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bessadams's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Abandonment, Grief, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Violence, Blood, Car accident, and Pregnancy
lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I have slowly been making my way through Ruth Ware's backlist, and I knew when I found this copy of "The Death of Mrs. Westaway" at a library book sale, that this would be next up on my Ruth Ware reading list.
"The Death of Mrs. Westaway" follows Hal: a young adult who has recently lost her mother and is in severe financial trouble. She has continued in her mother's footsteps and reads tarot for a living, but with the debt that her and her mother borrowed from a very shady source, she will never be able to repay them. She fears for her own life, until she receives a mysterious letter informing her that she has inherited a large sum of money from a woman named Mrs. Westaway. Hal has never heard of Mrs. Westaway and her mother always told her they had no extended family, but desperate, Hal attends the funeral in the hopes of getting some money to get back onto her feet. What she does not expect is to uncover family secrets that have been buried for decades.
This story was a trip. My heart broke for Hal and her situation. When her mother died, she was left with no one in the world, and all she wanted was a family. She is young and trying to survive but it feels like everything is against her. She does essentially con people for a living, and that is what she was planning to do to the Westaways, but she was driven to the decision out of desperation and devastating circumstance, which I think the reader can empathize with.
This story has a lot of twists, and just when you think you have the family figured out, something new is uncovered and new secrets are revealed. I ultimately did not see the ending of the story coming, but I was also left a bit unsatisfied by it. The people involved and those who helped to cover it up seemed to have somewhat unreasonable rationale for their actions. It all seemed way too dramatic to me for a secret that was not as earth shattering as they all believed.
Overall, this book was fine. It is not my favorite Ruth Ware, but it also did not put me off of her writing either.
"The Death of Mrs. Westaway" follows Hal: a young adult who has recently lost her mother and is in severe financial trouble. She has continued in her mother's footsteps and reads tarot for a living, but with the debt that her and her mother borrowed from a very shady source, she will never be able to repay them. She fears for her own life, until she receives a mysterious letter informing her that she has inherited a large sum of money from a woman named Mrs. Westaway. Hal has never heard of Mrs. Westaway and her mother always told her they had no extended family, but desperate, Hal attends the funeral in the hopes of getting some money to get back onto her feet. What she does not expect is to uncover family secrets that have been buried for decades.
This story was a trip. My heart broke for Hal and her situation. When her mother died, she was left with no one in the world, and all she wanted was a family. She is young and trying to survive but it feels like everything is against her. She does essentially con people for a living, and that is what she was planning to do to the Westaways, but she was driven to the decision out of desperation and devastating circumstance, which I think the reader can empathize with.
This story has a lot of twists, and just when you think you have the family figured out, something new is uncovered and new secrets are revealed. I ultimately did not see the ending of the story coming, but I was also left a bit unsatisfied by it. The people involved and those who helped to cover it up seemed to have somewhat unreasonable rationale for their actions. It all seemed way too dramatic to me for a secret that was not as earth shattering as they all believed.
Overall, this book was fine. It is not my favorite Ruth Ware, but it also did not put me off of her writing either.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Stalking, Confinement, Torture, Physical abuse, Grief, Murder, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Child abuse
Moderate: Pregnancy
gm3116's review against another edition
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
3.0
The book kept me entertained while I snowed in during a snow storm but it wasn't amazing. The pace was a bit slow and I was not a fan of the ending. Also why did no one acknowledge the fact that Hal's mother and father were relatives ??????ick
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Child abuse, Violence, Confinement, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Car accident and Animal death
gabriellewaldron's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Ok twist at the end that I didn't see coming, however the fast paced thriller aspect didn't start until the last 100 pages, so the first 300 pages felt very slow and repetitive. However I did have fun reading this, had good ominous ambiance but the reaction at the ending by the main characters was a bit under played as surely they would be more surprised about who her dad ended up being!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy
ashleycmms's review against another edition
2.75
Anyone who knows me and my reading tastes knows I’m a super for family drama, dynamics, and relationships. I always enjoy it no matter if it’s possible, healthy, traumatic, fictional, or non-fiction. However, I went into this expecting a thriller/horror and figured out the antagonist 25% in. By 50% I figured out the plot twist. I read and watch a lot of horror/thriller content so it’s not unusable for me to be able to figure out what’s going to happen before I get there. However, what was a real let down for me was the sheer lack of concrete reasons as to WHY these things even came to happen. This is a story that relies heavily on backstory while simultaneously being incredibly vague about the events of the past. We get a few diary entries of the past that were very intriguing, but they often caused me to wonder more about what happened during that time. Especially to the main villain of this story. We get no reasoning, which I guess would be fine if the story was “some people are just evil” but there’s constant wording that “over time,” “something happened,” and “before and after.” So WHAT…. WHAT IS IT THAT HAPPENED?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Blood and Child abuse
Minor: Infidelity, Incest, and Alcohol
ktrecs's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
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
1.25
Well, this was a disappointment.
Until the last fifteen percent of the book, The Death of Mrs. Westaway reads much more like a family drama than the tense thriller I've come to expect from Ware. The plot should have had intrigue baked right in from the start, given that what draws Hal to the Westaways is the decision to defraud them, but for someone who continually applauds herself for her ability to cold read and deceive people, Hal is completely hopeless at the game she's signed herself up for. Her blundering mistakes and complete lack of perspective made it hard to trudge through - especially as I was fairly sure that I had solved this particular mystery basically right away.
What I wanted from this was the same atmospheric, Gothic-style retelling I loved in The Turn of the Key. The grand manor home & the creepy, frighteningly-loyal housekeeper are lifted directly from Rebecca, and that's the mood I wanted, but even these elements stood underutilised in the narrative, as flat and dead as the story itself. It completely lacked any sort of tension or thrill, and the two small moments of danger were not enough to convince me Hal was struggling with the dark, scheming, villainous setting I was promised.
I also didn't like the explorations of class in this book, in that it felt alternatively abortive and contradictory - and there's something close to appropriation here, the name Madame Marguerite - not to mention a casual use of an anti-Romani slur. Yuck. What a disappointment.
Until the last fifteen percent of the book, The Death of Mrs. Westaway reads much more like a family drama than the tense thriller I've come to expect from Ware. The plot should have had intrigue baked right in from the start, given that what draws Hal to the Westaways is the decision to defraud them, but for someone who continually applauds herself for her ability to cold read and deceive people, Hal is completely hopeless at the game she's signed herself up for. Her blundering mistakes and complete lack of perspective made it hard to trudge through - especially as I was fairly sure that I had solved this particular mystery basically right away.
What I wanted from this was the same atmospheric, Gothic-style retelling I loved in The Turn of the Key. The grand manor home & the creepy, frighteningly-loyal housekeeper are lifted directly from Rebecca, and that's the mood I wanted, but even these elements stood underutilised in the narrative, as flat and dead as the story itself. It completely lacked any sort of tension or thrill, and the two small moments of danger were not enough to convince me Hal was struggling with the dark, scheming, villainous setting I was promised.
I also didn't like the explorations of class in this book, in that it felt alternatively abortive and contradictory - and there's something close to appropriation here, the name Madame Marguerite - not to mention a casual use of an anti-Romani slur. Yuck. What a disappointment.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Racial slurs
abcahill1218's review
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Car accident, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence
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