Reviews with content warning for Grief - Looking Glass Sound

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward

16 reviews

lovelymisanthrope's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was a book my husband bought me when he went out of town.

"Looking Glass Sound" follows a young man by the name of Wilder Harlow. Wilder is determined to write a novel that chronicles his time spent in a small coastal town in Maine. One fateful summer, he met two people that forever changed his life, but while the trio was trying to navigate who they want to become, the town is haunted by a serial killer.

This novel was so engaging and kept me guessing from the first page.

Wilder was a complex character, and I loved reading from his point of view. He really struggles to fit in and make friends, even into adulthood. The novel ends up covering a large time frame because the first chapter is when Wilder is 17, and then the end of the book is when he is well into adulthood. I really enjoyed this because we got to experience more of Wilder and see him try to grow through these challenging experiences. It was so easy to empathize with Wilder because at every turn he seemed to find himself being taken advantage of or tricked by some character.

This novel has a lot of twists and turns all throughout and most of them I could not anticipate. This author is very skilled at crafting a misleading novel. There were one or two things I knew the general direction they were going to head in, but I could not have guessed what transpired in actuality. The ending of this novel was such a trip, and I really enjoyed the journey of ending up there. There was one aspect of the ending that I did not love, but I think it was poetic in its own way.

I really enjoyed this novel and I cannot wait to pick up more from this author in the future!

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marieeh's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

3.0

Very torn on how I feel about this book. Some parts (everything from Wilder's memoir) was great. Everything else was very meh and confusing though.

Maybe I read the last 5 chapters or so too fast, but it just kept getting more and more convoluted and I felt like it didn't need all that. Made it difficult to figure out what I had read so far that was real vs a book within the story.

I felt very sad while reading. It was heavy in spite of the chaotic ending.

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shamelessbibliophile41's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

4.25

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hauntedantiqueshop's review

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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

2.0

I could not tell you a lick of information on what I just read. I feel like I should have taken notes and come at this like a detective to understand anything. It just wound up being too overly intricate for me, more like a messy book version of Inception + a little witchcraft than what I think the author probably intended.

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a_novel_craving's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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rachelunabridged's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

4.25

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foramen_magnum's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This right here is why Ward has become my favorite author since discovering Sundial last October. A gorgeous, breathtaking, mind bending book that necessitated a re read of certain chapters as soon as I finished the last page.

I wasn't into the first couple long chapters as I was reading them-- they read as almost childish, heavily reminiscent of Stephen King down to a Maine setting, a story of two summers told at warp speed. Turns out that was totally the intention, and I'm glad I kept reading. As Wilder & co get older, their stories become more convoluted, more entwined, and more inevitable, relayed through prose whose excellence peeks throughout the book but isn't wholly obvious until the last page.

This is a book best read with no expectations other than a commitment to stick with it to an ending so sharp that you won't realize how deep it's cut you, so I won't say much more... My advice: Embrace being confused. Go on the journey. Re-read.

The Dagger Man awaits.

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mmccombs's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad medium-paced

3.5

Unsure exactly what to make of this one! I enjoyed the first half or so, coming-of-age story meets a serial killer reveal. But once it got overly meta I kind of lost it. I had a hard time with how this book was organized and felt that there was maybe one too many layers. I lost track of who was real and what had actually happened, which was the point and did make that piece of this story effective, but from a pure “did I enjoy that” perspective I did not. I did think it was an interesting indictment of the true crime genre and the writing made for some great lines and tangible atmosphere. But on the whole I’m leaving this book feeling a bit frustrated by the ending and unsatisfied.

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