Scan barcode
karireads's review against another edition
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
When novelist Simon Inescort dies unexpectedly at a relatively young age, he returns as a ghost and watches the young couple (Muriel and Zachary) who now live in the house that once belonged to him and his wife Lorca. He does not "haunt" them, rather he tries to avoid being noticed, content to simply observe their daily life, their struggles and successes.
A story of loss, connection, and how memories shape and color our worlds and identities.
A story of loss, connection, and how memories shape and color our worlds and identities.
sharonfalduto's review against another edition
3.0
The story of a young couple in an old farmhouse in Vermont, narrated by the ghost of the previous homeowner. There is a subplot is a missing child, and some reminiscing about the precious homeowner's marriage. The writing was little show offy.
fiona_gs's review against another edition
3.0
Book did grab you in with interest with it writing style. It wasn't really plot driven more windows into to couples lives through the understanding of a ghost that was also an author. The writing style as I have said is more snape shots than plot driven. The build up, suspense to certain events really got me want to find out and stop me putting the book down but due to the style I found the payoff not as satisfying. The great thing about this book was the character development, given that this type of book would lead more to cardboard characters, this time they were fleshed out nicely. Would have like to go in deeper but this maybe to do with narrator (the ghost) preface than anything else. If you love The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald then you would love this book. #Netgallery
regardsrachel's review against another edition
3.0
The only way to explain this book is that's its a haunting but it's about more than that. It's about grief, it's about community and belonging in a community. It about the meaning of life and how the past affects the future. This is a pleasant book that I think is meant for readers to return to. Move past the east coast snark; there's more going on than just conversations of the highly educated.
mslaura's review against another edition
3.0
Ratings:
Writing 3
Story line 4
Characters 3
Emotional impact 4
Overall rating 3.5
Writing 3
Story line 4
Characters 3
Emotional impact 4
Overall rating 3.5
midnightbookgirl's review against another edition
3.0
While I'm not sure that I loved the writing style (it kept me at a distance from the characters and was a bit pretentious... although considering it was told by the ghost of a writer it was probably intentional), I did end up finishing and liking the story. I did download the eArc on Edelweiss thinking the book, based on the cover, was more a cozy mystery. It is NOT a cozy mystery, although there is indeed an adorable cat who naps on typewriters.
mattmatros's review against another edition
4.0
There's an unexpected lightness to Howard Norman's work, even when dealing with missing kids or dead spouses or the everyday stresses of marriage. I'm not sure exactly what it is--maybe the excessive dialogue, maybe the ultra Canadianness (even when his stuff is not set in Canada, it's basically set in Canada), maybe the perfectly spaced bits of humor. Probably it's a bit of everything. However he does it, Norman's prose ends up breezy but profound, a near impossible feat. It doesn't always work, of course, and it takes a bit of suspended disbelief to accept that anyone talks the way the people in this book do. But The Ghost Clause is an immensely pleasurable reading experience, with a perfectly pitched ending. Time to dig up another book from this highly underrated novelist.
bosoxamy's review against another edition
3.0
This was a fun and fast read. I loved the characters, especially Epilogue the cat. I couldn't help but be distracted by the poetry though; I kept worrying that there was some deeper meaning that I was missing. I also feel that it ended a little abruptly. I would like to know what Lorca experienced when she read the found journals from her late husband...that he kept AFTER his death.