verkisto's review
2.0
I've enjoyed what I've read so far by Jensen, and I was eager to read this book, since I was under the impression it was her first horror novel, not another of her Gothic novels. It's not, but it's still engaging and interesting, in that she develops a good story with the proper amount of dread. I'm guessing this is what's made Jensen an author who's transcended the whole '80s horror trend, and why her paperback are still in demand on the secondary market.
Hear the Children Cry, though, falls apart in the third act with a heroine who is so mind-numblingly, frustratingly STUPID that it's impossible to sympathize with her once she goes into denial. She doesn't make the simplest connections, she can't see the truth behind people's actions, and she overlooks the obvious, all because she believes she's in love with someone who is blatantly manipulative and abusive. Even when he crosses the line and says something to make her doubt him, when he's fine and dandy the next morning, she makes excuses for him.
On the one hand, this could be Jensen being sly and showing what it's like for a woman to be in an emotionally abusive relationship; on the other hand, it doesn't come across that way in the book, especially when it opens with her being an independent woman who has her own agency. It just feels like Jensen is letting her own character down.
This book was published in 1981, long before the word "woke" entered our vocabulary, but this was also around the time of The Burning Bed, so surely this kind of issue can't be attributed to its time. What makes it even more offensive is that this book was written by a woman.
The book is a good read, and, the heroine's blindness aside, it has a decent plot, even if the conclusion relies on a letter where its writer writes what she sees as it's happening ("Oh, why is the lid of the well open?" in a letter asking forgiveness?) and a repressed memory suddenly coming to light. The first two-thirds of the book is a great example of atmosphere and dread, though.
Hear the Children Cry, though, falls apart in the third act with a heroine who is so mind-numblingly, frustratingly STUPID that it's impossible to sympathize with her once she goes into denial. She doesn't make the simplest connections, she can't see the truth behind people's actions, and she overlooks the obvious, all because she believes she's in love with someone who is blatantly manipulative and abusive. Even when he crosses the line and says something to make her doubt him, when he's fine and dandy the next morning, she makes excuses for him.
On the one hand, this could be Jensen being sly and showing what it's like for a woman to be in an emotionally abusive relationship; on the other hand, it doesn't come across that way in the book, especially when it opens with her being an independent woman who has her own agency. It just feels like Jensen is letting her own character down.
This book was published in 1981, long before the word "woke" entered our vocabulary, but this was also around the time of The Burning Bed, so surely this kind of issue can't be attributed to its time. What makes it even more offensive is that this book was written by a woman.
The book is a good read, and, the heroine's blindness aside, it has a decent plot, even if the conclusion relies on a letter where its writer writes what she sees as it's happening ("Oh, why is the lid of the well open?" in a letter asking forgiveness?) and a repressed memory suddenly coming to light. The first two-thirds of the book is a great example of atmosphere and dread, though.
mark5327's review
4.0
Solid Midwest gothic melodrama. I wish more of Jensen’s stuff was in print, because I definitely want to read more.
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