Hailey
I did enjoy this even though it was pretty bleak at times. It's a fascinating portrayal of 3 women across 3 different time periods and the unique challenges they face as women in those times. And, of course, there's nature magic (woo!). The multicast audiobook was truly excellent and added variety to each narrative. Moreover, I was really engaged in each woman's story.Despite reading [b:Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders 105992 Helter Skelter The True Story of the Manson Murders Vincent Bugliosi https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347694754l/105992.SY75.jpg 1077715] at the same time as this, I was surprised and a little unnerved by how graphic some of this book was. I also find myself agreeing with some reviewers who felt that these scenes were a bit unnecessarily graphic. It did feel like they served more of a shock value than a narrative purpose. I think a vaguer description of a certain scene would have gotten the point across just as well as the detailed description did–without feeling needlessly shocking. I think most readers who would gravitate towards this book are pretty aware of the physical violence that some women face, so I question why there was a need to be so detailed about it.
I ended up liking this much more than I thought I would.
It places a very heavy emphasis on the legal proceedings, which I thought were fascinating, but it's probably not for everyone. My biggest critique for this book is one that a lot of books in true crime are guilty of (especially older ones, like this): the focus on the victims is pretty slim. It's already a long book, but I wish we learned more about the victims' humanity, especially those in the second half of the book who weren't given much discussion at all.
Rounded up from 3.5 stars.I had fun with this book, but I didn't find it terribly original (sorry).I enjoyed the plot and the writing style, but it reminded me a LOT of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's [b:Mexican Gothic 53152636 Mexican Gothic Silvia Moreno-Garcia https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1607462569l/53152636.SY75.jpg 73647361]. Maybe I need to read more in this genre and there's lots of books about haunted houses with “ugly” love interests bound to said houses, but I was expecting a far more original story from a book that's been as hyped as this one was.With that said, I did really enjoy the writing and the characters and would probably pick up another book by this author.
Shocked and disappointed I didn't like this more than I thought I would. I've always loved The Lottery as a short story, so I figured Shirley Jackson's other short stories would also appeal to me. And, some did, but not all.
I did enjoy some of the short stories, but a lot of them fell flat for me which was disappointing.
