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A review by _lunaria_
The Upstairs Room by Kate Murray-Browne
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? Yes
0.25
I was sooo deeply disappointed by this. And the concept sounded so good, it's a shame.
Anytime in the book, either something bad happens or at least one of the characters is moping about something; at least half of the chapters weren't relevant, just pointless fluff to make the book longer; there's nothing to like about any of these characters; none of the conversations between the characters actually went in-depth, it were just a bunch of surface-level conversations; throughout the book, every now and again the word 'geschmacklos' came to mind, I believe in english the closest translation to it would be 'unsavoury'.
This book is about anything but the upstairs room, apart from a few scenes that basically were just Eleanor saying 'something weird is going on with that room, it's making me ill' and Richard saying 'you're not making any sense, let's decorate the house'. Nothing was learned about the house, either. I would have liked something supernatural to happen in the book (as I believe that is where it was supposed to go, as the book tried to exclude any rational explanation for what was happening), but it has to be well written. There have to be proper implications, proper signs of anything mysterious. This was just 'oh look, some weird things happen, she feels sick, her first child starts misbehaving, it has to be something unnatural'.
I also don't get why Zoe was there; without her, the book would have pretty much just been the same - or, if she really *had* to be there, she could have been used as a proper plot-device. Don't get me started on Eleanor, she is completely insufferable. Nothing she did or said made any sense.
This was the first time I was actually left unhappy after completing a book. I wasn't completely happy with other books before every now and again either, yes, but at the very least I found some good in those. This was just disappointing.
Anytime in the book, either something bad happens or at least one of the characters is moping about something; at least half of the chapters weren't relevant, just pointless fluff to make the book longer; there's nothing to like about any of these characters; none of the conversations between the characters actually went in-depth, it were just a bunch of surface-level conversations; throughout the book, every now and again the word 'geschmacklos' came to mind, I believe in english the closest translation to it would be 'unsavoury'.
This book is about anything but the upstairs room, apart from a few scenes that basically were just Eleanor saying 'something weird is going on with that room, it's making me ill' and Richard saying 'you're not making any sense, let's decorate the house'. Nothing was learned about the house, either. I would have liked something supernatural to happen in the book (as I believe that is where it was supposed to go, as the book tried to exclude any rational explanation for what was happening), but it has to be well written. There have to be proper implications, proper signs of anything mysterious. This was just 'oh look, some weird things happen, she feels sick, her first child starts misbehaving, it has to be something unnatural'.
I also don't get why Zoe was there; without her, the book would have pretty much just been the same - or, if she really *had* to be there, she could have been used as a proper plot-device. Don't get me started on Eleanor, she is completely insufferable. Nothing she did or said made any sense.
This was the first time I was actually left unhappy after completing a book. I wasn't completely happy with other books before every now and again either, yes, but at the very least I found some good in those. This was just disappointing.