Scan barcode
thesuperawesomesarah's review against another edition
dark
emotional
slow-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
1.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Chronic illness, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Suicide, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Eating disorder and War
erinlcrane's review against another edition
4.0
I get why the average rating for this one is low, but it did work for me. It’s very slow and quiet, and the ending is pretty anticlimactic. You don’t really get an explanation for the fits. But overall I enjoyed the quiet moodiness.
I loved the way Caroline grew and the way her father fell off his pedestal. The subtlety of the relationship dynamics between multiple characters was really well drawn. I enjoy stories where most people are trying to keep things polite, but one or two other people are screwing it up. That awkwardness says so much with so little.
Beyond Eliza, the girls are not easy to distinguish. It doesn’t really matter, so I almost wish Beams didn’t try to distinguish them at all. Just embrace them as a cult of Eliza, an outgrowth of her.
The “treatment” from Hawkins was sooo painful to read through, and I thought it was *fantastic* when Eliza declared Samuel to be the worse man of the two. That’s really saying something.
My main complaint is that the birds don’t come to much besides a metaphor for little understood women and girls. They have more significance in the story than I feel like they warrant in the end.
I recommend this for folks who like a quiet character study.
I loved the way Caroline grew and the way her father fell off his pedestal. The subtlety of the relationship dynamics between multiple characters was really well drawn. I enjoy stories where most people are trying to keep things polite, but one or two other people are screwing it up. That awkwardness says so much with so little.
Beyond Eliza, the girls are not easy to distinguish. It doesn’t really matter, so I almost wish Beams didn’t try to distinguish them at all. Just embrace them as a cult of Eliza, an outgrowth of her.
The “treatment” from Hawkins was sooo painful to read through, and I thought it was *fantastic* when Eliza declared Samuel to be the worse man of the two. That’s really saying something.
My main complaint is that the birds don’t come to much besides a metaphor for little understood women and girls. They have more significance in the story than I feel like they warrant in the end.
I recommend this for folks who like a quiet character study.
gildius's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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
3.75
blogan27's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
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? It's complicated
3.75
jules_not_dead's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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? It's complicated
4.5
yvoba's review against another edition
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
eeeeeeee's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-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? Yes
4.5
Fascinating book, felt made for me (psychogenic illness, Fruitlands allegory). The end didn't quite wrap up in a satisfying way - it wasn't clear to me exactly what caused the ending - but overall a creative and interesting book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
greyreads's review
challenging
mysterious
reflective
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
4.0
honnari_hannya's review against another edition
2.0
I swear I'm going to start writing more coherent reviews.
While I wanted to love this, it didn't really do much for me in terms of the story itself. The entire plot is basically given away by the blurb on goodreads/the flap copy. And if you know even a little bit about the historical treatment of "hysteria" for women, then you already guessed the long and short of whatever else happens in this book.
Even without the dead giveaway of the plot, it also felt like it was moving far too slow. I tend to enjoy slow, atmospheric pace, which this novel definitely has. The schoolhouse, the birds, the widow, the repression—the markings of a good gothic—but it doesn't really deliver on the promise of darkness and sinister intentions. And I don't even count the doctor, who is a really awful man, because he only appeared about 80% into the book, did some horrible things and then left without much ado.
I do have to praise Beams on successfully building up Caroline and the readers' sense of dread. However, the fact that the breaking point happened when most of the book was already done didn't leave much time for us (both the reader and Caroline) to sit with the truth we have to confront. I felt rushed towards an ending just as I was starting to feel it coming.
At the same time, this book also should have ended about a chapter and a half earlier. I didn't really see the point of the chapter on Boston. It felt like too neat a bow to close out a story like this, and it felt almost phoned in to meet a certain wordcount (at best) or a "happy" ending for Caroline (at worst).
I think I definitely would still pick up another book from Beams, because her writing is gorgeous and she just has a very compelling style. But this was not it.
Summary: The novel opens with Caroline and her father, Samuel, thrilled about the appearance of a bird that has only ever been seen once before called the Trilling Heart. Samuel and his student/apprentice, David, take it as a sign of good fortune and set about making plans for their great enterprise—opening a school for girls and teach them in the same way boys are taught, in order to prove women's minds can be enlightened and that they can be an equal match to their future husbands.
However, things go awry when they welcome their first class of eight girls, and a strange and inexplicable illness begins to fester amongst them—that eventually leads Caroline, Samuel, and David to confront their long-held secrets, resentments, and repressed desires.
While I wanted to love this, it didn't really do much for me in terms of the story itself. The entire plot is basically given away by the blurb on goodreads/the flap copy. And if you know even a little bit about the historical treatment of "hysteria" for women, then you already guessed the long and short of whatever else happens in this book.
Even without the dead giveaway of the plot, it also felt like it was moving far too slow. I tend to enjoy slow, atmospheric pace, which this novel definitely has. The schoolhouse, the birds, the widow, the repression—the markings of a good gothic—but it doesn't really deliver on the promise of darkness and sinister intentions. And I don't even count the doctor, who is a really awful man, because he only appeared about 80% into the book, did some horrible things and then left without much ado.
I do have to praise Beams on successfully building up Caroline and the readers' sense of dread. However, the fact that the breaking point happened when most of the book was already done didn't leave much time for us (both the reader and Caroline) to sit with the truth we have to confront. I felt rushed towards an ending just as I was starting to feel it coming.
At the same time, this book also should have ended about a chapter and a half earlier. I didn't really see the point of the chapter on Boston. It felt like too neat a bow to close out a story like this, and it felt almost phoned in to meet a certain wordcount (at best) or a "happy" ending for Caroline (at worst).
I think I definitely would still pick up another book from Beams, because her writing is gorgeous and she just has a very compelling style. But this was not it.