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theliteraryhooker's review against another edition
May come back to it in the future, mostly put it down due to personal circumstances that I don't especially want to revisit right now via continuing the book.
motherhorror's review against another edition
4.0
One of my favorite things about some authors is when they have a very distinct affinity for certain "theme words". As I read Georgina Bruce's luxurious prose, I was taking copious notes for this review.
Some theme words that stand out to me: Blood, Mirrors, Shadows.
Lots of imagery about the female body, slits, slips, openings, velvet...
Themes of Alice in Wonderland, self-discovery, womanhood, reflection...
Dreaming.
Escapism.
Losing one's identity.
Finding yourself.
Objectification and oppression.
Also, plenty of genres here to appeal to a variety of particular readers:
Lyrical prose-almost poetic
Dystopian
Horror
Feminism
Dark Fantasy
Sci-Fi
My favorite stories were: The Lady of Situations which had a very WESTWORLD vibe to me.
Red Queening and White Rabbit
Cat World was devastatingly beautiful and haunting. I shall never forget it.
The book of Dreems & The Shadow Men took some time for me to find my bearings but as soon as I felt like I understood, I really enjoyed them.
There were some stories that I never really could find my footing in while I was reading them. I stumbled through the rich descriptions and language trying to make sense of what I was reading but I never arrived. A few I skipped after reading a few pages. (I'm not smart enough! Waaaah)
Anyhow,
I love Georgina's voice and I hope to read a novel from her soon. I recommend this collection to readers who enjoy strong, feminine themes, richly lyrical prose and a variety of stories.
Potential triggers for sexual abuse.
Some theme words that stand out to me: Blood, Mirrors, Shadows.
Lots of imagery about the female body, slits, slips, openings, velvet...
Themes of Alice in Wonderland, self-discovery, womanhood, reflection...
Dreaming.
Escapism.
Losing one's identity.
Finding yourself.
Objectification and oppression.
Also, plenty of genres here to appeal to a variety of particular readers:
Lyrical prose-almost poetic
Dystopian
Horror
Feminism
Dark Fantasy
Sci-Fi
My favorite stories were: The Lady of Situations which had a very WESTWORLD vibe to me.
Red Queening and White Rabbit
Cat World was devastatingly beautiful and haunting. I shall never forget it.
The book of Dreems & The Shadow Men took some time for me to find my bearings but as soon as I felt like I understood, I really enjoyed them.
There were some stories that I never really could find my footing in while I was reading them. I stumbled through the rich descriptions and language trying to make sense of what I was reading but I never arrived. A few I skipped after reading a few pages. (I'm not smart enough! Waaaah)
Anyhow,
I love Georgina's voice and I hope to read a novel from her soon. I recommend this collection to readers who enjoy strong, feminine themes, richly lyrical prose and a variety of stories.
Potential triggers for sexual abuse.
exorcismofemilyreed's review against another edition
3.0
"This fucking world. Dying at the edges. Sick all the way through. Everyone wired into that game, that madness."
This House of Wounds was my introduction to Georgina Bruce's writing. I buddy read this one with my friends Tracy and Audra, and we definitely had some interesting discussions while reading.
Georgina Bruce's writing is so beautiful. Her descriptions are creative and haunting, and I would kill to read a book of poetry written by her. I think this book does a great job at showing off her talent.
However, I really struggled with several of the stories. Although I enjoyed the writing, quite a few of the stories were confusing, and I couldn't make sense of them even after discussing with my fellow buddy readers. At times, it felt like only the author was meant to understand what was going on, and this was frustrating for me. It was kind of like learning half a secret, and then the rest is dangled in front of you without any additional information or closure. I don't know if that makes sense, but that's how I felt...almost like I was left out of the resolution. Maybe I'm the problem, but I don't think I was the only one who had a difficult time with this book. I feel like I can't rate this collection any higher because I have no idea what was going on most of the time.
My top 5 stories are Cat World, The Book of Dreems, The Queen of Knives, White Rabbit, and Red Queening. Honestly, these ones were the ones I had the best grasp of, and I'm still not sure with some of them.
Although I had issues, this book really is a gorgeous collection, and there's a lot to love here. Again, I would absolutely love to read poetry from Georgina Bruce if it ever exists. Thank you to Undertow Publications for sending me a copy to review.
This House of Wounds was my introduction to Georgina Bruce's writing. I buddy read this one with my friends Tracy and Audra, and we definitely had some interesting discussions while reading.
Georgina Bruce's writing is so beautiful. Her descriptions are creative and haunting, and I would kill to read a book of poetry written by her. I think this book does a great job at showing off her talent.
However, I really struggled with several of the stories. Although I enjoyed the writing, quite a few of the stories were confusing, and I couldn't make sense of them even after discussing with my fellow buddy readers. At times, it felt like only the author was meant to understand what was going on, and this was frustrating for me. It was kind of like learning half a secret, and then the rest is dangled in front of you without any additional information or closure. I don't know if that makes sense, but that's how I felt...almost like I was left out of the resolution. Maybe I'm the problem, but I don't think I was the only one who had a difficult time with this book. I feel like I can't rate this collection any higher because I have no idea what was going on most of the time.
My top 5 stories are Cat World, The Book of Dreems, The Queen of Knives, White Rabbit, and Red Queening. Honestly, these ones were the ones I had the best grasp of, and I'm still not sure with some of them.
Although I had issues, this book really is a gorgeous collection, and there's a lot to love here. Again, I would absolutely love to read poetry from Georgina Bruce if it ever exists. Thank you to Undertow Publications for sending me a copy to review.
kingjason's review
5.0
A fantastic collection of stories, full of magical realism with a touch of horror. If you are a fan of David Lynch's movies or Rebecca Grandsen's books then you'll really enjoy this. I loved everything about this book from the stunning cover (which my daughter says is the creepiest ever) to the stories themselves, including their mad titles.
The stories themselves touch on similar topics, absent mothers (absent in various ways), mirrors and the fractures they create when broken, pain and release and crows....the crows play a major part in the horror side of this book. You get a nice range of stories, some dystopias, some from the point of view of children, stories that blur the lines between fantasy and reality, scary ones and moving ones.
Whilst most stories here are excellent there is one that stood out way above the others, "White Rabbit" is a powerful story, incredibly moving and left me with a hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach, reading about a character as his mind slowly unravels was so sad. It was the perfect story to bring the book to a close.
This was the first thing I've read by Georgina Bruce and I'm hooked, I've been checking out her blog recently and there is some great stuff there too.
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2019/05/04/this-house-of-wounds-by-georgina-bruce/
The stories themselves touch on similar topics, absent mothers (absent in various ways), mirrors and the fractures they create when broken, pain and release and crows....the crows play a major part in the horror side of this book. You get a nice range of stories, some dystopias, some from the point of view of children, stories that blur the lines between fantasy and reality, scary ones and moving ones.
Whilst most stories here are excellent there is one that stood out way above the others, "White Rabbit" is a powerful story, incredibly moving and left me with a hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach, reading about a character as his mind slowly unravels was so sad. It was the perfect story to bring the book to a close.
This was the first thing I've read by Georgina Bruce and I'm hooked, I've been checking out her blog recently and there is some great stuff there too.
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2019/05/04/this-house-of-wounds-by-georgina-bruce/
tracyreads's review
4.0
3.5
Georgina Bruce's debut collection dives into the realms of dark fantasy/horror. Side note to state that the cover art by Catrin Welz-Stein is absolutely spectacular and it represents the collection quite well. While all of these stories are standalone, there are common themes of loss, grief, toxic relationships, and alternate realities. There are even a few that put me in mind of some of the more fantastical Black Mirror episodes. It certainly is, I think, a commentary on how we experience life, love, and loss, and how society might shape those things.
I did struggle at times to even come close to understanding several of these stories. Not because the writing is bad, it is beautiful and organic, but because for me the narrative thread was too surreal, too thin, for me to have anything to grab on to. Bruce definitely has the ability to paint a literary picture. I actually read this with a couple of friends, Emily and Audra, and one of the things that we all agreed on was that Bruce would definitely shine at poetry and/or flash fiction. Some of these longer stories were so lush and so surreal that it was lost on me and I just couldn't connect.
That being said, I did have some absolute favorites in this collection. All of these really resonated and I loved the balance of real and imaginary.
"Cat World" - This centers around two young girls trying to survive in a world that preys on young girls. I really loved the travelling (whether real or imaginary) and the alternate universe in this one. Definite 5 star read for me.
"The Book of Dreems" - "She sensed herself dissolving into the thick, inky void and was afraid." Ooh I HATED the husband in this one. This one also boasts a form of surreal reality, patriarchy, and more. 4 stars for me.
"Wake Up, Phil" - This is another 5 star story for me. It reminds me a bit of Black Mirror and deals with a reality in which two factions of society are at war. The main character experiences major breaks in time and reality which can be difficult to follow but I absolutely enjoyed it.
"Little Heart" - Brokenness, sorrow, memory, and family are the highlights here. "Only when something breaks can you finally understand its true function and character" is a quote I really loved from this one. 4.5 stars.
and finally there is the last story in the collection, "White Rabbit". Guess what? Another 5 star story. This is another one that definitely has some bizarro elements as we watch an older man deal with the death of his wife. "He was meant to take her inside himself and hold her there, and instead the house took her inside herself and wouldn't let her go."
This collection is out on 4 June 2019.
Georgina Bruce's debut collection dives into the realms of dark fantasy/horror. Side note to state that the cover art by Catrin Welz-Stein is absolutely spectacular and it represents the collection quite well. While all of these stories are standalone, there are common themes of loss, grief, toxic relationships, and alternate realities. There are even a few that put me in mind of some of the more fantastical Black Mirror episodes. It certainly is, I think, a commentary on how we experience life, love, and loss, and how society might shape those things.
I did struggle at times to even come close to understanding several of these stories. Not because the writing is bad, it is beautiful and organic, but because for me the narrative thread was too surreal, too thin, for me to have anything to grab on to. Bruce definitely has the ability to paint a literary picture. I actually read this with a couple of friends, Emily and Audra, and one of the things that we all agreed on was that Bruce would definitely shine at poetry and/or flash fiction. Some of these longer stories were so lush and so surreal that it was lost on me and I just couldn't connect.
That being said, I did have some absolute favorites in this collection. All of these really resonated and I loved the balance of real and imaginary.
"Cat World" - This centers around two young girls trying to survive in a world that preys on young girls. I really loved the travelling (whether real or imaginary) and the alternate universe in this one. Definite 5 star read for me.
"The Book of Dreems" - "She sensed herself dissolving into the thick, inky void and was afraid." Ooh I HATED the husband in this one. This one also boasts a form of surreal reality, patriarchy, and more. 4 stars for me.
"Wake Up, Phil" - This is another 5 star story for me. It reminds me a bit of Black Mirror and deals with a reality in which two factions of society are at war. The main character experiences major breaks in time and reality which can be difficult to follow but I absolutely enjoyed it.
"Little Heart" - Brokenness, sorrow, memory, and family are the highlights here. "Only when something breaks can you finally understand its true function and character" is a quote I really loved from this one. 4.5 stars.
and finally there is the last story in the collection, "White Rabbit". Guess what? Another 5 star story. This is another one that definitely has some bizarro elements as we watch an older man deal with the death of his wife. "He was meant to take her inside himself and hold her there, and instead the house took her inside herself and wouldn't let her go."
This collection is out on 4 June 2019.
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