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jayisreading's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.25
Every once in a while, I’m in the mood to read some kind of horror. I picked this book at random, not knowing much beyond a general summary. I should preface that I’m not easily scared, so, for those who get antsy with the horror genre, take what I say with a grain of salt. I honestly didn’t find this book scary at all. I can tell Chupeco was leaning more towards a haunting atmosphere than anything, but there are also a few gory moments that may make some queasy.
I thought the main point-of-view from a spirit named Okiku really interesting. She had a distinct voice that gave the story a strong direction for the most part, especially highlighting themes of healing as well as revenge. However, I think the development of the characters in this book suffered a little in favor of atmosphere, which, unfortunately, didn’t do much for me.
I think this is one of those hit-or-miss books. Chupeco is a great writer, though, so I don’t think you’ll be too disappointed with this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: Torture, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Pedophilia and Rape
peppers_books's review against another edition
5.0
i have the hardcover and read it over a year ago but i loved it so when i saw the new cover i knew i wanted a copy. i finally got around to rereading it and it was even better than i remembered. i feel like this story has a little bit of everything. it's creepy at times and there's some really cool scenes that get a little gory. i could picture some of them as if i was watching a horror movie and it made the experience so fun. aside from the horror aspect, there's some tenderness and redemption and healing and family and of course revenge. it's definitely a book that i'll be reading again
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Bullying and Pedophilia
ggcd1981's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The Girl from the Well foi uma ótima leitura de entretenimento, porém com pontos negativos. Nessa obra seguimos em maior parte os personagens principais: Okiku, a mulher de branco, também chamada a garota do poço, ela é quem narra a história; Tarquin Halloway, um adolescente com estranhas tatuagens feitas por sua própria mãe, sendo seu corpo a “prisão” de um espirito maligno ele é a principal vítima dos acontecimentos do livro (para mim vítimas do gênero masculino são sempre um plus para uma história devido a absurda abundância de narrativas com vítimas femininas); Calliope Starr, ou Callie, prima de Tarquin que assume a missão de salvá-lo do ser maligno que está preso dentro dele; e A mulher de preto que é o ser que tenta subjugar Tarquin, quebrar os selos postos pela mãe do rapaz (as tatuagens) e se libertar do garoto. Outros personagens são a mãe institucionalizada de Tarquin, Yoko, e o pai do rapaz Doug, há também um grupo de sacerdotisas Shinto japonesas do qual Yoko fazia parte que se dispõem a exorcizar Tarquin, não me recordo o nome de cada uma delas. Os personagens Okiku e Tarquin foram particularmente interessantes. Okiku é moralmente cinza, sua vontade de proteger Tarquin não anula sua vontade de matar assassinos de crianças e mulheres, o que tem feito a 300 anos. Tarquin teve que lidar com uma mãe que aprisionou uma entidade em seu corpo e posteriormente tentou mata-lo para evitar que a mesma escapasse. Minha crítica aqui é que o livro mostra muito pouco da perspectiva de Tarquin. Não realmente temos a oportunidade de ver como ele lida com tudo isso internamente, o que foi uma oportunidade perdida para desenvolver mais o personagem. Okiku e ele formaram um relacionamento intrigante, uma amizade não usual. Já Callie não gostei muito pois é uma personagem Mary Sue que fez muitas decisões estupidas apenas porque era conveniente para o enredo. O tempo gasto na perspectiva de Callie teria sido melhor aproveitado na perspectiva de Tarquin. Sobre a atmosfera do livro eu tenho apenas elogios. O lado místico do Japão sempre foi fascinante para mim e a autora conseguiu capturar essa atmosfera nas descrições dos vales, templos e rituais em Aomori, onde parte importante da narrativa se passa. Mesmo na primeira metade do livro quando os personagens ainda estavam nos EUA Rin Chupeco estabeleceu um clima sinistro para sua história. A escrita da autora brilhou na construção da atmosfera, mas em outros aspectos a escrita foi apenas direta e funcional. O enredo foi bastante interessante apesar de ter alguns furos. A sequência em que Callie resolve seguir pessoalmente o sequestrador de Tarquin foi repleta de decisões estupidas da personagem, feitas obviamente porque a autora queria estabelecer momentos de tensão. Apesar desses furos a história foi intrigante. A lenda da garota do poço inspirou entre outras coisas o filme The Ring, um dos meus filmes preferidos. Ver como Chupeco utilizou a mesma lenda foi interessante e cheio de suspense. Também fiquei curiosa para ler sobre o conflito entre Okiku e a mulher de preto, isso manteve meu interesse até o final. A lógica interna do livro sofreu um pouco, como mencionado, especificamente a personagem Callie tomou decisões que não faziam sentido e isso me tirou um pouco da história. No entanto, a narrativa fez sentido o suficiente para ser intrigante. The Girl from the Well foi um livro que apesar dos defeitos me manteve entretida e vou continuar com o segundo livro, The Suffering. O final é um pouco doce-amargo após Okiku sacrificar sua chance de descanso na pós vida para ficar e salvar a vida de Tarquin, que precisava de energia espiritual para repor a que perdeu quando a mulher de preto se foi. Porém o fato de que eles passaram a dividir o mesmo corpo me deixa bastante interessada no próximo volume. No geral dou 4.5 estrelas principalmente pelas vibes de terror japonês.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Child death, Stalking, and Suicide attempt
secretsoup's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
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? No
4.25
I loved everything about this book aside from the narrator, Andi Arndt. So many extremely badly pronounced Japanese words. I've been pampered by the many books I've read by Asian authors that bothered to get narrators who can pronounce the source material well. It took me out of the story often enough to stop what I was doing and write this review.
The story itself was creepy in all the best ways, full of vindication and revenge, but also weaves in a lesson along the way. I really enjoyed it and plan to read as much as I can find by this author.
The story itself was creepy in all the best ways, full of vindication and revenge, but also weaves in a lesson along the way. I really enjoyed it and plan to read as much as I can find by this author.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Pedophilia
laurynreadsbooks's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Sexual assault
qtcarolyn's review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
bibliophilicrichard's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
the_books_music_life's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
If you like audiobooks you HAVE to listen to the audio version of this book. The narrator is fantastic, the breaks and skips she does the she's reading reflect perfectly with what Okiku is feeling/thinking/experiencing. It adds a whole other level to the reading experience. Do not read this book at night. This is coming from someone who lives for horror movies and scary stuff, this book freaked me out. It was like watching The Grudge for the first time when I was a kid. Ron Chupeco is a master of horror, the book verges on the side of gross, but it’s done in a way where it’s still considered YA.
The way the story is narrated by a spirit is so fascinating and different. Okiku as a narrator makes the story feel as if you’re watching a movie. I was not expecting the book to be so fast paced I was on chapter 7 and a major thing happened. Even though the plot moves kinda fast it’s done in a way that you’re not left behind or lost.
You follow, see and experience everything the way Okiku does and that lends a different lens to the story itself. We only get Okiku’s point of view and the writing jumps and skips to follows Okiku’s moods and what she is experiencing. It honestly felt like I was watching a movie instead of listening to an audiobook, the only time the spell broke-so to speak- was when Okiku started counting things.
I kept getting/seeing similarities between this book and two of my all time favorite Japanese horror movies, The Ring and The Grudge. When I got that validation from the book itself I was so excited because I’ve never seen those movies done in a book like this before.
You can’t help but feel so badly for Okiku. The more you learn about who she was and what happened to her, the more you feel for her and understand her. I want to wrap her in a blanket and just cuddle her. Which, you might find weird since she’s a murdered vengeful ghost.
The big climax was a little juvenile in my opinion, I think it could have been done better but that small thing doesn’t take away how much I enjoyed this book. This is now on my all time favorite book list. There was something that happened near the end of the book that had me so worried.
Overall I would definitely recommend this book, any lover of scary books and horror movies will love this book. I wouldn’t recommend it as a starter into horror cause this book had some scenes that freaked even me out.
The way the story is narrated by a spirit is so fascinating and different. Okiku as a narrator makes the story feel as if you’re watching a movie. I was not expecting the book to be so fast paced I was on chapter 7 and a major thing happened. Even though the plot moves kinda fast it’s done in a way that you’re not left behind or lost.
You follow, see and experience everything the way Okiku does and that lends a different lens to the story itself. We only get Okiku’s point of view and the writing jumps and skips to follows Okiku’s moods and what she is experiencing. It honestly felt like I was watching a movie instead of listening to an audiobook, the only time the spell broke-so to speak- was when Okiku started counting things.
I kept getting/seeing similarities between this book and two of my all time favorite Japanese horror movies, The Ring and The Grudge. When I got that validation from the book itself I was so excited because I’ve never seen those movies done in a book like this before.
You can’t help but feel so badly for Okiku. The more you learn about who she was and what happened to her, the more you feel for her and understand her. I want to wrap her in a blanket and just cuddle her. Which, you might find weird since she’s a murdered vengeful ghost.
The big climax was a little juvenile in my opinion, I think it could have been done better but that small thing doesn’t take away how much I enjoyed this book. This is now on my all time favorite book list. There was something that happened near the end of the book that had me so worried.
Overall I would definitely recommend this book, any lover of scary books and horror movies will love this book. I wouldn’t recommend it as a starter into horror cause this book had some scenes that freaked even me out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Stalking and Death of parent
brookey8888's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I really liked the beginning of this but like I didn’t care for where it went. I wish it just followed the ghost and her killing disgusting men. The characters were fine but I didn’t really care about them. I did feel bad for the ghost though. Also I think it’s because I was listening to the audiobook but I kept getting confused about who was narrating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder