A review by bookloversofi
White Fox by Sara Faring

3.0

“I guess grief is like that: the banshee patiently waiting in the many-halled house of your mind, so quiet in certain moments, until you turn a corner and see how it takes up rooms and rooms, cracking their floors and windows with its volume, its weight.”

This book had me trying to figure out what was going on for a large part of the book, which I appreciate, I like when the book makes me work a bit, still it's that kind of book where you have to focus enough to not miss any important details, which doesn't exactly make it a smooth read. The atmosphere is beautiful, it's one of my favorite things about this read, on the other hand, the characters seemed a bit flat, the construction of the plot itself wasn't my cup of tea and finally, I had some conflicts with the writing style. Still, on the bright side, I like that it has a dark tone and focuses on the mystery as such.



3/5 ⭐⭐⭐

You can find more of my reviews & fun content on my blog A Book. A Thought.


The plot follows two very different sisters, Manon and Thaïs, who have always been best known for their mother, a world-famous actress who has disappeared under strange circumstances. Now, both return to the Meditarranean island where they grew up and spent most of their childhood with their family, where the sisters will find the mysterious and incomplete work of their mother: White Fox, which was thought to be long lost. The words they find there, twisted into a dark fairy tale, will lead them to delve into the island's society, uncovering twisted secrets, hopefully leading them to discover the truth behind their mother's disappearance and even more about themselves.


You know, I love plots that focus on sisters and their relationship, so that's a big factor that made me want to read it in the first place. This factor in general was one of the ones I enjoyed the most, even though the girls' personalities need more work in my opinion, I managed to get involved in their stories and especially the conflicts in between their relationship. They had a really complicated relationship not only because of their very different personalities, but also because of how their parents have raised them and obviously how things have been going after their mother's disappearance, and the depression and death of their father. Obviously all this emotional baggage falls on their relationship making it more and more distant. This was very interesting to explore and I also like how the author handled it, in general, it's very unusual to see this type of polarized personalities in this type of character, but in this case I think they're both flawed and have somewhat right in their conflicts.

Still, both Manon and Thaïs, could have had stronger personalities, especially because I felt their voices were very similar at times and that makes it difficult to differentiate, obviously we have chapters for each one which it's great, but I'd have needed something more to end up falling in love with these characters, it doesn't always have to happen, but sometimes I like to have strong feelings for the characters I'm reading and when their personalities are a bit flat it doesn't usually happen. This is just my perception obviously. I actually ended up enjoying the secondary characters much more, as I think they're the ones that really bring this story to life, especially those mysterious characters that inhabit the Island.


The idea of the plot as such is very good, I really like the fact that it's a mystery book, and that it focuses on solving a disappearance, but also that along the way we explore this beautiful island and get to know a little more about the girls and their powerful family. I think it has a lot of ingredients to be a great book, and even though I didn't totally like the execution, I would still recommend it if you want to read something different, atmospheric and with a plot focused on a rather dysfunctional family; also if you like mysteries and slow paced plots.


I'd have to read another of the author's works to be sure how I feel about her writing style because, on one hand, I really like her dark and atmospheric style, but on the other hand, I'm not sure about the way she structures this story, so I would like to see if this is something she usually does or maybe it's just this time, if so, I think I could easily enjoy another of her books. The way this one is structured I found it a bit hard to follow at times, as I said before the voices of the characters are similar for me, so that combined with her super descriptive style and some moments when there are internal monologues and then we jump to memories of the past and then to notes of her mother's work, it's a bit much at times, you know? I still want to point out that the parts that I ended up enjoying the most were the ones where we read a little bit of White Fox (the girls' mother's work), I think it was pretty creepy but atmospheric and a little bit magical, I liked that.

This isn't a fast paced book, it took me quite a while to read it because again, I repeat, it requires a lot of attention and it has a lot of descriptions, which is fine because I know most of you might like this detail, but I always like to mention it in case you're like me and prefer less descriptions in your reading. I mostly enjoyed the first part and the ending, but there's a lot that happens in between that I don't think is indispensable to the plot movement as such, still .it's not a bad book and I think there's a lot of magic about it and it has a dark vibe to it that feels super intriguing


Although I'd heard the ending isn't very popular within the community, I personally enjoyed it a lot, I didn't see it coming, maybe because I'm always thinking of the craziest possibilities lol, and I liked that. Also I think it's not only very realistic in a way, but it also has sci-fi aspects which are a very good surprise for me in this read, it gives something unexpected but very necessary to keep the reader expectant and it really worked. The ending as such gave a good closure to the story in general, but especially to the sisters, I think what happened was something that no one but them needed in some way. It was a very appropriate solid ending for me.


To conclude, I can say that it was a good read, it wasn't everything I expected and it may have influenced a little that my expectations were very high, in fact, I thought it was going to be a 5 stars for me which obviously didn't happen. But still a read that I would recommend, above all for the atmosphere, the idea of the plot and if you like descriptions and dark but beautiful settings. It's a read that I know will have very polarized opinions, because that's what it provokes just by reading it, I was like "omg, I love it" and then I was like "omg, I'm bored" you know? So I know it will take you through a particular journey. I wished for stronger and more defined characters, but I'm left mostly with the secondary characters that are even better elaborated. But all in all, a very positive reading at the end with a closure that left me satisfied and wanting to give the author another chance.











First Thoughts 07/16/21

I completely forgot to update here that I already finished this book a couple of days ago and liked it quite a bit! It was certainly not what I expected, I had high expectations and I think the author's style may not be for me, which is a shame because I have The Tenth Girl on my TBR, but I still plan to give her another chance, as I quite liked the atmosphere she was able to create here, as well as the main plot idea is very catching and unique.
Overall, I think it's a good book, and I liked it. My full review coming soon!