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jenniferlwatson's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
rainyday_reader's review against another edition
emotional
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
danniphantomreads's review against another edition
3.0
I definitely expected a bit more murder mystery with this mystery! It left me wanting more. I found that throughout the pace stays the same and there isn’t much action or mystery to this book. It was a slow read for me, I wish it gave alot more. Overall great writing style I just want more adventure.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
kleonard's review against another edition
4.0
This is a nice, solid, modern gothic novel complete with the trimmings: a body, a secret room, old letters, a dying relative with a secret.... plus some excellent additions: an autistic/neurodivergent child, a very good dog, a straight woman married to a man whom she's just discovered is bi and sleeping with his best friend. While the marriage subplot is the weakest and could easily have been jettisoned, the rest is strong and enjoyable. It's always handy to have a character who is or is almost a PhD so that you can include cool research things, like library ledgers from great houses in the 16th and 17th centuries and so on. I think book clubs will like this one for its array of discussion points, and it's also a great vacation read.
lostinagoodbook's review against another edition
4.0
A thoroughly enjoyable modern gothic mystery.
I picked this one up because I loves me a gothic mystery. Spooky old houses and a centuries old mystery? Sign me up. The mystery of this creepy old house was compelling and the results surprising. What I didn’t expect from this book was such a nuanced look at motherhood and its complexities. Children are not perfect. I mean we all know that right? But I feel like until you’ve experienced parenting a child with developmental or emotional issues or neurodivergence then it can be hard to comprehend how challenging that can be. This book speaks to that.
“We all look for hope in the narrative, for a positive trajectory, but sometimes there isn’t hope. It’s more of the same for decades, and parents have to adjust. Not just take things day by day, with everything unpredictable. Hoping against hope that their kid will become the child of their dreams, instead of reconciling themselves to the person their child actually is.”
Oh hell, that quote hit me right in the heart at 2 in the morning. In my home, as with many other parents we are dealing with increased anxiety and depression. In large part this is because of the things these kids have been experiencing the last few years. Climate anxiety, increasing gun/school violence, the pandemic and quarantines … it’s been a lot for them to deal with. I know that many of us are finding ourselves in the position of trying to shepherd our children through this seemingly unsurmountable worries. I don’t have any answers for how to help our young ones through this morass, except to keep loving them and keep adjust our own expectations. Adjust adjust adjust and then adjust some more with empathy.
Ok, big sigh, but back to the book and the main conceit of this novel, which is unravelling the mystery of who this dead corpse belongs to. Figuring that out was definitely intriguing and I enjoyed that aspect of the book a great deal. I’m going to keep an eye on this author for future books. I really liked their style. I enjoy an interesting story that also speaks to the human condition in a complex say. I hope you will like this book as well.
Disclaimer: I received this book free from Netgalley.
I picked this one up because I loves me a gothic mystery. Spooky old houses and a centuries old mystery? Sign me up. The mystery of this creepy old house was compelling and the results surprising. What I didn’t expect from this book was such a nuanced look at motherhood and its complexities. Children are not perfect. I mean we all know that right? But I feel like until you’ve experienced parenting a child with developmental or emotional issues or neurodivergence then it can be hard to comprehend how challenging that can be. This book speaks to that.
“We all look for hope in the narrative, for a positive trajectory, but sometimes there isn’t hope. It’s more of the same for decades, and parents have to adjust. Not just take things day by day, with everything unpredictable. Hoping against hope that their kid will become the child of their dreams, instead of reconciling themselves to the person their child actually is.”
Oh hell, that quote hit me right in the heart at 2 in the morning. In my home, as with many other parents we are dealing with increased anxiety and depression. In large part this is because of the things these kids have been experiencing the last few years. Climate anxiety, increasing gun/school violence, the pandemic and quarantines … it’s been a lot for them to deal with. I know that many of us are finding ourselves in the position of trying to shepherd our children through this seemingly unsurmountable worries. I don’t have any answers for how to help our young ones through this morass, except to keep loving them and keep adjust our own expectations. Adjust adjust adjust and then adjust some more with empathy.
Ok, big sigh, but back to the book and the main conceit of this novel, which is unravelling the mystery of who this dead corpse belongs to. Figuring that out was definitely intriguing and I enjoyed that aspect of the book a great deal. I’m going to keep an eye on this author for future books. I really liked their style. I enjoy an interesting story that also speaks to the human condition in a complex say. I hope you will like this book as well.
Disclaimer: I received this book free from Netgalley.
gwalt118's review against another edition
4.0
"Never judge a book by its cover" is a fine motto, until you do and it turns out to be a great decision. I happened upon Ashton Hall by Lauren Belfer in the library last week because of its wonderfully gothic and sinister-looking cover. I was in the mood for dark, eccentric, and immersive fiction, and this novel did not disappoint.
Ashton Hall is a fictional place, but Belfer makes it feel real. Like Hannah, the narrator, I was quickly engrossed in the history of this historic home turned part museum and part apartment building in the English countryside. Hannah's son, Nicky, discovers a skeleton and the mystery of this skeleton becomes the central focus of the novel. Around the periphery, Hannah also has to make some decisions about herself, her marriage, and Nicky. We learn early on that Nicky is neurodiverse, and I commend Belfer for her writing of such a nuanced character who - in more ways than one - turns out to be the hero of this novel.
Hannah, an academic whose career has been sidelined by motherhood, spends the novel researching the life of the discovered skeleton while also contemplating her own life. As she unravels the truth about the skeleton, she also comes to terms with the truth about herself. The parallelism was striking, and I really enjoyed that aspect of the novel. The truth about the skeleton focuses on the Catholic vs. Protestant aspects of Tudor England, a history that I have always found intriguing. I loved learning even more that I didn't know through that element of this novel.
There are certain elements of Gothic literature - my favorite genre! - that are essential. Belfer does a great job of marrying the contemporary with the historical throughout this novel. Admittedly, some aspects worked better for me than others, but I think it's an incredibly challenging feat to assume and to accomplish well. I won't go into too much detail because I don't want to spoil anything -- but, if you read this one, let's chat.
Belfer captured the American and British tensions accurately and - at times - hilariously in her writing. She has some intriguing caricatures of British culture and immensely witty one-liners. My favorite occurs on pg. 179: "On Saturday afternoon, July 25, I threw a stick to Duncan and contemplated adultery." What a wonderful way to start a chapter. Truly.
Ashton Hall is a fictional place, but Belfer makes it feel real. Like Hannah, the narrator, I was quickly engrossed in the history of this historic home turned part museum and part apartment building in the English countryside. Hannah's son, Nicky, discovers a skeleton and the mystery of this skeleton becomes the central focus of the novel. Around the periphery, Hannah also has to make some decisions about herself, her marriage, and Nicky. We learn early on that Nicky is neurodiverse, and I commend Belfer for her writing of such a nuanced character who - in more ways than one - turns out to be the hero of this novel.
Hannah, an academic whose career has been sidelined by motherhood, spends the novel researching the life of the discovered skeleton while also contemplating her own life. As she unravels the truth about the skeleton, she also comes to terms with the truth about herself. The parallelism was striking, and I really enjoyed that aspect of the novel. The truth about the skeleton focuses on the Catholic vs. Protestant aspects of Tudor England, a history that I have always found intriguing. I loved learning even more that I didn't know through that element of this novel.
There are certain elements of Gothic literature - my favorite genre! - that are essential. Belfer does a great job of marrying the contemporary with the historical throughout this novel. Admittedly, some aspects worked better for me than others, but I think it's an incredibly challenging feat to assume and to accomplish well. I won't go into too much detail because I don't want to spoil anything -- but, if you read this one, let's chat.
Belfer captured the American and British tensions accurately and - at times - hilariously in her writing. She has some intriguing caricatures of British culture and immensely witty one-liners. My favorite occurs on pg. 179: "On Saturday afternoon, July 25, I threw a stick to Duncan and contemplated adultery." What a wonderful way to start a chapter. Truly.
jainicole's review against another edition
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
abradybuysbooks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
readingwithmycats's review against another edition
I kept putting this down and honestly not caring at all about the characters or story line. I was hoping for something more spooky I think. Meh