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A review by karebear0099
A Dark-Adapted Eye by Ruth Rendell
4.0
This is the second Barbara Vine book I have read, the first being Anna’s Book. I enjoyed the style of both very much. There were a few elements in the book I found kind of distasteful. Overall the book is compelling and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I gave it three stars because of the bits I didn’t like but then didn’t feel like that did this book justice so changed it to 4 stars.
This book was written in 1986 and was set mostly in the 1940’s. So, it is dated and not PC by today’s standard. Chad, who is a likable/nice guy who is gay, is having a sexual relationship w/another character who is 13 when they first get involved. He’s an adult at that time. It’s off putting and doesn’t fit, kind of seems to stigmatize gay people or imply they are pedophiles (Chad is the only gay character in the book or at least the only one whose sexuality is labeled as gay). So I wasn’t a fan of that. Secondly, there’s other offhand references about people acting like someone is “retarded” or autistic... again not a fan and kinda off putting. But overall I thought the book was really good, just could have done without those elements.
Also adding- the beginning is confusing, I felt confused for several pages and things were hard to follow at the start. Also, the side stories about the missing/murdered 2 year olds were hard to follow with way too many characters.
This book was written in 1986 and was set mostly in the 1940’s. So, it is dated and not PC by today’s standard. Chad, who is a likable/nice guy who is gay, is having a sexual relationship w/another character who is 13 when they first get involved. He’s an adult at that time. It’s off putting and doesn’t fit, kind of seems to stigmatize gay people or imply they are pedophiles (Chad is the only gay character in the book or at least the only one whose sexuality is labeled as gay). So I wasn’t a fan of that. Secondly, there’s other offhand references about people acting like someone is “retarded” or autistic... again not a fan and kinda off putting. But overall I thought the book was really good, just could have done without those elements.
Also adding- the beginning is confusing, I felt confused for several pages and things were hard to follow at the start. Also, the side stories about the missing/murdered 2 year olds were hard to follow with way too many characters.