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wyabook234 's review for:
Victorian Psycho
by Virginia Feito
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Virginia Felto doesn't turn the Victorian lifestyle on its head with Victorian Psycho as much as she would like to chop off that head and place it upside down. Felto is responsible for creating a devious governess with Winfred Notty and letting the reader piece together her current employment and troubled past to find her motivation for working for the Pound family. Like any other written psychopath, you will learn that she has that early penchant for brutality, and the children are not excluded from her malicious impulses.
Through Felto's writing, we can understand Notty's distaste for the upper class based on how those socialites are portrayed as not being that courteous through Felto's description of their repulsive behaviour and disgusting consumption. She brings a flowery style to her narrative that negates finesse in the translation of the governess's horrific behaviour. This manner of writing results in entrancing readers with a contemporary novel reminiscent of stories published within the Victorian era, such as The Picture of Dorian Grey. In short, Felto's horrific novel is a new story set in the old times without cheapening the characterization of the period.
The plot could get muddled and aimless for Notty after being informed by Mrs. Pounds of her eventual resignation after Christmas. Despite the middle muddling, Felto's storytelling is engrossing with further flashbacks of Notty's childhood filled with questionable parenting.
I can say that what happened at the Ensor House is a grand and gory enough finale that commences with Notty getting rejected by her birth father. That was a pretty bloody massacre anticipated to happen as suspected by Notty's victims stuffed in the Ensor House's attic. What I didn't expect to happen was Notty killing Mrs. Fancey's baby with a razor in the nursery. Before the murder, Notty's delusional rage is indicated by her imagining the baby taunting her about her birth father from his crib.
Through Felto's writing, we can understand Notty's distaste for the upper class based on how those socialites are portrayed as not being that courteous through Felto's description of their repulsive behaviour and disgusting consumption. She brings a flowery style to her narrative that negates finesse in the translation of the governess's horrific behaviour. This manner of writing results in entrancing readers with a contemporary novel reminiscent of stories published within the Victorian era, such as The Picture of Dorian Grey. In short, Felto's horrific novel is a new story set in the old times without cheapening the characterization of the period.
The plot could get muddled and aimless for Notty after being informed by Mrs. Pounds of her eventual resignation after Christmas. Despite the middle muddling, Felto's storytelling is engrossing with further flashbacks of Notty's childhood filled with questionable parenting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Fire/Fire injury