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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
I usually have both a hardcopy book and an audiobook going at the same time, which is the case right now. If one book is not that great the other one will carry me through. Unfortunately, right now I’m reading two books that are really difficult to get through and I’m not particularly enjoying either of them. So, with regret, I’m going to put this one down for a while. I hope to revisit it at some point in the future because I do like this author, unfortunately something about the pace and the back-and-forth between the POV’s is just not doing it for me.
DNF #4 of 2024
DNF #4 of 2024
I was eager to read this after reading the author's "The Last House on Needless Street" and really loving it. This one didn't blow my socks off in quite the same way, but it was still very very good, and had similar qualities and a similar twisty ending (or really, final third probably) that reframes the whole story. It's a Gothic story for sure, with all the elements thereof that you might expect, including broody atmosphere for miles. It's worth a content warning - the child abuse in this book is intense (but very matter-of-factly explained by the characters, for whom it is normal and a part of their "religion", which is all they know) and CSA is alluded to but never described.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A very difficult book to read because of the relentless descriptions of abuse in a cult.
Another book where 1/2 or 1/4 stars would be good. I liked Little Eve by Catriona Ward. It’s not my usual genre but I read a lot of similar books and I do enjoy them.
This is a cult story that contains alot of triggers. It is definitely not for sensitive readers. The story takes place from 1917 to 1946 so it could be considered historical fiction, but it felt very contemporary.
A group of young ladies/women, along with a lone young man, live on a remote Scottish island with their “Uncle.” They are waiting for “Him” to come from the sea around them.
Occasionally babies are birthed but family is not a thing on this island. And the townspeople view the group very warily.
This is a pretty dark book. But I was expecting more horror than this book contains. It was more of a mystery to me than horror. It may have some characteristics of horror but it’s not scary. Just dark.
Overall, I enjoyed but I’m not adding Catriona Ward to my auto-buy/auto-read author list.
Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for the advanced e-copy of #littleeve.
This is a cult story that contains alot of triggers. It is definitely not for sensitive readers. The story takes place from 1917 to 1946 so it could be considered historical fiction, but it felt very contemporary.
A group of young ladies/women, along with a lone young man, live on a remote Scottish island with their “Uncle.” They are waiting for “Him” to come from the sea around them.
Occasionally babies are birthed but family is not a thing on this island. And the townspeople view the group very warily.
This is a pretty dark book. But I was expecting more horror than this book contains. It was more of a mystery to me than horror. It may have some characteristics of horror but it’s not scary. Just dark.
Overall, I enjoyed but I’m not adding Catriona Ward to my auto-buy/auto-read author list.
Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for the advanced e-copy of #littleeve.
He pillado el girito de la novela porque ya había un girito parecido en otra novela de la autora.
Aún así buena novela de terror para tenerte enganchada hasta el final, aunque igual como me pasó con Needle St. creo que le sobran páginas, se acaba haciendo un poco repetitivo.
Aún así buena novela de terror para tenerte enganchada hasta el final, aunque igual como me pasó con Needle St. creo que le sobran páginas, se acaba haciendo un poco repetitivo.
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An outstanding book. I can easily recommend it but cannot as easily define its genre ... there are elements of folk horror and gothic, with whispers of mystery, cosmic horror, and psychological horror. The storytelling is expertly woven, complex, and entrancing right to the end. A dark story, to be sure, but in my reading of it, also redemptive.
Having freshly finished this book, I think the recurring theme I'd identify as the book's throughline is that of individuality versus lineage: how much of a person's identity is formed independently, and how much is defined by the nature of one's parents? How much of our identity is home-grown, and how much inherited, and how much planted there by those with power over us? This theme is strong throughout the book, from the opening epigraph "Like mother, like daughter," and continuing through the character interaction in the final pages of the book.
I see this reflected, to some degree, in pretty much every main character: Eve Bearings, Jamie McRaith, Sarah Buchanan, Christopher Black ... when all is told, we see that each of these characters are faced with the same challenge: the world tells them they are a certain thing based on incomplete evidence, often involving their parentage, and each character must determine how much they let that narrative define them. On the whole I found this theme to be very well handled and thought-provoking, almost inspiring if it weren't so darkly underscored.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and it's making me think a lot even though I've finished it -- to me this is the sure sign of an excellent book.
Having freshly finished this book, I think the recurring theme I'd identify as the book's throughline is that of individuality versus lineage: how much of a person's identity is formed independently, and how much is defined by the nature of one's parents? How much of our identity is home-grown, and how much inherited, and how much planted there by those with power over us? This theme is strong throughout the book, from the opening epigraph "Like mother, like daughter," and continuing through the character interaction in the final pages of the book.
I see this reflected, to some degree, in pretty much every main character: Eve Bearings, Jamie McRaith, Sarah Buchanan, Christopher Black ... when all is told, we see that each of these characters are faced with the same challenge: the world tells them they are a certain thing based on incomplete evidence, often involving their parentage, and each character must determine how much they let that narrative define them. On the whole I found this theme to be very well handled and thought-provoking, almost inspiring if it weren't so darkly underscored.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and it's making me think a lot even though I've finished it -- to me this is the sure sign of an excellent book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Murder
Moderate: Miscarriage, Self harm, Suicide attempt, War
Minor: Bullying
This was creepy! Which is to be expected from Catriona Ward, in this gothic historical, blood soaked tale set in 1917-1921 Ireland. Ward opens the story in 1921 when the local butcher brings his delivery to Altnaharra house, and discovers everyone dead, murdered, except for one girl, Dinah.
Ward takes us back to 1917, and tells us through Eve's eyes how Eve and Dinah, orphans, were taken In at Altnaharra house by “Uncle”, who uses a variety of bizarre rituals, isolation from the outside world, and physical, mental and sexual abuse to prepare the group for the time when they bring the world to an end, so.....death cult.
Uncle ensures that even though things are pretty bizarre and frankly awful in the house, to all outward appearances the people of Altnaharra House are relatively normal, so no one ever decides to ask any probing questions.
Except for Chief Inspector Christopher Black, who becomes interested in the goings on in Altnaharra House, and specifically in Eve's wellbeing. Eve is both fascinated and repelled by the possibilities he and the outside world represent...though this doesn't last long, and eventually, we end up in 1921, and all the dead bodies.
To reiterate, this was creepy! And chilling, and nightmarish, thanks to awful Uncle and his horrible cult, and how downtrodden and brainwashed everyone in Altnaharra were. Catriona Ward plays with reality and has the reader constantly questioning what is actually happening, as Eve's understanding of people and events around her are fractured and twisted, thanks to Uncle.
Eve is incredibly compelling, nonetheless, and I found the story impossible to put down, even with its oppressive situation and the certainty that everything ends in murder.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Macmillan-Tor/Forge for this ARC in exchange for my review.
Ward takes us back to 1917, and tells us through Eve's eyes how Eve and Dinah, orphans, were taken In at Altnaharra house by “Uncle”, who uses a variety of bizarre rituals, isolation from the outside world, and physical, mental and sexual abuse to prepare the group for the time when they bring the world to an end, so.....death cult.
Uncle ensures that even though things are pretty bizarre and frankly awful in the house, to all outward appearances the people of Altnaharra House are relatively normal, so no one ever decides to ask any probing questions.
Except for Chief Inspector Christopher Black, who becomes interested in the goings on in Altnaharra House, and specifically in Eve's wellbeing. Eve is both fascinated and repelled by the possibilities he and the outside world represent...though this doesn't last long, and eventually, we end up in 1921, and all the dead bodies.
To reiterate, this was creepy! And chilling, and nightmarish, thanks to awful Uncle and his horrible cult, and how downtrodden and brainwashed everyone in Altnaharra were. Catriona Ward plays with reality and has the reader constantly questioning what is actually happening, as Eve's understanding of people and events around her are fractured and twisted, thanks to Uncle.
Eve is incredibly compelling, nonetheless, and I found the story impossible to put down, even with its oppressive situation and the certainty that everything ends in murder.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Macmillan-Tor/Forge for this ARC in exchange for my review.
Catriona Ward is dark. But I'm usually in the mood for dark. Might be a little much for some people. Kept me reading!