Review Detail

A beautiful new edition, with tasteful floral patterning that disguises the wild, gloomy nature of the content. The light weight, naked hardcover is perfect for reading on the go, and there's ample margins for annotations (if that's your sort of thing, or the book is required reading).

This was my second time reading, the first having been in high school, and it was something like returning to a wild dream. All I remembered from ten years ago was the Kate Bush song, and the story is nearly a fever dream anyway. I suppose there is something to be gleaned regarding nature vs nurture, or that people become what they are expected to be. Perhaps another important message - if your one companion is a strange gremlin child old pops brought home on a stormy evening, then you need to get out and make more friends.

I enjoyed it now; I tolerated it back then. The multiple layered narratives can make it a difficult story to get into, if one is going for casual reading (the narrator listens to a servant tell a story that includes letters that a third party reportedly told them about, and such), but it's been a staple of many a high school curriculum for many years and continues to be a beloved classic. So, it may not be for every teen, but when it's raining outside and the mood strikes for an old haunting tale of tragedy, hysterics, and grudges - this is the book to pick up.