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mylargirl's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
"It was simply that, in admiring the house, I wanted to possess a piece of it--or rather, as if the admiration itself, which I suspected a more ordinary child would not have felt, entitled me to it. I was like a man, I suppose, wanting a lock of hair from the head of a girl he had suddenly and blindingly become enamoured of."
The above passage, in the opening pages of The Little Stranger tells you all you need to know to understand the horrifying events which follow.
The dull protagonist, Dr Faraday, presents himself to the reader as a rational, unbiased observer of the misfortunes that befall the occupants of Hundreds Hall, but is he really?
The Little Stranger is many things at once. On its surface it is a gothic horror story in the tradition of The Turn of the Screw and The Haunting of Hill House. It is also an examination of the shifting class structure of post war England, and a feminist take on the gothic tradition of the damsel in distress who must be rescued by a pure-hearted male hero. But who is the hero here and who (or what) is the villain?
I have to admit that at times I found reading this book frustrating. I wanted to yell at the characters to get away from the obvious source of their torment. But of course, that is the point. The victims in the book are trapped in their roles and can't stop what is coming to them.
Part of the fun in reading a story told from the point of an unreliable narrator is in determining what is fact, what is malicious misdirection and what is wishful thinking. The final paragraphs make the true source of the evil at Hundreds Hall clear, but to anyone who has been paying attention, it is less of a shocking revelation and more of a sickening confirmation of what we suspected all along.
The above passage, in the opening pages of The Little Stranger tells you all you need to know to understand the horrifying events which follow.
The dull protagonist, Dr Faraday, presents himself to the reader as a rational, unbiased observer of the misfortunes that befall the occupants of Hundreds Hall, but is he really?
The Little Stranger is many things at once. On its surface it is a gothic horror story in the tradition of The Turn of the Screw and The Haunting of Hill House. It is also an examination of the shifting class structure of post war England, and a feminist take on the gothic tradition of the damsel in distress who must be rescued by a pure-hearted male hero. But who is the hero here and who (or what) is the villain?
I have to admit that at times I found reading this book frustrating. I wanted to yell at the characters to get away from the obvious source of their torment. But of course, that is the point. The victims in the book are trapped in their roles and can't stop what is coming to them.
Part of the fun in reading a story told from the point of an unreliable narrator is in determining what is fact, what is malicious misdirection and what is wishful thinking. The final paragraphs make the true source of the evil at Hundreds Hall clear, but to anyone who has been paying attention, it is less of a shocking revelation and more of a sickening confirmation of what we suspected all along.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Misogyny, Suicide, Violence, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment