Wren
Evil can only be comprehended by evil.
I have pretty much no idea what I’ve just read, but my, it’s been a wild ride.
We’ve got that classic gothic set-up here: a young governess arrives to a dark old mansion that belongs to a rather unpleasant family: a husband whose main hobby is measuring people’s skulls, a wife who has no qualms with making servants sleep in the dog’s kennel, kids who are decidedly not alright. But it’s the governess who turns out to be the real monster in this one. (Though I must say, many of the unpleasant people we meet end up making a worse impression than Miss Notty does; she at least is sincere and fun in her unhinged glory).
I weirdly found myself completely uninvested in the overall plot and very invested in the various situations it’s comprised of. Like, I didn’t particularly care what all the weird, gory shenanigans were building up to, each of the episodes in the isolation was simultaneously gross compelling in that “can’t look away from a trainwreck” way.
I feel like Anna Burnett, the audiobook narrator, added a lot to this dark charm. Her irreverent, nonchalant, slightly dreamy delivery is spot-on, and she really sells Winifred Notty as a sociopath who doesn’t even really try to blend in, just stands there observing other humans as if they were a different species and shining a light on their flaws, remaining wrapped in her inner darkness herself.
A weird experience, truly, but also a deeply interesting one.
Evil can only be comprehended by evil.
I have pretty much no idea what I’ve just read, but my, it’s been a wild ride.
We’ve got that classic gothic set-up here: a young governess arrives to a dark old mansion that belongs to a rather unpleasant family: a husband whose main hobby is measuring people’s skulls, a wife who has no qualms with making servants sleep in the dog’s kennel, kids who are decidedly not alright. But it’s the governess who turns out to be the real monster in this one. (Though I must say, many of the unpleasant people we meet end up making a worse impression than Miss Notty does; she at least is sincere and fun in her unhinged glory).
I weirdly found myself completely uninvested in the overall plot and very invested in the various situations it’s comprised of. Like, I didn’t particularly care what all the weird, gory shenanigans were building up to, each of the episodes in the isolation was simultaneously gross compelling in that “can’t look away from a trainwreck” way.
I feel like Anna Burnett, the audiobook narrator, added a lot to this dark charm. Her irreverent, nonchalant, slightly dreamy delivery is spot-on, and she really sells Winifred Notty as a sociopath who doesn’t even really try to blend in, just stands there observing other humans as if they were a different species and shining a light on their flaws, remaining wrapped in her inner darkness herself.
A weird experience, truly, but also a deeply interesting one.