A review by cathyrodgers
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

An atmosphere of dread carries throughout the book. Although the plot seemed to drag on too long, especially in the middle, I still was glued to this audiobook and listened to it for hours and hours at a time.  On the surface, this is the story of a poltergeist in a haunted house.  By the end you realize there's a lot more going on.
On a deeper level, the novel is about the poisonous jealousies of a petty little boy - the poltergeist is an evil manifestation of the anger and resentment Dr. Faraday feels every time he's rejected or shamed by someone at the house.  Faraday's over the top obsession with The Hundreds house began as a child, in the opening of the novel, when he's so driven to possess the house, he vandalized it by breaking an acorn away from the plaster inside the house.  The first sign that the house has been infected by Faraday's obsessive/evil/little stranger occurs when the oldest daughter gets sick and dies after witnessing Faraday get slapped by his mother for having vandalized the house.  The ending, with Faraday saying that even though he looks for other people/the poltergeist/the little stranger in the old abandoned house, all he sees is the reflection of his own face in the empty windows - was excellent.  The ending also confirms that Faraday has been an unreliable narrator all along.
 
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