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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
Beginning as a well-written but – or so the reader thinks – fairly traditional gothic novel in the manner of The Woman in Black, Catriona Ward’s debut veers off to places far darker than I anticipated and into uncharted territory. An ingenious spin on the ‘cursed family’ trope in fiction, an examination of the traumatic aftermath of the First World War, a powerful feminist work and a horror novel that fully delivers on its promise. I haven’t felt as disturbed, sad, angry and frightened by a novel’s final revelation in a long time (which of course as a reader I, perversely, enjoy). A brilliant debut.
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I absolutely loved the second half of this book, but the first half was definitely an effort to get through which is why it only has 4-stars from me. The first half contains some extremely difficult to read material and at times I considered setting the book aside altogether. I am so glad I persevered, everything is woven together brilliantly by the end.
Alternating POV narratives tell a story of an alleged family affliction, and while the signposts of the genre are all there, Catriona Ward crafts something new and unusual out of them. Excellent Gothic atmosphere, but I needed an animal experimentation content warning. The Charles chapters--no idea what happened there once the rabbits showed up . Had to put this on hold for almost an entire month because of it, and no book that does that for that particular reason is going to win me over, even if it's compelling enough to finish.
That said, the Mary and Hepzibah chapter alone is worth the price of admission (and can easily stand on its own as a short story), as is the deft and inventive handling of the ghost story elements at the story's climax. Probably the strongest pieces of writing in the book, those two things, followed closely by the unusual voice of Iris Villarca, whose unexpected word usage and staccato rhythm is downright hypnotic. My only quibble there is that at times her particular style bled through into other characters, and it's too distinctive a voice to be repurposed without harming the narrative flow.
The individual parts of this are overall stronger than the whole, but it's not a major complaint. Assuming graphic animal experimentation scenes don't affect reading enjoyment, this is a haunting and unique addition to the Gothic horror genre.
Also, the US publisher should have left the UK title alone.
Spoiler
so all I got out of that was that they might have been a clumsy, gruesome foreshadowing of Iris's eventual fateThat said, the Mary and Hepzibah chapter alone is worth the price of admission (and can easily stand on its own as a short story), as is the deft and inventive handling of the ghost story elements at the story's climax. Probably the strongest pieces of writing in the book, those two things, followed closely by the unusual voice of Iris Villarca, whose unexpected word usage and staccato rhythm is downright hypnotic. My only quibble there is that at times her particular style bled through into other characters, and it's too distinctive a voice to be repurposed without harming the narrative flow.
The individual parts of this are overall stronger than the whole, but it's not a major complaint. Assuming graphic animal experimentation scenes don't affect reading enjoyment, this is a haunting and unique addition to the Gothic horror genre.
Also, the US publisher should have left the UK title alone.
Maybe because I listened instead of read? The ending pulled most of the discombobulated story pieces together but getting there was a bit confusing with the seemingly unrelated characters and timelines.
Este libro me intrigaba mucho porque leí "The Last House on Needless Street", ambos tienen el mismo factor de "wtf acabo de leer", pero siento que esta novela tiene la connotación "mala".
La historia toma lugar en diferentes líneas temporales, es muy confusa y los personajes son demasiados que no puede keep up.
Chance le tengo que dar otra oportunidad siguiendo la lectura física.
La historia toma lugar en diferentes líneas temporales, es muy confusa y los personajes son demasiados que no puede keep up.
Chance le tengo que dar otra oportunidad siguiendo la lectura física.
I'm kinda obsessed with Catriona Ward right now??? I usually read within the very specific niche of cosmic horror, but I absolutely adored Little Eve and decided to give this novel, which falls pretty definitively in the gothic category, a chance. This is an incredibly complex, non-linear novel, and there wasn't a word or plot line out of place. Authors struggle with continuity with only a single, linear plot line. How on earth is this Ward's debut???
