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A review by dunningsk
The Beguiled by Thomas Cullinan
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-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
4.0
I started this review rating the book a 3.75, but I really think it's better than that.
I watched the Coppola movie when it realized around five years ago, and although I knew it was based on a novel, I didn't get around to reading it until now. I must be in the (relative) minority, because I thought the book was great and Coppola's film excellent. (Normally, I'd want to read a book before watching the movie, but it was unavoidable in this case.)
Typically, books that alternative points-of-view don't really click with me. It's challenging enough to write one compelling, complicated, fully-realized narrator; this book has six or seven. But it works so well for this story, and I don't think it could have been written any other way. So much of the plot is not just trying to figure out if Corporal McBurney is being honest, but whether the women and girls of the Farnsworth School are. Because these women are so distrustful, suspicious, and frankly mean to each other, seeing the same moment from multiple points-of-view was very revealing.
I also appreciated that the narrators were speaking in the present, and retelling the events as though they took place a long time ago. There were a few moments of very thoughtful reflection from each of the narrators. It was fascinating reading as he, slowly at times and at times all at once, was able to reach all of the women and completely enrapture them, and especially seeing how their presumably adult selves now thought of him.
By the end of the book, I was pretty sure everything he had said, except maybe his name and being Irish, was a lie. I certainly don't think he had any actual interest in any of these women, beyond sleeping with Alice and maybe Edwina if she'd let him. But the letter from his mom at the end was such a great inclusion. It was a very powerful reminder that, just like the women, McBurney was a very complicated character. I don't think he was lying in the letter he wrote to his mother. And seeing how happy he was to be there when he first arrived really made the end that much more bittersweet.
I watched the Coppola movie when it realized around five years ago, and although I knew it was based on a novel, I didn't get around to reading it until now. I must be in the (relative) minority, because I thought the book was great and Coppola's film excellent. (Normally, I'd want to read a book before watching the movie, but it was unavoidable in this case.)
Typically, books that alternative points-of-view don't really click with me. It's challenging enough to write one compelling, complicated, fully-realized narrator; this book has six or seven. But it works so well for this story, and I don't think it could have been written any other way. So much of the plot is not just trying to figure out if Corporal McBurney is being honest, but whether the women and girls of the Farnsworth School are. Because these women are so distrustful, suspicious, and frankly mean to each other, seeing the same moment from multiple points-of-view was very revealing.
I also appreciated that the narrators were speaking in the present, and retelling the events as though they took place a long time ago. There were a few moments of very thoughtful reflection from each of the narrators. It was fascinating reading as he, slowly at times and at times all at once, was able to reach all of the women and completely enrapture them, and especially seeing how their presumably adult selves now thought of him.