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jashanac 's review for:
My Darling Dreadful Thing
by Johanna van Veen
Enjoyment/Appreciation Level: Liked it - on the higher end of middle-of-the-road.
Summary:
Roos Beckman has a spirit companion only she can see. Ruth—strange, corpse-like, and dead for centuries—is the light of Roos’ life. That is, until the wealthy young widow Agnes Knoop visits one of Roos’ backroom seances, and the two strike up a connection.
Soon, Roos is whisked away to the crumbling estate Agnes inherited upon the death of her husband, where an ill woman haunts the halls, strange smells drift through the air at night, and mysterious stone statues reside in the family chapel. Something dreadful festers in the manor, but still, the attraction between Roos and Agnes is undeniable.
Then, someone is murdered.
Poor, alone, and with a history of ‘hysterics’, Roos is the obvious culprit. With her sanity and innocence in question, she’ll have to prove who—or what—is at fault or lose everything she holds dear.
Themes:
Hunger. Abuse. Mental illness. Sexism. Longing. Haunting.
TL;DR:
Once again, Van Veen's writing is DELICIOUS. However, I wasn't as into the plot or characters of this one (compared to her newer book, Blood On Her Tongue).
Writing:
Very evocative, gothic horror, atmospheric prose right from the beginning. Kind of creepy in places as well.
Characters:
Roos was kind of too dumb to live, honestly. Though to be fair, it wasn't so much stupidity as naivety. She was ridiculously sheltered her entire life; to the point of abuse. So she just doesn't know shit about shit and is SO easily manipulated. Frustratingly gullible in several places.
Agnes was fine, I suppose. I just didn't feel very much one way or the other for these characters.
Plot/Pacing:
It was wildly frustrating that so much of What Went Wrong later on could have been avoided if a: Roos wasn't so naive & bad at reading people and b: if Agnes had just once even said ONE SINGLE negative thing toward her husband. I found it a little unbelievable that she'd be soooo cagey and vague so many times and just brush off any convo about him... but then as soon as Roos does The Horrible Thing due to her misunderstanding of Agnes' feelings toward her husband... Agnes is immediately, without hesitation like "Okay let me tell you every single detail now." If it was that easy why didn't she previously even say, "I wasn't madly in love with my husband/my husband wasn't a nice man." ??? Just felt a bit too contrived.
And while I found the sections of the psychologist case notes to be fascinating to a degree, they did pull me out of the gothic horror atmosphere a bit too much. I wasn't able to get as fully engrossed in the story.
Summary:
Roos Beckman has a spirit companion only she can see. Ruth—strange, corpse-like, and dead for centuries—is the light of Roos’ life. That is, until the wealthy young widow Agnes Knoop visits one of Roos’ backroom seances, and the two strike up a connection.
Soon, Roos is whisked away to the crumbling estate Agnes inherited upon the death of her husband, where an ill woman haunts the halls, strange smells drift through the air at night, and mysterious stone statues reside in the family chapel. Something dreadful festers in the manor, but still, the attraction between Roos and Agnes is undeniable.
Then, someone is murdered.
Poor, alone, and with a history of ‘hysterics’, Roos is the obvious culprit. With her sanity and innocence in question, she’ll have to prove who—or what—is at fault or lose everything she holds dear.
Themes:
Hunger. Abuse. Mental illness. Sexism. Longing. Haunting.
TL;DR:
Once again, Van Veen's writing is DELICIOUS. However, I wasn't as into the plot or characters of this one (compared to her newer book, Blood On Her Tongue).
Writing:
Very evocative, gothic horror, atmospheric prose right from the beginning. Kind of creepy in places as well.
Characters:
Roos was kind of too dumb to live, honestly. Though to be fair, it wasn't so much stupidity as naivety. She was ridiculously sheltered her entire life; to the point of abuse. So she just doesn't know shit about shit and is SO easily manipulated. Frustratingly gullible in several places.
Agnes was fine, I suppose. I just didn't feel very much one way or the other for these characters.
Plot/Pacing:
It was wildly frustrating that so much of What Went Wrong later on could have been avoided if a: Roos wasn't so naive & bad at reading people and b: if Agnes had just once even said ONE SINGLE negative thing toward her husband. I found it a little unbelievable that she'd be soooo cagey and vague so many times and just brush off any convo about him... but then as soon as Roos does The Horrible Thing due to her misunderstanding of Agnes' feelings toward her husband... Agnes is immediately, without hesitation like "Okay let me tell you every single detail now." If it was that easy why didn't she previously even say, "I wasn't madly in love with my husband/my husband wasn't a nice man." ??? Just felt a bit too contrived.
And while I found the sections of the psychologist case notes to be fascinating to a degree, they did pull me out of the gothic horror atmosphere a bit too much. I wasn't able to get as fully engrossed in the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Terminal illness
Moderate: Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood
Minor: Child death, Death of parent