June Book Club review- The Little Stranger-Sarah Walters

[*SarahR*]

I am nowhere near finished yet, but I thought I should start the thread in case anyone else is!

I am enjoying it so far, just starting to find it a bit creepy. Very well written.

I'll be back when I have finished!

[*SarahR*]

Oh pap, the thread title is wrong as her name is Sarah Waters. I'm so sorry, I always want to type Walters but have managed not to correct myself before now.

[DillyDally]

Oh, I was waiting for this - I finished it a week or so ago.

[*SarahR*]

Really sorry Dilly x

[DillyDally]

Really sorry Dilly x

Oh, don't be daft - I could have stated a thread myself :oops: but I know that other people will still be reading it, and I can't discuss it with myself! I never quite get the timing of reading these book club books right :no:

[*SarahR*]

I bet Dr Spouse has finished too. I'm really slow this month for some reason, I keep falling asleep and not getting much read.

[Dr Spouse]

You bet right - I'm a fast reader and I'm always eager to start something new!


I had read several of her other ones (or listened to them on audio) and especially after reading Affinity, I was trying to work out how she'd bring the ending round to be similar to that one (in which it turns out to be a fraud). So I found the ending a little dissatisfying.

But I did think it was very well written, it felt very evocative - she's amazing at description. I am from that part of the world but a town girl (lived in one of the towns she mentions) and had friends from the country villages, and all the country set used to come shopping in our town. It was another world, but not that much before my childhood - so all the ladies coming to our department store and all the gents buying stuff at the gents outfitters, were this crowd of people.

Also, my grandfather was a doctor in that era (hospital doctor - he moved into his old house the day the NHS started, and moved out in 2004 when his wife died) so that side of it was really interesting for me.

[lazymummy]

oooh, can I join in? I read this a while ago!

[BellaDonna]

I'm nearly at the end of this, so will join in at the weekend!

[twirlygirly]

I'm enjoying this book but haven't read a lot of it. Will contribute when I eventually finish.

[DillyDally]

Like Dr S, I did find that it sort of fizzled out at the end. I found the ending a bit disappointing, tbh.

It was really well-written, and she builds up a lot of suspense ... so I felt a bit let down :meh:

[BellaDonna]

I agree with Dr S too! :lol: I enjoyed the book, found it a bit unsettling, but wanted more for the brother than ending up on a ward of mental patients for the rest of his life! And wasn't too happy with the sister's demise either - though I do suspect the doctor of having a hand in it all. I think the "Little Stranger" is some sort of presence left behind from his young self visiting and wanting to take a bit of the house home with him, some sort of poltergeist extension of himself. But the author left a lot up to you to decide, really.

[*SarahR*]

Just finished, and I also agree with Dr S. As always with Sarah Waters it was brilliantly written, very evocative and easy to visualise. I was expecting some kind of twist along the lines of Fingersmith right at the end, and it all fizzled out. I had my suspicions about Betty throughout for some reason, but clearly they came to nothing.

Actually I hadn't thought of BellaDonna's take, that the little stranger was part of him. I do quite like that idea, I felt very much that he was in love with the house rather than Caroline, and his sectioning of Rod and then plans to do so with Mrs Ayres made me feel very uneasy. And the wierd nightmare the night that Caroline died, could he have caused it through his ' little stranger'?

In the end he got the house, in a way, as they hadn't managed to sell it. And I sort of feel that that was all he wanted, it isn't surprising that for him it is all quite peaceful there.

A very tense book. DH was away a lot overnight when I was reading this, and I always felt just a little bit creeped out when I turned the light out!