Review: The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins

I read Jane Eyre when I was in high school and I remember being drawn into the dark magnificence of the gothic romance. It became an immediate favorite, so you can imagine my excitement when I heard about The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins. It is more or less a modern retelling of Bronte's plot, but there is plenty of originality in this twisty tale. The mood of this gothic domestic thriller also reminds me of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, since Jane is always trying to live up to her seemingly perfect predecessor. However, there is no brooding Mrs. Danvers in this version and the house in Thornfield Estates where Jane and Eddie live doesn't quite have the same larger-than-life character that Manderley did. Despite the obvious similarities to these two classics, The Wife Upstairs stands on its own as a modern mystery full of twists and turns that readers will devour in no time at all!

Jane is a young woman who is running away from a troubled past. She is utterly alone in the world until she meets Eddie Rochester, a recent widower who owns a large estate in the posh neighborhood where Jane works as a dog walker. Sparks fly when the two meet and a romance blooms between the unlikely pair. Jane slowly learns how to live in a life of luxury, but is always keeping true happiness at arm's length, subconsciously fearing it's all too good to be true. She becomes obsessed with learning as much as possible about the late Mrs. Bea Rochester, the founder of a successful business who was declared dead after disappearing during a tragic boating accident that also killed her best friend. It is presumed Bea drowned alongside her friend, but her body was never found. Jane finds out soon enough that things aren't quite as they seem when the police determine the two women's deaths were actually homicides and Eddie is a prime suspect. Jane can't seem to figure out who is the bigger threat to this new shiny life that's waiting for her- her fiancé or his dead wife.

Fans of Jane Eyre will recognize major elements of the plot, but Hawkins does a wonderful job recreating this tale for the twenty-first century. Jane herself isn't quite as pure and innocent as the original. She is running from a terrible secret in her past which she fears could destroy this new life she's made for herself if it were to ever be discovered. Bea is also a very modern woman, the creator of a popular southern lifestyle brand called 'Southern Manors' that reminds me of Reese Witherspoon's Draper James clothing line. Unfortunately, something is lost in the reinvention of these characters because I couldn't connect with any of them, Jane especially. I wanted to like her, but I just didn't. She was a little too hard and flat throughout the novel and even when she voiced her vulnerabilities, it didn't come across as genuine. 

The lack of character depth is my only complaint about this novel. I would still highly recommend it to fans of the domestic suspense and thriller genre. You don't have to have read the classics I mentioned to enjoy this title, although it will definitely give you a better idea of the mood the author was trying to create. I couldn't put this one down and felt like it was a wonderful take on some of my favorite gothic romances!

My Rating: ★★★★ out of 5

*Thanks to the author, St. Martin's Press, and Netgalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

At the time of this review, this title will be available to purchase on January 5th, 2021.

Review: Abigale Hall by Lauren A. Forry

I remember one night, several years ago, I set down Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca and proclaimed to my husband, "That was amazing. I can't believe I didn't read it a long time ago!"  Rebecca was surprisingly good, like most of the classics I've read. Obviously, that's not a shocker for most readers, but I have a hard time with classics. I start out thinking that I won't like it and it'll be really slow and boring. I talk myself out of starting the title in question multiple times before I do actually commit to reading it. Even though many have been rather slow-moving when compared to what I normally read, there's just something about those stories and their characters that hooks me. Books like Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Rebecca will forever be on my favorites list.

Abigale Hall by Lauren A. Forry is very reminiscent of Rebecca, right down to the (maybe?) evil housekeeper.  It's obvious right away that this was no accident on Forry's part.  The story follows two sisters, Eliza and Rebecca, who are left orphaned in London after the chaos of WWII.  Eliza just wants to get married to her boyfriend and move far away from all the sadness of her life. Unfortunately for her, their aunt decides she can no longer afford to keep the girls and sells them off as indentured servants to a mysterious Mr. Brownwell who lives in the sprawling Abigale Hall. This estate could be Manderley's little sister with its once grandiose architecture, haunting portraits of a beautiful woman, and the sweeping moors that surround it.  Rumored about town to hold terrible secrets, Abigale Hall itself seems to be a character in this novel. Eliza, being older than her sister, feels responsible for Rebecca and promises herself that she will do her best to keep her little sister out of trouble. You see, Rebecca has a few "issues." Besides suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), she is prone to fits of outrage and violence. (Think of it kind of like a two year-old throwing a tantrum and then times that by three.) Eliza does her best to keep Rebecca in check, but the longer they stay at Abigale Hall, the more Rebecca seems to be falling under the creepy housekeeper's spell.  Realizing the danger they are both in, Eliza does whatever she can to escape with Rebecca.  In the meantime, the story bounces back to Eliza's boyfriend and follows his journey as he tries to find his love and save the day.

This novel is labeled as "horror," but I don't really think it fits in that genre. There's not a ton of guts and gore and I wasn't really terrified at all while reading.  It was more psychologically disturbing than anything else. I think it would best be categorized as a Gothic thriller. It really was the perfect fit for the mood I was in at that moment. 

I really enjoyed this story. It was suspenseful from the very first page and Eliza is a protagonist you can really root for.  I was not as drawn in by the parts of the book that were from Eliza's boyfriend's point of view. There are also a few scenes that depict violence towards animals, which I really dislike in general. I understand they were included to show what a particular character is truly capable of, but I still would have preferred those scenes be omitted. Those were the only negatives, in my opinion.  I was going to give the book four stars originally, but then the ending came and that last star was earned back. I didn't see the twist coming and felt it was a perfect way to finish off this creepy tale. If you enjoyed reading Rebecca or Jane Eyre, I really think you would enjoy this novel.

My Rating: ★★★★★

Review: History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund

I have been in a pretty good reading groove this summer, plowing through my to-read list faster than ever. Starting this blog has really helped motivate me, even if I'm the only one who reads it. :) One of the novels on my list was History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund. I honestly didn't even remember adding this, but when I reread the summary I understood why I had.  The protagonist, Linda, is a lonely teenage girl growing up in a failed commune deep in the Minnesota woods. She doesn't have much to do and doesn't fit in with other kids her age. She becomes obsessed with a male teacher at her school who is accused of having an inappropriate relationship with one of her classmates and possessing child pornography. Linda is kept busy digging into her teacher's illicit activities until a young boy and his mother move in nearby. As she takes the role of the boy's nanny, it's obvious to Linda that things aren't as they seem with this little family either.
How promising does that sound!

Unfortunately, this book was a total disappointment for me. By the time I got to page 80, I was so bored. I found myself choosing to do other activities instead of picking it back up, which is why it took me a few weeks to read.  The story felt like it was going nowhere for the first two-thirds of the book. While Linda was a very interesting and real character, there was little driving the story forward. You learn from the first few pages that the little boy dies and the intensity goes downhill from there. The story had very little to do with the teacher, perhaps 3-4 chapters in the entire novel addressed him and his story, and more to do with religious extremism in the field of parenting. Had I known this was the heart of the story, I probably never would have picked it up in the first place. I was complaining about reading this book so much that my husband told me to just stop reading it. Usually I always stick it out to the end, but I was seriously considering abandoning this one.  After reading the ending, which left me confused and frustrated, I kind of wish I had listened to him.

The writing in this novel, as many other reviewers have already stated, is exceptionally beautiful. Fridlund does a wonderful job of painting the scene and while I have never been to the wilds of Minnesota, I was able to feel the frigid temperatures and see the thick forests. I could empathize with Linda's loneliness and awkwardness at points. That, however, was probably the only redeeming quality of this book. I would not recommend History of Wolves because I felt like the story that was advertised was not the story I read. It was very slow-moving and just really missed the mark for me.

My Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Review: The Vegetarian by Han Kang

I first saw The Vegetarian by Han Kang when I was browsing a bookstore while on vacation in Utah. I was immediately drawn to the title because my husband and I were moving towards a more plant-based diet. I picked it up and read the back cover. When I read that the protagonist is moved to stop eating meat after she has violent, bloody dreams, I put it back down and walked away. I'm too sensitive when it comes to animals and knew I wouldn't be able to handle something so distressing.  Since that first time I saw the novel, it has received the 2016 Man Booker International Prize and been hailed as the best book of the year by The New York Times and Publisher's Weekly.

Fast forward several months later and there I am checking it out from the library.  So what changed? Well, I figured that if animals have to endure horrible abuse due to factory farming and I eat meat, then it's only fair that I should read something about their experiences, no matter how unsettling it might be. I also felt like a book with this many rave reviews had to be truly life-changing. Maybe it would be the finally push for me to finally stop eating meat altogether. Maybe it would teach me to see the world in a different light.

The main focus of the novel is Yeong-hye, who lives in South Korea. One day she decides to stop eating meat because of these nightmares she's been having. She's hoping that by no longer eating meat, her demons will disappear. What she doesn't realize, however, is that changing her diet is going to drastically affect the lives of those closest to her and cause Yeong-hye herself to fall into a life-threatening mental illness.

The novel is written in three parts. Each part is told from a different narrator. Interestingly enough, none of these narrators are Yeong-hye. The reader watches through the eyes of her husband, brother-in-law, and then finally her sister. Yeong-hye is oppressed as a female in her culture. Her husband treats her poorly and shows no sympathy whatsoever to her ordeal. He rapes her whenever he feels like it and is verbally abusive. This is apparently the role of women in that culture and I can easily see how Yeong-hye could be pushed to madness from such horrible mistreatment. Yeong-hye is abused by her other family members, as well. There's a very disturbing scene where she is held down and force-fed meat.  They refuse to respect her diet choices and while I've never endured anything so extreme, I was able to relate to Yeong-hye here. As someone who's an aspiring vegan, I often bring vegan food to work and my coworkers make off-hand comments that embarrass me or make me feel inferior because my dish doesn't contain meat. Certain areas are very unforgiving when it comes to going against the norm. The first part of this novel was the most interesting for me. It was unsettling, yes, but the pages kept turning as I rooted for Yeong-hye to stick to her beliefs and stand up for herself.

The other two sections were too slow and just...weird. The second section of the story drags on as we learn how Yeong-hye's brother-in-law uses his art as an excuse to sexually objectify and take advantage of her while she is clearly ill. Despite this being my least favorite section of the three, it is here where we find some of the beautifully-written passages at which Han Kang excels. Her descriptions of their bodies, painted to look like vibrant flowers, made me feel like I was physically in the same room, watching the chaos unfold with my own eyes. For the final section, the reader follows Yeong-hye's sister as she does little to help and is later haunted by the guilt she feels for her involvement in her little sister's illness. There's nothing too remarkable here.

While I understand that this novel is exceptional for its depth, social themes, and descriptive prose, I just did not enjoy it. My enthusiasm for the book paralleled Yeong-hye's dwindling sanity. I loved it at first and was completely sucked in. It was horrifying and unsettling in a way that kept me reading, but by the second part, I was simply just reading to get through the abuses endured by this broken woman. I wanted her to rise up and empower herself.  I wanted some resolution at the end, but there was none. I'm not a reader that always needs stories to end perfectly, but when you get involved with a story so twisted, you need something to restore your faith in humanity, if even just the littlest bit. I can clearly see why others would appreciate the creativity and writing skills of the author, but for me the overall story did not satisfy.

My Rating: ★★☆☆☆