ended about a chapter and a half earlier. I didn't really see the point of the chapter on Boston. It felt like too neat a bow to close out a story like this, and it felt almost phoned in to meet a certain wordcount (at best) or a "happy" ending for Caroline (at worst).
I think I definitely would still pick up another book from Beams, because her writing is gorgeous and she just has a very compelling style. But this was not it.
abbiwesner's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
Minor: Suicide
kaylo88's review
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This book might have had mixed reviews, but personally, I found it a great read. The plot was clever, it was extremely well written and the characters were mostly well-rounded, though I did find myself wishing that some of the female characters had been given more in-depth backstories.
The story centers around a man who, along with his daughter and a male acquaintance, establishes a radical new school for girls. The idea behind the school is to teach girls the same way as boys. At first, everything seems to be going smoothly, but soon the girls begin to fall ill, and strange things begin to happen at the same time as red birds start nesting at the school.
I must admit that I found the male characters to be utterly despicable. Samuel, the father and mastermind behind the school, starts off with good intentions, but as soon as things start to go wrong, he abandons the idea of women being just as capable as men. It's disheartening to see how quickly he reverts to old-fashioned ideas about women's capabilities. And it probably makes him even worse than his contemporaries since he is such a hypocrite.
Unfortunately, the book is a sobering reminder that the medical community has a long history of downplaying women's symptoms and dismissing their concerns. While the book is a work of fiction, it's clear that the themes it explores are still relevant today.
My only gripe with the book is that I found the ending to be somewhat unsatisfying. While I can't put my finger on exactly what I was hoping for, I felt like there were too many loose ends left untied. It left me wanting more, but not necessarily in a good way.
The story centers around a man who, along with his daughter and a male acquaintance, establishes a radical new school for girls. The idea behind the school is to teach girls the same way as boys. At first, everything seems to be going smoothly, but soon the girls begin to fall ill, and strange things begin to happen at the same time as red birds start nesting at the school.
I must admit that I found the male characters to be utterly despicable. Samuel, the father and mastermind behind the school, starts off with good intentions, but as soon as things start to go wrong, he abandons the idea of women being just as capable as men. It's disheartening to see how quickly he reverts to old-fashioned ideas about women's capabilities. And it probably makes him even worse than his contemporaries since he is such a hypocrite.
Unfortunately, the book is a sobering reminder that the medical community has a long history of downplaying women's symptoms and dismissing their concerns. While the book is a work of fiction, it's clear that the themes it explores are still relevant today.
My only gripe with the book is that I found the ending to be somewhat unsatisfying. While I can't put my finger on exactly what I was hoping for, I felt like there were too many loose ends left untied. It left me wanting more, but not necessarily in a good way.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault and Misogyny
cait888's review
5.0
This book does an excellent job of exploring modern ideas in a historical setting without giving historical characters anachronistic viewpoints (which is a real pet peeve of mine in current literary trends). I could recognize and identify with the way the women were ignored and silenced and expected to comply without the women having too take on 21st century philosophical stances.
angelamichelle's review against another edition
4.0
I flagged a bit in the second third, but loved the final third. Such interesting questions—how can women hold boundaries in a patriarchal world, how can a girl be in control of both her mind and body, how to reconcile what women really are with the world they live in.
[Alcott-esque intellectual founds a girls school]
[Alcott-esque intellectual founds a girls school]
kleonard's review
3.0
With the shadows and ghosts of the Alcotts and Louisa May Alcott's Little Women in particular populating its pages, this novel captures a brief span in a young woman's life during which her father, having been part of a failed self-sufficient utopia, decides to open a school. Recruiting a handful of girls for an experimental education, Caroline, her father Samuel, and teacher David embark on an adventure that turns sour as David's pious wife arrives, spoiling Caroline's hopes for a romance with David; and as one of the students, the daughter of Caroline's long-deceased mother's lover--begins to dictate the social order of the pupils. Finally, having fallen in to a mass hysteria, the girls are treated by one of Samuel's former utopian colleagues, a doctor who decides that the students all just need to release their tension through "paroxysms"--or orgasms, manually stimulated by the doctor. In the end, Caroline decides that this is wrong, and leaves her father for city life.
The book is well-written and often beautiful and evocative, but the plot was too predictable for me, and the remove with which the author's manner prose separates the reader and characters is too distant, and the characters too thin, for me to have gotten very invested in the outcome.
The book is well-written and often beautiful and evocative, but the plot was too predictable for me, and the remove with which the author's manner prose separates the reader and characters is too distant, and the characters too thin, for me to have gotten very invested in the outcome.
bookswithmaddi's review against another edition
3.0
Although I'm only giving this book 3 stars this could be one of my favorite books of all time. I'm not quite sure how that words...I'll say more later.
pfiffsay's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75