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A review by smileysunflower
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
3.0
2nd Time Reading This Book: 3 out of 5, no half star. Original review (3.5/5) from late 2020 saved under this for posterity.
Original Review:
3.5 Stars
This is a very atmospheric book and I enjoyed Susan Hill's writing style greatly- it was simple, but effectively. I'm not a very avid horror reader but this felt like a very classic ghost story with a mysterious town and a big scary mansion. It wasn't trying to be the most original thing in the world, it just wanted to tell a ghost story well and I respect that.
However, this book is short. Really short. Less than 200 pages on a paperback. It's weird for me to complain about that considering how sick I am of needlessly long books, but like a few other people I see in the reviews, I wish it elaborated more on what happened and how. We only really get the answers at the very end and then an incident happens and then- that's it. I was left wanting more and feeling a bit empty. I didn't need a bloodbath or even that much more- maybe even just 20 more pages would have solved a lot of my problems with it. It was a lot of buildup for a very short (NOT RUSHED, just short) ending and then it's over. The ending might've hit harder if the first chapter wasn't a framing device that told me that the protagonist was alive and living relatively peacefully- I don't know, I guess I was expecting more to happen a the end?
I still enjoyed this book but I wish it was a bit more.
Original Review:
3.5 Stars
This is a very atmospheric book and I enjoyed Susan Hill's writing style greatly- it was simple, but effectively. I'm not a very avid horror reader but this felt like a very classic ghost story with a mysterious town and a big scary mansion. It wasn't trying to be the most original thing in the world, it just wanted to tell a ghost story well and I respect that.
However, this book is short. Really short. Less than 200 pages on a paperback. It's weird for me to complain about that considering how sick I am of needlessly long books, but like a few other people I see in the reviews, I wish it elaborated more on what happened and how. We only really get the answers at the very end and then an incident happens and then- that's it. I was left wanting more and feeling a bit empty. I didn't need a bloodbath or even that much more- maybe even just 20 more pages would have solved a lot of my problems with it. It was a lot of buildup for a very short (NOT RUSHED, just short) ending and then it's over. The ending might've hit harder if the first chapter wasn't a framing device that told me that the protagonist was alive and living relatively peacefully- I don't know, I guess I was expecting more to happen a the end?
I still enjoyed this book but I wish it was a bit more.