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littlemissgemreads's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
hkburke2's review against another edition
3.25
Seems like this book wasn't marketed well. This had the same good narration and flowing writing of other Hannah books. Didn't read as horror or thriller to me, but was compelling. Not my favorite ending, but that's personal preference.
krobart's review against another edition
3.0
See my review here:
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/tag/the-orphan-choir/
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/tag/the-orphan-choir/
sopht87's review
2.0
Louise's seven year old son has been sent away to boarding school against her wishes, and she misses him desperately. And her neighbour from hell is keeping her awake at night by playing loud, intrusive music. So when the chance comes to move to the country, she jumps at it as a way of saving her sanity. Only it doesn't.
I couldn't warm to Louise at all. She just came across as incredibly neurotic and hysterical and bratty to be quite honest. I felt more than a little sympathetic to her husband, Stuart, whom Louise embarrasses and hen pecks constantly about her obsession with Joseph leaving his boarding school, having the walls of the house sand-blasted and Mr Fahrenheit's music playing until midnight.
I heard that this book was for fans of The Woman in Black and that it would be utterly terrifying. Sadly it fell rather short of anything like that for me. I found myself getting bored and frustrated with Louise so much that I raced through it just so that I didn't have to read about her anymore.
Just not for me.
I couldn't warm to Louise at all. She just came across as incredibly neurotic and hysterical and bratty to be quite honest. I felt more than a little sympathetic to her husband, Stuart, whom Louise embarrasses and hen pecks constantly about her obsession with Joseph leaving his boarding school, having the walls of the house sand-blasted and Mr Fahrenheit's music playing until midnight.
I heard that this book was for fans of The Woman in Black and that it would be utterly terrifying. Sadly it fell rather short of anything like that for me. I found myself getting bored and frustrated with Louise so much that I raced through it just so that I didn't have to read about her anymore.
Just not for me.
mikewa14's review against another edition
3.0
http://0651frombrighton.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/the-orphan-choir-sophie-hannah.html
booksandemz's review against another edition
5.0
Its a really good book and the whole story off it drew me in and i couldnt stop Reading it.
bunnieslikediamonds's review against another edition
3.0
This wasn't as bad as the GR ratings indicated. A lot of people complain of it not being scary enough for a horror story, but I guess that depends on what scares you. Louise, our super bitchy, high-strung heroine, is going crazy because of a neighbor playing loud music at night. As an insomniac I can relate. The frustration, fury and utter incredulity one feels when helplessly tossing and turning while listening to someone else's party music, oh yes, that's as horrifying as any ghost. There's a hilarious bit where she goes to a record store and asks the clerk which CD is best suited for payback. He finds her a a particularly jarring and dissonant song, but warns her that the artist is homophobic.
"I thought about it and decided it would actually be perfect if the artist had abhorrent views. Mr Clay and I are at war, I explained. Why would I want to wake him with something inoffensive when instead I can blast the angry words of a horrible homophobe through his bedroom wall? I want to send as much negative energy his way as I possibly can".
Right there with you Louise! She may not be likable, but at least she's funny. The whole thing escalates and turns paranormal in the end, and while I have to admit it didn't make that much sense, it was plenty scary for me.
"I thought about it and decided it would actually be perfect if the artist had abhorrent views. Mr Clay and I are at war, I explained. Why would I want to wake him with something inoffensive when instead I can blast the angry words of a horrible homophobe through his bedroom wall? I want to send as much negative energy his way as I possibly can".
Right there with you Louise! She may not be likable, but at least she's funny. The whole thing escalates and turns paranormal in the end, and while I have to admit it didn't make that much sense, it was plenty scary for me.
diannenah's review
2.0
It was good at first but then lots of complaining going on and on pisses me off. Overall, ending was alright I guess. Not at all scary as I expect it to be.
deeclancy's review against another edition
4.0
I am glad I didn't know this book was part of the Hammer imprint before reading it. I thought it was another psychological thriller by a writer whose work I've recently found I enjoy. I definitely wouldn't have purchased/started reading it if I knew it was this imprint (my own preconceptions about Hammer being largely disposable pulp fiction are to blame for this, and I find Sophie Hannah to be more than a cut above this).
Some of the other Goodreads commentary on this book surprised me with its negativity (I was curious to find out what others had thought, the book being from 2013). The objections seemed mostly erroneous to me: for instance, disliking a narrator is not a good enough reason to dislike a book - this is like saying a newspaper is objectionable because it reports some bad news. Anyone who has even the slightest background in literature is aware that the omniscient, authoritative narrator went out the window a long time ago, and that it's debatable whether he (usually a 'he') was ever objective in the first place. (Admittedly, I tend not to finish books I dislike, because I don't see much point in spending precious leisure time reading books I find unlikeable.)
Undoubtedly, I would find the narrator, Louise, profoundly annoying in real life; she is quite often rude, and initially seems to be a rather neurotic, anxious mother of the type who could do her child psychological damage. Sympathetic as I would be to her sensitivity to noisy neighbours, her reaction to that became a bit much too. Still, her story is interesting and haunting, and it becomes clearer as the book goes on why she has developed some of these characteristics - the reasons being metaphysically based.
I was disappointed at the ending to this book; but that is more a commentary on how I wanted the plot to pan out. I wanted to know a little more about the narrator; what she did for a living, for example, and what her own parents were like. I didn't find the book terrifying or frightening, but it was definitely a story that I felt I had to finish, and it also struck me that it could make a very good film. Overall, I prefer the non-supernaturally based mysteries by this author, but if you like this genre you could do an awful lot worse than to read this book.
Some of the other Goodreads commentary on this book surprised me with its negativity (I was curious to find out what others had thought, the book being from 2013). The objections seemed mostly erroneous to me: for instance, disliking a narrator is not a good enough reason to dislike a book - this is like saying a newspaper is objectionable because it reports some bad news. Anyone who has even the slightest background in literature is aware that the omniscient, authoritative narrator went out the window a long time ago, and that it's debatable whether he (usually a 'he') was ever objective in the first place. (Admittedly, I tend not to finish books I dislike, because I don't see much point in spending precious leisure time reading books I find unlikeable.)
Undoubtedly, I would find the narrator, Louise, profoundly annoying in real life; she is quite often rude, and initially seems to be a rather neurotic, anxious mother of the type who could do her child psychological damage. Sympathetic as I would be to her sensitivity to noisy neighbours, her reaction to that became a bit much too. Still, her story is interesting and haunting, and it becomes clearer as the book goes on why she has developed some of these characteristics - the reasons being metaphysically based.
I was disappointed at the ending to this book; but that is more a commentary on how I wanted the plot to pan out. I wanted to know a little more about the narrator; what she did for a living, for example, and what her own parents were like. I didn't find the book terrifying or frightening, but it was definitely a story that I felt I had to finish, and it also struck me that it could make a very good film. Overall, I prefer the non-supernaturally based mysteries by this author, but if you like this genre you could do an awful lot worse than to read this book.