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emmaodoherty's review against another edition
3.0
Really like the name of the book and the link to the story it’s very clever. The story was not what I expected it to be, wanted more thriller and drama. Interesting concept in that you know the murderer but you are finding out the why as opposed to the who for a change.
abbie_ohara's review against another edition
4.0
Loved the characters and the psychological look into a codependent and complicated mother-daughter relationship. The title is so fitting! And the writing was great. Bit slow at the start, but loved the ending.
ncrabb's review against another edition
5.0
I've often wondered what it would be like to be so talented that you can't craft a bad book unless you deliberately force yourself to do it. So it must be with Ruth Rendell. I haven't read anything from her that didn't fascinate me, horrify me just a little now and then, give me the creeps or whatever impact she intended to have on me. So it is with this book.
Liza is not yet 17 when you encounter her. She lives in a place Hitchcock would have loved to film. It's an isolated estate house in rural England. It's so isolated that television signals barely reach her. She grew up in the gatehouse where she was raised by her single mother, Eve. Eve had suffered tragic disappointments in her young life, and she was single-mindedly determined that Liza would never endure such. To that end, Eve ensured that Liza was completely isolated from the world. Liza had scores and hundreds of books from which she learned, but she knew nothing about the world itself. She rarely went into the community nearby to shop. She discovered a dilapidated television in an unused room at Shrove House where her mother cleaned, and occasionally she could sneak in some television.
There were men in her mother's life--the owner of Shrove house, whom Eve wanted exclusively for herself and could never entirely have, and a painter who painted the house. When the men demanded too much of Eve or threatened her existence at Shrove House, Eve would murder them. Liza, naturally enough, figured all this out, and when the authorities finally begin closing in, Eve quickly sends the girl away to London to the home of her friend, Heather. But Liza never gets there; instead, she seeks out and moves in with Sean, a young gardener at Shrove House, and it is to Sean that Liza tells her macabre and creepy story.
You watch with fascination as Liza makes the adjustment to the world slowly and not without difficulty. Just how much is she like her mother? Will she murder to get her own way?
I read a clunky old cassette copy of this borroed from my local library. The narrator was a Brit who did a magnificent job of capturing the creepy isolation of Shrove House and the frightening oddities of Eve and Liza. The story is told in segments by Liza to Sean, and you barely get your mental footing back before you're plunged into the next creepy segment. This is trademark Rendell with fascinating layers that slowly and sometimes painfully peel off to reveal delightfully creepy stuff.
Liza is not yet 17 when you encounter her. She lives in a place Hitchcock would have loved to film. It's an isolated estate house in rural England. It's so isolated that television signals barely reach her. She grew up in the gatehouse where she was raised by her single mother, Eve. Eve had suffered tragic disappointments in her young life, and she was single-mindedly determined that Liza would never endure such. To that end, Eve ensured that Liza was completely isolated from the world. Liza had scores and hundreds of books from which she learned, but she knew nothing about the world itself. She rarely went into the community nearby to shop. She discovered a dilapidated television in an unused room at Shrove House where her mother cleaned, and occasionally she could sneak in some television.
There were men in her mother's life--the owner of Shrove house, whom Eve wanted exclusively for herself and could never entirely have, and a painter who painted the house. When the men demanded too much of Eve or threatened her existence at Shrove House, Eve would murder them. Liza, naturally enough, figured all this out, and when the authorities finally begin closing in, Eve quickly sends the girl away to London to the home of her friend, Heather. But Liza never gets there; instead, she seeks out and moves in with Sean, a young gardener at Shrove House, and it is to Sean that Liza tells her macabre and creepy story.
You watch with fascination as Liza makes the adjustment to the world slowly and not without difficulty. Just how much is she like her mother? Will she murder to get her own way?
I read a clunky old cassette copy of this borroed from my local library. The narrator was a Brit who did a magnificent job of capturing the creepy isolation of Shrove House and the frightening oddities of Eve and Liza. The story is told in segments by Liza to Sean, and you barely get your mental footing back before you're plunged into the next creepy segment. This is trademark Rendell with fascinating layers that slowly and sometimes painfully peel off to reveal delightfully creepy stuff.
abbiecoh's review against another edition
4.0
Loved the characters and the psychological look into a codependent and complicated mother-daughter relationship. The title is so fitting! And the writing was great. Bit slow at the start, but loved the ending.
sireno8's review against another edition
5.0
Nobody's better than Ruth Rendell when it comes to obsession, menace, atmosphere, character and plot. Tana French comes really really close but RR does what TF does in half the space and with more assurance. The RR's I've read lately I've loved but the ends aren't as good as the beginnings and middles. Not so with this one. The way she goes back and forth seamlessly b/w the past and the present, the way she keeps turning the characters on a dime while keeping them consistant, the way she plays on your sympathies and holds out the ending till the very very ending--brilliant! It has all the earmarks of a Barbara Vine (RR's other writing persona) novel with a more satisfying mystery at its core. THE CROCODILE BIRD is up on my short list of RR favorites!
em_beddedinbooks's review against another edition
5.0
This book has reinforced my belief that Barbara Vine/Ruth Rendell is one of the best psychological mystery writers ever. Starting a Vine book is like taking the first bite of a comfort food... I am sure that I will be sated, and will never be disappointed. Recently, I have started listening to Barbara Vine audios because the narrators do a wonderful job with the London and village accents which make me feel I am an invisible presence out there.
This would perhaps be one of my best ever books by her. I just loved the main characters - the odd mother and daughter duo - the 37 year old Eve Becker, who is being arrested for a murder, and her 16 year old daughter Liza, who, unknowing to her is a 'chip off the old block'. Liza runs off with her boyfriend after mother's arrest as she doesnot want to live with her mother's friend who has not been very kind to her in the past.
Till the arrest (which occurs in the first page itself) they have been leading an almost monasteric existence in a sleepy old English village, atleast 3 hours by car from London.
Through their eyes we meet their landlord, who has allowed them to live at the Gate House of the Shrove house, cocooned from the deceiving outside world.. and remove all thorns in their way, one after the other.
Not going deeper into the story. One has to read to relish its beauty.
This would perhaps be one of my best ever books by her. I just loved the main characters - the odd mother and daughter duo - the 37 year old Eve Becker, who is being arrested for a murder, and her 16 year old daughter Liza, who, unknowing to her is a 'chip off the old block'. Liza runs off with her boyfriend after mother's arrest as she doesnot want to live with her mother's friend who has not been very kind to her in the past.
Till the arrest (which occurs in the first page itself) they have been leading an almost monasteric existence in a sleepy old English village, atleast 3 hours by car from London.
Through their eyes we meet their landlord, who has allowed them to live at the Gate House of the Shrove house, cocooned from the deceiving outside world.. and remove all thorns in their way, one after the other.
Not going deeper into the story. One has to read to relish its beauty.
ashwednesdayy's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5
Less of a thriller than I was anticipating. Not a bad thing, but I did think the novel had the potential to be a lot more tense than it ended up being. Maybe it was the retrospective narrative structure that made it lose tension, since the reader learns what happens to Eve in the very beginning of the novel.
I did enjoy Eve as a character but, and this might reveal more about me than I want it to, but she didn't really seem that...unhinged to me? Like obviously I don't agree with what she did but her attitude, actions and her backstory kind of all made sense. Her character didn't come across as being as cold or menacing as it could have been. I think more of an examination of her relationship with Bruno and Jonathan, which I know wasn't really possible from Liza's perspective, but could have added a little more to Eve's character to make her more menacing.
But I enjoyed it overall, I thought Rendell's writing was solid and I'll most likely pick up another of her novels in the future, but definitely not up there with my favourite thrillers.
Less of a thriller than I was anticipating. Not a bad thing, but I did think the novel had the potential to be a lot more tense than it ended up being. Maybe it was the retrospective narrative structure that made it lose tension, since the reader learns what happens to Eve in the very beginning of the novel.
I did enjoy Eve as a character but, and this might reveal more about me than I want it to, but she didn't really seem that...unhinged to me? Like obviously I don't agree with what she did but her attitude, actions and her backstory kind of all made sense. Her character didn't come across as being as cold or menacing as it could have been. I think more of an examination of her relationship with Bruno and Jonathan, which I know wasn't really possible from Liza's perspective, but could have added a little more to Eve's character to make her more menacing.
But I enjoyed it overall, I thought Rendell's writing was solid and I'll most likely pick up another of her novels in the future, but definitely not up there with my favourite thrillers.
laurenbdavis's review against another edition
5.0
What fun! I can't believe this is the first book by Rendell I've read. What I've been missing. A terrific literary psychological thriller that kept me glued to the text.