spinesinaline's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
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? It's complicated
3.25
I’d been meaning to read this one for a while so glad to finally get to it!
It is quite funny as an American family, living in England, move into a haunted house but the ghost finds it increasingly hard to haunt them. It plays on some British and American stereotypes in the characters’ attitudes, as the Americans at first don’t believe that the ghost exists but then try to “fix” it with different products — oil so his chains don’t squeak, a miracle cleaner to get the blood stain out of the carpet. The family also has two young twin boys who terrorize the ghost themselves, setting out pranks that impede his own haunting. And I loved all the ghost’s intricate and involved personas complete with costumes, he’s a true theatre person in his hauntings.
I think ultimately it was another case of not quite the book I expected. Several reviewers have commented on the tone of the book changing significantly and I felt the same with the second half of the book (which moves away from the humorous telling but I won’t give more details to avoid spoilers). I also didn’t much like the ghost — it was funny and sad to see how the twins’ pranks kept him confined in his own home and other circumstances that had happened in his life were quite horrible, but he directly caused so much death in his life and beyond that felt carelessly mentioned and mostly ignored in a story that seems set to honour him.
I am curious about a few things: the description of the ghost felt very unique – he’s described with skin, he can get bruised and wet! He’s the least ‘ghostly’ I’ve read before. And the bigger curiosity: the story is told from a first-person perspective but not from any one of the family members or the ghost. Who is this person who knows so much?
It is quite funny as an American family, living in England, move into a haunted house but the ghost finds it increasingly hard to haunt them. It plays on some British and American stereotypes in the characters’ attitudes, as the Americans at first don’t believe that the ghost exists but then try to “fix” it with different products — oil so his chains don’t squeak, a miracle cleaner to get the blood stain out of the carpet. The family also has two young twin boys who terrorize the ghost themselves, setting out pranks that impede his own haunting. And I loved all the ghost’s intricate and involved personas complete with costumes, he’s a true theatre person in his hauntings.
I think ultimately it was another case of not quite the book I expected. Several reviewers have commented on the tone of the book changing significantly and I felt the same with the second half of the book (which moves away from the humorous telling but I won’t give more details to avoid spoilers). I also didn’t much like the ghost — it was funny and sad to see how the twins’ pranks kept him confined in his own home and other circumstances that had happened in his life were quite horrible, but he directly caused so much death in his life and beyond that felt carelessly mentioned and mostly ignored in a story that seems set to honour him.
I am curious about a few things: the description of the ghost felt very unique – he’s described with skin, he can get bruised and wet! He’s the least ‘ghostly’ I’ve read before. And the bigger curiosity: the story is told from a first-person perspective but not from any one of the family members or the ghost. Who is this person who knows so much?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Murder, Suicide, and Torture
Minor: Blood, Grief, and Mental illness
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