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3.3 AVERAGE
3.3 AVERAGE
This was a really fun, interesting and engaging quick read! Definitely satisfied my craving for a Victorian gothic novel. Enough mystery and creepiness to keep you hooked. Great read!
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was my second reading. I really love this novel. It is so strange and the solution to the mystery is both ingenious and disturbing.
mysterious
slow-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
1860. A broken engagement, then marriage, and finally death in Venice. Is the hotel where he died haunted.
Overall an enjoyable story
Originally written in 1879
Overall an enjoyable story
Originally written in 1879
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
''Excuse my grim fancy. You see, Destiny has got the rope round my neck - and I feel it.''
My first Wilkie Collins mystery sucked lol! This was dry, dull, and completely uninteresting. Despite the title, there's very little haunting going on and the whole thing was just so boring! 💤🙄
''Are you ready to follow me back, through the crimes of the past, to the secrets of the dead?''
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Reading this book has made me realize why only two of Collins's novels are widely known-- they're not all masterpieces. I was well past the one-hour point in the audio before the word hotel was even mentioned, and the titular hotel didn't even exist for over half the narrative.
Collins portrays his female characters sympathetically. Since the primary villain of this piece is a woman, I was surprised that even she was treated sympathetically. Near the end of the book, the Countess Narona tells her version of what happened, and as with modern villains, she is the heroine of her story, though few others would see it that way.
Even with her explanation, it was difficult to understand why she acted like she did. She went from ill to well and back to ill in the space of a minute or two. She claimed that she was subject to a will stronger than her own, but whose? She still seems to lack a will of her own even after the obvious suspects had no more will to impose. If she was supposed to have been controlled by something supernatural, we are left without a clue as to who or what it was. She was a party to cold-blooded murder without a second thought, yet having to face the very-very-extremely-not-scary Agnes filled her with dread. I found her incomprehensible, but she is at least not one-dimensional.
Although the book is extremely back-loaded-- nothing exciting happens until the last third-- I found the primary twist in Narona's tale inventive and clever. I got a chuckle out of the narrator's declaration that 30 year old women are middle-aged, as well. Also, don't get bronchitis a third time, because evidently that's fatal.
Boring, boring, boring. This book seemed to lack focus. Or maybe that was just me while I was trying to follow along. I'm not sure. I don't care. Wilkie Collins is better than this. Read Moonstone or The Woman in White but avoid this at all costs.