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A review by doubleohelix
The Ghost in the House by Sara O'Leary
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I love the way this book is written. It is told from the perspective of a ghost who awakens in her house, and the chapters start out very short, maybe a paragraph or two long, mirroring her own intangibility in the world. She fades in and out with brief memories, but gradually the chapters get longer and longer the more she puts together about her life and the lives of the people she left behind.
It feels like a very unique ghost story, a reflection on a life lived incompletely and cut suddenly short. It's interesting to imagine what it would be like to be truly confronted with all parts of your life, and also the notion of your loved ones eventually moving on. I like that they don't make her a completely sympathetic character either, she has a cruel streak especially relating to her 'replacement', her husband's new wife.
It felt a little disappointing that the book felt the need for the new wife to have a tragic backstory to convince the audience that it was okay for the husband to be with her. It also felt as though everything revolved around her husband, with comparatively few of her memories existing without him. All in all a very nice quick little atypical ghost story.
It feels like a very unique ghost story, a reflection on a life lived incompletely and cut suddenly short. It's interesting to imagine what it would be like to be truly confronted with all parts of your life, and also the notion of your loved ones eventually moving on. I like that they don't make her a completely sympathetic character either, she has a cruel streak especially relating to her 'replacement', her husband's new wife.
It felt a little disappointing that the book felt the need for the new wife to have a tragic backstory to convince the audience that it was okay for the husband to be with her. It also felt as though everything revolved around her husband, with comparatively few of her memories existing without him. All in all a very nice quick little atypical ghost story.