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dia_ls's review
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
The start was a little shaky for me, but by the time the plot kicked into gear I was in love. Chilling, challenging, and charismatic prose really carried a minimalistic and macarbre story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Murder, Gore, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Death, Blood, Violence, and Infidelity
6ybergirl's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
lisawreading's review against another edition
3.0
Maybe because it's relatively short, I felt that The Book Collector didn't give us enough to go on, to allow readers to really connect with Violet, the main character. She wasn't fully developed, and as a result, I couldn't particularly invest in what happened to her. There's some interesting writing in The Book Collector, but overall I'd say it reads like someone put Rebecca and Silence of the Lambs in a blender... but maybe left out some key ingredients in order to make a truly delicious milkshake story.
belle_fiction's review
4.0
4.5 stars
This was one f*cked up book and I felt sadness, heartbreak and ferocious anger whilst reading this - talk about an inferno of emotions!
This book was VERY dark and disturbing in places and explores the age old discussion: how do you prove you are sane in an insane world?
Very creepy and chilling but I’m very happy with the ending :)
I may need to sleep with the lights on now!
This was one f*cked up book and I felt sadness, heartbreak and ferocious anger whilst reading this - talk about an inferno of emotions!
This book was VERY dark and disturbing in places and explores the age old discussion: how do you prove you are sane in an insane world?
Very creepy and chilling but I’m very happy with the ending :)
I may need to sleep with the lights on now!
rosapalmera's review
3.0
I had such high hopes going in, but ultimately this story didn’t deliver for me.
Violet was the only three-dimensional character. Archie, Clara and the Doctor are like cardboard cutouts. We learn nothing of their origins or their motivations. Where did Clara come from and what did she want? The introduction of her father was completely pointless. And Archie... where to begin. It seems like a leap to go from having a book bound in your dead wife’s skin (weird but ok), to murdering several mental patients in a fairytale style just to complete a tiny moon decoration on the cover of said book. Fairytales were his late wife’s thing, not his. It would have made more sense if he bound one book for every woman he killed and had a growing library.
His treatment of Violet doesn’t seem to make sense either. Why marry her and father a son with her if his only intention was to kill her for a bit of her skin? All the stays in the asylum... why bother with that too? If his goal was to kill her for her skin, why keep her around for so long?
Plus to be honest, he really didn’t need to kill anyone to get a tiny slice of skin to cover a tiny piece of a moon on the cover of a book. He could have just knocked them over the head and skinned a bit of their bums or something. Just saying.
Alice’s (in)sanity also seemed kind of haphazard. I found the premise of the unreliable narrator interesting, having her (and us) doubt her own sanity, wondering whether she truly is crazy or if people are conspiring against her. Realising that it’s both was underwhelming. To me, it should have either been Alice is crazy, she was seeing bugs under her son’s skin, the fairytale book is a perfectly normal book, Clara is a solid nanny and Archie just wants what’s best for her, the asylum women were never actually missing OR Archie met Clara after marrying Violet, they are both psychopaths that have been dosing Violet with hallucinogenic drugs and gaslighting her for months, paying off the doctor to source them victims from the asylum, where they would eventually one day also kidnap and murder Violet, making it seem like the actions of the local serial killer and not her husband.
And the bits describing the murderer killing his victims undermined the whole “is Violet insane?” thing too.
A lot of wasted potential here.
Violet was the only three-dimensional character. Archie, Clara and the Doctor are like cardboard cutouts. We learn nothing of their origins or their motivations. Where did Clara come from and what did she want? The introduction of her father was completely pointless. And Archie... where to begin. It seems like a leap to go from having a book bound in your dead wife’s skin (weird but ok), to murdering several mental patients in a fairytale style just to complete a tiny moon decoration on the cover of said book. Fairytales were his late wife’s thing, not his. It would have made more sense if he bound one book for every woman he killed and had a growing library.
His treatment of Violet doesn’t seem to make sense either. Why marry her and father a son with her if his only intention was to kill her for a bit of her skin? All the stays in the asylum... why bother with that too? If his goal was to kill her for her skin, why keep her around for so long?
Plus to be honest, he really didn’t need to kill anyone to get a tiny slice of skin to cover a tiny piece of a moon on the cover of a book. He could have just knocked them over the head and skinned a bit of their bums or something. Just saying.
Alice’s (in)sanity also seemed kind of haphazard. I found the premise of the unreliable narrator interesting, having her (and us) doubt her own sanity, wondering whether she truly is crazy or if people are conspiring against her. Realising that it’s both was underwhelming. To me, it should have either been Alice is crazy, she was seeing bugs under her son’s skin, the fairytale book is a perfectly normal book, Clara is a solid nanny and Archie just wants what’s best for her, the asylum women were never actually missing OR Archie met Clara after marrying Violet, they are both psychopaths that have been dosing Violet with hallucinogenic drugs and gaslighting her for months, paying off the doctor to source them victims from the asylum, where they would eventually one day also kidnap and murder Violet, making it seem like the actions of the local serial killer and not her husband.
And the bits describing the murderer killing his victims undermined the whole “is Violet insane?” thing too.
A lot of wasted potential here.
coreteneh's review
3.0
Teetering between 3 and 4 I enjoyed this book quite a lot, it took a wee bit to grip you but once it did it was quite a good read. Fairly short and a bit abrupt but chilling and somewhat disturbing at times.
ellsoquent's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
cilie's review
dark
medium-paced
5.0
OMG - I loved it!
The narrative and writing style worked together to convey the feeling of confusion and unreality that Violet feels. It gives a good glimts into the workings of an insane asylum of the time and a genuinely creepy and harrowing feel. For me it had just the wright amount of blood and gore to convey the message without going overbord.
And as a Dane I really loved the part H. C. Andersens fairy tales played.
The narrative and writing style worked together to convey the feeling of confusion and unreality that Violet feels. It gives a good glimts into the workings of an insane asylum of the time and a genuinely creepy and harrowing feel. For me it had just the wright amount of blood and gore to convey the message without going overbord.
And as a Dane I really loved the part H. C. Andersens fairy tales played.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood and Gore
Minor: Body horror