Scan barcode
A review by chrismacilzeg
The Death House by Sarah Pinborough
3.0
I find The Death House a difficult one to review: I found it compelling reading, nigh impossible to put down because of how well realised the characters and their little community. Their interpersonal drama rings true and is entirely involving. Toby's voice is strong and emotionally he's bang on point. What's more the premise fantastic and the setting is intriguing. So much mystery and atmosphere. When it also came to the point where Pinborough needed to start jerking some tears, she does so with aplomb.
And yet, faced with all these excellently assets, The Death House stumbles.
The premise is ill-realised and hardly used. The setting is rather a bland one. The mysteries are badly developed and unsatisfying. This is a novel that is only interested in the characters, and in disregarding everything else promising about the story it limits itself badly.
Unanswered questions and mysteries that go unexplained don't need to be a bad thing; often authors ruin mysteries that would work without an explanation by giving them one. I feel like Pinborough understands that, but she never develops the mysteries beyond their initial premise. What other mysteries spring up in the book, after a point, pop up just to fuel the plot and provoke an emotional reaction.
Much of the book happens just to provoke an emotional reaction. This is something that often twists me up a little - all authors want to provoke an emotional reaction. That is one of the fundamental things all storytellers write for - how can you criticise a novelist for being effective at it. As has been argued "manipulative" is a ridiculous criticism. All writing means to be manipulative.
There is a balance to be struck, however. The Death House crosses that line, and as effective as it was the descent into tear jerking felt cheap and weakened the story as a whole. Rather than emotions being interlinked with the characters and themes and ideas invoked in the story, it begins to feel like everything is there to cynically provoke that emotion, and the story that I had enjoyed and bought into for so long began to feel thin and limited.
The Death House may lack atmosphere, be written basically okay and fail to deliver on its premise, but it has strengths that almost allow the book to move past these weaknesses. Alas, at the last minute even that begins to feel cheapened and unsatisfying. In the end, this book wasn't for me.
And yet, faced with all these excellently assets, The Death House stumbles.
The premise is ill-realised and hardly used. The setting is rather a bland one. The mysteries are badly developed and unsatisfying. This is a novel that is only interested in the characters, and in disregarding everything else promising about the story it limits itself badly.
Unanswered questions and mysteries that go unexplained don't need to be a bad thing; often authors ruin mysteries that would work without an explanation by giving them one. I feel like Pinborough understands that, but she never develops the mysteries beyond their initial premise. What other mysteries spring up in the book, after a point, pop up just to fuel the plot and provoke an emotional reaction.
Much of the book happens just to provoke an emotional reaction. This is something that often twists me up a little - all authors want to provoke an emotional reaction. That is one of the fundamental things all storytellers write for - how can you criticise a novelist for being effective at it. As has been argued "manipulative" is a ridiculous criticism. All writing means to be manipulative.
There is a balance to be struck, however. The Death House crosses that line, and as effective as it was the descent into tear jerking felt cheap and weakened the story as a whole. Rather than emotions being interlinked with the characters and themes and ideas invoked in the story, it begins to feel like everything is there to cynically provoke that emotion, and the story that I had enjoyed and bought into for so long began to feel thin and limited.
The Death House may lack atmosphere, be written basically okay and fail to deliver on its premise, but it has strengths that almost allow the book to move past these weaknesses. Alas, at the last minute even that begins to feel cheapened and unsatisfying. In the end, this book wasn't for me.