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A review by mackenzi
The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling
dark
mysterious
medium-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? Yes
3.25
Interesting and unexpected!
As with The Luminous Dead, I find myself bouncing off Starling's writing style a bit, if only for personal reasons. I've said in previous reviews, but my brain does a right awful job of imagining things visually. I didn't even know one could imagine things while reading until I was in college, so I'm right bad at it. I really enjoy chunky, descriptive, poetic writing to make up for my own total inability to get swept away, and I like the settings of books to feel like a character in and of themselves. Starling's work doesn't get there for me, but it's close enough that I can keep reading them. She seems to lean a little towards what, in my mind, is the "bestseller canter" of snappy, quick, lean writing. The two books I've read of hers so far are a nice in-between, this one probably a little less atmospheric than Luminous Dead if only by its expanded setting.
The only other downside to this book is the lack of a few interesting sensations I was so looking forward to. This novel has a lot of nebulous sensory experiences; it gets weird and funky, highlights pain and blood and seems relatively explicit about it. It can be an interesting sensory journey for the right reader. And in the begining it had some delectable dark romantic tones- so I was ultimately disappointed that the only sex scenes were fade to black. We get so many other sensations described in these books, but not sex? Kind of a bummer, especially because the start of the book did such a good job of building up the temptation. Similarly, I felt like there weren't a whole lot of scares. Renton was the most chilling aspect of the book, and I enjoyed his creepy presence however brief it was. Otherwise I was not stoked to any great height either carnally or through fear. These two things led to a somewhat slow start and the middle of the book felt a little, eh, like where are we going? When is something going to happen?
Fortunately, things do start to happen, and a lot. I am glad the book turned to such a strange place, and I really couldn't know what was going to happen at any given time. It was odd and entertaining, and while I could have imagined a more intricate and truly trippy book that was about twice as long as this one, The Death of Jane Lawrence that we did get is just fine. And the snappy, lean writing serves it well through the last 20-30 percent of the novel. Still not especially scary, nor atmospheric, but at this point you're along for an interesting ride, and a new type of ending to the Gothic Horror/Gothic Romance genre, which frankly, does need more endings.
Overall, not an ~amazing~ book for me personally; really wish it had pushed a little further in both sex and/or fear categories, as well as it's trippy wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey aspects, but an interesting novel nonetheless. I'd love to see the movie version of this, especially since the author says she was inspired by Crimson Peak. And I'll continue to check out Starling's work, with the expectation she isn't quite the writing style I crave, but tells interesting stories nonetheless.
As with The Luminous Dead, I find myself bouncing off Starling's writing style a bit, if only for personal reasons. I've said in previous reviews, but my brain does a right awful job of imagining things visually. I didn't even know one could imagine things while reading until I was in college, so I'm right bad at it. I really enjoy chunky, descriptive, poetic writing to make up for my own total inability to get swept away, and I like the settings of books to feel like a character in and of themselves. Starling's work doesn't get there for me, but it's close enough that I can keep reading them. She seems to lean a little towards what, in my mind, is the "bestseller canter" of snappy, quick, lean writing. The two books I've read of hers so far are a nice in-between, this one probably a little less atmospheric than Luminous Dead if only by its expanded setting.
The only other downside to this book is the lack of a few interesting sensations I was so looking forward to. This novel has a lot of nebulous sensory experiences; it gets weird and funky, highlights pain and blood and seems relatively explicit about it. It can be an interesting sensory journey for the right reader. And in the begining it had some delectable dark romantic tones- so I was ultimately disappointed that the only sex scenes were fade to black. We get so many other sensations described in these books, but not sex? Kind of a bummer, especially because the start of the book did such a good job of building up the temptation. Similarly, I felt like there weren't a whole lot of scares. Renton was the most chilling aspect of the book, and I enjoyed his creepy presence however brief it was. Otherwise I was not stoked to any great height either carnally or through fear. These two things led to a somewhat slow start and the middle of the book felt a little, eh, like where are we going? When is something going to happen?
Fortunately, things do start to happen, and a lot. I am glad the book turned to such a strange place, and I really couldn't know what was going to happen at any given time. It was odd and entertaining, and while I could have imagined a more intricate and truly trippy book that was about twice as long as this one, The Death of Jane Lawrence that we did get is just fine. And the snappy, lean writing serves it well through the last 20-30 percent of the novel. Still not especially scary, nor atmospheric, but at this point you're along for an interesting ride, and a new type of ending to the Gothic Horror/Gothic Romance genre, which frankly, does need more endings.
Overall, not an ~amazing~ book for me personally; really wish it had pushed a little further in both sex and/or fear categories, as well as it's trippy wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey aspects, but an interesting novel nonetheless. I'd love to see the movie version of this, especially since the author says she was inspired by Crimson Peak. And I'll continue to check out Starling's work, with the expectation she isn't quite the writing style I crave, but tells interesting stories nonetheless.