Scan barcode
A review by echosong
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The Woman In Black by Susan Hill is a good short story, with good writing that leaves you with an unresolved uneasy feeling much like the protagonist must feel.
Narrated from the perspective of a future Arthur Kipps, The Woman In Black, follows him as he writes down his experience from when he was a young lawyer looking from a promotion that changed his life forever and his hope that by writing it down, he will finally exorcise the ghost haunting him. Primarily set in a small village suffering from constant intense fogs, Arthur meets, from a distance, the titular Woman In Black, when he’s sent to get a recently deceased woman’s affairs in order, the story documents what happened to him on that week.
Character wise, there is not that much character development. Other than Arthur and his deteriorating state, all the other characters are static, with the reader finding out more about them, but none of them being developed further than their initial meeting.
While I enjoyed the writing style, which I feel lends itself to a narrator of the 1800s, it is difficult to get through the first part of the story. It’s only around chapter 6 that the ghost shenanigans really start and I was at my most interested.
Narrated from the perspective of a future Arthur Kipps, The Woman In Black, follows him as he writes down his experience from when he was a young lawyer looking from a promotion that changed his life forever and his hope that by writing it down, he will finally exorcise the ghost haunting him. Primarily set in a small village suffering from constant intense fogs, Arthur meets, from a distance, the titular Woman In Black, when he’s sent to get a recently deceased woman’s affairs in order, the story documents what happened to him on that week.
Character wise, there is not that much character development. Other than Arthur and his deteriorating state, all the other characters are static, with the reader finding out more about them, but none of them being developed further than their initial meeting.
While I enjoyed the writing style, which I feel lends itself to a narrator of the 1800s, it is difficult to get through the first part of the story. It’s only around chapter 6 that the ghost shenanigans really start and I was at my most interested.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Child death, and Murder
Minor: Misogyny