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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
This is not Wiseman's best. Wiseman herself says that the book is more fiction than history; it's not historical fiction, but Teenage Horror-Romance, colored with violence. The Willard in the novel is different from the actual Willard (where, for example, most patients were not locked in buildings).
The premise is intriguing: tracing the story of an asylum patient through left luggage. But instead of focusing on what's happening, the narrative is filled with descriptions telling about the angst the teenagers are feeling: stomach clenchings, up-chuckings, heart-flutterings, eyes tearing, etc. These narrative emoticons are in practically every scene.
The father is an unbelievable sadist. (I wonder how a wealthy man could arrange to keep his daughter in a state facility during the Depression.) The characters are mostly cardboard cliches: the Latin Lover, the Tyrant Father, the Mean Girl, the Handsome Jock, the Evil Doctor, the Kindly Foster Parent.
The premise is intriguing: tracing the story of an asylum patient through left luggage. But instead of focusing on what's happening, the narrative is filled with descriptions telling about the angst the teenagers are feeling: stomach clenchings, up-chuckings, heart-flutterings, eyes tearing, etc. These narrative emoticons are in practically every scene.
The father is an unbelievable sadist. (I wonder how a wealthy man could arrange to keep his daughter in a state facility during the Depression.) The characters are mostly cardboard cliches: the Latin Lover, the Tyrant Father, the Mean Girl, the Handsome Jock, the Evil Doctor, the Kindly Foster Parent.
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I enjoyed the story line. It was interesting and somewhat unique. I feel that the writing itself was very elementary and the high school characters were generic and predictable.
What an incredibly sad tale of love and loss. I can't imagine what Clara or Izzy went through. I liked how the two character perspectives merged at the end of the novel, tied up loose ends and left me feeling satisfied with the ending.
Some tie-ins between current time characters just didn’t feel realistic (alert: situations where young daughters were sexually abused by fathers) the reactions of family and the life impact on the two victims just didn’t feel right to me. The past vs present stories also didn’t appeal. Would have liked it better to just tell the historical version, and then the modern day one. The blending did not enhance either for me.
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This story definitely evoked some strong feelings of frustration. It was a terrible story of mistreated women getting unjustly labeled as insane. Clara was a young woman sent into an institution by her parents because she fell in love with a foreign man of a lower class. We follow her story as well as decades later a young girl with her own personal tragidies working with a museum project on the institution that Clara used to be at. She finds Claras journal and is intrigued by her story and is determined to find out the truth.
This story highlights the mistreatment of mental illness and patients in insane asylums. Truly a dark period of time when people were locked away and put through twrrible conditions that , if they came perfectly healthy destroyed their sanity and spirits.
This story highlights the mistreatment of mental illness and patients in insane asylums. Truly a dark period of time when people were locked away and put through twrrible conditions that , if they came perfectly healthy destroyed their sanity and spirits.
Solid enough story, but my editing pencil was a bit busy (in my head).
Chaise "lounge" --- really? It did keep me entertained until the end, and
went fairly well with my head cold.
Chaise "lounge" --- really? It did keep me entertained until the end, and
went fairly well with my head cold.
The story was interesting, although the plot didn't always hang together. Wiseman seems overly fond of characters with black hair and silvery eyes.