My rating: 3*
Genre I reckon: Supposedly Gothic Romance
Buy link: Not giving you one!
Let me start by clarifying. I usually reserve reviews on this blog for books I'd genuinely recommend to a friend. This one is more a cautionary tale in case you too are tempted.
I admit it; I bought this book as it's cited in
Northanger Abbey - ^thanks^ Jane Austen!
Described as "A quintessential Gothic romance, replete
with incidents of physical and psychological terror; remote, crumbling castles;
seemingly supernatural events; a brooding, scheming villain; and a persecuted
heroine." - colour me intrigued.
I am not a fan of detailed description, and I feel like I am
now overly familiar with every rock and crevice of the Pyrenees. Sure, give me
a setting which can be beautiful, but don't make it the story. Too much!
I was expecting something akin to Dracula with its Gothic
castles and spooky goings on, yet with a gentle love story. I was sorely
disappointed. The castle didn't even come into it until about halfway through!
What I got was a soppy heroine. She cries ALL the time. The
mountains are so beautiful they make her weep, she meets a pathetic boy which
makes her cry, she gets torn away from him and home so she sobs. This may sound
rational, but her eyes are seldom dry at all. Her second favourite hobby is
fainting, which may be the only time she turns off the waterworks.
As if that wasn't bad enough, the sap she falls in love
with, who is a soldier, also shares her passion for tears. Come on!!
And oh, the commas, which appear, in so many, odd places, as
to leave you puzzled (see what I did there?). ;)
It's set in 1584 but reads more like the Georgian era it was
written in, sadly.
There's not much dialogue, which I can forgive, given the
time it was written. I'm fine with that.
And I did like some of the characters; Annette is rather fun
and the Count de Villefort is charming.
Ordinarily, I'd have put this book down by the time I was a
third of the way through; life's too short to read a book you don't enjoy.
However, herein lies the reason for my 3 stars...I was oddly hooked. Was it a
perverse pleasure which insisted I continue? The hope to get to a good bit? I
really don't know.
Once the story finally got going, I did enjoy aspects. My
modern mind was sadly not at all frightened by the modest attempts of terror.
Emily was always too sceptical to allow me to believe supernatural occurrences
were to blame.
At one point, a chap stands on guard to watch out for
ghosts. It got really tense for a moment, then he started to read a book to
while away the hours. That's fair enough, but I didn't need to read what he was
reading! Really.
However, there was a sort of tidal flow to the story. Waves
withdrew and then came crashing in, bringing chaos in their wake. It was rather
pleasing.
Emily is admirable when not weeping. She stands fast to her
virtuous upbringing, always using sound reasoning to do the right thing. Quite
tough given some of the situations she finds herself in. She shows she has some
strength after all.
I enjoyed the twists and turns, and actually some of the
journeys.
And I truly appreciate its place in history. It helped to
spark some greater works of fiction, such as the aforementioned Northanger
Abbey. It deserves kudos.
Apparently, there's 'The Veiled Picture; or, The Mysteries
of Gorgono' which is an abridgement, so maybe go for that instead.
TL
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