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A review by juliacolleen
The House By The Sea by Louise Douglas
3.0
Probably a 3.5. I don't like rating a book I read and genuinely enjoyed this low, but I just didn't love it and probably wouldn't choose to read it again.
I was thrilled to find a book based in Sicily, because I lived there for 5 weeks in college and loved it (a small beach town in Italy, obviously I loved it). I was disappointed because to me it just felt like all of the picturesque descriptions of the Sicilian landscape fell flat. I don't know if it was the writing itself or the plot, which was pretty depressing. It could have been a cool comparison, beautiful scenery with grotesque evil. But it didn't work for me.
This book felt heavy with grief, and not in a good way (for me). The main character is so angry and I never found myself liking her. I understand that grief can make people bitter and angry and I empathize, but it didn't do much for me in this storyline.
I wish I could articulate better what I enjoyed and didn't enjoy about this book, but this is what I've got. The storyline was creative and interesting. (Minor not-spoiler spoiler) I always felt like we were going to find that the main character had been hallucinating some major plot points or imagining half the storyline because the writing was so...removed?
I read it in about 24 hours and it's a good read when you're in a rut. Otherwise, don't get your hopes up. Just
my 2 cents!
I was thrilled to find a book based in Sicily, because I lived there for 5 weeks in college and loved it (a small beach town in Italy, obviously I loved it). I was disappointed because to me it just felt like all of the picturesque descriptions of the Sicilian landscape fell flat. I don't know if it was the writing itself or the plot, which was pretty depressing. It could have been a cool comparison, beautiful scenery with grotesque evil. But it didn't work for me.
This book felt heavy with grief, and not in a good way (for me). The main character is so angry and I never found myself liking her. I understand that grief can make people bitter and angry and I empathize, but it didn't do much for me in this storyline.
I wish I could articulate better what I enjoyed and didn't enjoy about this book, but this is what I've got. The storyline was creative and interesting. (Minor not-spoiler spoiler) I always felt like we were going to find that the main character had been hallucinating some major plot points or imagining half the storyline because the writing was so...removed?
I read it in about 24 hours and it's a good read when you're in a rut. Otherwise, don't get your hopes up. Just
my 2 cents!