Review: "The Little Stranger" by Sarah Waters

Overview


In the small town, a local doctor, Dr. Faraday, happens to go out to old Hundreds Hall one day to treat the one and only servant there. Hundreds is the home of the once-noble and well off family the Ayres. However, since the war began, their luck seems to have run out - now it's only mother, daughter, son, and the one servant in the lonely setting.

The son, Roderick, had been in the war himself and now has a nasty limp and a scruffy temperament. The daughter Caroline is becoming an eccentric spinster, while the aging Mrs. Ayres has to move on from the luxurious past into the dismal future.

Dr. Faraday soon becomes a regular visitor to the decomposing hall and its sad occupants. However, something more threatening seems to be at work in the dark and silent rooms...

Looks creepy enough..

WIT (What I Thought)


First of all, there is a definite tribute to Poe's own story of an aging house - The Fall of the House of Usher. Not only is the house falling apart, but it used to be a grand thing; now the only occupants are a brother and sister (and a mother and servant); the son's name is Roderick; and a bystander has to watch as the evil spirit slowly takes both the family and the house down.

I got really excited, because I thought that Waters would then try to emulate Poe's style (lots and lots of adjectives, for one), but I was thoroughly disappointed. She may have tried, but I felt a lot of the words were waay overused - bleak, dismal, grey, wintery, lifeless - and there was not a lot of variety in the style.

Now, the main character, Dr. Faraday, was an interesting pick. As a doctor, he will not let himself get spooked simply because the house may creak - he's removed from the situation, mundane, logical, and at the end of the novel I didn't really care for him. I think he was the main drawback as to why I didn't really get that spooked. He was too logical, and through his incessant talks of how and why ghosts were impossible, I became impassive to the situation at Hundreds.

This isn't to say that there weren't any parts where I genuinely felt my skin goosebump up. The situation of why Hundreds is being haunted, once it became clear, was disturbing and and very effective. Two events in particular - but I wouldn't want to spoil the read for you! (Hint: Just who is this 'little stranger'?...)

As a whole, this book made me walk with my shoulders hunched, not from fright, but from the almost overbearing load of mundane adjectives and long stretches of time where nothing at all seemed to happen. When I read a horror novel I want to be scared sleepless, damnit!

And Therefore...


I give this a 3 out of 5, because it had so much potential, and because the main character was dreary and too detached for my likes from a horror novel.