My complaints are the same as the others: too much detail, lack of action, the characters were hard to like. I doubt I can add anything new to the discussion. It reminded me slightly of The Haunting of Hill House in that there could be debate over whether the house was haunted or it was a mental issue. Thoughts? I tend to agree more with the house being haunted mainly because I needed the supernatural element to get me through the novel. I could pretend I was interested.
I know I mention Harry Potter too often so I apologize for this next reference. Because I was so bored with this book, I started to think of the Ayreses as the Gaunt family (Slytherin's last living relatives and Voldemort's mom's family). The upper class falling is how I related it. What happens when those with money lose it. Also the brother (Morfin) was crazy much like Roderick was, Voldemort's mom (Merope) was ugly and couldn't find love (I realize Caroline did to a degree but go with me here) similar to Caroline and the father (Marvlo) just couldn't let go of what had been, of former grandeur like Mrs. Ayres. There stories are NOT the same, I realize, but I had to make the story interesting for myself in order to make it through.
4 comments:
Hahaha love the Gaunt analogies. I agree with you there. The fall from high society definitely lends the same ring to it, and isn't that a theme in many works, beginning all the way back from the Prince and the Pauper, or Beauty and the Beast, or anything like that. Maybe that's what she was getting at, some kind of social commentary rather than a real ghost story.
I could tell that I would have enjoyed it more had it been shorter. I hated having to force myself through the page long descriptions. I'm pretty sure that's why it took me so long to read it because other than that, it was an easy read.
First off I don't think its possible to make too many HP references especially when you can make one fit so well! Second, I agree that the fall from power is a common theme. Do you think that this is because we like to see those "lording over us" get what's coming to them?
I commend you for the Harry Potter references. HOWEVER, I VASTLY disagree with you on the basis that The Once and Future King is NOT a boring book. In no universe would I compare it to The Little Stranger, because--unlike The Little Stranger--I see it as literature.
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