bunnieslikediamonds's review against another edition
3.0
Evil kid aside, these parents are pretty darn careless with their brood. Embracing the relaxed 70's parenting style, they shrug off the deaths of their biological children with a "we were sad for a while, but life goes on", while the the "cuckoo" one whirls her mustache. Three stars for solid writing, but it's very predictable and not scary as much as unintentionally hilarious.
bhender3's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
goddess_of_gore_vix's review against another edition
5.0
Oh man! This book was brilliant! Perfect little blonde haired blue-eyed Bonnie is so perfectly evil. I loved it so much. A very quick read and I highly recommend you do, oh and don't read this just before bed ....you won't have bad dreams, but you won't want to put it down until the last page has been read
verkisto's review against another edition
3.0
I hate reading an author's works out of order. Aside from the fact that I lose seeing the author develop a style through his works, it also means I take a step backward, as few writers write their best books first. In the case of The Godsend, I found a fine book, full of claustrophobic horror, slowly-mounting tension, and a narrator who may or may not be reliable, but I also found a book that isn't quite as good as Taylor's follow-up, Sweetheart, Sweetheart.
The Godsend is about a couple with four young children who meet and befriend a pregnant woman they meet at a lake. During a visit to their home, she goes into labor and has her baby before stealing off in the middle of the night, leaving her daughter behind. Efforts to find her go nowhere, and after a length of time, the couple adopts the baby. Shortly thereafter, things begin to go downhill.
Published in 1976, The Godsend came out during the craze that followed The Exorcist, where every author was trying his or her hand at the possessed-child horror genre. This isn't a genre with which I have a lot of familiarity, but The Godsend stands out by not being a typical possessed-child horror novel. It plays with the tropes of the genre, using the expectations of the reader to build tension. The story winds up being quieter than one would expect, based on its cover and summary, but it's clear that it's intentional.
Taylor suggests there's something not right with their adopted daughter. She's preternaturally smart, strong, and clever, which doesn't just raise his alarms, but also raises the reader's. The thing is, the story is told in the first person from the father's perspective, so it's hard to tell if we're seeing what actually happened, or if we're only seeing things through his own interpretation of events. The story begins with him telling us about their adopted daughter from some point in the future, so how he recalls the events could be skewed. The question is, if he isn't a reliable narrator, then how do we interpret the terrible things that happen in this story?
The Godsend is unsettling, in that it forces you to ask uncomfortable questions. It uses ideas and themes that aren't new to the genre, but Taylor combines them in a unique way, and tells a wildly readable, engaging story to boot. I can see why Sweetheart, Sweetheart is considered his best work, but it would be a disservice to The Godsend to overlook it by comparison.
The Godsend is about a couple with four young children who meet and befriend a pregnant woman they meet at a lake. During a visit to their home, she goes into labor and has her baby before stealing off in the middle of the night, leaving her daughter behind. Efforts to find her go nowhere, and after a length of time, the couple adopts the baby. Shortly thereafter, things begin to go downhill.
Published in 1976, The Godsend came out during the craze that followed The Exorcist, where every author was trying his or her hand at the possessed-child horror genre. This isn't a genre with which I have a lot of familiarity, but The Godsend stands out by not being a typical possessed-child horror novel. It plays with the tropes of the genre, using the expectations of the reader to build tension. The story winds up being quieter than one would expect, based on its cover and summary, but it's clear that it's intentional.
Taylor suggests there's something not right with their adopted daughter. She's preternaturally smart, strong, and clever, which doesn't just raise his alarms, but also raises the reader's. The thing is, the story is told in the first person from the father's perspective, so it's hard to tell if we're seeing what actually happened, or if we're only seeing things through his own interpretation of events. The story begins with him telling us about their adopted daughter from some point in the future, so how he recalls the events could be skewed. The question is, if he isn't a reliable narrator, then how do we interpret the terrible things that happen in this story?
The Godsend is unsettling, in that it forces you to ask uncomfortable questions. It uses ideas and themes that aren't new to the genre, but Taylor combines them in a unique way, and tells a wildly readable, engaging story to boot. I can see why Sweetheart, Sweetheart is considered his best work, but it would be a disservice to The Godsend to overlook it by comparison.
sammah's review against another edition
4.0
For as long as I can remember, evil kids in stories have always given me the creeps. It's just the idea that something so small and innocent could be so genuinely horrible (I also blame the movie The Good Son, which I saw as a kid and which seemingly scarred me for life).
I was scared off of stories about evil children, however, by the abomination that is Baby Teeth. That book was so awful, and I hated it so much, that I almost didn't bother to pick this book up. Then I reconciled with the fact that Godsend was written in the 1970s, and probably was much better than Baby Teeth. So I gave it a chance.
I loved it.
The idea that Bonnie was doing all these nefarious things even from basically infancy was fascinating. I also loved the idea that she was left in the "nest" (the comparison to the birds was a very spot on one in the story), and had to cull the others in order to thrive and survive. I enjoyed watching the family slowly unravel, and the father struggle to get the mother to understand what was going on. That ending too! Like I really thought the mom was gonna go with it and things would end differently for Lily and just yes. I loved all of it!
All in all it was a good, quick read last night during a thunderstorm that left me totally satisfied. Way to save me after Baby Teeth, Bernard Taylor! I thank you immensely!
I was scared off of stories about evil children, however, by the abomination that is Baby Teeth. That book was so awful, and I hated it so much, that I almost didn't bother to pick this book up. Then I reconciled with the fact that Godsend was written in the 1970s, and probably was much better than Baby Teeth. So I gave it a chance.
I loved it.
The idea that Bonnie was doing all these nefarious things even from basically infancy was fascinating. I also loved the idea that she was left in the "nest" (the comparison to the birds was a very spot on one in the story), and had to cull the others in order to thrive and survive. I enjoyed watching the family slowly unravel, and the father struggle to get the mother to understand what was going on. That ending too! Like I really thought the mom was gonna go with it and things would end differently for Lily and just yes. I loved all of it!
All in all it was a good, quick read last night during a thunderstorm that left me totally satisfied. Way to save me after Baby Teeth, Bernard Taylor! I thank you immensely!
the_bookubus's review
4.0
The Godsend is a tense and emotional story about a family who take in an abandoned baby. The parents, Alan and Kate, already have one daughter and three sons but when this baby enters their lives they immediately fall in love with her, name her Bonnie and she becomes part of their family. As time goes on, the family experiences tragedy upon tragedy and Alan begins to suspect adorable Bonnie is to blame.
This was my second Bernard Taylor novel and while I didn't love it quite as much as Sweetheart, Sweetheart it was still a really solid and excellent story. There is something about Taylor's writing that just really works for me. Maybe it's the Britishness. It's quietly beautiful and captivating, and has a bit of a cosy feel in that I can just fall into it and become totally absorbed in the story and the characters. The tension and emotion throughout the story was very well done and I did not see the ending coming.
This was my second Bernard Taylor novel and while I didn't love it quite as much as Sweetheart, Sweetheart it was still a really solid and excellent story. There is something about Taylor's writing that just really works for me. Maybe it's the Britishness. It's quietly beautiful and captivating, and has a bit of a cosy feel in that I can just fall into it and become totally absorbed in the story and the characters. The tension and emotion throughout the story was very well done and I did not see the ending coming.
lkkirk75's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
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