A review by minimicropup
Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito

challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

So fun! Twisted, full of dark humour and derangement, with a raw oddly realistic edge. It made me laugh, cringe, and get a bit hungry with the lavish feasts (er, but not all of them). There are dark themes around contempt for children and their parents if that is a no-go for you. 
 
Energy: Unassuming. Cheeky. Brutally honest.
 
🐕 Howls: The ending diluted the “eat the rich” victory, but I still liked it. 
 
🐩 Tail Wags: The vivid, grotesque descriptions. Unapologetically deranged narration. The dark humour and shocking moments. The illustrations (I wish there were more of them). Biting social commentary. The MC’s deep-seated contempt for both adults and kids (low-key relatable sometimes in a “wish I could say that out loud” way). The MC’s prickly, sarcastic inner monologues. 
 
Scene: 🌍 Ensor House overlooking Grim Wolds Village
Perspective: We follow our main character, the newly appointed governess to the Pounds’ household to care for their two children. One child is deemed brilliant by their father, while the other is considered dull and spoiled. 
Timeline: 🎄 Leading up to Christmas day. Victorian era. Linear. 
🔥 Fuel: Ominous foreshadowing and increasingly strange thoughts and actions. What does our main character mean by “this shan’t be like the other time”? What are her old ways she’s trying to shed? What are her plans at Ensor House and for the family that lives there? 
📖 Cred: Plausible-ish
 
Mood Reading Match-Up:
Moorland. Rich, dark oak. Phrenology. Shadows of the deepest black. Vacant smile. Birdsfoot trefoil. Baby corpses. Sweat and exhaled food. Tallow candle. 
  • Tagging along, character speaking to us (first person)
  • Cathartic, flowery, ornate, snappy, and witty storylines and writing style
  • Spiraling, likeable(ish), unhinged, and insufferable characters
  • Rich People Behaving Badly meets Eat the Rich
  • Morbid curiosity, the darkness within
  • Short chapters
  • Insufferable parents and their broods
  • Elements of food horror
  • Gothic turned grimdark horror
  • Female rage descent into madness serial killer
  • Plot-driven perpetrator study
  • Historical ripped from the headlines feel
 
Content Heads-Up: Adult/minor relationship. Animal death (deer, crow). Blood. Body fluids. Caregiver abuse (by parent, by children). Child abuse (foster care; drugging, physical). Child death. Child murder (infant). Corpses (playing with, manipulating, decomposition). Cultural appropriation, theft. Execution. Fire (person, fatal; brief recall). Food horror (descriptive comparisons; raw meats). Forced gender roles. Gore. Infidelity. Massacre. Murder. Parental abandonment, rejection (as child; as adult). Parental neglect, attempted murder of child. Patriarchy (valuing boys over girls). Sexism (prejudice against women). Sexual harassment (from employer). Toxic femininity. Vomit.
 
Rep: British (I think). Half German, half Scottish (peripheral). Hetero. Queer. Rusted freckles, pale, blanched, colourless, and pink skin tones. 
 
📚 Format: Library Digital
 
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