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A review by lkedzie
This Cursed House by Del Sandeen
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
In what is a dual first, I would like to complain about the magic system in this Gothic novel.
Our protagonist, a Black woman at the end of her tether in 60's Chicago, receives a mysterious job in New Orleans, where she discovers a crumbling house with many mysteries, including ones that relate to her past. Can she fix the curse? Can she fix all the curses?
The book has strong debut novel energy. There is an intricate beginning and a strong end, while the middle is a plotless muddle. The amount of not doing things the protagonist engages in is impressive. There is grade-A fridge logic to certain character choices. This is expected, and each would work on their own, but there are a lot of them.
The writing is stylistically spare, which feels intentional in terms of setting up the book as a sort of exercise in contrast to the gothic, commentary on the genre as much as a participant in it. I love this sort of approach, and the themes here about family, race, mental health, and the United States are as fine and as well-situated as they come. However, the narrative voice itself is hard to read. It gets judgy in a way that is tiresome and inapt. It makes feeling like or even pathos for the characters difficult. To be cruel, it feels like it was written to vie for space on a middle school reading list, just to avoid any worry that a reader might be left behind by something going on in the book.
The plot writ large is predictable, but the events are not, which is perfect for this genre. I think it takes a miss on some of the history as relates to the plot. I do give historical fiction generous leeway for history, because it is not the point, even when it is a sort of dual (or even triple) history like this one. Here, since it involves race and the U.S., we must also deal with the frustration of Lost Cause mythos poisoning the well of even well-intended writing. And I get that I am thinking a lot about it already in context because of the recent read of (view spoiler) but I experience struggle around some of the bigger elements to the setup.
It wears its analogies on its sleeve, but there is something just plain likable about the book that leaves me rounding up. Maybe it is the Chicago thing, but the author has a great understanding of her characters, and I felt invested in them despite the book telling me not to be and their actions being pretty unreasoned at times. And it is sufficiently scary, starting with more moody atmospherics then moving into louder scares. Good marks for a first novel; waiting to see what comes next.
Our protagonist, a Black woman at the end of her tether in 60's Chicago, receives a mysterious job in New Orleans, where she discovers a crumbling house with many mysteries, including ones that relate to her past. Can she fix the curse? Can she fix all the curses?
The book has strong debut novel energy. There is an intricate beginning and a strong end, while the middle is a plotless muddle. The amount of not doing things the protagonist engages in is impressive. There is grade-A fridge logic to certain character choices. This is expected, and each would work on their own, but there are a lot of them.
The writing is stylistically spare, which feels intentional in terms of setting up the book as a sort of exercise in contrast to the gothic, commentary on the genre as much as a participant in it. I love this sort of approach, and the themes here about family, race, mental health, and the United States are as fine and as well-situated as they come. However, the narrative voice itself is hard to read. It gets judgy in a way that is tiresome and inapt. It makes feeling like or even pathos for the characters difficult. To be cruel, it feels like it was written to vie for space on a middle school reading list, just to avoid any worry that a reader might be left behind by something going on in the book.
The plot writ large is predictable, but the events are not, which is perfect for this genre. I think it takes a miss on some of the history as relates to the plot. I do give historical fiction generous leeway for history, because it is not the point, even when it is a sort of dual (or even triple) history like this one. Here, since it involves race and the U.S., we must also deal with the frustration of Lost Cause mythos poisoning the well of even well-intended writing. And I get that I am thinking a lot about it already in context because of the recent read of (view spoiler) but I experience struggle around some of the bigger elements to the setup.
It wears its analogies on its sleeve, but there is something just plain likable about the book that leaves me rounding up. Maybe it is the Chicago thing, but the author has a great understanding of her characters, and I felt invested in them despite the book telling me not to be and their actions being pretty unreasoned at times. And it is sufficiently scary, starting with more moody atmospherics then moving into louder scares. Good marks for a first novel; waiting to see what comes next.