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A review by teethfairy
The Stradivarius by Rae Knowles
2.0
According to Wikipedia: "Gas Light is a 1938 thriller play, set in 1880s London, written by the British novelist and playwright Patrick Hamilton."
Without giving anything away for those who might not know exactly what the original play is about, the Stradivarius is basically its contemporary retelling set in the US, and I'm sad to say it ultimately adds very little to the original story.
It definitely scratches the itch of the "questionably sane woman wandering the questionably haunted house" trope but only temporarily so, and only on rare occasions considering the length of the novel. What starts out as a promising thriller and a murder mystery ultimately turns into a lot of rather convoluted, slow paced and thickly-padded plot that would have benefitted greatly by being at least one third shorter. The mystery of the murder and the intensity of the main heroine's (in)sanity are watered down by long, unnecessary paragraphs of what I can only assume is an attempt at a more flowery language and a haunting atmosphere - and while that in itself is not a bad thing, the Stradivarius seemed to have only suffered for it… and from it. As a fast reader, it was a bit of a chore to get through it but at least the last chapter gave us a bit of that 'feminine rage' we had been craving through the entire book.
Another extremely jarring point of the book was the fact it decided to introduce a deuteragonist one third into the book, and by deuteragonist I mean perspective of a different character we have met way, way back, and whose chapters and perspectives we since start getting on a regular basis, at which point the book tips from a haunting mystery into somewhat of a 'who-dun-it', which is strange enough in itself, but made even stranger considering the book subject, and takes away from the haunting, mysterious aspect of questioning just how reliable the heroine's mind is.
Speaking of heroine: I understand some of her characteristics are there so we can sympathize with her, or rather to make her seem more helpless, young and naïve, but I found myself truly unable to sympathize with someone who quite literally has no knowledge nor interests to speak of. She is not invested in her violin lessons, has no plans for the future, speaks of professional advancement as a potential possibility she doesn't quite care about, says herself that she doesn't care to cook, clean, or take care of anything in the household, and ultimately seems to do nothing but smoke weed, read romance novels and drink tea. I mean hey, wouldn't we all love to afford a life like that, but ultimately it doesn't make her a very perplexing nor engaging character.
I also can't help but feel robbed of a certain musical aesthetic, with this book having very little to do with violins, music, or antiquities. Considering our heroine plays music, has grown up in the presence of a maestro, occasionally references the eponymous instrument and hears quite a few compositions that she references, very little thought and time has been actually put into any of those aspects, more so evident by the fact author misspelled 'Ruslan and Ludmila'. I do not wish to be a mean grammar officer, but if one is to name their novel after one of the most famous instruments of all time, I expect the basic research to be done (and edited)… and some more violins.
It is all in all an okay-ish 2.5 that, I'm sad to say, I wouldn't warmly recommend, but I will take this opportunity to point out that Rae Knowles's second book, Merciless Waters is an astounding improvement, and you should definitely give it a go! To read both these books and see leaps and bounds she has made only goes to show you can't go wrong writing entirely original ideas.
Thank you, BookSirens. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Without giving anything away for those who might not know exactly what the original play is about, the Stradivarius is basically its contemporary retelling set in the US, and I'm sad to say it ultimately adds very little to the original story.
It definitely scratches the itch of the "questionably sane woman wandering the questionably haunted house" trope but only temporarily so, and only on rare occasions considering the length of the novel. What starts out as a promising thriller and a murder mystery ultimately turns into a lot of rather convoluted, slow paced and thickly-padded plot that would have benefitted greatly by being at least one third shorter. The mystery of the murder and the intensity of the main heroine's (in)sanity are watered down by long, unnecessary paragraphs of what I can only assume is an attempt at a more flowery language and a haunting atmosphere - and while that in itself is not a bad thing, the Stradivarius seemed to have only suffered for it… and from it. As a fast reader, it was a bit of a chore to get through it but at least the last chapter gave us a bit of that 'feminine rage' we had been craving through the entire book.
Another extremely jarring point of the book was the fact it decided to introduce a deuteragonist one third into the book, and by deuteragonist I mean perspective of a different character we have met way, way back, and whose chapters and perspectives we since start getting on a regular basis, at which point the book tips from a haunting mystery into somewhat of a 'who-dun-it', which is strange enough in itself, but made even stranger considering the book subject, and takes away from the haunting, mysterious aspect of questioning just how reliable the heroine's mind is.
Speaking of heroine: I understand some of her characteristics are there so we can sympathize with her, or rather to make her seem more helpless, young and naïve, but I found myself truly unable to sympathize with someone who quite literally has no knowledge nor interests to speak of. She is not invested in her violin lessons, has no plans for the future, speaks of professional advancement as a potential possibility she doesn't quite care about, says herself that she doesn't care to cook, clean, or take care of anything in the household, and ultimately seems to do nothing but smoke weed, read romance novels and drink tea. I mean hey, wouldn't we all love to afford a life like that, but ultimately it doesn't make her a very perplexing nor engaging character.
I also can't help but feel robbed of a certain musical aesthetic, with this book having very little to do with violins, music, or antiquities. Considering our heroine plays music, has grown up in the presence of a maestro, occasionally references the eponymous instrument and hears quite a few compositions that she references, very little thought and time has been actually put into any of those aspects, more so evident by the fact author misspelled 'Ruslan and Ludmila'. I do not wish to be a mean grammar officer, but if one is to name their novel after one of the most famous instruments of all time, I expect the basic research to be done (and edited)… and some more violins.
It is all in all an okay-ish 2.5 that, I'm sad to say, I wouldn't warmly recommend, but I will take this opportunity to point out that Rae Knowles's second book, Merciless Waters is an astounding improvement, and you should definitely give it a go! To read both these books and see leaps and bounds she has made only goes to show you can't go wrong writing entirely original ideas.
Thank you, BookSirens. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.