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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
what the frick!!!! no matter how i feel at the end of a catriona ward book, i’ll always be astounded at the skill and care it takes to craft stories so intricate and complex. this one especially felt so intrinsically layered that if you peeled one, you couldn’t help peeling off more of another. she has quickly become one of my favorite authors because of how boldly and creatively she utilizes storytelling.
however, this one kind of lost me about halfway through. after finishing, it feels like the story was struggling to juggle all the layers of meta while also challenging the trustworthiness of memory and what the reader will allow ourselves to believe when it comes from one character or another. maybe that was on purpose, meant to reflect all of these characters trying to tell *their* version of the story. as always, i feel like a reread will reveal those missing threads on the first read.
however, this one kind of lost me about halfway through. after finishing, it feels like the story was struggling to juggle all the layers of meta while also challenging the trustworthiness of memory and what the reader will allow ourselves to believe when it comes from one character or another. maybe that was on purpose, meant to reflect all of these characters trying to tell *their* version of the story. as always, i feel like a reread will reveal those missing threads on the first read.
Someone called this book a brain bend and now I totally get why. The layers are insane. I think I need to go thru this one again now that I know the whole story!
I really enjoyed this but I got a bit muddled toward the end trying to keep track of who was who (and their connections) in each version of the story.
Rules are hard. Parables, metaphors—they’re so much easier, a guideline rather than a hard fast, stringent rule. Rules don’t leave much room for deviation before they start to get stressful or impractical, and worst of all, distracting. But there is something to be said about an author committing to the complicated undertaking of a non-reality as we know it. So much freedom, but so very much responsibility with this creative omniscience.
Rules aren’t the intention with Looking Glass Sound, just like Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House isn’t about rules either. But in supernatural suspensions of reality as we know it, it’s important to set an orientation, otherwise our brains spin like compass hands.
So many things work well in Looking Glass Sound (it’s important to mention this). It’s an utterly captivating page-turner of a novel, but I’m not sure it made sense. Given the name disorientation was intended, but just who, exactly, falls through the looking glass, when, why and how—well that was hard to know. At some point I stopped trying to organize and check it, and that was fine. The story was worth it.
I was transported to Maine, to in-land, liberal arts, collegiate Pennsylvania, and of course New York City. I felt, really, Ward’s ability to associate a single word and create an entire vibe: “bright shining summer days in a dime-like New York,” simmering, glinting, insignificant and enormous, regardless of physical dominion, in that heat. There’s an almost Muriel Spark ability to distill the least likely yet most identifiable noun and instantly pry the intended world open like a stubborn oyster, a complete pearl of Ward’s intentions wobbling out and spinning perfectly into orbit.
And she’s no slouch with intention, structure—then outlines for tales like this must be novels in themselves. Again, I found myself willingly giving up control: all those English major moments—the need to truly “get it,” the ego of figuring out the mystery myself, knowing the line of scale my pitch registers on without worry of accidentally clashing, slamming into a register below it. But it can be very hard to stop trying to connect a circuit, and it became frustrating, even when I didn’t realize it was frustration. The queues are all there, actual (in some instances) horcrux of hair and “milk teeth” (which also give away Ward’s own childhood geographic nomad status. I’ve only ever heard baby teeth in the US, but maybe it’s a specific East Coast regionalism I’ve just missed), and Skye and Sky, red and russet, rich or poor, blood or lover, killer or accomplice, poison or herb. And the homage to the gothic is ever-present: another Rebecca in a watery gown, the ever-creepy, versatile and wild-growing Hemlock (but I did not know the root was carrot-shaped) and another phenomenon I will not name because it might spoil things and I hate reviews that have to be hidden (but this is my third encounter with it and I’m starting to feel like I have a readers tool kit at my disposal).
But, there were characters that felt “pushed” into the unlikable, when my instinct was to sympathize and relate. It felt heavy-handed, even clumsy. Like they weren’t going like they needed to, but rather than rework them they were just pushed into positions they needed to assume. Sometimes I thought behaviors gave me insights into intended character development, but I was rarely right. There was always a loophole or anomaly to combat my sense of order. It started to remind me of playing checkers with my son—who can possibly win if the rules change every time I take a turn?
Other characters were so absent, unnamed until late in the book, or without backstory, dead in a single sentence, and not missed, or again, maybe that was the point. But others return, regain page space, but (to me) serve little function. This is, unmistakably, Ward’s world, and nothing is without intention, but it was never mine. I was ill-at ease, always looking over my shoulder and very ready to leave, by the end. That might just be the point, the genius, the horror. Murder and violence are frightening, but so is the disconnection of sense as we know it, the absence of fillable expectation.
Books that truly engage supernatural rules add an extra layer of complexity to be sure. We’re all waiting for the reasonable explanation, and it’s a specific type of undertaking to do it well. Ward does do well, I want to be clear. Could it be better? I’m still thinking and reading. I can say I would be hard pressed to find another version of this type of tale that does better. Somehow the messy bits are just a part of it, but it’s so much more fun than “it was all a dream.”
Rules aren’t the intention with Looking Glass Sound, just like Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House isn’t about rules either. But in supernatural suspensions of reality as we know it, it’s important to set an orientation, otherwise our brains spin like compass hands.
So many things work well in Looking Glass Sound (it’s important to mention this). It’s an utterly captivating page-turner of a novel, but I’m not sure it made sense. Given the name disorientation was intended, but just who, exactly, falls through the looking glass, when, why and how—well that was hard to know. At some point I stopped trying to organize and check it, and that was fine. The story was worth it.
I was transported to Maine, to in-land, liberal arts, collegiate Pennsylvania, and of course New York City. I felt, really, Ward’s ability to associate a single word and create an entire vibe: “bright shining summer days in a dime-like New York,” simmering, glinting, insignificant and enormous, regardless of physical dominion, in that heat. There’s an almost Muriel Spark ability to distill the least likely yet most identifiable noun and instantly pry the intended world open like a stubborn oyster, a complete pearl of Ward’s intentions wobbling out and spinning perfectly into orbit.
And she’s no slouch with intention, structure—then outlines for tales like this must be novels in themselves. Again, I found myself willingly giving up control: all those English major moments—the need to truly “get it,” the ego of figuring out the mystery myself, knowing the line of scale my pitch registers on without worry of accidentally clashing, slamming into a register below it. But it can be very hard to stop trying to connect a circuit, and it became frustrating, even when I didn’t realize it was frustration. The queues are all there, actual (in some instances) horcrux of hair and “milk teeth” (which also give away Ward’s own childhood geographic nomad status. I’ve only ever heard baby teeth in the US, but maybe it’s a specific East Coast regionalism I’ve just missed), and Skye and Sky, red and russet, rich or poor, blood or lover, killer or accomplice, poison or herb. And the homage to the gothic is ever-present: another Rebecca in a watery gown, the ever-creepy, versatile and wild-growing Hemlock (but I did not know the root was carrot-shaped) and another phenomenon I will not name because it might spoil things and I hate reviews that have to be hidden (but this is my third encounter with it and I’m starting to feel like I have a readers tool kit at my disposal).
But, there were characters that felt “pushed” into the unlikable, when my instinct was to sympathize and relate. It felt heavy-handed, even clumsy. Like they weren’t going like they needed to, but rather than rework them they were just pushed into positions they needed to assume. Sometimes I thought behaviors gave me insights into intended character development, but I was rarely right. There was always a loophole or anomaly to combat my sense of order. It started to remind me of playing checkers with my son—who can possibly win if the rules change every time I take a turn?
Other characters were so absent, unnamed until late in the book, or without backstory, dead in a single sentence, and not missed, or again, maybe that was the point. But others return, regain page space, but (to me) serve little function. This is, unmistakably, Ward’s world, and nothing is without intention, but it was never mine. I was ill-at ease, always looking over my shoulder and very ready to leave, by the end. That might just be the point, the genius, the horror. Murder and violence are frightening, but so is the disconnection of sense as we know it, the absence of fillable expectation.
Books that truly engage supernatural rules add an extra layer of complexity to be sure. We’re all waiting for the reasonable explanation, and it’s a specific type of undertaking to do it well. Ward does do well, I want to be clear. Could it be better? I’m still thinking and reading. I can say I would be hard pressed to find another version of this type of tale that does better. Somehow the messy bits are just a part of it, but it’s so much more fun than “it was all a dream.”
"Fucked up will save you. Fucked up will set you free."
Looking Glass Sound started off feeling almost nostalgic; Wilder, Nat, and Harper's relationship reminded me a bit of all the kids' friendships in Stephen King's 'IT'. And similarly, it got weird and unsettling rather quick.
No exaggeration here, I think this is one of the best books I've ever had the pleasure of reading. If it was possible to give more than 5 stars, I think this has more than earned it. It was twisty and horrifying, and left me with my mouth hanging open not even 100 pages in. As soon as I thought I had it all figured out, the story would take another twist and leave me questioning everything I thought I understood. Right up until the last page, there are mysteries to be solved and details to be revealed. I can see myself rereading this in the near future, but nothing will match the first read and uncovering all the secrets Looking Glass Sound holds.
Thank you to Tor Nightfire for the ARC of this book!
Looking Glass Sound started off feeling almost nostalgic; Wilder, Nat, and Harper's relationship reminded me a bit of all the kids' friendships in Stephen King's 'IT'. And similarly, it got weird and unsettling rather quick.
No exaggeration here, I think this is one of the best books I've ever had the pleasure of reading. If it was possible to give more than 5 stars, I think this has more than earned it. It was twisty and horrifying, and left me with my mouth hanging open not even 100 pages in. As soon as I thought I had it all figured out, the story would take another twist and leave me questioning everything I thought I understood. Right up until the last page, there are mysteries to be solved and details to be revealed. I can see myself rereading this in the near future, but nothing will match the first read and uncovering all the secrets Looking Glass Sound holds.
Thank you to Tor Nightfire for the ARC of this book!
I really really did not enjoy this. There was nice prose, and I was interested at first, but I didn’t like re-reading entire passages that I’d already read from a different POV. It ended up feeling silly, and it dragged on for me.
“I remember thinking, if it’s possible that life can be this guilty and hard and sad, then it must be possible for the opposite to exist. Possibility. Magic, I suppose.”
I loved this book almost as much as Needless Street, and I’m coming to adore Ms. Ward’s writing style. This book was full of atmospheric descriptions of gorgeous New England towns making me feel I was really there with these characters. This was a totally immersive experience that you couldn’t look away from or you’d lose the thread-shifting timelines, character changes and that eerie feeling that something is off just below the surface though you can’t quite put your finger on it. All the twists and turns kept me on my toes!
I loved this book almost as much as Needless Street, and I’m coming to adore Ms. Ward’s writing style. This book was full of atmospheric descriptions of gorgeous New England towns making me feel I was really there with these characters. This was a totally immersive experience that you couldn’t look away from or you’d lose the thread-shifting timelines, character changes and that eerie feeling that something is off just below the surface though you can’t quite put your finger on it. All the twists and turns kept me on my toes!
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
2.5 - Welp, that sure was a doozy! I thought this was a haunting/haunted house book from the synopsis, but it really isn’t at all.
It's a book about a book but also about the creation of the book. It's weird and I love it. There's so many layers to this book by the end it is just reveal after reveal. I will say the first bit of this book is kind of hard to get through mostly because it's vibes But once the mystery starts to hit it just keeps going. Another thing about this book that I like is that you never quite know what the mystery is like it's one thing and then it changes to another thing and then it changes to another thing. It's amazing