Oct 21, 2025 3:08 AM
I enjoyed this, but less than I thought I would based on its reputation. The Jamesian “psychological haunting” element of this undeniably works well but I found the overly-arch banner really annoying (and often kind of deflating, especially in the earlier parts). Some small parts of the psychological landscape felt a bit too “easy” or obvious, too - I don’t love how it feels like Eleanor’s fantasies are spelled out so clearly in the first chapter, or the obviousness of her intrusive verbalizing about her mother. But I don’t want to be too hard on it; I can recognize this deserves a lot of praise for actually being an unsettling novel given how hard it is to pull off literary horror.
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5 days ago
Arbitrary edit: after months of reflection and rereading Henry James’ Turn of the Screw I think I’ve come to the conclusion I actually didn’t like this that much. Everything feels a bit too on the surface and it really just can’t compete with TotS, a book that still feels very flawed to me but has a more interesting narrative style and sense of interpretive ambiguity if nothing else.