This is one of those books that I've seen all over Instagram and Twitter for months. I read it as part of a book club and I really wanted to love it. But it just wasn't for me. The plot was great, but I just couldn't get on board with the writing or writing style. It really dragged for me, despite having an interesting plot and I kept wanting things to move more quickly.
We start off knowing that Frannie Langton is accused of killing the mistress and master who own the house that she's a servant in. Frannie takes us back to her roots, showing the reader her growing up as a slave in Jamaica, and eventually ending up in England, sold by her old master as a servant in a new country.
The book is an interesting one as I said, and I would recommend it to fans of modern gothic novels. It's dark and filled with all the tropes of classic gothic novels: forlorn landscapes, terrifying science, women who step out of the place of what they 'should' be doing, mental health and illness etc. The book also has a queer romance in it, which was one of the things I did enjoy. It moved beyond what you would expect of a book set in the early-mid 1800s, showing a more realistic view of life perhaps than ones you would normally come across in books.
I gave this 2 stars because I really found myself having to force myself to keep coming back to the book because of the writing style. I do think that's an issue with me more than the book, however as I said, I did enjoy the story.
No comments:
Post a Comment