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juushikaTitle: The Women in Black
Author: Susan Hill
Illustrator: John Lawrence
Published: Boston: David R. Godine, 2010 (1983)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 138
Total Page Count: 114,374
Text Number: 332
Read Because: personal enjoyment
Review: Coming on business as a solicitor to a distant English moor, Arthur Kipps discovers the decaying estate of Alice Drablow and a gaunt, diseased woman in black who haunts the edges of his journey. The Woman in Black is one of the more realistic ghost stories that I've read, which is to say that it largely forgoes a vast paranormal event to concentrate on the limited, localized, personal experience of one man's brush with the supernatural. As this it's utterly convincing, and has one of the best uses of a framing narrative that I've seen; as a ghost story it's not quite terrifying, perhaps because it's too conceivable—an experience made lifelike but limited by the reader's ability to imagine themself exactly in the protagonist's place. The Woman in Black is delicate and evocative, and crafts a setting balanced between traditionally haunted and uniquely imagined; I only wish that I had read it in the late autumn/early winter when it's set, as it's intensely seasonal and would benefit from a sympathetic atmosphere. This is a unique, brief book: pure, clear, but in no way shallow; it serves a singular purpose and so has its limitations, but is none the worse for that. It's not a few favorite, but it was a pleasure and I recommend it.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Author: Susan Hill
Illustrator: John Lawrence
Published: Boston: David R. Godine, 2010 (1983)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 138
Total Page Count: 114,374
Text Number: 332
Read Because: personal enjoyment
Review: Coming on business as a solicitor to a distant English moor, Arthur Kipps discovers the decaying estate of Alice Drablow and a gaunt, diseased woman in black who haunts the edges of his journey. The Woman in Black is one of the more realistic ghost stories that I've read, which is to say that it largely forgoes a vast paranormal event to concentrate on the limited, localized, personal experience of one man's brush with the supernatural. As this it's utterly convincing, and has one of the best uses of a framing narrative that I've seen; as a ghost story it's not quite terrifying, perhaps because it's too conceivable—an experience made lifelike but limited by the reader's ability to imagine themself exactly in the protagonist's place. The Woman in Black is delicate and evocative, and crafts a setting balanced between traditionally haunted and uniquely imagined; I only wish that I had read it in the late autumn/early winter when it's set, as it's intensely seasonal and would benefit from a sympathetic atmosphere. This is a unique, brief book: pure, clear, but in no way shallow; it serves a singular purpose and so has its limitations, but is none the worse for that. It's not a few favorite, but it was a pleasure and I recommend it.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
