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A review by littlemonster
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
5.0
The Woman in Black, a novella, is about the experiences of a young solicitor, Arthur Kipps, in a house that turns out to be far from ordinary.
I saw the movie before reading the book, and liked it quite a lot, and so when my sister purchased this book and finished it I decided to read it. In truth, it's quite different from the film. Both are very good, but both have very different aspects. The endings are completely different, so if you've seen the movie and you're thinking, "Oh, I don't want to read this after I've seen the movie! I know what happens!" then please, don't let that stop you. It's a very different set of events within the same narrative and story, in a way.
To put it simply, it's a beautiful book. Susan Hill's writing flourishes; it feels very accurate in both its vocabulary and writing-style and etc. for the time period; and the plot (and therefore ending) crescendo perfectly. It is chilling, terrifying, and subtle in a perfect way. At first I thought, lord, the descriptions are going to be so overdone! But they're not - they have the perfect Gothic/Victorian/Edwardian/etc. feeling in the amount of description, but not once did I find it boring. I thought she described everything beautifully and it did not bother me one bit. It doesn't hinder the plot, pace or writing at all.
One complaint I do have, though, and it sort of goes in line with the description discussion, is that I felt some of Hill's writing was a bit repetitive. It's just that there are only so many ways to describe skies, estuaries and marshes; so I think that's one of the problems. But otherwise, a wonderful novella. Highly recommended.
I saw the movie before reading the book, and liked it quite a lot, and so when my sister purchased this book and finished it I decided to read it. In truth, it's quite different from the film. Both are very good, but both have very different aspects. The endings are completely different, so if you've seen the movie and you're thinking, "Oh, I don't want to read this after I've seen the movie! I know what happens!" then please, don't let that stop you. It's a very different set of events within the same narrative and story, in a way.
To put it simply, it's a beautiful book. Susan Hill's writing flourishes; it feels very accurate in both its vocabulary and writing-style and etc. for the time period; and the plot (and therefore ending) crescendo perfectly. It is chilling, terrifying, and subtle in a perfect way. At first I thought, lord, the descriptions are going to be so overdone! But they're not - they have the perfect Gothic/Victorian/Edwardian/etc. feeling in the amount of description, but not once did I find it boring. I thought she described everything beautifully and it did not bother me one bit. It doesn't hinder the plot, pace or writing at all.
One complaint I do have, though, and it sort of goes in line with the description discussion, is that I felt some of Hill's writing was a bit repetitive. It's just that there are only so many ways to describe skies, estuaries and marshes; so I think that's one of the problems. But otherwise, a wonderful novella. Highly recommended.