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oddfigg 's review for:
The Animals at Lockwood Manor
by Jane Healey
In an utter, unending ocean of books about WWII, I’m not sure that this one makes much of an impression. Of course, the focus of the book is far away from the action of the war. Lockwood Manor has become host to some of the taxidermy from a museum in London in hopes that they might be saved from any potential bombing. But Lockwood is quite the gothic manor, giving those that stay there strange nightmares and of course, there are rumors of ghosts. That is the plot thread that drew me in—a bunch of creepy taxidermy and ghosts? Yes, please.
Though the first part definitely held my interest, I found myself skimming by the time I was about halfway through, and in the end, I can’t say I enjoyed this book much. It is rather repetitive, with main character Hetty constantly questioning just about everything (seriously, there are SO MANY rhetorical questions in this book, sweet Jesus), nervously checking on all the museum displays, thinking about her job, worrying about everything, rinse, repeat, etc.
Though this only comes to fruition more than halfway through the book, the novel was also interested in the burgeoning relationship between Hetty and another woman (I won’t say who so there’s no spoilers!). I appreciated the story and unconventionality of their romance in a time when love between two women or two men was almost unheard of. It is also refreshing to see this diversity in a novel.
But to me, the book felt aimless—what is the goal of the narrative? A romance tale? Historical fiction? A ghost story? It couldn’t seem to decide what it really wanted to be about, and in the end, to me it felt like it wasn’t about much at all.
While most of the chapters are from Hetty’s POV, there are some interspersed chapters from another character, and these chapters were always set fully in italics. It’s really taxing on the eye to read a lot of italics, so I balked every time they came up. Perhaps that’s a personal thing. Additionally, they felt like unimportant fluff, not really adding anything of substance to the narrative.
My thanks to HMH for my advance copy of this one to read and review.
Though the first part definitely held my interest, I found myself skimming by the time I was about halfway through, and in the end, I can’t say I enjoyed this book much. It is rather repetitive, with main character Hetty constantly questioning just about everything (seriously, there are SO MANY rhetorical questions in this book, sweet Jesus), nervously checking on all the museum displays, thinking about her job, worrying about everything, rinse, repeat, etc.
Though this only comes to fruition more than halfway through the book, the novel was also interested in the burgeoning relationship between Hetty and another woman (I won’t say who so there’s no spoilers!). I appreciated the story and unconventionality of their romance in a time when love between two women or two men was almost unheard of. It is also refreshing to see this diversity in a novel.
But to me, the book felt aimless—what is the goal of the narrative? A romance tale? Historical fiction? A ghost story? It couldn’t seem to decide what it really wanted to be about, and in the end, to me it felt like it wasn’t about much at all.
While most of the chapters are from Hetty’s POV, there are some interspersed chapters from another character, and these chapters were always set fully in italics. It’s really taxing on the eye to read a lot of italics, so I balked every time they came up. Perhaps that’s a personal thing. Additionally, they felt like unimportant fluff, not really adding anything of substance to the narrative.
My thanks to HMH for my advance copy of this one to read and review.