I don’t generally just post reviews on this blog. And this probably won’t be one either. But it is a post about a book. So, I guess it is review-ish.
My friend and loyal commenter Nicole lent me her copy of THE LITTLE STRANGER a few weeks ago. Tempting me with how it has all the elements of things I love: British people, stately houses, a ghost, class struggle, and a mystery to boot. HAPPY DAYS. (Already I started thinking back to how much I loved THE FORGOTTEN GARDEN by Kate Morton.)
So, I started said book and was immediately loving the writing. Loving this super tweedy house in decline. I mean, there’s a character named RODERICK. What could be bad, dear reader? THE ANSWER IS NOTHING.
But then, after about a hundred LOVELY pages of house description and family drama (and you know I am an impatient reader, so they were some GOOD pages) I found THE MYSTERY. What is this wicked thing that is happening in this house? IS it a ghost? Or isn’t it?! Keep reading to find out.
And so I did. FOR about 500 pages, or what felt like it, a bunch of tweedy Brits hemmed and hawed about whether or not it was a ghost. And all I could do was shake the book and say IT IS A GHOST. AND A KIND OF MEAN ONE. GET AN EXORCIST. FOR GOODNESS SAKES! Of course, if an exorcist had COME, it would have been a different book, but possibly a less frustrating (and possibly tragic one).
Ok, I might be giving away too much here, but I will say that the ending of this book, despite the middle being tedious, is very satisfying. And that is VERY RARE. So, my feeling at the end of the book is that I am glad I finished it based on the merits of the first 100 pages because it also had a lovely back 75 or so.
What did y’all think of this book? I know many have read it. If you want to keep up generally with what I think of what I read, check out my Goodreads shelf.