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rcsreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The Beetle was released in the same year as Dracula and outsold it at the time. I think the main reason it hasn't stayed the test of time as well is because it's massively racist. It's very much steeped in Victorian Egyptomania and post-colonial fears; and there's a lot of Orientalism and othering of anyone who's not a posh English person. The main villain is Egyptian and part of a weird cult called The Children of Isis. They like to make human sacrifices and they prefer to use white, English women. This makes zero sense as they're clearly supposed to be following an ancient Egyptian tradition and there weren't a lot of British people kicking about Egypt 3000 years ago!
It's a shame the main premise is so problematic because it was incredibly readable, a real page turner. It lays down a really good mystery at the start and there's enough peril that I needed to know what was going on. Also, the main female character is a badass and does as she pleases and makes the men treat her as an equal. They all wanted to marry her and she could have done better!
The actual Beetle is super creepy and there's a lot of people hearing the faint whirring of wings that's surprisingly scary. Also at one point it crawls onto a man's face and I'm amazed he didn't just die from it being so gross!
It's a weird tale worth reading and looking at in it's wider historical context. Obvious trigger warnings for racism and also for sexual assault.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury
rowangrey's review
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Rewriting/expanding this review because, despite everything, I Cannot stop thinking about this book. Was it good? Yes. Was it bad? Yes. Do I recommend it? I DON'T KNOW? PROBABLY NOT?
Okay, so let's start with the bad, because what's bad about it is REALLY bad. This book was written in 1897, but even for a Victorian novel, oh BOY. WOWZA. YIKES. It's ostensibly a horror novel, but by FAR the scariest thing in here is the depiction of "evil brown foreigners" and "gender deviance." If I hadn't been reading this for book club, and therefore with a sense of obligation to finish it, I would have ABSOLUTELY have noped out by the point we get to the Spoilercult of hermaphroditic middle eastern people who sacrifice white women to their heathen god. YEAH. BAD. I have a mental image of a young Howard Phillip Lovecraft, age 10 or so, picking up this book, and getting Ideas about things.
THAT BEING SAID. Sydney Atherton may be the best character in literary history. He sucks so much. I adore him. He's the single most petty, juvenile, unhinged man I've ever had the pleasure to read about in a classic novel. The exchange where he talks to his friend and it goes like this:
Okay, so let's start with the bad, because what's bad about it is REALLY bad. This book was written in 1897, but even for a Victorian novel, oh BOY. WOWZA. YIKES. It's ostensibly a horror novel, but by FAR the scariest thing in here is the depiction of "evil brown foreigners" and "gender deviance." If I hadn't been reading this for book club, and therefore with a sense of obligation to finish it, I would have ABSOLUTELY have noped out by the point we get to the Spoilercult of hermaphroditic middle eastern people who sacrifice white women to their heathen god. YEAH. BAD. I have a mental image of a young Howard Phillip Lovecraft, age 10 or so, picking up this book, and getting Ideas about things.
THAT BEING SAID. Sydney Atherton may be the best character in literary history. He sucks so much. I adore him. He's the single most petty, juvenile, unhinged man I've ever had the pleasure to read about in a classic novel. The exchange where he talks to his friend and it goes like this:
Atherton: What would you do if you loved someone but she loved someone else?
Atherton's friend whose name I've forgotten: Idk, be sad but wish them well? You'd want her to be happy, even if it was with someone else, right?
Atherton: No! I'd start planning his murder!
Feels almost ANACHRONISTICALLY modern. And that's not REMOTELY the wildest thing he does IN BOOK TWO ALONE.
Anyway, I see why this book lost popularity, but on some level I would love to see it adapted for a modern audience. It honestly wouldn't be THAT hard to keep the bones of the story, and write out the xenophobia/transphobia, etc. (In my book club, we even discussed an adaptation set in the 90s, where Paul Lessingham's dark secret is that he joined an ecofascist cult in the 70s when he was a teen, has since left and got his shit together, and doesn't want that to get out now that he's a politician, but someone is trying to blackmail him. Like, it would be that easy. Sydney Atherton stays essentially the same tho. He's perfect.)
But yeah, in the end I can't even rate this book. The character writing is excellent. The racism is bad EVEN taking the time it was written into account. Any star rating I could give it would have to come with a huge caveat, so instead you get, like, 6 paragraphs.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, and Islamophobia
Moderate: Sexual assault and Transphobia
Minor: Misogyny
tfortilney's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, and Islamophobia
Moderate: Violence and Murder
Minor: Misogyny and Sexism
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