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whitmonlee 's review for:
Diavola
by Jennifer Marie Thorne
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Diavola balances on the line of an interesting question - what is scarier, the haunted Italian villa, or the family vacationing there?
I have seen negative reviews circling around the unlikable characters and the protagonist that seems to try at every opportunity to alienate the reader rather than give them someone to identify with and project into. The family dynamics feel like when you’re watching a sitcom and internally screaming, “Oh my god just TALK TO EACHOTHER!”
And it’s true - but the way history of the villa crept in around this squabbling family may not have worked if they were a strong united front. For my money, it was interesting in itself to watch the haunting unfold with no one I particularly felt like rooting for apart from the kids and the cats.
Bonus points for a horror novel set in Italy that never veered into Catholic priest/exorcism territory.
This one is worth a read - a page turner that doesn’t give you a clean cut hero or a fairy tale ending - if you’re into that.
I have seen negative reviews circling around the unlikable characters and the protagonist that seems to try at every opportunity to alienate the reader rather than give them someone to identify with and project into. The family dynamics feel like when you’re watching a sitcom and internally screaming, “Oh my god just TALK TO EACHOTHER!”
And it’s true - but the way history of the villa crept in around this squabbling family may not have worked if they were a strong united front. For my money, it was interesting in itself to watch the haunting unfold with no one I particularly felt like rooting for apart from the kids and the cats.
Bonus points for a horror novel set in Italy that never veered into Catholic priest/exorcism territory.
This one is worth a read - a page turner that doesn’t give you a clean cut hero or a fairy tale ending - if you’re into that.