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A review by afterwhat
The Marsh King's Daughter by Karen Dionne
4.0
I guess this is psychological suspense? Is that the same as a thriller? I don't feel like I was on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading this; the flashbacks to Helena's youth were often a respite, nestled cozily in her ignorance. I thought that was pretty great, actually, how the danger which was absolutely real even in her earliest memories was basically invisible, and then as she got older, the tension was much more present. Even in adulthood, though, I didn't feel like Helena herself was at risk until she actually realized that she was--the author didn't overdo it, didn't try too hard to make this a heart-pounder. She let us stay with Helena, who felt safe with her father until the second he shot her.
I liked basically everything about this. Nothing felt gratuitous, Helena felt like a whole person, a real person, not overly likable but extremely sympathetic. She was believable in a childhood that is unimaginable. I think the stash of National Geographics was a nice touch--it kept her apart but not alien. I would have liked to know more about her grandparents, all of them, and about her mother and how she lived out her life, but as Helena says, this isn't her mother's story.
I'm very satisfied. I wasn't bored for a second, but I also wasn't--you know what, there's no threat of sexual violence in this book. Sexual violence exists in this book, but this book is not about sexual violence, and that's something that is so often played up, used as a device to eke out horror in the reader...man, how nice that this book doesn't do that.
I liked basically everything about this. Nothing felt gratuitous, Helena felt like a whole person, a real person, not overly likable but extremely sympathetic. She was believable in a childhood that is unimaginable. I think the stash of National Geographics was a nice touch--it kept her apart but not alien. I would have liked to know more about her grandparents, all of them, and about her mother and how she lived out her life, but as Helena says, this isn't her mother's story.
I'm very satisfied. I wasn't bored for a second, but I also wasn't--you know what, there's no threat of sexual violence in this book. Sexual violence exists in this book, but this book is not about sexual violence, and that's something that is so often played up, used as a device to eke out horror in the reader...man, how nice that this book doesn't do that.