Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - Sundial

I don’t know if reading two books by an author is enough to allow for a pattern to be detected, but even after reading my first novel by Catriona Ward, The Last House on Needless Street, I started to suspect one thing I needed to be as a reader of her books, and that is patient. Sundial further confirmed my theory.

I almost quit The Last House on Needless Street, except I never stop reading a book for the very reason that I’m glad I continued. I hated the first third or so. I read it thinking it was being weird just for the sake of being weird, it was irritatingly oddball. Then towards the middle I settled in to it, still thinking “wtf,” but in a more subdued voice. By the end of the book I thought it was so good. So I approached Sundial with this experience in mind. I had a similar experience with Sundial as I did with The Last House on Needless Street, I had this bubble of “wtf” over my head for a lot of it, but since I had learned to trust Ward, my overall experience was more enjoyable throughout.

It is a story about mothers and daughters, and, being a relatively new mother to a daughter, those stories hit me in a certain way. I was interested the whole time, and I’ve never read a book like this.

But a few things take off a star for me: first, I hate reading about animal abuse, and there is a lot of it throughout this book. In her afterward, Ward explains her reasoning for including it, but I still could have gotten the message if it had not been so graphic and so central. I suspect this is the same part of me that doesn’t like gore in movies but loves eerie suspense.

The second part that really irked me were the Arrowood parts. They stuck out to me as totally unnecessary, though I could have missed a very good reason to include them. But until someone gives me a good reason as to why they were included, I think they took away from the flow of the book, and a smoother narration would have made this book so much better.

Content Warnings

santorini's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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sykamor's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book has two things I don't really like in books: the past being a large part of the story and a novel or story being written by a character and told within the story. These two things usually take me out of the story and they made this book a little disappointing for me. I thought the characters were interesting but definitely not really likable, except Callie. The twists were decent. I just got a little bored and I was disappointed that the characters we were presented with didn't really go anywhere in the present.
The story the main character writes is also a little cringey and I didn't enjoy those parts.

Not my favorite but, it was interesting enough to finish.

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dysfunctile's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious 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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spadefootfrog's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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jfren's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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maregred's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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phantomgecko's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A braided novel! One strand the mother, one strand the daughter, one strand the past, and one strand a novel within the novel.

It's got its little twists and turns and mysterious aura, so that's all fun. I figured most of the little mysteries before the official reveals, but I was also wrong along the way. Definitely a creepy book.

A little different look at the abusive husband trope.

i.e. the husband is definitely abusive and sucks fr, but Rob is legit a psychopath so she can give him what he deserves and still be the protagonist.

Also, I loved the ambiguous ending. What happens next? You decide! And also...........what's the deal with the contacts that may or may not exist. Love that bit. I think Rob really is Rob, personally, but maybe not! Maybe Rob is really Jack and lied about how the story ends. We'll never know!

My only complaint was the little novel bits. I thought they were kinda pointless but I understand the value they actually gave.

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