This book was a great choice for a book club - It created
plenty of discussion.
The general consensus was that Sarah Waters is a magnificent,
beautifully detailed author and the majority of us are now planning on reading
some of her other books such as Tipping the Velvet, The Night Watch and
Fingersmith (all of which seem to get better reviews than The Little Stranger).
Her writing style could perhaps be the reason this book scored fairly high on
our marks out of 10.
However there were points which drag the review down, namely
being far too long (about 150 pages too long) and a poor ending. The group felt
500 pages was a lot to plough through for the ending we were given. A few
members found that the final paragraph was conclusive, others felt frustrated
by the lack of answers.
The characters were all generally pretty cold - Whether that
was the aim of the author due to the book projecting a cold atmosphere to the
reader or just the audience being unable to empathise with them. The lead character
was Dr Faraday - The narrator, the majority of the group felt that Faraday was
an unreliable narrator, having to trust his word for all the events and
disturbances that happened. We hear of Caroline and Rod's experiences for
example, through the eyes of Dr Faraday, without hearing directly what their
version of events were. I think we all agreed that the house itself became the
central character, just like an classic horror movie.
The group discussed the possibility that Dr Faraday himself
was the perpertrator, the poltegiest, the mad man or however else it should be
put. The final paragraph confirming that fact:
" I'll imagine that the secret is about to be revealed
to meat last; that I will see what Caroline Saw, and recognise it as she did.
If Hundreds Hall is haunted, however, its ghost doesn't show itself to me. For
I'll turn, and am disappointed - Realising that what I am looking at is only a
cracked window pane, and that the face gazing distortedly from it, baffled and
longing, is my own."
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