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rach59r's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Animal cruelty
Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, and Child abuse
kaz14's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
I think for me this was an example of going into a book with such high expectations, from having read so much positive hype, that I was always going to be disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a bad book, it was just not the exceptional book I had hoped for.
The premise was good, the research was sound, and I learnt a lot about lighthouses, including looking up various terms and vagaries associated with the physical structure and the life of a lighthouse keeper. I really liked the fact that the author included the lives of the women, left behind for weeks on end. This was a very challenging job and lifestyle, for keepers and family members alike.
At the same time, I found the women’s sections a little tricky. I really enjoy alternate writing styles, but the reportage/spoken word format as they met with the prospective author of the book within the book, just didn’t work for me. In fact, it really distanced me from these women. I also struggled a bit with the love triangle and the supernatural elements. Again, not something I dislike or object to, but they just didn’t work. Perhaps there was just too much going on – grief and loss, mental illness, difficult childhoods, marital problems, criminal records and more. And yet despite all that is going on the novel moves at a very slow pace and ultimately all of this occurs within a locked door style mystery that, for me, did not resolve in a particularly convincing manner.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty
One scene late in the book is about the death of a family pet which will be graphic/difficult for some readers.foreverbookwandering's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
This book isn’t what I expected at all. The writing is very descriptive and atmospheric and that’s not really my thing but ultimately, this book is extremely slow paced. If you are looking for a page turning mystery, this ain’t it. I wanted something spooky for Halloween season and this didn’t really deliver.
The story is told from the lamplighters point of view and then their wives/girlfriend but then the last 15% or so is in third person, which is just confusing because I don’t understand why? Also speech marks are used but when it’s the women’s POV, they just talk a one sided conversation as if you are overhearing a phone call and there are no speech marks. This is clearly a narrative choice and again I didn’t understand why. The ‘clues’ in this book are few and far between so whether you are at the start of the book or halfway through, you’re not really any better off, plus at least one is an irrelevant red herring. The ending is really anticlimactic and I feel there was a huge build up for not much, like when you anticipate a massive firework and it gives a tiny spark and it’s done. If you are looking for an extremely in depth character exploration with tonnes of description, this may be for you but it fell flat for me and was a disappointing read.
Also, trigger warning for animal cruelty.
The story is told from the lamplighters point of view and then their wives/girlfriend but then the last 15% or so is in third person, which is just confusing because I don’t understand why? Also speech marks are used but when it’s the women’s POV, they just talk a one sided conversation as if you are overhearing a phone call and there are no speech marks. This is clearly a narrative choice and again I didn’t understand why. The ‘clues’ in this book are few and far between so whether you are at the start of the book or halfway through, you’re not really any better off, plus at least one is an irrelevant red herring. The ending is really anticlimactic and I feel there was a huge build up for not much, like when you anticipate a massive firework and it gives a tiny spark and it’s done. If you are looking for an extremely in depth character exploration with tonnes of description, this may be for you but it fell flat for me and was a disappointing read.
Also, trigger warning for animal cruelty.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Moderate: Child death and Grief
Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Mental illness, and Rape
abbie_'s review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
If you’re looking for a haunting, atmospheric read set at sea then look no further than The Lamplighters! It’s not haunting in the 👻 sense, but there’s a definite haunted atmosphere, the haunting of a cryptic mystery gone unsolved for too long.
.
This book draws inspiration from the disappearance of three lighthouse-keepers in the Hebrides in 1900, but this is set in Cornwall in 1972. Three keepers vanish into thin air, leaving their wives and girlfriends wondering over their fate. Those left behind have been paid well in compensation by Trident House, the lighthouse-keepers’ employers, to make sure they don’t go digging. But when a thriller writer starts writing a new book trying to solve the mystery, old ghosts are resurrected.
.
It flits back and forth between the keepers’ POVs in 1972 and the women left behind in 1992, and while I enjoyed both narratives, it was that of the present-day(ish) women that had me truly gripped. How do you move on with your life with the question of your partner’s fate constantly looming over you? How could you go on living a normal life without knowing what happened to your loved one, without any closure? Emma Stonex explores this, and the answer is - not easily!
.
I’m not sure how satisfied I was by the ending. It wasn’t bad by any means, I just didn’t have that feeling of a story wrapped up - maybe I’d even have preferred it if it weren’t wrapped up!! I do like an ambiguous ending.
.
But the writing, atmosphere and characters - I can’t fault those!
.
This book draws inspiration from the disappearance of three lighthouse-keepers in the Hebrides in 1900, but this is set in Cornwall in 1972. Three keepers vanish into thin air, leaving their wives and girlfriends wondering over their fate. Those left behind have been paid well in compensation by Trident House, the lighthouse-keepers’ employers, to make sure they don’t go digging. But when a thriller writer starts writing a new book trying to solve the mystery, old ghosts are resurrected.
.
It flits back and forth between the keepers’ POVs in 1972 and the women left behind in 1992, and while I enjoyed both narratives, it was that of the present-day(ish) women that had me truly gripped. How do you move on with your life with the question of your partner’s fate constantly looming over you? How could you go on living a normal life without knowing what happened to your loved one, without any closure? Emma Stonex explores this, and the answer is - not easily!
.
I’m not sure how satisfied I was by the ending. It wasn’t bad by any means, I just didn’t have that feeling of a story wrapped up - maybe I’d even have preferred it if it weren’t wrapped up!! I do like an ambiguous ending.
.
But the writing, atmosphere and characters - I can’t fault those!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Infidelity, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape
nialiversuch's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
j_squaredd's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Child death
Moderate: Child abuse and Rape
beajeffie's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Child abuse
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
leonie's review
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Child death
mybookishhedgemaze's review
dark
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
If I were rating this on the story alone, I'd probably give "The Lamplighters" 4/5 stars. As it is, three feels generous.
Aside from the contrived metaphors and similes...some so painfully forced I had to pause and laugh over them in disbelief or embarrassment, which destroyed any immersion the writer may have been trying to achieve...the over-used or ill-suited onomatopoeia, and the vague insinuations of supernatural influence or encounters, the gratuitous swearing was a literary turn-off. Using the infamous f-bomb as a noun, adjective, and verb isn't clever or original, it's actually the complete opposite and gives the distinct impression that the character or, more accurately, the *writer* is shockingly illiterate and at a loss for intelligent narrative.
Add to that the vast panoply of locker-room slang and insults, random and poorly executed stream-of-consciousness (or perhaps very well *executed* in an entirely different sense), senseless red herrings, bland, predictable plot twists, and the ever-changing character perspectives and metronomic swinging from decade to decade...all of this made for an impressively tiresome book. My Mum and I are thrilled to be done with it!
I *will* say that Arthur's poem was hauntingly lovely, but that's all I really can say.
Aside from the contrived metaphors and similes...some so painfully forced I had to pause and laugh over them in disbelief or embarrassment, which destroyed any immersion the writer may have been trying to achieve...the over-used or ill-suited onomatopoeia, and the vague insinuations of supernatural influence or encounters, the gratuitous swearing was a literary turn-off. Using the infamous f-bomb as a noun, adjective, and verb isn't clever or original, it's actually the complete opposite and gives the distinct impression that the character or, more accurately, the *writer* is shockingly illiterate and at a loss for intelligent narrative.
Add to that the vast panoply of locker-room slang and insults, random and poorly executed stream-of-consciousness (or perhaps very well *executed* in an entirely different sense), senseless red herrings, bland, predictable plot twists, and the ever-changing character perspectives and metronomic swinging from decade to decade...all of this made for an impressively tiresome book. My Mum and I are thrilled to be done with it!
I *will* say that Arthur's poem was hauntingly lovely, but that's all I really can say.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship
mbarranco's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
It was slow to start and the the last 2/3 of the book picked up. Also, there were some parts I skipped over because it was too much .
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, and Stalking