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12
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| 1439152799
| 9781439152799
| 1439152799
| 3.89
| 81,489
| Nov 09, 2010
| Mar 2021
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liked it
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**spoiler alert** Wandering the lonely road, the mind seeks comfort or, perhaps, seeks to hide from the conscious state. The game is played to thunder
**spoiler alert** Wandering the lonely road, the mind seeks comfort or, perhaps, seeks to hide from the conscious state. The game is played to thunder a clear sky; whereas the birthed planes offer opportunities for life & wonder, the moments nearing the ultimate end observe the scavengers come to their knees to plead reprieve. This bristling moment is shared with the reader in this story from the point of view of a person whose life has rumbled onward for a few decades but whose troubles cannot slay the beast that exists in the periphery of their loved one’s mind. In essence, this is a story about a woman who seeks to bring clarity to a secret her mother held. Edith (“Edie”) is a grown woman, she has a career & has experienced loss, frustration, & obstacles in her path to find her place in the world. The reader meets her in a moment of such struggle; the life she seemed confident to lead has changed course & Edie must now decide where she should be & how to arrive at her destination. While the personal frugalities of Edie’s life rumble in the background, the reader meets Edie’s mother, Meridith; a woman in the mid-years of her life, a housewife, a cold-English mother; this character is in truth, the focal point of the story though, readers will note that the narrative hardly incorporates her at all. In truth, Meridith is one of the more interesting characters in this story. As a child in England during WWII, Meridith & her siblings were sent into the English countryside in an effort to keep them safe from the bombs that non-aligned, enemy forces were tossing into the homes of innocent civilians. During her time in the countryside, Meridith became friends with the host family who cared for her for the few months she was with them. The Blythe sisters—Persephone, (“Percy”), Seraphina (‘Saffy”), & Juniper—lived alongside their ailing father, Raymond, in Milderhurt Castle in 1941, when Meridith arrived. The complexities of the family dynamic enhance the reading experience & though readers will possibly prefer one sister over another, their partnership leads the narrative down a path that is necessary to take. By this I mean, that although the sisters are interesting people, I found them rather annoying. Their presence in this story is vital. Their father wrote the story that inspired Edie to reveal her mother’s personal history & it was the Blythe sisters who held the key to everything. Yet, this did not change that I found their sections difficult to digest. I suppose that out of all places to start, it would be positive to begin where it counts—the beginning. This is my second time reading this book. One may note that this review has not started on a loving foot & one would be correct. I vividly remember my first experience with this book. I had been sitting at the edge of my bed, deep into the night, certain that I could finish the beast of a book before dawn. Morton weaves a good story, it is part of the reason why I am so motivated to meet her stories again, regardless of how I feel about them. It is a very rare & admirable thing to meet a person who has the gift of stories. On our first encounter, I felt that this story held everything I would have hoped to find & perhaps, even a bit more. The mystery of a lost love; the madness of a dying mind; a family secret; a world war in the background—the story was profoundly crafted & oozed intrigue. On that night, all those years ago, I found myself grateful, once again, for having discovered Morton’s stories. Now, as I have read the familiar passages for the second time, my impression has slightly changed. This story is one I can appreciate & would recommend to those who have the time to spend inside its pages. This book is a gift for readers who love to read; the type of people who seek out stories in an effort to engulf themselves in the tale. However, as is sometimes the case with this style of literature; the story itself is flawed. Perhaps readers may forgive the silly nature of the secrets that the characters withhold or the daunting nature of the tranquillity that is caste & consumed with flames. If one is looking for a story that is ghastly & overwhelming, my suggestion would be to look elsewhere. This admission is included because I felt tired while reading this story. The characters felt jumbled & silly—though I have used this word twice in so few sentences, I can hardly think of a better word to describe them. The problems they faced were certainly worth the time it took to study them however, by the end of the narrative, I felt that I hardly cared. Percy was a nuisance, always putting her priorities above those of her sisters, taunting her sisters with their captivity in the castle & for what? To keep the castle in her possession? Of course, it would be cruel to poke fun at the instability of their housing situation. The sisters are described as being trapped in their family home both legally, due to a clause in the will & testament of their father, & out of guilt, that the lineage of the Blythe family will end with them. In a story as large-scale as this one, it is not easy to incorporate every aspect of the lives of each of the characters. For this reason, the clause that prevents the women from marrying, for fear of losing the castle, feels like a last-minute ploy to further engage the reader in feeling empathy. While this is happening, Juniper roams the grounds & the small town like a ghost. I found her character interesting both times I met her on the page & rather than become frustrated at Morton’s lack of detail, I watched the time pass with my nose deep in the peer-reviewed articles that studied the conditions that may have affected Juniper. I am not a medical professional, in any sense of the word, but I am a curious person. The description given to the reader of Juniper—her wide-set eyes, her brain’s inability to keep track of time, her heightened reliance on outbursts of violence—all made her a person that medical professionals may be better suited to diagnose than I, a wee reader. After roaming the internet for medical articles, I came to find that nothing was as concrete as I would have liked. Juniper’s character & the years during which she lived made my search tedious. Did she have a visual impairment the likes of which affect a person similarly to vertigo? Does Juniper’s violence indicate a personality flaw or is this the result of poor socialization? Are Juniper’s facial features indicative of a developmental disorder or is she simply the product of a very tight-knit genealogy? Morton introduces characters with just enough details to allow the reader to picture them but, not enough to form a diagnosis. Certainly, this does not necessarily take away from the story itself but, a more tedious reader (such as myself) will find the lack of fortitude in the characters an issue. Will a reader be able to appreciate the budding romance that develops in Juniper’s life or will they wonder whether she is poorly prepared for the world? Is Juniper’s decrease in mental fortitude a result of trauma or the inevitable consequence of being a member of the Blythe family? Overall, one can look past the wee whispers in the borders of the page, focusing instead on what matters: Meredith. Where is Meridth throughout this story? The narrator follows Edie as she attempts to break through the wall her mother has built. Can a reader appreciate her dedication to learning about her parent’s childhood? Will a reader enjoy watching Edie misunderstand the silence that has kept her mother’s pain locked away? I would have enjoyed learning more about the girl who lived with the Blythe sisters. I would have appreciated understanding the logistics of a home that was impoverished & how the anger of Meredith’s parents shaped her to be the person that she was when we met her. The reader is not given these insights & there is a part of me that does not begrudge Morton for this. At the end of the day, Meridith has lived her life. She has made adult decisions; she has fallen in love & been vulnerable & intimate with other people. Who am I to deem this insufficient? What I take away from this story is the beauty behind its efforts. Edie wanders back & forth through the past & the present to learn about a person she loves. The roads we take to better support someone with whom we are close, a person we treasure, are not always straightforward; we are likely to cause pain even if inadvertently. Perhaps, there is a portion of this story that will appeal to a reader who finds themselves in Edie’s shoes; a person who may wish to find comfort in the community of people who cherish someone they may never know entirely. Ultimately, I appreciated this book. I liked the writing style & I liked the story. Though much of what takes place is slow-moving & uncomfortable, readers may find here, within the tender pages, the story of solidarity. The dashed hopes & dreams of many women wove their lives together beyond their understanding & over decades. It is heartening to see some form of reprieve, especially amid frustration. Yet, one knows that the end is not rose petals & hymns. The Blythe sisters die in a fire that consumes their home; they are never free from the stone that is their caretaker & prison. I reflect, even now, on the death of these characters; people I did not truly appreciate & honestly, individuals I could not bring myself to know—they weren’t interested in that; it was too late. In the fields that shade the property, there are the bodies of men who were misunderstood & held captive by eons of shame. Men lost their minds to the stones that loomed in the form of a castle. Readers may remember the depths sorrow sinks to in order to drown all who wander freely around it. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Feb 04, 2024
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Feb 04, 2024
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Paperback
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11
| 
| 1250798078
| 9781250798077
| 1250798078
| 3.48
| 6,715
| Apr 12, 2022
| Apr 12, 2022
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really liked it
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**spoiler alert** It is important to note that most of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, tou
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that most of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the book's subject matters & those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters that contain reflections on violent crime, gore, body mutilation, the death of a child, mental illness, & others. The central narrative is nestled in the loudest voice. The reliable truth is whispered in a sheltered wood. The stories that humanity shares are intimate reflections of the possibilities that exist within our community; the abandoned warehouse a breading ground for ghosts, the tall tower the vampire’s lair. When I was young & the world of stories was a blossoming tsunami of possibility, there was no story I didn’t long to know. Every person held to experiences that transformed the past into a monstrous beast the likes of which Dickens could only hope to mirror. I was raised around people who inquired of others the drip of their tale: What is your story? The premise of this book highlights the essence of human experience. The main character, Spence, is a man who is healing. In him, the reader meets the uncomfortable truth of their existence. From the moment Spence was introduced to the world via birth until the time at which he begins his speech, his life has been dictated by an invisible weaver. He is left feeling that the life he has led was not so much his own as it was the intentional script of the writer; the debonair plot that drives the existentialist over the edge of the crisp white pages. Throughout his life, Spence came to believe that some things mattered more than others; some truths were more honest & some stories more closely resembled reality. One day, his mind grew so ill of the narrative that he fed it, he came to believe that some human beings were turned into monsters. Spence was not alone in this belief. Other people grew to view humanity as a double feature; ghoulish cannibals on one side & the trusted John Wayne prototype on the other. The two sides duelled for ownership of the land. In reality, one group of people was becoming poisoned with their form of chosen reality & the other was being hunted for sport. I do not reference the tried & true old Western films of the American South featuring the dashingly manly John Wayne, in vain. One is encouraged to ask what made John Wayne the ideal candidate to face off against the Wild West. What becomes humorously evident to the philosopher is that Wayne’s characters seldom do much of anything other than play on their reputation. In “Stagecoach” (1939) John Wayne’s character–Ringo Kid–appears in the middle of the travel boasting of an exceedingly good reputation as a marksman only for the watcher to never see this come to be. Rather, Ringo Kid loves the unlovable—a woman outcast by society. In each of these films, one goes into the experience knowing that the screen will light up the genteel features of the rugged Iowa-born protagonist. We will see his brows furrow just enough to make way for a sideways smile & our hearts will warm at the kindly man roaming the desolate lands of a newborn America. What we choose to ignore is that the villain is the native-born land protector whom the protagonist is meant to destroy. These films decide who the viewer roots for. In many ways, human beings encourage one another to make this same decision. Spence was perhaps an untrusting child. Having grown up in an environment that was harmful & cruel, he sought the organized confidence of a storyline where he got to play the hero. One need not look far to see this same scenario at play in society today. Whether one is studying the structure of impeachment, the categories of foreign interference, the dogma of a celestial being, or the crucial need to feel communal support; human beings find each other in good company whether or not this company seeks to do good. As the illness took root in the minds of the ailing, they began to view society as a desecrated virus. The evil monsters—the party of healthy folk—transformed into toothy, gory, scalloped crustaceans who put everyone in danger. A simple tug from the jaw of a monster would lead one to become the very thing they feared. Instead of panicking, the infected chose to revolt. They carried weapons & built structures; they shot at the others as these unsuspecting healthy minds roamed the world that had become a breeding ground for malaise & violence. This reflection shimmers of gold the likes of which we know very well. Some people choose to believe that one must repent from sin, other people think that we each deserve the freedom of a kind life. Some people believe that it is their right to carry firearms regardless of the malpractices of many. In this I would like to be clear—whether at home or abroad, in a land where you have identified the innocent life of the young, the unarmed, the trespasser you clock as antagonistic to your narrative—you misuse a tool that might be relied upon for the collection of nourishment & neutral good. Here we find ourselves at an impasse. Spence believed that he was in danger. He believed that the tools he had could be used to annihilate others—the danger, the bad guys. Not once did he question this reality. Not for a single second did he think to wonder; what changed from one moment to the next? The hesitation to question the stance we take or to seek to understand why the stance of other people differs from ours truly sets us at a disadvantage. This is not to say that by so doing one is acting with passivity in the face of monstrous actions. Rather, to solve a problem one must understand it first. For those who became infected with sickness life was a cloistered mess. Their groups consisted of folk eager to act in aggression, take the lead, & manipulate already tired brains into believing that this was the way of the world. There was no room for a different perspective nor was there any real chance of seeing the bright light of nuance. However, just as in real life, the fine-sewn thread of this system is splintered by a rushed job. For some people, this came in the form of heightened aggression. For others, the disparity within the observable world. Spence began to see things differently when he started to note that the homes his group was raiding had been manipulated in different ways. Some rooms had been painted entirely in pink while others had furniture stapled to the walls. The most powerful form of change lies in doubt. Spence found himself confused as to why he was the only one perturbed by these staged scenes of banality. He followed the steps that led him to the institution where he underwent healing practices to rework the way he interpreted the world. At this stage, one must ask themselves what they believe. Is it possible to hold a system of beliefs without being aware of the fact that it is in actuality a belief, not a fact of existence? Can the reader trust Spence? There is certainly the possibility that his story is untrue but, I do not think that is the point. One might venture to cross paths with any random person & be made aware of their differing perspectives. Does this mean that someone is wrong? For Spence, this question did not even factor into his reality until he realized that there were different versions of the same experiences. This is particularly interesting because he was raised in disparity & aggression whereas people around him experienced security & kindness. What this book sought to highlight is the force by which our ideologies transform our experiences of the world. To believe that prayer means you are heard is neither good nor bad but, to declare that prayer is the sole means of communicating leads one to ostracize oneself. Nuance exists alongside us & the parties we choose to support. Nuance is a part of who we are. It was a key aspect of Spence’s healing process—to acknowledge that a viewpoint is singular, though it encompasses a tapestry of choice. Aspects of this story leave one with questions. What did it look like when a monster bit a person? What did the transformation process look like? It might be overeager to ask why the majority of the population didn’t simply fight back or kill all those who were ill. This would be an ignorant question as I am sure many people might recognize & as I have said before; you cannot kill an idea. A system of beliefs lives beyond breath & rest; it resides in the invisible & is carried out via action & whispers just as I wrote in the introduction. We benefit when these ideologies fit our system of beliefs. However, we reside in a circular caloric gorge when we make our personalities & lives desolate shrines to beliefs. Hooded figures around a campfire, guards shadowing a collection of trophies, sacrifices in pride & honour all in the hopes of demonstrating a lesser human need to be part of a species that changes its mind. Nothing is without fault & as we meander to the end of this book the reader is allowed & encouraged to welcome this reality. Perhaps some of the characters were waiting for an excuse to execute the lives they led. Perhaps, some of the people in this book didn’t realize that anything had changed at all. Whether it be a surge in violence disguised in clown suits or the roaring detonation of shells from the stone we throw in a lake; humanity is plagued by a game it both refuses to play & waits eagerly in the shadows to win. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Jun 11, 2023
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Jun 16, 2023
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Paperback
| |||||||||||||
10
| 
| 0063020912
| 9780063020917
| 0063020912
| 4.07
| 90,179
| Apr 04, 2023
| Apr 11, 2023
|
it was ok
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**spoiler alert** It is important to note that most of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, tou
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that most of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the book's subject matters & those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters which contain reflections on the death of children, infidelity, intergenerational trauma, Postpartum Depression, psychological abuse, & others. When I learnt that Morton would be releasing a new book in 2023 I was ecstatic. Since the first fluke encounter with her books, one afternoon wandering a local bookstore, & over the years since, I have found myself drawn, repeatedly, to the stories that Morton crafts. There is something very special about how she views her characters' lives; their worlds evoke a nearly identical feeling to ours, with enough mysticism to keep the reader from dread. I appreciated that in many words, relying on the redundant & at times tedious nature of the obvious, Morton was able to whisk me away. It did not greatly matter to me whether or not I was able to clock the mystery or detail a reveal—the journey was worth more to me, in the end. However, this time around, I am faced with a confusing sentiment of disappointment. Rather than reading a story that was brimmed with intrigue & interpersonal relationships, I found myself reading a book within a book, & letters & articles that quaintly described everything that was obvious to me from the beginning. I am confused. Where did the odyssey go that I was habituated with embarking on? What happened to the glory of a lengthy delight? Clocking in at around 544 pages this book felt like a long tireless meander through dastardly pointy rocks coating a searingly hot sandy beach. Through a shroud of mystery, the reader is introduced to Jessica (Jess) as she contemplates life as a forty-year-old single person living by the scraps of her savings, trying to find her way in the world (London). We are introduced to the blurry world in which Jess lives rather quickly & it is never touched on again as the story unfolds. This is of note as the issues that Jess is attempting to deal with are ones that will shortly involve other people, namely a team of legal representatives that might repossess her home. Because Jess does not have a proper income & is unsure of where she fits in, we meet her at the perfect time. A week later & it might have been too late, a week earlier & she might never have travelled back to Australia at all. The reason I highlight Jess’ situation in London is that it doesn’t play any substantial role in building her character. I have appreciated the dual presence of England & Australia throughout many of Morton’s previous books but, in this case, when contrasted with Polly or Nora, Jess’ background story is found lacking. When Jess goes back to Australia it is to take care of her grandmother, Nora, after she took a tumble that left her hospitalized. The mature reader is left to wonder how Jess was able to venture off to another continent without so much as a second thought about the debt she was accumulating in the process. This leads me to my first qualm. Part of the charm that exists in Morton's books is her ability to make a reader long to set aside the logical world in which they live. The point of this story is for the reader to be met with family secrets & a murder mystery so haunting, nothing else should matter. Yet, I found myself utterly annoyed with Jess for the majority of her narrative & therefore could not help myself but gaze at the scenery while it passed me by. Perhaps I should grant Jess some reprieve. Upon arriving in Sydney, Australia, we learn about the complex relations that exist between Jess & her mother, Polly. Throughout the years, the relationship between the women has become so strained that Jess has fostered a cruel animosity towards a person she refuses to acknowledge experienced abuse at the hands of her parent. I acknowledge that abuse is not always easy to notice & it is often very difficult to broach in conversation. I cannot rightly expect Jess to know that her mother was abused by Nora as Jess herself was raised to view Polly as a lowly second-class citizen. This was very difficult to read. It is important for me to take a moment to emphasize that this book does deal with domestic abuse. For some readers, the relationship between Nora & Polly is simply a product of the time; an overly confident mother who grew up during a period in time when world wars ravaged the land & people did not “have the time” to “dwell”. I put these in quotation marks because I think that is a ridiculous excuse & minimizes the damage done to millions of people who experienced & continue to suffer the consequences of war. We would all be better off had Shell Shock been taken more seriously & not viewed as someone “having a bad war”. Regardless of my personal sentiments towards the field of psychological health, Nora raises Polly in derogatory ways. We read chapter after chapter of instances in which Nora disregards her daughter as being a silly sentimental girl, all the while, we know that Nora is the person that raised her to be that way. It is excruciatingly difficult to overcome trauma responses let alone grow to hold the bravery to leave abusive environments. I cannot imagine that Polly had the freedom to sit with her mother & explain to her that by degrading her, making every decision concerning Polly’s life about her own, infantilizing her, talking down to her & encouraging the world to view her as feeble, tormented, & inept, she was hurting her. That being said, I appreciate that this plot line was included because it was subtle. Polly was a sensitive person & she viewed the world through a fearful lens. I would not blame the reader for not understanding that this is not a case of someone simply being cautious but rather, this is a case wherein someone was never given the chance to view themselves as capable individuals. It made me sad to read this. I became angry every time we read about Nora acting as though Polly is a failure only to split her shins every time Polly attempted to be self-reliant. Nora reeks of abusive behaviour & I was not sad to know that we would not be exploring her point of view firsthand. I wish that we had been given more of Polly’s point of view. When she is finally given a voice, the narrative is so far along it feels as though the reader is meant to be tired of whatever recollections Polly has to present. The reason I hold this deduction is that the story stalls for the bulk of its rollout. Jess is given a couple of chapters throughout the bulk of the book to intermingle some of the present with the literature she is consuming at the moment. I did not appreciate or see the value in having the entire story presented to both Jess & the reader via such exposition. Again, Morton has a talent for intertwining narratives in ways that feel seamless. Whereas her stories take place in whatever year of the twenty-first century, there is always the inclusion of a time period that rivets the story with intrigue; something so far gone it's difficult to acknowledge that it happened at all. This story did not have the magic that lingers between realities. To have a book within a book exist simply to exposition the entire second timeline felt cheap & it was no pleasure to read. I found it difficult to maintain the belief that what Jess was reading was a book at all. Morton’s writing style did not adopt that of a Non-Fiction writer, let alone one that was recounting the lead-up to an unsolved Familicide. The book that recounted the entirety of the time period (1959) in which the murder took place was grossly underdeveloped. Had this been included as tidbits throughout the story itself I might not have minded. However, the Non-Fiction account was not able to breach the divide that it caused by maintaining the same tone of voice throughout Morton’s entire book. I believe that with some further editing, the tone could have been different—perhaps more serious. I could not forgive the author for simply taking liberties wherever he saw fit because he wanted the story to flow. In that case, we are no longer reading a work of Non-Fiction, the book is a fictionalized account of a real murder involving three (3) children & their mother. This is a bizarre approach. The tone of the Non-Fiction book aside, I grew weary of reading it. I missed the inclusion of the main character in modern times seeking to find answers by trial & error. Jess seemed to be granted everything at a moment’s notice & without ever trying to work through obstacles herself. Secondary characters flew in & out of the story whenever it was convenient to include them. This teased a plot that was well-developed but the reality was that Jess is a mature adult who was crude, selfish, impatient & rather tedious to listen to. How did someone who boasted of being a career journalist never know the right questions to ask? Why did we have to find everything in a single-sourced book? How come Jess never googled any other member of the town as she read—seeking to discern if any of them or their relatives were still around? There were so many lost opportunities to watch Jess become a strong independent individual who understood that the life lessons Nora impounded on her were in fact total horse dun & that the world was far more nuanced than an opportunity criminal would allow one to account for. I am not saying that Nora was wrong to seek to give Thea a good life after her family was murdered. What I am saying is that it was weird that she said nothing, ever. Instead choosing to abuse said child into believing that the only person she ever needed was Nora & that nothing she would ever do on her own would be as good as what Nora could give. I understand that Nora was traumatized by both the mass murder of her family & the death of her infant. I grant her liberties here knowing that postpartum psychosis is a deadly thing to experience. What I have no sympathy for are all of the times that Nora chose to be the bad guy. Why did she lose contact with her brother? I’m sure his grief was exponential. Did Nora not think it was a good idea to reach out to her sibling? Perhaps we are meant to view Nora as a common antagonist. No parent is perfect & we certainly all make mistakes. It feels rather rotten to read about a person that is so highly commemorated by all, meanwhile, she’s treating every child in her care like a piece of mouldy fruit. In the midst of all of this, there is the murder mystery. For readers who will not be bothered by the obvious nature of the main mystery—who took baby Thea—the story as a whole might not feel like so much of an overhaul as it did for me. As I said at the beginning, I do not necessarily mind that Morton’s books veer on the clear, I still enjoy the journey to the final reveal. In this case, I believe my enjoyment was tarnished due to the things I listed above. As well, I found the somewhat lazy approach to research tiresome. Why would the village “mother” not have thought of the fact that most parents end up sharing food with their children—who also end up sneaking their parent’s special treats? I appreciate that she was acting under duress, having just learnt that her husband was having a long-standing affair with Isabel but, her casual endeavour to murder someone didn’t read as slightly earnest. Rather, Meg quickly became an imbecile who was carried away by something her child thought he saw. Nora was not a character I enjoyed, Jess was someone I could have lived without, Polly was never given a proper chance, Percy was intriguing but was discarded for the exposition of the Non-Fiction, & so on. Ultimately, this was not my favourite book of Mortons. She remains an author I cherish & for whom I hold a deep appreciation. She is an author & a storyteller, through & through. We shall not appreciate every story, even by our most charming & deliberate of weavers. Had this story focused more on uncovering deep-rooted family trauma; had the story explored the realities of Postpartum Depression; had abuses been spoken aloud & reconciliation sought; had the redundancy not been so tiresome; had there been secrets kept solemnly, I would have loved this. At its core, this is a good story. A woman falls in love with a man who has a mind filled with more worlds than exist in all the universes for he fosters the love of stories in his heart. Their love tears families apart; their pain seeps into the blood of the tantalizing hands of the curious, the victims, the unknown. A family tree is only as strong as its heartwood, without which it might become the cackling of fire in a night sombre from named sadness & lore. Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Canada, & Kate Morton for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Apr 09, 2023
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Apr 09, 2023
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ebook
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8
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| 1416550534
| 9781416550532
| 1416550534
| 3.95
| 120,562
| 2006
| Mar 03, 2009
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really liked it
|
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, theref
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book as well as those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters which contain reflections on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the consequences of war, Shell Shock, psychological distress, violence, financial insecurity, substance abuse, suicide, grief, & others. There is something magical in voyaging through time via the story held in a book. When I first came across Morton’s writing it was by chance. Having wandered into a local bookshop one afternoon after work, I found myself drawn to “The Clockmaker’s Daughter” (2018). I have since read this very book twice & am making my way through all of Morton’s published work in anticipation of her April release. Because of fate—a stroke of luck—the tendency for my heart to be drawn to the promise of a marvellous story, I was lucky enough to find myself a lifetime love in everything that Morton has put on to the page. When Grace Reeves was fourteen (14) she began working in service for the family who dawned the halls of the house on the hill; Riverton. Life for Grace was not easy as she maneuvered her way into a home full of inhabitants who were familiar with her mother, her life, & who felt no need to welcome her presence with kindness. The time she spent waging war against dust mites & saturated floorboards left her intimately acquainted with a lifestyle that was never to be her own. The period of time in which these parts transport the story is but one of two moments in which the reader becomes familiar with Grace. During her recollections, Grace is seated sturdy in a chair, watched over by Sylvie, her caretaker. The days that once saw Grace roam on foot & attend to the needs of others have long since given way to the final grains of sand in the hourglass of her life; hardly able to escape if she tried. What makes Grace such a charming narrator & main character is her ability to welcome herself as she is into the truth that she knew. Never does Grace try & pretend that she is someone she is not. During her moments of remembered ignorance, poor choices, sadness, & anger, she transports the reader back in earnest for she feels no need to shade us from a sun that rises habitually. Though this is my second time reading this book I find myself once again far too eager to simmer on the plot; rather disenchanted from the prospect of writing a review. This is always a peculiar feeling for me as I have always loved discussing what I have read. Yet, when I find myself at the end of a Morton-written story I find myself faced with the weight of realization. Therefore, before beginning my jaunt down a lane littered with rose petals & blooming dandelions, allow me a moment of pure praise for the author. It is not easy to write a good story. Many cultures of people place different values on storytelling, my own people view the tradition as essential; delicate in its virtue & sublime in its vitality. Even knowing this, there are few people within the human species who have the knack required to transport the mind of the bipartisan. Certainly, one can swoop another person on a whim down a laneway riddled with dramatic twists & bludgeoning goons but, to allow a listener—a reader—to walk down a path on their own, guided solely by the words whispered through shadows…that is a skill unmatched. Morton has repeatedly showcased her ability to weave a tale bolder than the mountainside. In every plot that Morton incites, she welcomes the reader to go through it alone; believing that every reader is equipped with enough courage, intellect, & heart to walk the road that will journey them through time, the lives of the unseen, & expose them to the treachery that exists in their communities snuggly between people like you & me. I appreciate this very much. I cannot say enough positive things about an author who works their skill. It is one thing to be insatiably talented, another ordeal entirely to know one’s own talent so well as to recognize how to shape it into a masterpiece. I hope all readers have the chance to come across books written by authors who care so very much about the work they are producing. As Grace becomes accustomed to her life in the big house, the number of inhabitants grows. David, Hannah, & Emmeline arrive to spend time with their grandparents & delve into a world of adventures across the property. The Game, as Grace calls it, takes up the majority of their time. Each of the children dream of a world where they can be free; a person all to their own liberated from the society that trapped them into titles & behaviours. Though this particular aspect of the story does not necessarily reveal itself in any obvious sense, it might appear to the reader as though the children spend the entirety of their short lives chasing an imaginary image of life. This becomes a sadder point on which to reflect given David’s wistful choice to enlist in WWI & subsequently die on the field of battle in France. While reading this story I found myself eager to correct certain actions or behaviours of the characters. Why did no one think that the war would be gruesome? Certainly, many other battles took place up until this point in time, yet many young people were eager to make a name for themselves in bloodshed. Why didn’t Frederick respond to his son while he was alive? How could a parent watch their child walk off to war & ignore their correspondence, with the heavy heart of someone who recognized the dual mistakes played by their persons? It is so easy to watch as a bystander & make judgment calls; I have the benefit of the safety of my home while reading this, and I am not called to the front. Some people retain the naivety that war is a game. Certainly, egos alter the perspective of death & destruction. Children are enlisted as soldiers, young people are pawns in a darkened arena without a choice. I wish someone along the line might have stepped in, & revealed that death is never so far away as it appears; is a stranger in the night via the creaking floorboards of our houses & sneaks into our rooms through whistling winds cold from their long journey. We would, however, not have a story if someone had done this. We might even have a different life outside of fiction if representatives had cautioned of the world's evils. We cannot alter the past. Because of this fact, we watch Hannah & Emmeline drift apart from the bond that they once held. Each sister began to grow in a direction that was representative of a desire misunderstood by the other. I found the way that Morton wrote about their relationship to be very honest & appropriate for the time period. Though one might note that both characters could have easily been women in a multitude of moments in time, they fit snuggly in the years in which this story takes place. The relationship & behaviour they exhibit with regard to themselves, each other, & those around them revealed a far larger picture than that which Morton paints. The plight for freedom, regardless of the cost, takes centre stage in this plot. Our young & incredibly ignorant narrator wanders through life seeking a breach from the constraints of her own life. She no longer wants to be alone but cannot tie herself to any person who would bring her the heartfelt warmth she so desires. I suppose that growing up in the earlier years of the century did not help her quest to find fulfillment. She did not have the liberty of asking for help, of telling a friend she wished they were closer; of spreading her love for Alfred in any way other than in secret. Each other character seeks their own validation in a world that has set the stage for a play in which they hold no substantive roles. How are any of these women meant to survive in a world where they are not wanted, not needed? They spend their lives on the wrong side of a swinging door waiting to be admitted into the room. I found this to be very sad to read. The conclusion of this book had me reflecting on all the ways in which the characters failed but also, the ways in which they failed themselves. Maybe things might have been different if Hannah & Emmeline had spoken. Maybe if no secrets were kept nothing would need to be kept hidden. Maybe if the world had allowed for the young sisters to be themselves in childhood they would not have felt so different from each other. There is no way to know for certain that things would have changed if by a single alteration. Hannah was always ignorant of life. She never questioned whether or not Grace actually knew shorthand, she assumed. She never gave way to rhetoric when speaking to Grace because she retained her taught beliefs; Grace was a servant to the house. Regardless of how much progress each of the characters made, they remained stiff in their ways of ignorance. I suppose this is not so different from the non-fictional world which is what makes this story all the more devastating. If I could revisit this story for the first time, I would. I will read this book again in a couple of years because I find the flow of reality intermingled with the fantastical events, a flash of honesty in a world of hidden secrets. I came upon the final scene this time around wishing that things would be different. Why did anyone need to die? Why is death the final straw for conflict? I do not have the answer to that, nor with regard to this story or in real life. What I do know is that this book brings out a habitual cycle of reflection for me. I cannot escape the desire to read Morton’s books a thousand times over for the flow of the reveal; the deceit, the honest truth of our entities. Our inability to be ourselves in a world that has sectioned us off to be fictional characters in a twilight zone of our dreams. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Jan 05, 2023
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Dec 31, 2022
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Paperback
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6
| 
| 1419761587
| 9781419761584
| 1419761587
| 4.28
| 489
| Aug 18, 2021
| Jan 10, 2023
|
really liked it
|
The illustrations by Michelle Pereira present the story told by Sandhya Parappukkaran about a young boy who will be attending a new school & is feelin
The illustrations by Michelle Pereira present the story told by Sandhya Parappukkaran about a young boy who will be attending a new school & is feeling self-conscious about the length of his name. Together, their efforts allow the reader to remember that practice can make perfect — whatever ‘perfect’ may entail — & that it is important to speak our boundaries to those around us so that they don’t inadvertently offend us in their attempts to be inclusive. I highlight this last part because though the main character has allowed Elly to call him a shortened version of his name, he appears to not necessarily feel comfortable with this option. There are, of course, instances across the globe of people going by nicknames, short versions of their names or even pseudonym. None of these decisions are wrong if they were chosen by the person in question. Even nicknames that might appear outwardly unconnected to the birth name the person has been given, can showcase a positive relationship if the named person feels comfortable with this. All of that to say, Zimdalamashkermishkada decides to help those around him, primarily Elly, learn to say his name, he does so with patience & remains true to himself. It would not be innately wrong if he wanted Elly to call him ‘Zim’ or if he preferred for others (say, bank tellers, for example) to call him ‘Zim’ rather than spend all his time correcting people who had no practice utilizing their jaw muscles in such a way as to be accurately able to pronounce his name. I enjoyed this book & I enjoyed the illustrations. I think that this is a case of a story that will feel very comforting to certain individuals but may miss the mark for others. There is little discussion in the story about the ethics behind deciding to go by one’s full name rather than adopting another. Some people are called by their middle name because that’s what they prefer, again, this is all subjective. As well, I do think it’s important to appreciate where the characters live in terms of expecting people to be able to pronounce certain names. I say this having had the experience of people misspelling & mispronouncing my name, Chantel, a French name, in a French-speaking country wherein my name is not complicated to grasp. Should I go to a part of the world where the letter formations are pronounced differently or represent different sounds, I should not automatically expect people to be able to phonetically sound off my name how it was intended. This book might open the gateways for further discussions. Though I felt that the length was perfect for the intended age of the reader, I should encourage those who might be reading alongside the young ones to be prepared to discuss the ethics of choosing how one presents themselves & how they feel towards their names & the value they hold regarding having their names spoken properly. Thank you to Edelweiss+, Abrams Books for Young Readers & Sandhya Parappukkaran for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Apr 23, 2022
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Apr 23, 2022
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Hardcover
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5
| 
| B09NQ4MTKP
| 4.02
| 11,784
| Jun 07, 2022
| Jun 07, 2022
|
liked it
|
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, theref
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book & those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters that contain reflections on self-mutilation, mental illness, suicide, murder, & others. Before I say anything regarding the plot I would like to acknowledge that this is a book that I know many readers will love. I was beyond excited in the opening chapters of this story because Coates is a writer with talent; every word is poised with power & intent, & every single scene is utilized to its full potential to draw the reader into the gloomy depths of the vile ocean floor. What I seek in books that fall into the Horror genre is for a writer to delicately take my hand & leave me feeling stranded in the pages of the book. I want to forget that I am safely tucked away in my house, far away from the ocean; needing to remind myself that I am not a passenger on a freight vessel that is trying to survive as every other member of the crew & subsequent passengers commits suicide in an attempt to escape the invisible. Coates was able to grant me that experience & for that alone, I am grateful. I have read many scary stories in my day. I am very familiar with the sentiment of fear both in a tangible, literal sense as well as what the emotion means logically; the way our brains transform within our bodies grasping for coherent rationals to the events transpiring around us. It is the gift of a great writer to provide the reader with an experience of immersion. The beginning of this book saw us meet a cast of characters in the present day as well as view the cataclysmic events leading to the sinking of the Arcadia, through the introspection of Harland, a crew member on the ship in 1928. This is a story about zombies, plain & simple. Should you be someone who enjoys this subject matter I truly recommend you take a chance with this book. My opinion, or more so my disappointment, is grounded in the fact that I do not like zombie stories & this one felt exceedingly long once we reached the 70 percent mark. What is most frustrating to me is that I have read another of Coates’ books & zombies played a very key role in the plot as well. Feeling similarly about both books I must acknowledge that I am the sole factor in my disappointment. I cannot rightly place the blame on the author for writing a book that they were passionate about when I should have known better. I should have done a bit of research into Coates’ preferred sub-genre of Horror. With that being said, I found the first 70 percent of this book riveting. I am constantly on the hunt for a world-altering scary story. Being a fan of both the Horror & Historical Fiction genres this book appeared to be my ideal match. Had Coates held steadfast in the general malaise which was being crafted throughout the first part of the story I am certain that this would have been one that I would have been loath to put down. Unfortunately, we also read about the diving team, set in the present tense, who are exploring the Arcadia that lies 300 feet into the ocean deep. This group of people grows to become insufferable as they seem to willfully neglect logical thought & decision-making in the hopes of capturing more footage for the documentary they are shooting. I appreciate that the corporate world leaves very little room for emotional leeway however, a member of the diving team had an apparent seizure while diving & the entire team felt it appropriate to return to the shipwreck. Perhaps I am not well equipped to speak on this as I have never been behind the eight-ball attempting to gather footage for a corporation that has been known to not pay its employees. In that same breath, I realize that the group of divers were simply misfits in their own rights & truly should not have been diving with the intent to explore ruins in any capacity. Cove neglecting to dissuade Aidan from participating in dives was preposterous. We then read about how responsible & forward-thinking Cove is as both an individual & group leader, while it is never demonstrated to the reader. Her inability to gauge a safe site from the one in which they explored did allow the plot to move forward, however, it left me feeling confused as to why I would want to root for any of these characters. The part of this book that enticed me the most was the flashbacks. I adored reading about Harland’s observations as the date of the sinking drew near. The details put forth to craft: the atmosphere of the ship, the terror of the faceless passengers, the overbearing fog, the seeping of mental awareness, & the deaths, were superb. If you have ever been in a position to hear rodents scraping their talons against the inner structure of a wall I can assure you that you will have no trouble imagining the absolute horror that the passengers & crew felt round the clock. The same can be said for every other dramatic & fear-mongering aspect of this story. I cannot say enough positive things about the first half. I recant my previous statement, there are two aspects of this book that I adored; the first being the flashbacks in time & the second being the things in the wall. This is a trope that I hold dear to my heart. It does not matter how many times I see it play out or how few times it is employed in actuality, it never ceases to riddle my heart with angst. I am sure that every horror fanatic holds a special place in their mind’s eye for the specific piece of horror that truly overwhelms them in the very best way. To imagine a being wandering behind walls or, to picture a lump of flesh once alive sickly stuck within the confines of the structural design, well, few things scare me more. Should you not be someone who enjoys a slow burn then I would caution you from starting this book. This story transpires very slowly & even when you think that the plot has begun to spin at high speed, there are chapters on end about the fights of the diving crew against the zombies. Had we seen fewer chapters take over the narrative of the un-dead, I would have appreciated those bits for what they brought to the story. I acknowledge that there are few laneways to explore with this subject matter. After all, up until this point we have read about crew members & passengers alike leaping to their bone-breaking deaths on deck, burrowing their bodies into crevices, & going out of their minds due to the fear of the impending “others” who live within the walls. Overall, I did enjoy this book. I have it in me to focus on the many aspects that worked for me & if asked, I would say that Coates is a writer whose works I would read again. Of course, I would not want to see someone return to the site of a zombie invasion simply to retrieve an engagement ring; you cannot propose marriage if you’re dead but, I digress. The particulars of this book that irritated me are few & far between. I enjoyed the writing, & the horror tropes, the character of Harland, & I enjoyed the inclusion of tangible reasoning behind the insanity that transpired on the Arcadia. I did not enjoy the zombies, I did not enjoy the elongated fight/escape scenes, I did not enjoy the solo return to the ship, & I did not enjoy the irrational decision-making & rather long second half of the book. However, there is always a place for the torment brought forth by psychological fear; scratching, tapping, crawling behind the tangible; these are things that wander in my mind late into the night. Thank you to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press, & Darcy Coates for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Apr 02, 2022
|
Apr 02, 2022
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Kindle Edition
| |||||||||||||||
7
| 
| B09QLN6KKN
| 3.92
| 11,178
| Sep 06, 2022
| Sep 06, 2022
|
did not like it
|
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, theref
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book as well as those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters which contain reflections on violence, cannibalism, murder of a child, violent crime, parental abandonment, & others. When Margot is summoned to Gallows Hill—her childhood home—after the sudden death of her parents, she is faced with a blank slate & no seasoned abilities to deal with any of the responsibilities or changes she is forced to confront. An absurd series of events follow her arrival on the hill accompanied by the furrowed glances of townspeople as they intentionally induce a cone of silence around the inauspicious presence of the girl who got away—at least, for a time. This is the third book from the author that I have read & I have come to realize that I am perhaps not the ideal reader for her work. Please read the rest of my review with that in mind. I acknowledge that the general formula & approach that Coates takes in her books have attracted a sturdy fanbase & I am glad that the books she has worked to publish have received the praise they deserve. However, the formula in question does not consistently deliver an excellent book, which brings me to my experience with this story. Margot’s introduction to the reader leads one to believe that she might be an outlier in the adult community; someone who is at once ignorant, naive & pointedly stupid, she remains a problematic character to root for. We are around the same age & this leads me to feel conflicted when reading the accounts of her chosen action—why would you approach so much of the unknown with so little gumption? There is something to be said for crafting a flawed character. There is also something to be said for character growth, leading the reader to watch as the slug-like individual grows into the fully formed human being they are meant to see guiding them throughout the story. However, there is little praise to be given when following a character who makes decisions that are ridiculous & who overdramatize every single instance in their waking life—what does this add to the story? Readers will be approaching this book hoping to be drawn into the looming haunted house; reading pages that dictate a gloomy abode where Margot’s parents met their demise. Yet the atmosphere that Coates so flawlessly employs is nowhere to be found in this book. One might argue that due to Margot’s continuous exuberance of dramatics, the suspense that Coates is famous for employing within her stories, is dead in the water. There are several instances wherein Margot decides to do something imbecilic. Such as wet toast, she drifts into the recesses of the river of her mind & pays no heed to any warning signs that might be flashing around her. I acknowledge that people will not always approach instances in a unified fashion nor will they always make the best choice—our judgement has been prone to flaws. Yet, the force with which Margot is written as stumbling over every crack in the road leads me to feel like a third party of another town entirely; left with no reasons for which to care about any of what is happening, whatsoever. When Margot wakes at 1 o’clock in the morning she drowns about it feeling like a ‘dangerous’ time to be awake. I will gamble that many a human being has found themselves awake at such an hour of the night therefore, what makes this particular instance dreadful? Nothing. Save for the fact that Margot is in a home that she has actively refused to explore for both her own safety—should there be windows open, lamps left on, etc—& for the betterment of everyone else on the property—lest the house catch fire because Margot hasn’t even found a bathroom for over two (2) days while living in the house—her feelings towards the hour remain an enigma. That same night she decides, being someone who fears the darkened corridors of this new house, 1 am is the perfect time to wander the halls in search of the kitchen to make herself food so that she can induce a digestive coma upon herself so that she need not face the night. Finding herself, once again, at the crossroads of a situation, she cannot explain & which she has refused to explore we see her press ‘play’ on a VHS tape that was conveniently placed in the player, waiting for her to stumble into the living room in the middle of the night. I would have loved to see Coates’ writing style employed here yet, up until this point the story is obscenely dry. Nothing is happening to intrigue the reader. Why would Margot’s first reaction upon watching what is very obviously a home movie be that it was a recording of a children’s TV program? This makes no sense. There is also no need for her actions to be written out with such detail while she is attempting to rewind & pause the VHS at the appropriate moment. I cannot begin to think of why any editor would have allowed this scene to proceed to distribution as is. The repetition of the obvious absolutely annihilates the suspense that could be building. Why are we reading things we already know? Why does it take Margot an entire chapter to figure out that it was her parents that made the VHS tape for her when her name was on the cassette? Why does Margot do any of the things she does? Why is she constantly wandering around a property whose landscape she is unfamiliar with while her phone is below 50%? This is unsafe & yet she continues to choose to do things that lead her to be in harm's way. Falling into a giant pit is one example but there are plenty. Would it be so horrible to read about a character who had their head screwed on right? I think not. This brings me back to the formula that Coates uses in her books. There is a great deal of atmosphere build-up & world-building—at least this is what I have noticed in the three (3) books I have read, therefore should their other work be completely different, please take this with a grain of salt. I certainly appreciate a slow burn & I adore it when a world is built to perfection, leaving me no reason not to trust in the leadership of the main character. However, this book felt rushed & superfluous. The initial setup lasts for well over 50% of the book & when the reveals are presented they do nothing to lessen the blow of reading so many pages without gratification. I do not find it very rewarding to read about a character who jumps at the sight of their own shadow in an attempt to flounder the reader into doing the same. When Margot thinks she sees movement in the woods I could not help but sigh…have you no knowledge of wildlife? At this point, I found the story excruciating to follow. Why is Margot constantly thinking about the worst possible scenario? Her character was not presented as anxious or quick to misjudge, she is simply rooted in the dramatics of not understanding that her footsteps will produce an echo when she is running down a tunnel. Arriving at what many reviews have claimed to be the worthwhile twist I was abominably bored. What is abysmally disappointing is that this reveal could have been superb has Coates shortened the first half of the story & rendered her main character to be a bit more stiff-lipped. Ephraim killed his brother’s entire family with an axe & put their bodies into the wine vats that Ezra had made from the old tree, previously used for town hangings. Wonderful. What is scary about that save for the obvious? Nothing. We see Margot read a couple of entries of a child in the attic who was hiding during the killing spree & then she decides that what will stop this bizarre curse is to expose what everyone knew already happened. For centuries, the town refused to go to the hill because of the judicial approach of murder to all those who found themselves hung & because they were almost 100 percent certain that Ephraim murdered his brother’s family. Yet, here we find ourselves trifling through pages on end as Margot fights off the zombies of the deceased in an attempt to bring them ‘justice’. The reader is meant to believe that no single descendent in all those centuries ever saw the decomposing corpses in the wine vats & thought it repulsive enough to call the authorities. No single person ever thought that decomposing flesh & organs were something that shouldn’t be put into liquid given that there were probably larger than ignorable follicles of said flesh, in the wine. Not until Margot comes along, the same girl who never charges her phone when she goes wandering around at night, does this crime ever come to light. Would no one have thought to check the vats at some point if the bones & larger organs began clogging the spout? Did no one think it appropriate to possibly clean the inside of the vats? Did no one realize that the colour of the wine was changing drastically from one batch to another—due to the decomposing bodies inside? There are ample questions to be asked yet, all remain unanswered. This is a work of fiction so one is often requested to suspend some of their disbelief & I genuinely don’t have a problem doing that when it makes sense circumstantially. What drives this point home is that an entire group of people allowed Margot to return to the home that they knew was haunted by literal zombies because they didn’t want to talk about it for fear of making it worse. I suppose it was truly beyond lucky for them that Margot was too caught up with wandering at night to think to ask relevant questions when she met with any of the people that lived &/or worked on the property. When all is said & done this book would profit by being edited by a stricter set of eyes. Coates is a good author but this book did not feel fully fleshed out nor did it feel ready for publishing. The evidence that constantly pointed in the opposite direction to the one which Margot was facing grew tiresome & evaporated the morbid tendrils that the plot had to offer. Imagine my surprise that Margot should forget that children are curious creatures when she stands stark still, stunned at the inquisitive nature of the young boy in the grocery store. Having all but forgotten that she frolicked in the garden with a family of zombies that attempted to kill her, twice. Thank you to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press & Darcy Coates for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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May 26, 2022
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Mar 29, 2022
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Kindle Edition
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1
| 
| 1250252938
| 9781250252937
| 1250252938
| 3.98
| 32,474
| Jun 26, 2018
| Jan 22, 2019
|
it was ok
|
**spoiler alert** There are few books that I will not read. Any books that find themselves in the Mystery, Thriller, &/or Suspense genres are ones tha
**spoiler alert** There are few books that I will not read. Any books that find themselves in the Mystery, Thriller, &/or Suspense genres are ones that I eagerly seek to devour. I am very sorry to say that this was an instance where too many plot points took away from the substance of the story. I am left disappointed & with questions that will never be answered. Kim, the main character, is approached by a complete stranger & told that she is the abducted child of a couple living in the United States (Kim is in Australia). Stuart, the stranger in question, sits with Kim for all of 5 minutes & somehow convinces her to accompany him back to the U.S. so that the unsolved kidnapping might be put to rest. The first couple chapters of the story hold the entirety of the reveals the reader will be privy to. I kept waiting for something more from the story. It felt as though we were reading in the hopes of making our way to a bigger reveal, as dictated by the tone, yet we were given nothing further. If a stranger came to me at my place of work & told me that I was most probably the victim of a kidnapping, that I was their biological sibling & that they had stolen my DNA to prove their theory, I would not jump at the opportunity to follow them to a foreign country. There was nothing in Kim’s lived reality that would have led her to need to believe this story. By this I mean, she had no physical distinguishing factors which drastically separated her from the other members of her family, for example. When Kim decides to confront her family, none of their reactions make sense. Amy tells her that they would have no reason to maintain a relationship should it be proven that they are not biological sisters. What does that even mean? Let us not forget that you have been raised with this person, & you have held a close relationship throughout the entirety of your lives & yet, you vocalize not wanting to uphold that should they not be biologically related to you. When Kim’s step-father, Dean, does not outwardly react how she expects him to, she assumes that he knew that her mother, Carol, was a participant in the abduction of Sammy Went. I see no reason to invalidate Dean’s reaction. He had a right to be shocked by the events; his daughter came to him with accusations of kidnapping & criminal behaviour without giving her parents the benefit of the doubt. Kim is a grown adult & never once stops to think about the impact of what she is asking of her parent. This same grown adult leaves the country without telling anyone, to meet with a stranger. This is unsafe & ignorant. I understand that her actions are what drives the plot forward but we have already been told the entirety of the twists up until this point. Her travelling to the United States is for her to drive around & meet biological family members, again without her putting any effort into critical thinking before acting. What was the point in having Kim think that Carol was her biological parent but that Dean was her stepfather? Was there really going to be an instance (save Amy needing an organ or something of the sort) where this would come into play? Dean being Patrick, the person who aided Becky in keeping Sammy Went’s abduction a secret, was enough. We didn’t need the story to then take another turn & have Dean be a step-parent. What was the actual purpose of that? It simply felt as though we were seeking to alienate Kim from the family that raised her. Why not have told her that they were both biological parents to her? She would not have known the difference, she was two (2). Instead, they develop this intricate story to remind her that she wasn’t really ‘part’ of the family. Even if we look at her having a lack of baby pictures prior to age 2, they could have told her there was a flood in the basement home or something—anything—but they chose to go the route of exclusion. By the end of the story, I was tired. I kept asking myself why something was happening the way that it was & why that appealed to the author as something that made sense to have happened. For example, the dialogue in which Emma speaks far surpasses the age at which she is while the bulk of the story takes place. She sounds like she’s 25 instead of 13. An example of this is the scene in which Jack goes to the church to find Molly. At no point was it relevant for Emma to have come along to the church, with Jack, & it wasn’t relevant for Jack to share his ‘exorcism’ story with his daughter who was very obviously already traumatized by the fact that her sibling was abducted. This is, again, a 13-year-old child. Why would you have brought them along during your ravenous anger rampage, to a church full of people doing what you know to be abusive things, to find her parent whom you are concerned might have been responsible for killing your child? Where is the logic here? The inclusion of secret homosexual relationships which put both parties at the centre of the accused isn’t cool & I say this because this is the second book of White’s that I’ve read & the second time this is utilized in his plots. I understand in time & place, certain non-cis relationships are viewed as being inappropriate etc. but, it feels unfair for it to repeatedly be the people who are already targeted in real life, to remain the targets of fictional stories—which did not need to have homosexual relationships be the pivoting drive. To have had two women deal with traumas relating to conception, loss & carrying to terms of children was a delicate rope to tread & had White taken a bit more care we could have had an astounding story. Instead, we read about it for a hot second & then it’s over. I could have told you that Molly was experiencing Postpartum Depression (PPD) in the early stages of the story & that once Becky was introduced as having had intercourse with Patrick, something more would come to link these two together. We focus on homosexual ‘secret’ relationships, a church that abuses animals & Kim, for 300 pages only to have a few pages at the end reveal that bad things happened to people & those around them don’t always take notice. ...more |
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not set
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Sep 04, 2021
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Jun 29, 2021
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2
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| 0994630603
| 9780994630605
| 0994630603
| 3.88
| 30,103
| Jul 20, 2016
| Aug 14, 2016
|
it was ok
|
**spoiler alert** I will preface my review by saying that, had I known this was a book involving zombies/the undead, I wouldn’t have read it. Coates d **spoiler alert** I will preface my review by saying that, had I known this was a book involving zombies/the undead, I wouldn’t have read it. Coates did a good job in her writing. I would definitely read more of her work in the future. My review is based on the fact that I did not enjoy the main character, Adrienne, & found a lot of what she did to be totally left-field-dumb & secondly, I don’t enjoy un-dead/zombie stories so when this was revealed to be the twist (the haunting) I lost interest & had a hard time believing any of the story. This being said, if you’re someone who can easily immerse yourself in this kind of story then you might really enjoy it. The twist comes in the reveal that Edith had a twin sister who totally ravaged her entire family at the age of nine (9). First of all, I know this might be possible however, the extent of the damage that was done to the family makes me question how none of them were able to outrun her or, even just not be subjected to her mutilation. Even believing that she has outer-human powers, there were four (4) adults present in the massacre; none of them could get away. The second point in this plot reveal, which makes little sense to me, is why Eleanor is an adult in her haunting. She was killed as a child, as told by Edith. Why is her corpse that of a grown/aged adult? Does the fact that she killed people with time left on earth allow her deceased body to continue to evolve? Given the fact that it would be her spirit (soul or whatever you want to call it) that is affected & connected to the paranormal powers which allow her to not exit her body forever, why would her body, which would have decayed, age? I felt a little confused by that, but maybe someone else completely got it & this was a non-factor to them. I have to say that I generally do not enjoy stories where the antagonist (especially in hauntings) will continue to come back. I couldn’t shake the annoyance that Eleanor would continue to come back every couple of years. Why not scatter her ashes to make it harder for her to manifest? Or, why not just burn the house? She’d have nowhere to come back to & no purpose. Adrienne is young when she moves into Edith’s house so, many of her actions I tried to forgive based on the fact that her parent had recently passed away & she was without money, just trying to figure everything out. However, her ignoring Wolfgang’s, her cat, signs of distress (repeatedly) made me want to scream. If an animal is showing those signs there’s a reason. She could have saved herself a lot of trouble if she just paid closer attention to her cat (whom I loved, by the way). I know that it works best for the story to make Adrienne feel out of place in her new house but, gosh did I wish she just boiled some water & cleaned the rooms. Hearing her just sit around & talk about things she didn’t like or things that were dirty made me annoyed. She has ample time, especially before the haunting begins, to clean the house, learn its layout & start to organize it in a way that she likes. She could have posted some of the items in the house for sale to make herself some extra money. Instead, she eats cup noodles for days & relies on the (unbelievable) kindness of someone who has created a fake account for her utilities. Overall, the beginning of this book wasn’t bad. I did somewhat enjoy the small-town feel of the development. If you don’t mind zombies, some lack of basic decision making & a great cat sidekick (who really carried the story), you’d enjoy this book. ...more |
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1
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not set
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Dec 18, 2020
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Dec 18, 2020
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Paperback
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3
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| 1250781639
| 9781250781635
| 1250781639
| 3.99
| 28,206
| Sep 24, 2019
| Feb 09, 2021
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it was ok
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**spoiler alert** When all is said & done, I think I enjoyed this book. White did keep me reading until the end, though the twists were more so reveal
**spoiler alert** When all is said & done, I think I enjoyed this book. White did keep me reading until the end, though the twists were more so reveals that I was waiting to have confirmed. I found this book incredibly easy to get through & I would say that if you come upon a gloomy day, this is the perfect book to help you pass the time. In this book, White writes from the perspectives of two women whose names I repeatedly forgot as the chapters moved forward—Kate & Abby. This is my first comment regarding this story. Though the plotline itself was of great interest to me, the characters were not. I felt as though I were listening to a story that a friend of a friend had heard once & that the person retelling it had little to offer in terms of building up the people to seem real enough for me to grow sympathy towards them. To make this review a bit easier I will begin with: Kate—We are told that: “Kate isn’t an idiot” & I really would beg to differ. Right off the jump, Kate proves to be a spineless character, & at first, I wanted to believe that she was this way because of her anxiety over the disappearance of her husband. However, she vocalizes to her father-in-law that the only reason everyone thinks she’s passive (to the point of invisibility, as said in the book) is that that is what John sought in a wife. I cannot say if White wrote this as a point that would be proven throughout the book or for us to see that Kate has zero touch with reality, regardless, it’s not true. Throughout the entire story, Kate makes decisions that are unfounded in the realm of intelligent choices & I kept trying to convince myself that had she not done these things, we wouldn’t have had a story (I struggle with suspended disbelief—take from that what you will). However, I really didn’t feel as though the story was moved forward by her actions. I find it hard to believe that at no point Mia would have avoided asking for a tour of the hotel room in ‘London’. As a young child with a parent who travels often, one might assume that said a child would be invested in the whereabouts of their parent & asking for tours & pictures & videos is a simple way for them to be included in the constant change of environment. After telling the police officer that they had a summer house only two (2) hours away from their habitual home, why did Kate not go to the summer house to check to see if her husband might have been there? Several days pass in which Kate is moping about the house instead of driving 2 hours to check to see if her husband is at their second fully furnished house. I didn’t understand this logic. The sole reason behind Kate thinking her husband wouldn’t have gone to the summer house made no sense. Her father-in-law, Fisher, even said that John (Kate’s husband) enjoyed going to the house when he was younger & this distaste for the place had grown over time. Even if he complained every second of every day while being there, I would still take the drive to check. This part felt particularly annoying because for the rest of the novel we have to read about Kate being a ‘wife’ in only words, not in meaning; she knew nothing of her husband except surface-level things & didn’t bother to do a thorough search while she had the aid of two other grown adults to watch her child. Kate never once questions the fact that John’s parents suspected he had been abused as a child. How is it that your in-laws reveal to you that your spouse had dealt with such torrential night terrors that they, in turn, thought he had been abused, that you turn around & avoid ever thinking about that again except when it’s conveniently set in an actual physical scene? I appreciated the use of nightmares & night terrors to reveal the psychological detriment that had been caused to John. By this, I mean that it played such a heavy toll on his well-being, yet not a single person in his life ever brought him into therapy to help heal the developed hallucinations of terror he was experiencing every single night. This is a good way of incorporating a warning sign for everyone; I know we don’t like to look at dreams as being a way for our subconscious to put things out there for us to deal with because not all dreams have such deep-seated meanings but, night terrors are no joke. I felt horrible for John because he lived the majority of his life in such a bad place & he never got the help he needed. Why did Kate censor her daughter all the time? Your child is bringing up things they’ve learnt & instead of having a conversation with them you say: “TMI”? How does that help anyone? This was one of the earliest parts of the story in which I really began to dislike Kate. We get it, you're a void of a person but try to keep it together for your kid who deserves a fighting chance in this life. Abby—I’m not sure what it was that brought me to this conclusion but I felt, very early on, that Abby was a troubled person. Maybe it was the fact that she snapped when her husband asked the family not to discuss the very obviously gruesome murder of another person. She berated her husband but we’re meant to believe she’s just ‘joking’. Commenting on his weight & desire to try new things/work on himself in a way that was rude. I think I need to start with the obvious here which is, how did a woman who was having physical pains in her 30-40s overpower 2 other able-bodied adult people in her late 60s? I know that 60/70 is not the end of the world & you’re not at the crypt keeper’s door but, to believe that this lady who complained of aches & pains while doing a 2x-week jog & no other physical activity, totally annihilated a grown man—a man who knew not to trust her—I don’t believe it. I want to believe that the police force on the island had a clue as to what they were doing. I want to believe that they knew enough about the ‘death-causing injury’ to know that this particular tool might be found in the home of a single person practicing taxidermy on the whole island. I would also hope that by the age of almost 70, Bobbie—whom I’m unsure why she is still working at this point—would know that Abby was off her rocker. I suppose this is where Kate comes in & without her exploring every inch of the house, we would have gotten nowhere This review could really go on forever. I’m not trying to say that I didn’t like the book because I did but, so much of it felt weird. I would categorize this story as a beginner’s introduction to the Thriller genre. I was not shocked by the twists & wondered why other paths weren’t an option (i.e. self-defence plea?) rather, we all just jumped into the murder mobile & rode down the path of the psycho killer because Abby had a thing for spotting rage in other people. ...more |
Notes are private!
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not set
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Jun 29, 2021
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Jul 30, 2020
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Paperback
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9
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| 1416550550
| 4.15
| 227,977
| 2008
| Mar 2021
|
it was amazing
|
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, theref
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book as well as those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters which contain reflections on grief, fertility, pregnancy, poverty, terminal illness, the death of a child, insinuations of incest, child endangerment, & others. It is difficult to know where to start. Around the bend, I go as though my mind is afraid to relinquish the scenery of the sea, the Australian sun, the rat-infested attic, & the mysterious games in mazes & fairytales; all of it has left me eager to remain. There is no one reason why I seek out Morton’s books. I suppose that I have found myself eager to meet the world of a story where every character is so much themselves that they might be myself; a reflection of the world in which I live. I know for certain that I have to hold myself to attention when it is time to read one of her books. They are a journey that is crafted for a reader who is ready for an odyssey. Out of the many characters we meet within this novel, I would be hard-pressed to distinguish my favourite. Who made the greatest impact on the narrative? On whose shoulders does the reader lay their head for comfort & insight? As the first chapter begins, I found myself eager to see Cassandra find herself again. I worried that Nell was gone too soon, that her secrets were to be permanently absorbed through the hospital tiles, never to be known. I wanted to learn more about Hugh; a man intent on providing sanctuary to every living being, no matter how sudden or strange their appearance. I wanted to meet them all, I wanted to hear them share & watch them evolve. What I appreciate innately about Morton’s books is her ability to engage so wholeheartedly with her characters. Every single person, ranging from the primary voice of Cassandra to the tertiary rambling of the motel clerk, Samantha, was worthwhile. Every moment spent reading a sequence of conversation, a particle of dialogue or an inner thought, felt important. This is an important accomplishment. I feel we have grown too comfortable with needing things to be worth something. I have found that the attention span of many has begun to wane & in the process, we have forgotten that returning something to the stranger’s face that we see in the shops & on the street is valuable to our entity. Within these shared words we learn about ourselves. We are reminded of who we are. I will not speak for everyone, for certainly, some people feel as Christian does; it is easier to forget. For some of us, this was a transformation outside of our control & for others, an intentional bleaching of the mind. Yet, even with that being true, the small moments that take place in between the grand portraitures of our life, mean something in the long run. Every stroke of the waves against the sand, every ray of sun or a shiny moonbeam is important. Morton reminds the reader, without appearing pedantic, that these small moments make up the entirety of the whole; our entire lives. Within these moments we find the heart of every character. It is so wonderful to see characters of every age, work their way through a world filled to the brim with sea creatures & tsunami waves; failing & succeeding in their own ways. If a reader longs to meet themselves within the pages of a book they would be among good company in Morton’s stories. I truly appreciate that Cassandra was a person with history, gritty & sad, yet her heart held the memory of times that strengthened her bones & allowed her to journey across the ocean in search of the answer to a mystery that someone she loved had been living with alone. Such as in life, we need the participation & presence of other people. Sometimes this comes in the form of a sticker on public transport or in the nod of a cashier, maybe even in the grin that is shared amongst strangers in the briefest of coincidental moments. Every part of this story built itself around a situation that was both unfathomable & earnest. That being said, the mystery was not complicated to guess. I do not read Morton’s books to necessarily be duped & shocked. I read her books because she is a storyteller with a gift for bewildering the mind into forgetting that the images it sees are words on a page. I found it a bit annoying that both Cassandra & Nell announced their guesses the entire time. I understand that Nell actually grew up believing that Rose was her mother, however, I felt a bit apprehensive about the casualty in her reveal to complete strangers that she was certain of something that could not easily be proven. In that same breath, it was bizarre to me that Cassandra was roaming around town stating something she posited as a hypothesis, was indeed the truth. Every time Cassandra told someone that Rose & Nathaniel were her great-grandparents—Nell’s parents—I grew annoyed. She hadn’t concluded the mystery & yet she was sure of something that she could not prove. Again, I appreciate that she was eager to solve a family mystery. Regardless, I wished she showcased a bit more restraint. While on this tangent, I found myself flustered at Cassandra’s willingness to jump to conclusions. Though I appreciate that this allows the narrative of the story as a whole to move forward, it was often frustrating to read. I wished she had slowed her role a tiny bit. Any time someone posed a question she grew almost defensive & this slowed the flow of her own investigations significantly. I understand that Cassandra acted in the book as many people would in real life. It’s difficult to disengage when one is so close to solving a difficult problem. As the reader, these are also very subjective reflections. Some people might not have posited that Eliza was indeed Nell’s biological mother & therefore might have appreciated the back & forth that Cassandra did with regard to Eliza’s participation in the fiasco. One aspect of this story that I would have appreciated more details about was Linus & his seemingly obsessive sexual desires for his sister & Eliza. Perhaps, the reader is meant to read in between the lines & assuage what Linus wanted from both women. Maybe he was possessed by a fear of missing the one person who seemed to pay him any mind. However, he was intent on photographing both women—both while they were young & as adults—so that he might fantasize about holding them, etc. What was the big secret desire that Adeline was trying to stifle? Was Linus an incestuous member of the family? Because I was unsure if there was a greater secret to hide, given the villager’s deliberate avoidance of the area & the rumours of unseemly occurrences on the property, I felt rather a letdown by the end of the story. I had guessed that Eliza was Nell’s mother & I had guessed that she had had sexual relations with Nathanial to fall pregnant. This is perhaps my own naivety speaking, but where do the villagers garner the big haunting secrets that keep them at bay? This is where Linus could have played a bigger role. His own father could have been revealed to have had similar tendencies & his ravings as he grew older could have played a more morose part in the events. Because we are never explicitly told that Linus was trying to have sexual relations with his relatives, I am left to wonder what other things were happening on the property for everyone to believe that it was haunted & that folks were possessed to misbehave in the house. I digress, this is a personal qualm. In all, there were many aspects of this story that I enjoyed, appreciated & will eagerly seek out again. Morton writes books that I shall read ample times throughout my life, this one is no exception. I particularly appreciate the vivacity of the worlds she crafts. Emotions play such a prominent role in the lives of each of the characters in this story that their environments seem to react in consequence. The boat ride that Nell took alone was both dark & vast; filled with passageways & scampering feet yet plagued with death along the way. Nell’s house in Brisbane was homely & colourful while, at the same time being cold & light; desolate of the warmth one finds in love. It is sad to see mysteries that seep out of the pages. People lose their families, they lose themselves in the histories of occurrences undocumented & kept secret; histories sullied with violence & nightmarish horrors. We lose out on so much yet this is normal; there is no way to know completely who strode the path before us. I am happy to know that even though the ancestral face is shadowed in the unknown, it is enough for me to remember that there was one before me, as there shall be after. The world keeps spinning & one day I will lay beside those who spun along with it. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Feb 17, 2023
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Jun 03, 2020
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Paperback
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4
| 
| 0142001430
| 9780142001431
| 0142001430
| 4.01
| 166,973
| 2001
| Apr 28, 2002
|
did not like it
|
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, theref
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book as well as those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters which contain reflections on sexual abuse, parental neglect, poverty & others. It’s always fascinating when our reading habits foreshadow events. Around the time that I found this book, I had been on a floury of Plague reads. Dealing with the Black Plague & having enjoyed Brooks’ past works I figured it wouldn’t hurt to read this one. This book started out well. The setting was time appropriate, the characters fit in well with their environment & their development throughout the story was well-suited to their personalities & situations. Anna wasn’t a character that I cared about. Her development & participation in the story never intrigued me, which was a bummer because she is the main character. We relive the horrid events of her childhood at the hands of her father repeatedly. Her experiences in childhood are the basis for her behaviours in adulthood, the redundancy lacked a concrete link to her actions. Subsequently, I became confused about the logic behind her decision-making. Elinor is the person that helps truly guide Anna in her adulthood. Both characters are neither boisterous, confident nor rash. That being said, we read about them deciding to go into a Mine; an action that lacked any reasoning. I can suppose that doing so was meant to connect the progression of the plot to its conclusion wherein Anna decides to pursue a relationship with Michael, a year after Elinor’s death. I admit I found that entire plot point entirely bizarre. I can acknowledge that there are certain human desires/needs which might overrun other rational thoughts but that isn’t explored in this book. The reason for Michael & Anna pursuing relations was simply so that Anna could imagine herself as being Elinor; living her life, having her relationship, etc. Where did the girl who was gaining independence go? Maybe I missed something because to me, Elinor & Anna seemed like genuine friends & it was only those few moments of jealousy regarding intimacy that were hinted at. The ending of this book is a disappointment. It felt as though I were reading another story entirely. Anna, the small-town girl who barely had a head on her shoulders, sails across the ocean & becomes a polygamist’s wife. Asking the reader to believe that Anna would hold any level of advanced knowledge over the other wives, specifically those of midwifery, is absurd. I usually really enjoy books of this style but, this one missed the mark. The ending really left a foul taste in my mouth. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Jun 12, 2020
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Nov 25, 2019
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