A review by jcpdiesel21
The Beguiled by Thomas Cullinan

2.0

Upon seeing a trailer for the upcoming Sofia Coppola remake, I was quick to pick up the creepy and disturbing 1971 film adaptation of this book, which piqued my interest in the source material. Tracking down a copy was a challenge, but my local library's interlibrary loan came to the rescue and got an old, battered edition into my hot little hands. Unfortunately, after all of that buildup and trouble, I was left unsatisfied after finishing. There is an intriguing tale centered on lies and isolation within these pages, but one has to wade through the meandering, dull plot riddled with repetition and unnecessary detail to get to it. It was interesting to receive the story from so many perspectives, which served to enhance the characters from the movie, but I didn't need to know quite so much about each individual's backstory, especially when the information added very little or went nowhere. Perhaps I would have enjoyed the book more if I had been able to read it first, but overall I found the film content to be tighter and more focused, making it more worth my time.