Reviews with content warning for Animal death - The Little Stranger

Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

22 reviews

singalana's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Kirjan kuvaus oli sen verran hämmentävä, että en oikein tiennyt minkä tyyppistä kirjaa olin alkamassa lukea: onko tämä jännityskertomus, salapoliisikertomus, romanssi vai kummitusjuttu? No, oikeastaan tämä on vähän niitä kaikkia.

Kirja sijoittuu 1940-luvun sodanjälkeiseen Englantiin. Kirjan päähenkilö, tohtori Faraday kutsutaan hoitamaan sairastunutta palvelustyttöä rappioituneeseen kartanoon. Faraday tututstuu perheeseen ja saa pian huomata, että kartanossa tapahtuu kummallisia asioita.

Tunnelmaa rakennetaan vähitelle ja se kantaa läpi kirjan. Kirjailija on onnistunut toteuttamaan mysteerin niin, että lukijan epäilykset säilyvät loppuun asti. Teosta on vaikea kuvata ilman että paljastaa tarinasta liikaa, mielestäni se kannattaa ehdottomasti kokea itse avoimin mielin.

Tässä tarinassa on elementtejä, joista monet lukijat eivät välttämättä pidä, joten lista niistä spoilerilinkin takana. Mielestäni kaikki nämä elementit olivat kuitenkin paikallaan tässä kirjassa ja sopivat hyvin yleiseen tunnelmaan ja siihen, mitä kirjailija todennäköisesti tavoitteli.

Kirja on yleissävyltään ahdistava, melkein masentava.
Kirjailija rakentaa tunnelmaa hitaasti. Itse nautin tästä, mutta osa lukijoista saattaa olla sitä mieltä, että kirja on turhan pitkä ja tekstiä olisi pitänyt trimmata.
Päähenkilö tohtori Faraday ei välttämättä ole samaistuttava hahmo. Hän tuntuu "gaslightaavan" hahmoja. Lisäksi hän painostaa perheenjäseniä tekemään asioita mitä he eivät halua.
Kirjan loppu jätetään eräällä tavalla avonaiseksi. Jos tällaisista lopusta ei tykkää, saattaa loppuratkaisuun pettyä.

Kansi: Kirjan kansi voisi olla parempi jos ylimääräiset elementit otettaisiin pois ja jätettäisiin vain kartano ja värimaailma.

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micallab's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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lay_kone's review

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dark mysterious medium-paced

4.5

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phantompansy's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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jillaay_h's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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cathyrodgers's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

An atmosphere of dread carries throughout the book. Although the plot seemed to drag on too long, especially in the middle, I still was glued to this audiobook and listened to it for hours and hours at a time. On the surface, this is the story of a poltergeist in a haunted house. By the end you realize there's a lot more going on.

On a deeper level, the novel is about the poisonous jealousies of a petty little boy - the poltergeist is an evil manifestation of the anger and resentment Dr. Faraday feels every time he's rejected or shamed by someone at the house. Faraday's over the top obsession with The Hundreds house began as a child, in the opening of the novel, when he's so driven to possess the house, he vandalized it by breaking an acorn away from the plaster inside the house. The first sign that the house has been infected by Faraday's obsessive/evil/little stranger occurs when the oldest daughter gets sick and dies after witnessing Faraday get slapped by his mother for having vandalized the house. The ending, with Faraday saying that even though he looks for other people/the poltergeist/the little stranger in the old abandoned house, all he sees is the reflection of his own face in the empty windows - was excellent. The ending also confirms that Faraday has been an unreliable narrator all along.

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mylargirl's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

"It was simply that, in admiring the house, I wanted to possess a piece of it--or rather, as if the admiration itself, which I suspected a more ordinary child would not have felt, entitled me to it. I was like a man, I suppose, wanting a lock of hair from the head of a girl he had suddenly and blindingly become enamoured of."

The above passage, in the opening pages of The Little Stranger tells you all you need to know to understand the horrifying events which follow.

The dull protagonist, Dr Faraday, presents himself to the reader as a rational, unbiased observer of the misfortunes that befall the occupants of Hundreds Hall, but is he really?

The Little Stranger is many things at once. On its surface it is a gothic horror story in the tradition of The Turn of the Screw and The Haunting of Hill House. It is also an examination of the shifting class structure of post war England, and a feminist take on the gothic tradition of the damsel in distress who must be rescued by a pure-hearted male hero. But who is the hero here and who (or what) is the villain?

I have to admit that at times I found reading this book frustrating. I wanted to yell at the characters to get away from the obvious source of their torment. But of course, that is the point. The victims in the book are trapped in their roles and can't stop what is coming to them.

Part of the fun in reading a story told from the point of an unreliable narrator is in determining what is fact, what is malicious misdirection and what is wishful thinking. The final paragraphs make the true source of the evil at Hundreds Hall clear, but to anyone who has been paying attention, it is less of a shocking revelation and more of a sickening confirmation of what we suspected all along.

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