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maddiehearn 's review for:
The Beetle
by Richard Marsh
2.75 stars
for starters, if I hadn't been assigned this book for class, I probably would never have read it on my own time just because this isn't the sort of book that interests me. this book is labelled on the cover of my edition as a " tale of mystery and the supernatural": while it definitely falls under the supernatural category, the way this book is set up takes away from any attempts at mystery that the author may have been trying to convey. ( I might just be noticing this because this book was written in a time where mystery novels were generically different, but this is just my opinion)
my main criticism of this book is just that I really didn't like the way it was organized: the story is split up into 4 parts, each narrated by different characters. I enjoyed the first part the most, as the action began immediately and my time wasn't wasted reading a boring introductory scene. however, most of the plot and the "mystery" aspect of the story was revealed within the first 100 pages in the first two parts, and the second half of the book was just different characters mainly summarizing events that had already occurred from their own perspective, which was just unnecessary. by the time I was halfway through this, I for the most part knew exactly what the threat was and it didn't seem like anything else needed to be revealed. I thought that maybe there would be another big twist at the very end, or that the action would pick up, but the ending was disappointing and at that point I was just glad it was over.
this book also FOR SURE fails the racism and sexism test which, for a Victorian-Era novel isn't surprising BUT: the way that Egyptian people are described in terms of race and physical features is particularly bothersome. the plot of this is also built around the concept of an Egyptian cult that preys on (specifically) white, English, Christian women, so do what you will with that.
my review of this makes it seem like I would rate it lower than three stars but as something I read for class, it wasn't as boring or bad as other texts I've been assigned. I also read this for a class I'm taking on Pulp Fiction, so knowing the context of the book in that sense made it more interesting to read.
for starters, if I hadn't been assigned this book for class, I probably would never have read it on my own time just because this isn't the sort of book that interests me. this book is labelled on the cover of my edition as a " tale of mystery and the supernatural": while it definitely falls under the supernatural category, the way this book is set up takes away from any attempts at mystery that the author may have been trying to convey. ( I might just be noticing this because this book was written in a time where mystery novels were generically different, but this is just my opinion)
my main criticism of this book is just that I really didn't like the way it was organized: the story is split up into 4 parts, each narrated by different characters. I enjoyed the first part the most, as the action began immediately and my time wasn't wasted reading a boring introductory scene. however, most of the plot and the "mystery" aspect of the story was revealed within the first 100 pages in the first two parts, and the second half of the book was just different characters mainly summarizing events that had already occurred from their own perspective, which was just unnecessary. by the time I was halfway through this, I for the most part knew exactly what the threat was and it didn't seem like anything else needed to be revealed. I thought that maybe there would be another big twist at the very end, or that the action would pick up, but the ending was disappointing and at that point I was just glad it was over.
this book also FOR SURE fails the racism and sexism test which, for a Victorian-Era novel isn't surprising BUT: the way that Egyptian people are described in terms of race and physical features is particularly bothersome. the plot of this is also built around the concept of an Egyptian cult that preys on (specifically) white, English, Christian women, so do what you will with that.
my review of this makes it seem like I would rate it lower than three stars but as something I read for class, it wasn't as boring or bad as other texts I've been assigned. I also read this for a class I'm taking on Pulp Fiction, so knowing the context of the book in that sense made it more interesting to read.