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A review by telthor
The Observations by Jane Harris
3.0
Just finished rereading, because it's been a long time since my Postmodern Victorian lit class, and I couldn't remember if the 3 stars I gave it was merited.
Yeah, it earned those 3, and no more and no less.
It's a really fun book to read, let's be clear. Yes, the accent and style is wild, but Harris pulled it off pretty well. It's enjoyable. The pacing is nice (until the second half--but we'll do that in a second), the characters are for the most part interesting (if not stereotypes, but, you know, that's cool, that's what Harris was going for I think). It's the sort of thing my English Professor would adore (and did). Mysterious ghosts in the spooky crumbling attic, a grand lady with secrets, tastes of lesbianism, and a big dollop of child prostitution to top it off. Standard postmodern Victorian nonsense.
But then the ghosts show up and things get wonky. The plot up until that point has been a delightful little curiosity about what the missus is writing about, and how she's betrayed the trust of our protagonist, and how the protagonist gets back at her--the lines between reality and supernatural start to blur. And that's cool, but it all fizzles off on the end with no proper resolution. For all its build up, it just...stops. I guess.
But the journey is a lark, and the way the story is told in chops and pieces is compelling and encourages you to keep reading.
Yeah, it earned those 3, and no more and no less.
It's a really fun book to read, let's be clear. Yes, the accent and style is wild, but Harris pulled it off pretty well. It's enjoyable. The pacing is nice (until the second half--but we'll do that in a second), the characters are for the most part interesting (if not stereotypes, but, you know, that's cool, that's what Harris was going for I think). It's the sort of thing my English Professor would adore (and did). Mysterious ghosts in the spooky crumbling attic, a grand lady with secrets, tastes of lesbianism, and a big dollop of child prostitution to top it off. Standard postmodern Victorian nonsense.
But then the ghosts show up and things get wonky. The plot up until that point has been a delightful little curiosity about what the missus is writing about, and how she's betrayed the trust of our protagonist, and how the protagonist gets back at her--the lines between reality and supernatural start to blur. And that's cool, but it all fizzles off on the end with no proper resolution. For all its build up, it just...stops. I guess.
But the journey is a lark, and the way the story is told in chops and pieces is compelling and encourages you to keep reading.