Customer Reviews

The Little Stranger

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Reason for Reading: Sarah Waters had a new book out! Need I say more!

Comments: The Ayres family have lived at Hundreds Hall since the early-mid 1700s and now in post-war times (WWII) there remain three family members, one live-in servant and one half-time servant under its roof. During the war, they did their part for the war effort giving their rooms over to soldiers, their land over to the army for its use, their silver for melting, their furs, woolens, linens, etc for cutting apart and making clothing, handing down clothing they didn't need for those left without homes after the bombings and now that the war is over they have little left. Mrs. Ayres, in her fifties, not old by any means, seems old as she belongs to a different generation and the children try to keep the facts of their penury from her. Roderick, returns from the war a cripple and after recovering from his wounds tries to keep the dairy farm and the estate running for his mother's sake even if it kills him. Caroline is called home from the WRENs to nurse her brother through the long recovery from his injuries at his homecoming and then settles down to help with the estate; a robust, active, yet plain woman she is many years past the expected age of marrying yet she still hopes and now she can be found either in the kitchen with the women help or out on the land helping out the dairy farmer. But this is nothing especially special about the Ayres family, this is a situation that a geat many of the landed gentry of England found themselves in post WWII and the only way they managed to survive was to sell off the land piece by agonizing piece.

What makes the Ayres special is Hundreds Hall itself. Naturally without the money, the manpower or the resources it is falling to pieces and slowly crumbling around them. Most rooms have been completely closed off and more and more are closed off each season but that is not it either. Upon the new live-in maid's arrival she immediately falls ill of a stomach ache and confides in the doctor that something bad is in the house. He tells her she is homesick and not to be silly. The other maid eventually becomes aware of a presence causing trouble in her kitchen. Roderick is found many times bumped and bruised in the night and he claims someone is moving large pieces of furniture in his room. In fact Roddie starts having many unexplained, even dangerous, episodes. Mrs. Ayres is not herself anymore. She has heard voices and seems to be living in the past. Caroline herself is looking at books on Poltergeists and Phantasms in the library. While the Doctor is trying to cope with everyone's mental state he finds out first hand that there are some things that no matter how much he tries to explain them away reasonably, he knows what he has seen with his own eyes and heard with his own ears and can't quite shake the feeling. Has an old family madness caught up with them all? Is there a ghost in the house? A poltergeist perhaps? Or maybe, it is that the house itself is evil?

This is something a little different for Waters. I've only read Fingersmith myself so far but I've read plot summaries of the others and feel confident in saying this is not her usual comfort zone. I loved the time period and the look inside the lives of post war gentry, while the doctor who comes from a poor background adds contrast to the two different ways of life even in hard times. There is a romance between the doctor and one of the female characters that slowly develops during the book and doesn't really come to a head until near the end of the book but it is an element that keeps the story on a basic plot, the relationship between the two, as all the madness is going on sometimes taking over the plot but always returning to that basic thread; which holds the book together well in my opinion. In fact, it is the ending of this book that infuriated me. It did not end the way I had expected and I was quite shocked with the outcome and actually quite annoyed that things ended up the way they did. I've had time to recuperate now, but that is the sign of good characterization, when a book's characters mean so much to you that you are invested in them and want all to end well for them all. When a book can make you get mad at it, because you are on the charaters' side that's when I know I've just read a brilliant book.

Sarah Waters is a brilliant storyteller. Right from page one I was dragged into her world and could not escape. I read this book much more quickly than I would another book of the same page length. I took it everywhere with me and could not stop reading. Comparing it to Fingersmith, it didn't have as many twist and turns and excitement but then it is a different type of book. This is an atmospheric book and a splendidly well-crafted ghost story. Enjoy!

Personally, The Little Stranger had a disturbing blend of being both impossible to put down, and having the story told exclusively through an (intentionally) irritating and unlikeable unreliable narrator. Due to the ambivalent experience I had during my intense read of the novel, I am unable to say that I loved it outright the way I did Waters' Fingersmith. Undoubtedly, The Little Stranger was eerie, and I found myself shrinking back just a little while following the characters around Hundreds Hall. When I first reached the end of the story, I was slightly dismayed to discover that the plot was a linear one without any brilliant plot twists as in some of Waters' previous works...or so I thought. Without introducing spoilers, I must say that I have already mentally revisited the story and have all but thrown away my initial dismissal of the plot as altogether lacking intricacies. Yet again, Waters has proven that she is one step ahead.

It is 1949. Britain is still feeling the effects of the war. In rural Warwickshire, Dr.Faraday is called to Hundreds Hall to check on the well being of a servant in the Ayres family home. As a child Dr. Faraday was in the house once. His mother was a nursemaid there when she was younger. He was captivated by the house, the family and their wealth. On this visit, he is dismayed by the decline of both house and family. Mrs Ayres lives there with her son Roddie, who was injured in the war and is struggling to keep the family home afloat. Daughter Caroline was called home to help when Roddie returned from the war and never left. The only live in servant left is a fourteen year old girl.

From that first visit, Dr. Faraday slowly becomes part of the family's life. He is called on often to treat Roddie. Something ails Roddie besides his physical injuries. The young servant girl insists there is something 'wrong' with the house. Caroline begins to wonder this as well, as more misfortune befalls the family.

" This house is playing parlour games with us, I think. We shan't pay it any mind if it starts up again."

She confides in Dr. Faraday and enlists his help.

" I don't know what's going on here, any more than you do. But I'd like to help you figure it out. I'll take my chances with the hungry house, don't worry about that."

This is a tale with a 'gothic' feel to it, a ghost story of sorts. But it doesn't involve overt frights or over the top scenarios. Instead it is all the more delicious for the subtle and insidious manner in which the story unfolds. Everyday items and occurrences suddenly take on a sinister bent.

The interplay between the characters is just as much a part of the story. Dr. Faraday is a bit of an enigma. He is from a lower social class than the Ayres. At times he is made painfully aware of this. At other times, the Ayres family seems to depend on him excessively. Is he there for himself, for personal gain or simply to be in the house again? The other main character Caroline is also a mystery. At times she is playful, other times aloof, practical yet playful. What does she really want from the good Doctor? Many of the other characters give us a glimpse into the social life and mores of the time period.

Waters is a master of building a story. The tension grows and we are left wondering if the house is indeed perpetrating these calamities or is it the residents of the house?

I'm still wondering why I kept ploughing through this most bland, colourless novel. I didn't like any of the characters. Even the narrator didn't like them. The writing style was too detailed and repetiitive. Neither the plot nor the characterization worked for me. And the dull dialogue! The house itself was perhaps meant to be one of the main characters, if not the main character, but it didn't work because the author didn't spend enough time describing it when it was beautiful. In its rundown state, it held no appeal. The plot didn't really start until midway through the book and even with mysterious "hauntings", it still managed to feel blasé because the impetus stopped and went back to a painfully slow unravelling of thoroughly dull people. There was absolutely no satisfaction in the ending. No mysteries solved. No justifications. No character learning anything worthwhile. I suspect the author was trying to show the sorry state of the British upper classes after the war, how their estates were sold off, etc., and also the changes in the health care system, but it wasn't the right sort of story to showcase that.

This book has atmosphere to spare. It's moody and slow paced, building toward a creepy ending. I recommend it for those of you who enjoy a good basic ghost story without all the blood, guts and gore.

No platitudes with original turns of phrase, it is well written & easy. Part slow rustic stew, part Harlequin springy bosom romance (almost quit), part creepy simmering noises which all led to a springy well rounded out end. Overall a bit fluffy but fairly good. The characters were brought to life.

Set in 1948, Dr Faraday is the son of working class stock who one evening is called out to the Hundreds Hall, the seat of the Ayres family, the estate where his mother worked when he was young as a nursemaid. This is just the beginning of his entanglement with the house and its family; Mrs Ayres the widowed matriarch and hangover from Edwardian society, her son Roddie, an injured and limping veteran of the war now master of the estate though not coping with the responsibility and Caroline, the intelligent but plain daughter who is often to be found wandering around the estate with her dog.

Things take a sinister turn as Roddie becomes convinced that he is being visited by a phantom with malicious intent who is leaving dark marks around his room and when the Ayres's dog attacks the young daughter of a nouveau riche family only new to area it begins his descent into what Faraday believes to be a severe nervous disorder.

The book is essentially a story of the end of the Edwardian dynasties and the break up of the estates of the landed gentry that followed the second world war and the election of Clement Atlee's Labour government. It is also a gothic-esque ghost story in the traditions of Edgar Allan Poe however I draw that similarity very loosely as it is at best a pastiche of that story telling. The book reminds me of peristalsis with its slow and steady pace building up a tension that releases itself not with a bang but with a wimper as any dramatic tension is dissolved with a disappointing last 100 pages. Dr Faraday proves an extremely boring narrator and as his affairs become increasingly entangled with those of the Ayres' it's hard to muster the requisite sympathy.

Hundreds Hall, a once-grand estate in rural Warwickshire, frames the setting of Sarah Waters' newest novel. Post WWII, the house is declining rapidly: the masonry is crumbling, the wallpaper is peeling and weeds have entirely choked out the garden. Roderick Ayers, who has returned wounded from the War, is desperate to hold his home together for the sake of his mother and his sister, Caroline. As Dr. Faraday, the narrator who treats Roderick's injured leg, becomes entwined with the Ayeres family, disturbing occurrences within Hundreds imply that the house has taken on a life of its own. Indeed, the Hall seems possessed by something sinister, something determined to upset the lives of all the Ayeres'. I have now read all five of Sarah Waters' novels and I maintain that she's an ingenious storyteller who never allows the reader's attention to falter. She does an especially good job of developing her characters and brilliantly takes on the point of view of an (intentionally) irritating and unreliable narrator. However, this wasn't my favourite of her books (I'd place it somewhere in the middle) mostly because it has an uncharacteristically linear plot and because it lacks the shocking twists and turns for which Waters is famous.

This book is a real page turner.. could not put it down. It provided a believable supernatural story with many twists and turns. It held my attention throughout and I was sad to have it end...

The Little Stranger was a total disappointment. I have been a huge fan of her work for many years and found this book to be boring, unedited, and to make matters worse (spoiler alert) when you get to the end there is no surprise ending to make up for it. This is the only book of hers that I wouldn't recommend. Too bad.