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xan_van_rooyen 's review for:
Begotten: A Gothic Novel
by Kate Cherrell
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book started out strong. It had all the elements I love in a Gothic horror involving a creepy mansion with sinister undertones. Our protagonist returns home from London to claim her inheritance of the crumbling estate in the wake of her father's sudden passing and is immediately met with unfriendly and off-putting staff in a house thick with dust and decay, to a mother who seems beset with mental illness and an estranged little sister who seriously ups the creep factor. For how short this book actually is, it felt long and the story dragged, seeming to stumble in circles, entirely uncertain about where it was going. While this worked for a while given how the emotional and psychological decay of our POV character eerily echoed the decay of the house, I wish the story had had a little more forward momentum and a bit more plot to get the protagonist to (literally) take action. All the sinister moments went nowhere and didn't really seem to build up to much of anything.
The climax of the story where I thought we would finally get some answers in what seemed set to be a massive twist, sort of fizzled and the book ended rather quickly with an underwhelming epilogue that made the book (and the concepts within) seemed unfinished and not fully realized.
While I really enjoyed the writing and the pages almost literally drip atmosphere, I wish Alice had had a bit more agency and that there had been a greater revelation/reveal so that the story could mean more and pack more of a punch. As it stands the story flirts with notions of sexism, bigotry, mental illness, and classicism without ever fully committing to exploring any of these or how they might intersect in the given milieu. I really wanted more from this book and think it could've been brilliant with a more thorough examination of its themes on the page.
The climax of the story where I thought we would finally get some answers in what seemed set to be a massive twist, sort of fizzled and the book ended rather quickly with an underwhelming epilogue that made the book (and the concepts within) seemed unfinished and not fully realized.
While I really enjoyed the writing and the pages almost literally drip atmosphere, I wish Alice had had a bit more agency and that there had been a greater revelation/reveal so that the story could mean more and pack more of a punch. As it stands the story flirts with notions of sexism, bigotry, mental illness, and classicism without ever fully committing to exploring any of these or how they might intersect in the given milieu. I really wanted more from this book and think it could've been brilliant with a more thorough examination of its themes on the page.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Confinement