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A review by eclectictales
The Well by Catherine Chanter
3.0
I received an ARC of this novel courtesy of the publishers in exchange for an honest review. This review in its entirety was originally posted at eclectictales.com: http://www.eclectictales.com/blog/2015/05/12/review-the-well/
The Well was a curious novel, the unravelling of the story slow and setting up Ruth’s story through memories and dealing with the present time (why was she under house arrest? Why did Mark lose his job? What happened to Lucien exactly?). It’s hard to explain my feelings about this novel, but it does do a good job in setting up the eerie and strange atmosphere of the story; it wasn’t what I expected. I was also expecting the fanaticism to balance out with the everyday/political/social concerns about The Well but I was surprised that the Sisters of the Rose really slipped in and became such a major part of Ruth’s life. Their presence added to the very eerie and tense atmosphere of the novel, wedging into Ruth’s life and unbalancing her already-fragile relationships further away, isolating Ruth even more.
Despite of the set-up of the story and the thematic elements of it, I found myself not really caring for the characters. I’m not sure if it’s because of the set-up of the story or how the narrative indulges a bit too much into Ruth’s memory, or the creepy nature of the Sisters and how they found their way into Ruth’s life, but I just wanted to know what happened to Lucien. The apocalyptic element of the setting also was a bit of a letdown; you know that there’s a major water shortage going on and there’s all these government policies and announcements mentioned in passing, but the Well is just so isolating, I never really got that sense of place.
Overall, The Well was an interesting read, though it wasn’t quite what I was expecting and in the end not quite the read I would’ve checked out. Nonetheless the structure of the storytelling was interesting and the question of what happened to Lucien and what led to Ruth’s house arrest kept me around to the end.
The Well was a curious novel, the unravelling of the story slow and setting up Ruth’s story through memories and dealing with the present time (why was she under house arrest? Why did Mark lose his job? What happened to Lucien exactly?). It’s hard to explain my feelings about this novel, but it does do a good job in setting up the eerie and strange atmosphere of the story; it wasn’t what I expected. I was also expecting the fanaticism to balance out with the everyday/political/social concerns about The Well but I was surprised that the Sisters of the Rose really slipped in and became such a major part of Ruth’s life. Their presence added to the very eerie and tense atmosphere of the novel, wedging into Ruth’s life and unbalancing her already-fragile relationships further away, isolating Ruth even more.
Despite of the set-up of the story and the thematic elements of it, I found myself not really caring for the characters. I’m not sure if it’s because of the set-up of the story or how the narrative indulges a bit too much into Ruth’s memory, or the creepy nature of the Sisters and how they found their way into Ruth’s life, but I just wanted to know what happened to Lucien. The apocalyptic element of the setting also was a bit of a letdown; you know that there’s a major water shortage going on and there’s all these government policies and announcements mentioned in passing, but the Well is just so isolating, I never really got that sense of place.
Overall, The Well was an interesting read, though it wasn’t quite what I was expecting and in the end not quite the read I would’ve checked out. Nonetheless the structure of the storytelling was interesting and the question of what happened to Lucien and what led to Ruth’s house arrest kept me around to the end.