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juushikaTitle: The Thirteenth Tale
Author: Diane Setterfield
Published: New York: Atria Books, 2006
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 406
Total Page Count: 49,231
Text Number: 142
Read For: personal enjoyment, checked out from the library
Short review: Vita Winter is the most famous English author of her time, but despite of the dozens of stories she has published, she has never told the single true story of her own life. Now, old and dying, she commissions amateur biographer Margaret Lea to record her story, and begins to tell of her past: the story of a gothic mansion, a pair of feral twins, a ghost, and a fire. Winter's tale is couched within Margret's own, and both stories are deep with secrets, unfolding like a traditional gothic novel. However, Setterfield's writing does not quite rise to meet her premise, and her ghost story is readable and intriguing but never quite engrossing—in the end, it falls a bit flat. Characterization is too simple, the trope of twins is stretched too thin, and Setterfield cannot convincingly write about "the best writer in the English language" when her own skills as a writer fall so far short of that ideal. The reading is enjoyable and the concept is quite clever, but on the whole the book is only somewhere just above average: capable, interesting, but never amazing. I recommend it only moderately.
For me, this novel's potential and weakness is typified (and without spoilers!) by Vita Winter: Setterfield intends her to be the best, the most famous English author of her time, but in Winter's storytelling and book excerpts she is a mimicry of true talent, passable or else exaggerated but never truly great. The Thirteenth Tale has an intriguing premise: the secret past of a brilliant author, the secret past of our recalcitrant narrator, a crumbling gothic mansion, crazed women, wild twins, a ghost, a governess, a garden, a secret language, endless libraries... There is certainly enough there to make a dark and mysterious gothic novel to rival Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, or Rebecca, and that seems to be the author's intent. This concept and the plot are also enough to keep the reader attentive and interested through the length of the book, full of pleasant twists and turns, hints and secrets.
But for all of this potential, the novel does not quite rise to meet it. The Thirteenth Tale is nothing like Jane Eyre. There are little details, such as repetition in the storytelling or abrupt and unnecessary changes in tense, and there are bigger problems: Setterfield stretches her concepts too thin, in particular the bond between twins, until these once interesting ideas begin to feel overweighted and exaggerated. Margaret's narration also lacks a certain spark since the reader has problems identifying with her back story and her internal commentary tends towards childish or melodramatic. Setterfield's storytelling lacks real mystery and tension and at the end, after all of the secrets have been revealed, they seem in retrospect to be a little contrived and not quite worth the effort it took to get to them.
Make no mistake: The Thirteenth Tale is by no means bad. The premise is wonderful, the plot twists pleasantly and contains ever more secrets to reveal, and the storytelling, although not great, is good enough. The book kept me interested and involved, and so I feel comfortable recommending it. However, I only recommend it moderately, because the novel is little more than a polite homage to the sort of gothic novel that it aims to be. I appreciate the literary references and the author's, and charaters's, love of books, but in the end I would much rather go to and recommend the source. This book is a love story to books such as Jane Eyre, but Jane Eyre (and soforth) is the thing itself, with the same haunted atmosphere and secretive plot, but with skillful storytelling as well. This book isn't bad, but I would much rather recommend those ones.
Review posted here at Amazon.com.
Author: Diane Setterfield
Published: New York: Atria Books, 2006
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 406
Total Page Count: 49,231
Text Number: 142
Read For: personal enjoyment, checked out from the library
Short review: Vita Winter is the most famous English author of her time, but despite of the dozens of stories she has published, she has never told the single true story of her own life. Now, old and dying, she commissions amateur biographer Margaret Lea to record her story, and begins to tell of her past: the story of a gothic mansion, a pair of feral twins, a ghost, and a fire. Winter's tale is couched within Margret's own, and both stories are deep with secrets, unfolding like a traditional gothic novel. However, Setterfield's writing does not quite rise to meet her premise, and her ghost story is readable and intriguing but never quite engrossing—in the end, it falls a bit flat. Characterization is too simple, the trope of twins is stretched too thin, and Setterfield cannot convincingly write about "the best writer in the English language" when her own skills as a writer fall so far short of that ideal. The reading is enjoyable and the concept is quite clever, but on the whole the book is only somewhere just above average: capable, interesting, but never amazing. I recommend it only moderately.
For me, this novel's potential and weakness is typified (and without spoilers!) by Vita Winter: Setterfield intends her to be the best, the most famous English author of her time, but in Winter's storytelling and book excerpts she is a mimicry of true talent, passable or else exaggerated but never truly great. The Thirteenth Tale has an intriguing premise: the secret past of a brilliant author, the secret past of our recalcitrant narrator, a crumbling gothic mansion, crazed women, wild twins, a ghost, a governess, a garden, a secret language, endless libraries... There is certainly enough there to make a dark and mysterious gothic novel to rival Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, or Rebecca, and that seems to be the author's intent. This concept and the plot are also enough to keep the reader attentive and interested through the length of the book, full of pleasant twists and turns, hints and secrets.
But for all of this potential, the novel does not quite rise to meet it. The Thirteenth Tale is nothing like Jane Eyre. There are little details, such as repetition in the storytelling or abrupt and unnecessary changes in tense, and there are bigger problems: Setterfield stretches her concepts too thin, in particular the bond between twins, until these once interesting ideas begin to feel overweighted and exaggerated. Margaret's narration also lacks a certain spark since the reader has problems identifying with her back story and her internal commentary tends towards childish or melodramatic. Setterfield's storytelling lacks real mystery and tension and at the end, after all of the secrets have been revealed, they seem in retrospect to be a little contrived and not quite worth the effort it took to get to them.
Make no mistake: The Thirteenth Tale is by no means bad. The premise is wonderful, the plot twists pleasantly and contains ever more secrets to reveal, and the storytelling, although not great, is good enough. The book kept me interested and involved, and so I feel comfortable recommending it. However, I only recommend it moderately, because the novel is little more than a polite homage to the sort of gothic novel that it aims to be. I appreciate the literary references and the author's, and charaters's, love of books, but in the end I would much rather go to and recommend the source. This book is a love story to books such as Jane Eyre, but Jane Eyre (and soforth) is the thing itself, with the same haunted atmosphere and secretive plot, but with skillful storytelling as well. This book isn't bad, but I would much rather recommend those ones.
Review posted here at Amazon.com.
