Book Review
Oct. 16th, 2023 08:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariA Good House for Children
by Kate Collins
This haunted house story was a bit slow-moving but creepy and sorrowful. The narrative alternates between two timelines. In 2017, Orla, Nick, and their two young children move to a large old Victorian house on the coast of Dorset. Nick believes the house and small town will be good for the children to grow up in and Orla hopes to revive her career as an artist. However, alone while Nick is away working in Bristol all week, Orla begins to hear and see things and comes to feel that something is wrong in and with the house. In 1976, Lydia is a live in nanny at the house, caring for four children while their recently widowed mother works to support the family. Lydia also begins to see and hear odd things and to believe that something is wrong. Neither Lydia or Orla are able to make those around them take their fears seriously and are thus unable to avert tragedy.
A Good House for Children is very slow and understated, with a feeling of creepiness and desperation rather than real horror. I liked the way the two storylines mirrored each other - both involved youngish women left largely by themselves to care for young children and cope with a large old house. Both women's concerns are dismissed by a largely absent parent. I liked the ambiguity over whether what each woman is experiencing is a haunting or something else. I liked the feminist themes around how much domestic and child-care responsibility we put on women and how little respect, authority, or support we give them in return. However, I found the book lacked a sufficient payoff when it came to the creepy parts of the book and the nature of the house. I didn't mind that things weren't fully explained, but I would have liked a little more to work with.
by Kate Collins
This haunted house story was a bit slow-moving but creepy and sorrowful. The narrative alternates between two timelines. In 2017, Orla, Nick, and their two young children move to a large old Victorian house on the coast of Dorset. Nick believes the house and small town will be good for the children to grow up in and Orla hopes to revive her career as an artist. However, alone while Nick is away working in Bristol all week, Orla begins to hear and see things and comes to feel that something is wrong in and with the house. In 1976, Lydia is a live in nanny at the house, caring for four children while their recently widowed mother works to support the family. Lydia also begins to see and hear odd things and to believe that something is wrong. Neither Lydia or Orla are able to make those around them take their fears seriously and are thus unable to avert tragedy.
A Good House for Children is very slow and understated, with a feeling of creepiness and desperation rather than real horror. I liked the way the two storylines mirrored each other - both involved youngish women left largely by themselves to care for young children and cope with a large old house. Both women's concerns are dismissed by a largely absent parent. I liked the ambiguity over whether what each woman is experiencing is a haunting or something else. I liked the feminist themes around how much domestic and child-care responsibility we put on women and how little respect, authority, or support we give them in return. However, I found the book lacked a sufficient payoff when it came to the creepy parts of the book and the nature of the house. I didn't mind that things weren't fully explained, but I would have liked a little more to work with.
