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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is so beautiful and so awful (non-derigitory). I don't know enough about Shakespeare or Catholicism or the dissolution of the British aristocracy. I loved this book and I would never read it again, and in fact skipped a few pages because I was physically and emotionally disgusted.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I knew I would love it from the first line. The writing immediately drew me in; this is the kind of prose I always look for. It didn't disappoint. It felt like nothing happened yet I still wanted to read on. Especially loved the characters of Harry Percy and Philippa.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
medium-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
STUNNING
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
If you're looking for a tradition story with tradition characters and a traditional plot line, then you absolutely should not read this book. And that's not me saying it's a bad book, but a strange one. There is no real plot, no character growth, no great conflict, and no resolution. It is a pure character study of Hal Lancaster. He drinks, does cocaine, hates himself with such a weary loathing, and is slowly destroying his life because of that.
A lot of this self hatred comes from Hal's father, Henry. Instead of living his own life, Hal spends his days pleasing his father, obeying his father, defying his father, enduring his father, and both resenting and accepting the fact that his father molested him when he was a child and that this toxic and damaging relationship continues even now. There's this terrible cycle of that you see over and over in the book of Henry "falling into sin," going to church like the good Catholic he is, confessing his sins, and having it all washed away, so he can do it again and again.
Hal was a child when the abuse began and, as the eldest of six children and a people pleaser, he had no idea how to handle it. So he didn’t. And now, twenty years later, he still accepts the blame of it on his own shoulders. Hal feels he should have done something, but he didn’t, and now he thinks it’s too late, so he drinks and does drugs and is an asshole to people. Some of that changes when he finally gives Henry Percy a chance in his life.
I like broken characters, I honestly do. Seeing someone shattered beneath a crushing weight, damaged by circumstance and trying to put themselves together, crawling their way out of the dark and learning to be who they are now, turning to face all the pain and suffering and telling it to fuck off … or accepting it, reshaping it, and welcoming it. Hal, however, as broken as he is, does none of this. Hal seems comfortable with his life. Comfortable doing nothing, comfortable feeling nothing, comfortable being nothing.
In the end, it’s a book about nothing. There is no character arc, no growth, no change. It’s just giant character study of a person who I understood, but personally found very frustrating. Maybe I would have liked this more if I had read (or really known anything about) the Henriad. While I have read some of Shakespeare's play thanks for the public education system, the Henriad was not one of them and while Wikipedia did it's best to educate me, it wasn't enough for me to fully appreciate this book like some might.
A lot of this self hatred comes from Hal's father, Henry. Instead of living his own life, Hal spends his days pleasing his father, obeying his father, defying his father, enduring his father, and both resenting and accepting the fact that his father molested him when he was a child and that this toxic and damaging relationship continues even now. There's this terrible cycle of that you see over and over in the book of Henry "falling into sin," going to church like the good Catholic he is, confessing his sins, and having it all washed away, so he can do it again and again.
Hal was a child when the abuse began and, as the eldest of six children and a people pleaser, he had no idea how to handle it. So he didn’t. And now, twenty years later, he still accepts the blame of it on his own shoulders. Hal feels he should have done something, but he didn’t, and now he thinks it’s too late, so he drinks and does drugs and is an asshole to people. Some of that changes when he finally gives Henry Percy a chance in his life.
I like broken characters, I honestly do. Seeing someone shattered beneath a crushing weight, damaged by circumstance and trying to put themselves together, crawling their way out of the dark and learning to be who they are now, turning to face all the pain and suffering and telling it to fuck off … or accepting it, reshaping it, and welcoming it. Hal, however, as broken as he is, does none of this. Hal seems comfortable with his life. Comfortable doing nothing, comfortable feeling nothing, comfortable being nothing.
In the end, it’s a book about nothing. There is no character arc, no growth, no change. It’s just giant character study of a person who I understood, but personally found very frustrating. Maybe I would have liked this more if I had read (or really known anything about) the Henriad. While I have read some of Shakespeare's play thanks for the public education system, the Henriad was not one of them and while Wikipedia did it's best to educate me, it wasn't enough for me to fully appreciate this book like some might.
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes