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A review by blairevvitch
This House Is Haunted by John Boyne
4.0
The best thing I can take away from a book is having enjoyed the experience of reading it and/or enjoying the memory of the book. This is one of those books.
First: I was pretty entertained. I laughed. I enjoyed myself. I was scared once. It was delightfully creepy at times while not being overtly scary (i could read this to a more mature kid). I would marvelously have loved it years and years ago. And I was amused that his writing was trying to be like Dickens (even though DICKENS IS IN THE BOOK) and mostly succeeding! And so I'm not going to comment on his writing style or story in my usual way. I forgot all about criticizing his prose because...
Is this book satire? Was he trying to make it and the main character Eliza as stupid/silly as it seemed at times?
Let's get this straight: this is your typical historical gothic ghost story but I believe it has something different. Jane Eyre meets The Woman in Black meets The Orphanage was the combination stuck in my head. When you're reading this you'll definitely feel as if you've read/seen it before.
But have you? This protagonist was HILARIOUS. What was with the being so obviously every other young naive governess and the whole "oh I'm so plain I'll never marry" all the time but then consistently entertaining notions about a certain married man? And being so obvious about it (the story is told first person POV).
And so many other things that were like "duh" or "are you serious?" or "no not this again." Oh but I LOVED the way she stood up for women in the face of so many men/pastors/even women. Insert applause here.
If indeed Boyle was making fun of the genre in a very tactful way, then this would make a great horror films along the veins of The Cabin in the Woods (but please don't actually make that happen). Because he's hilarious. (I mean, THE TITLE????)
If he was trying to be completely serious with this book then yeah, you'll think it sucks. But when in fact it doesn't. You'll like Eliza Caine and (hopefully) you'll feel affection for the genre's cliches and the works it pays homage to. Bravo.
First: I was pretty entertained. I laughed. I enjoyed myself. I was scared once. It was delightfully creepy at times while not being overtly scary (i could read this to a more mature kid). I would marvelously have loved it years and years ago. And I was amused that his writing was trying to be like Dickens (even though DICKENS IS IN THE BOOK) and mostly succeeding! And so I'm not going to comment on his writing style or story in my usual way. I forgot all about criticizing his prose because...
Is this book satire? Was he trying to make it and the main character Eliza as stupid/silly as it seemed at times?
Let's get this straight: this is your typical historical gothic ghost story but I believe it has something different. Jane Eyre meets The Woman in Black meets The Orphanage was the combination stuck in my head. When you're reading this you'll definitely feel as if you've read/seen it before.
But have you? This protagonist was HILARIOUS. What was with the being so obviously every other young naive governess and the whole "oh I'm so plain I'll never marry" all the time but then consistently entertaining notions about a certain married man? And being so obvious about it (the story is told first person POV).
And so many other things that were like "duh" or "are you serious?" or "no not this again." Oh but I LOVED the way she stood up for women in the face of so many men/pastors/even women. Insert applause here.
If indeed Boyle was making fun of the genre in a very tactful way, then this would make a great horror films along the veins of The Cabin in the Woods (but please don't actually make that happen). Because he's hilarious. (I mean, THE TITLE????)
If he was trying to be completely serious with this book then yeah, you'll think it sucks. But when in fact it doesn't. You'll like Eliza Caine and (hopefully) you'll feel affection for the genre's cliches and the works it pays homage to. Bravo.