vash1122's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-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
4.0
tombenn's review
5.0
Our fictions are hyperstitions. Exhaustingly clever and playful without ever collapsing into cheap irony. Kiernan frustrates each weird tale convention and mythological archetype with such prismatic scrutiny it often fragments and paralyses the plot into crisis, which I guess is the point. But the earnest emotion and marginal perspective keep us sympathetic through the shared toil. Our vulnerable, unreliable narrator, Imp, works and warms these themes across her unstable reality, attempting and reattempting to map her own truth through time, space and language. Cue sensual medleys of narrative creation and destruction, subjectivity, identity, and transmutation. Kiernan’s work shows us how the epistemological limits of our own narratives might be refused, transcended or transformed. This is Borges with a beating heart.
rchll's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
ottiedottie's review
4.0
I don't entirely know what I read but wow. Takes the concept of unreliable narration to the extreme. Chronology, realities, myths and facts are runny fluid and ever changing and it always keeps you immersed (almost drowning) but also on your toes. An incredibly interesting way to write about a schizophrenic character to be sure.
Imp's voice, verbal tics and all is pretty distinctly written and I enjoyed that. Her struggling with themes of generational trauma and burdens that she carries hits particularly hard.
Also, as a resident gay, I do enjoy the queer content- how that thematically overlaps with the whole drowning lake girl/ siren /painting/ werewolf/ ghost story motifs and the mental health stuff and the trans stuff. Towards the end, I really felt quite sympathetic towards Abalyn as a partner of a disturbed person who just wants to help her work through her trauma in her lowest moments.
The writing isn't verbose in a traditional sense but it's visceral and cuts deep. I really felt it in the final scene where Eva Canning and Imp make love in her bedroom. There's a thin line between horror and romance. It was haunting in a sickly sort of way that crawls underneath your skin uncomfortably and sits there festering. It also really pushed the boundaries of what horror fiction writing can look like. I don't think I've read anything quite like it before.
To end with a quote from the book, if you like stories about "Duality. The mutability of flesh. Transition. Having to hide one's true self away. Masks. Secrecy. Mermaids, werewolves, gender.", and you also don't mind not knowing what the fuck is going on, this one might be for you.
Imp's voice, verbal tics and all is pretty distinctly written and I enjoyed that. Her struggling with themes of generational trauma and burdens that she carries hits particularly hard.
Also, as a resident gay, I do enjoy the queer content- how that thematically overlaps with the whole drowning lake girl/ siren /painting/ werewolf/ ghost story motifs and the mental health stuff and the trans stuff. Towards the end, I really felt quite sympathetic towards Abalyn as a partner of a disturbed person who just wants to help her work through her trauma in her lowest moments.
The writing isn't verbose in a traditional sense but it's visceral and cuts deep. I really felt it in the final scene where Eva Canning and Imp make love in her bedroom. There's a thin line between horror and romance. It was haunting in a sickly sort of way that crawls underneath your skin uncomfortably and sits there festering. It also really pushed the boundaries of what horror fiction writing can look like. I don't think I've read anything quite like it before.
To end with a quote from the book, if you like stories about "Duality. The mutability of flesh. Transition. Having to hide one's true self away. Masks. Secrecy. Mermaids, werewolves, gender.", and you also don't mind not knowing what the fuck is going on, this one might be for you.
msmarlena's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
linguana's review against another edition
5.0
Full review posted at SFF Book Review.
This was a gem of a novel! It was scary and disturbing, filled with magic and myth and magnificent prose that rivals any of the classical Gothic ghost stories. Caitlín R. Kiernan takes well-known tropes of speculative fiction, blending horror, fantasy and psychological thriller elements, and creates something entirely new. I have not read any of the other Nebula nominees for 2012 yet, but it’s going to be damn hard to keep up with this one.
The Good: Fantastic prose, the best use of an unreliable narrator I have yet seen, an atmosphere as creepy as it is intriguing.
The Bad: If you need to know where you’re at in a story, if you like to follow a red thread or a clear story arc, then this may not be for you. I urge you to give it a try anyway.
The Verdict: Like a siren song, this book sings you into a trance and won’t let go until you’ve turned that last page.
Rating: 9/10 Close to perfection
This was a gem of a novel! It was scary and disturbing, filled with magic and myth and magnificent prose that rivals any of the classical Gothic ghost stories. Caitlín R. Kiernan takes well-known tropes of speculative fiction, blending horror, fantasy and psychological thriller elements, and creates something entirely new. I have not read any of the other Nebula nominees for 2012 yet, but it’s going to be damn hard to keep up with this one.
The Good: Fantastic prose, the best use of an unreliable narrator I have yet seen, an atmosphere as creepy as it is intriguing.
The Bad: If you need to know where you’re at in a story, if you like to follow a red thread or a clear story arc, then this may not be for you. I urge you to give it a try anyway.
The Verdict: Like a siren song, this book sings you into a trance and won’t let go until you’ve turned that last page.
Rating: 9/10 Close to perfection
circularcubes's review
3.0
This book is a really interesting example of a novel written with an unreliable narrator who is entirely upfront about her own unreliability, and whose narration gives the entire story a sense of unreality and uncertainty. Unfortunately, while the concept was novel (hah), I couldn't stand Imp, the unreliable narrator in question. It's important for me to note that I think it can be interesting to occasionally experience a story from the point of view of a narrator that I dislike (and I can think of quite a few examples of unlikable narrators that have really captured my attention lately ), my dislike of Imp grew over the course of the book, and really distanced me from the story, rather than drawing me in. By the time I finished this book, I was pretty checked out.
I did, however, really enjoy that this novel was set in Providence (and it almost makes me want to visit again) and that some scenes took place in Boston. The highlight of this story was unquestionably Imp and Abalyn's visit the the Harvard Museum of Natural History, where I delighted in Caitlín R. Kienan's descriptions of my beloved museum. It's always a treat to see someplace you love dearly described in a book, even if your feelings about the book overall are more meh than anything.
Spoiler
Tana French, chief among themI did, however, really enjoy that this novel was set in Providence (and it almost makes me want to visit again) and that some scenes took place in Boston. The highlight of this story was unquestionably Imp and Abalyn's visit the the Harvard Museum of Natural History, where I delighted in Caitlín R. Kienan's descriptions of my beloved museum. It's always a treat to see someplace you love dearly described in a book, even if your feelings about the book overall are more meh than anything.
foggy_rosamund's review
4.0
Keirnan takes the idea of an unreliable narrator and turns it around. Imp is trying to be a reliable narrator; she wants to tell the truth of what happened to her. But she can't trust her own memories and her own experiences. She's schizophrenic, and she's experiencing events that may or may not be supernatural. This is an impressive novel: like Kiernan's earlier The Red Tree it's written in the form of a manuscript, complete with mistakes and crossings-out, and is written by a frightened woman desperately trying to get the details down. But Imp is more measured that the narrator of The Red Tree, and the book feels more complete to me: the story more satisfying, the writing more polished. Kiernan successfully deals with juggling two conflicting narratives, and with inserting stories, descriptions of paintings, and extracts from newspapers into the narrative. It can be hard to pull off so much intertextuality, but she succeeds. It's a lush book, full of beautiful prose, and full of the sense of another world. It deals with its characters carefully and fairly, and I found it immersive and compelling. Recommended.
cblueweaver's review
5.0
I've read The Drowning Girl before, and it remains one of my favorite novels. It is lyrical, heavy, palimpsestuous. I love it very deeply.
misterkyle1901's review
dark
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.0