The Little Stranger Review | Sarah Waters

Here's that The Little Stranger book review that you've all been asking for! And by "asking for" I mean "didn't even know I was reading, probably." You're welcome!

This was my first Sarah Waters book and colour me impressed. My friend @chrisbookishcauldron6381 once described her to me as "Sarah Hall if she cared about plot" and it's pretty bang on.

This book is really, really good.

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[traceymills]

Yes! Your thoughts are correct I think. What a great review. Most Sarah Water fans seem to discount this book but I really enjoyed it. Now I want to reread it. She is a great author.

[GinaStanyerBooks]

Great review Rick. That ending scene just gave me such chills, I loved loved loved this book so much. Sara Waters is a genius.

[anenthusiasticreader]

I was having this discussion the other day about ghost stories. Unless it's a straight-on genre horror story, ghosts are never about the ghost but about the projection of anxieties from the characters or society, right? Along with all the other things you point out about Faraday, his inability to connect with Caroline had to do with, as I recall, her being described as having some non-feminine traits that hint at her capability to live without a man to lead her, and that rejection was part of his breakdown. And it was a subversion of the usual "woman as hysteric" because Faraday was the most hysterical character in the story. (It's been a while since I've read this so I'm going off of a rickety memory.) Your review brought me right back to this great novel and how much I enjoyed it.

[austindixon]

I read this book last year and loved it! You provided such a great refresher/discussion! I too gave it 4 stars right when I finished, but it just stuck with me and I kept thinking about it. So I eventually bumped it to a 5. Sarah Waters is so talented, she’s slowly becoming one of my favorite authors.

[insertbookpunhere]

i loved this book! so glad you liked it a lot too!

[chanelg]

Thanks for putting this out there. I was not sure if I was reading too much into the book, but I always thought that it was Dr. Faraday’s fault for everything that happened at hundreds. My ah-ha moment was when Rodrick was locked up in the room and Dr. Faraday was trying to give him pills to sleep. At this moment I thought, this is not what it seems like. He is at fault for Now I do not feel crazy for thinking that. Again, thank you.

[geslinam]

I enjoyed this book. I had a feeling about half way thru that it was the doctor all along, but I never made the connection that Susan got sick the day the doctor visited the house for the first time. Interesting. I agree, a 5 all the way.

[lyssar]

Thank you for the insightful review! It never occurred to me that Dr. Faraday’s emotions even as a child might have also been responsible for Susan’s death! That does make perfect sense. For me this was also a five star book.

[BrandonsBookshelf]

Trying to take notes here! What an amazing, concise, and thoughtful review in under 10 min!

[mmvalenzuela]

I enjoyed her book Fingersmith and I wouldn't be surprised if I'd love this, too. Such a talented writer!

[rachelh]

I fully agree with your analysis here, which I think is excellent, but your overall assessment of it is kinder than mine. I think this is a really thematically intriguing book--one of my friends described it as a "cultural horror" and I think that hits the nail on the head and I loved that she approached this story through the lens of class. But on the other hand my experience reading it was just... it was so long and meandering and for what 😭

[AccipiterF]

I don't think it's so iteral, with the "presence" emanating from Ferriday himself, but it coming from his class as a whole as they come up in the world. There is a scene—and forgive me since it's been over a year since I read it so I don't remember the exact circumstance—where someone talks about there being no place in England anymore for people like the owners of Hundreds Hall anymore. And that's the source of the thing (I'm not sold there was a supernatural presence either). And Ferriday was just our lens into this as a person who was sort of caught between, wanting that place in the world that by their standards he did not belong, and that place being something that no longer belongs in the world.

[OldBluesChapterandVerse]

I’ve read all of Waters’s novels, a couple of them (including The Little Stranger) twice. As good as this novel is, it’s one of her two weakest novels, in my view. The Night Watch may be her best book. Tipping the Velvet is my personal favorite.

[CestKevvie]

I haven't read this book yet, but I LOVED Tipping the Velvet! Must read Little Stranger soon!

[melanieandbookstacks]

Sarah Waters’ Tipping the Velvet was amazing so I’ll give this one a go too. 👍🏻

[Toastwig]

i first read this many years ago and was underwhelmed, too distracted by the lack of lesbians to see much of anything. But by gosh this review has really made me want to pick it up again, realising how it all just kinda went over my head haha.

[TheBookBully]

This review is so good I feel like I just sat through a Master Class.

[RickMacDonnell]

What we learned: I have a hard time pronouncing the word "impotency"

[mirrorballmusings]

You’ve really sold me on reading this book! It sounds fantastically mysterious. It also helps that Domhnall Gleeson stars in the movie 😁🙌🏾