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A review by ulrikedg
Mrs. Zant and the Ghost by Wilkie Collins
3.0
Child: That woman in the park ignored me.
Father: She must be crazy!
Thus begins a ghost story in which the ghost is the most likeable character.
Having read The Moonstone, I'm aware that Collins writes superb caricatures of unpleasant characters (Drusilla Clack). He seems to be doing the same thing here, but with less context it's harder to identify.
The most disappointing aspect of this story was Gillian Anderson's narration. Others have criticized her "breathiness". I think Anderson made a style choice--it's a ghost story, meant to be whispered under the covers inside a tent. That part didn't really bother me. However, while she handles the dialog with aplomb, the narration between the bits of speech was hard to listen to. Anderson starts each sentence on the same note and ends each sentence a different note. It's like she's reading a list of sentences instead of telling a story. This seems to be a trend with female British narrators, and while Anderson isn't nearly as bad as Susan Duerden, Kate Reading is proof that it doesn't have to be that way at all! It's a shame because Anderson has such a pleasant voice that she should be a pleasure to listen to. Instead, I increased to speed to 1.2x just to get through the non-dialog parts of this very short book!
Father: She must be crazy!
Thus begins a ghost story in which the ghost is the most likeable character.
Having read The Moonstone, I'm aware that Collins writes superb caricatures of unpleasant characters (Drusilla Clack). He seems to be doing the same thing here, but with less context it's harder to identify.
The most disappointing aspect of this story was Gillian Anderson's narration. Others have criticized her "breathiness". I think Anderson made a style choice--it's a ghost story, meant to be whispered under the covers inside a tent. That part didn't really bother me. However, while she handles the dialog with aplomb, the narration between the bits of speech was hard to listen to. Anderson starts each sentence on the same note and ends each sentence a different note. It's like she's reading a list of sentences instead of telling a story. This seems to be a trend with female British narrators, and while Anderson isn't nearly as bad as Susan Duerden, Kate Reading is proof that it doesn't have to be that way at all! It's a shame because Anderson has such a pleasant voice that she should be a pleasure to listen to. Instead, I increased to speed to 1.2x just to get through the non-dialog parts of this very short book!