Reviews

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

pywacket's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

darthval's review against another edition

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2.0

Not really what I was expecting.

Based on the length and the sketches, it appears to have been written for a youth audience, and yet it is written in a very formal style and language that I can see appealing to the youth reader.

I felt like the books spent so much time describing scenery and details of the main character's travels that it did not invest enough time in building the chill of the ghost story.

I did think that the few actual encounter scenes were well written. I just wish there had been more. I also felt the ending was a bit abrupt.

I am looking forward to seeing the movie. The previews already seem way creepier than the actual book.

kristenkong's review against another edition

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3.0

Damn scary.
B+

magpi3's review against another edition

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3.0

33min

racheldaisy's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

mrsbettysbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

christine_alexandra's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.25

alicandlin's review against another edition

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2.0

I'd say the biggest problem with The Woman in Black is the pacing: the plot takes much too long to pick up and the long set up lacks any real sense of tension or suspense. I have a super low fear tolerance, but really only a few passages had me even mildly scared. The buckets of time spent on the atmosphere and visuals let me see how it could translate to some awesome staging in play form, but overall The Woman in Black didn't work for me as a book or really even as a ghost story.

victorina89's review against another edition

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3.0

Had promise but...

On the positives, I enjoyed this more than The Haunting of Hill House.

However, I felt that it was just...okay. The writing is acceptable and the story itself has some good structure, I just felt as though it got a bit rushed, bordering on sloppy, in some instances. I found myself filling in the boring bits with the good bits from the movie.

carolsnotebook's review against another edition

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2.0

Not as scary as I thought it could have been. The atmosphere was right, the characters were plausible, it must have been the writing style that just didn't pull through for me. Moments were pitch perfect, full of suspense, doubt, but then that tension got lost, and I was just reading, not biting my nails, not worrying or caring really. It was just a little uneven for me. Lots of potential, but it just didn't work overall for me.

I don't read many ghost stories, though, so I'm probably not the best person's opinion to listen to.