BONUS: This edition contains excerpts from Arthur Phillips's The Tragedy of Arthur, The Song Is You, Prague, and The Egyptologist.read full description
reviews
Apr 01, 2008
Katherine
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I read Prague a few years back, (also by Phillips) and like this one it was well written, but lacking something. It's the story of a family who is haunted by alternately a "ghost" or a psychosis-take your pick- from the perspectives of the main characters involved and presented in three separate sections: a lesson in the subjective nature of experience. But, the machinations of the author were too transparent. I found the first narrator, the mother, very unsympathetic which prevente
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Dec 23, 2007
Alicia
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I remember not really liking Phillips' The Egyptologist, but this has been getting good reviews and the descriptions seemed intriguing--a Victorian ghost story, a terrible family tragedy, etc. Each of the four protagonists has a turn narrating the novel, which isn't a ghost story, and the tragedy is debatable. Then ending is really stupid and totally unsatisfying. Maybe this would be a better book if it wasn't billed as all spooky and cool, since it is neither of those things, but is primarily a
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Nov 04, 2011
Felix
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XIX век, Англия. Констанс Бартон понимает, что не любила своего мужа с самого начала из знакомства. Пять лет назад она вышла за Джозефа ради денег и благополучного будущего, не подозревая, что жизнь простой домохозяйки и кормящей матери очень быстро сведет ее с ума. Со временем все становится только хуже. Помимо неприязни по отношении к супругу в душе женщины появляется еще и страх. Констанс начинает подозревать, что в теле этого человека скрывается настоящий демон-инкуб, серьезно угрожающий без
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Oct 07, 2011
Nina
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Feb 24, 2011
Susan
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This is the kind of book that makes me rethink my reading rule of "finish what you start." I was so disappointed that the book was so-so in the first half (enough to keep me plugging along) and then went downhill from there. I'm a slow reader anyway, but this book took me about 3 weeks to slog through. Towards the end, I thought to myself, "What is he even talking about now?" It's really a very awful feeling, to be so confused at the end of a book, after investing time and ef
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Dec 07, 2009
Charles
rated it:
“Rashomon” meets “The Turn of the Screw.” Wilkie Collins rewritten by Vladimir Nabokov. There are several high-concept ways to describe Arthur Phillips’ intriguing, sometimes head-spinning “Angelica.” It’s a wickedly ingenious deconstruction of a Victorian ghost story, but it’s also a whodunit, as well as a what-, when-, where-, how- and especially whydunit.
The premise is this: Constance Barton, after two miscarriages, gave birth to a daughter whom she and her husband, Joseph, named More...
The premise is this: Constance Barton, after two miscarriages, gave birth to a daughter whom she and her husband, Joseph, named More...
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Aug 16, 2009
Marigold
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An interesting literary experiment - but ultimately frustrating and unsuccessful, I think. If you read the back cover, you think you're going to get a ghost story, which this isn't. Psychological menace - yes. Crises of appetite and loneliness - yes. Send-up of a Victorian gothic novel - somewhat. Frightening - hm, occasionally. Unreliable narrator - I loooove that! I have a soft spot for the unreliable narrator, so once I got into this book & realized that was going on, I kind of fell for it. I
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Oct 18, 2009
Sarahc
rated it: 
In late October, when one is sitting in a one's small warm room staring out into gray wet or bright bright day, one's thoughts cannot help but turn to the supernatural, spiritualists, madness, prisons, children, the sciences, the occult, new brides, old widows, Queen Victoria, Freud, Darwin, pixies, reading rooms, public houses, vivisection,mass murderers, confused constables, dead fathers, weeping mothers, prettier sisters, and reasonable brothers.
If you are searching for other and More...
If you are searching for other and More...
Jul 26, 2010
Rowland
rated it:
Whereas Phillips earlier works intrigued with the currency of timeliness and wordplay (Prague) and carefully unfolding narrative (The Egyptologist) Angelica seems to me a play of styles and ambiguities rather than of substance. Written in a Victorian novel style, set in the late 1800's, the story surrounding the four year old Angelica is told from the perspective of the main characters, one by one. This devise craftily mirrors the beginnings of psychotherapy and the spider web of perspectives an
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Feb 04, 2012
Geenyas
rated it:
Comparisons to Henry James' "Turn of the Screw" are inevitable, and yet that old chestnut was at its heart a ghost story. "Angelica" is something different, despite the fact that it seems to be categorized as a ghostly tale. In the end, I'm still undecided whether it is a deceptively brilliant book, or just irritatingly vague and obfuscational in order to suggest something deeper. It kept me reading to the end, but undoubtedly many readers will find it frustratingly repetitiv
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Feb 05, 2009
In Angelica, the talented Arthur Phillips (Prague, ***1/2 Nov/Dec 2002) pays homage to Henry James's famous ghost story, "The Turn of the Screw," but piles on multiple viewpoints to add maddening and obscure layers to the story. Reviewers loved the way Phillips tackles Freudian issues and shows how men and women process the same narrative differently. His pacing may strike some as slow__it is a Victorian novel, after all__but it yields a chilling, surprising tale of great psychological
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Feb 22, 2011
Rebecca
rated it: 
i loved this book! I was actually surprised too see all the low ratings. I didn't enjoy "The Egypotologist" as much (maybe that had more to do with the subject matter...) but I think Phillips is a fantastic writer--his prose is beautiful and vivid but not overwrought. I felt like I could see and hear each character. And I loved the way he told the story from different viewpoints--like different cuts of a diamond. You could believe each version was "the truth" --or one part of
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Mar 24, 2011
Danielle
rated it:
I was concerned about reading this book – a Victorian era ghost story would not be my usual pick.
The book is divided into four parts. First we hear from Constance, the matriarch of the Barton home. We gain an impression of the usual ghost story – her young daughter, Angelica, is being stalked by a ghost – her husband, Joseph, will not entertain her theories. Constance turns to a paranormal, Anne Montague.
Next, we hear from Anne. Hired to rid the home of the ghost, but she has More...
The book is divided into four parts. First we hear from Constance, the matriarch of the Barton home. We gain an impression of the usual ghost story – her young daughter, Angelica, is being stalked by a ghost – her husband, Joseph, will not entertain her theories. Constance turns to a paranormal, Anne Montague.
Next, we hear from Anne. Hired to rid the home of the ghost, but she has More...
Mar 05, 2010
From my review:
The premise is this: Mrs. Barton is one of those nutty, hysterical 19th century Enlgishwomen. Her husband (who it is stressed is half Italian, so not all Enlgishy) is insensitive to her condition. Mrs. Barton hires a sort of seer after seeing ghosts in the house, because she fears for her daughter, Angelica.
Is there really a ghost, or this past coming back to haunt the Bartons? And what is Angelica really in danger of?
It’s not as suspenseful as i More...
The premise is this: Mrs. Barton is one of those nutty, hysterical 19th century Enlgishwomen. Her husband (who it is stressed is half Italian, so not all Enlgishy) is insensitive to her condition. Mrs. Barton hires a sort of seer after seeing ghosts in the house, because she fears for her daughter, Angelica.
Is there really a ghost, or this past coming back to haunt the Bartons? And what is Angelica really in danger of?
It’s not as suspenseful as i More...
Aug 10, 2009
I can't keep reading this book. I'm about 100 pages in out of 350 or so and I just don't like it. It is a ghost story that is supposed to be told from 4 different points of view. I'm most of the way through the mother's point of view (this is the first and longest POV) and I am just bored to death and more importantly, I don't care at all. I picked this book up because it was recommended by Stephen King in an EW article but I don't think I can finish. I tried to pause this book for a while and
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Jul 17, 2009
Robyn
rated it:
As Randy Jackson would say, "This one was just okay for me, Dawg." The book jacket's promise of a Victorian ghost story had me intrigued, but as I continued through the story, I kept waiting for something more to happen and it never really did. Part one is written from the point of view of Constance, the mother. This section was interesting. Where it lost me as an interested reader was in parts two and three where the story is told again and then yet again from the point of views o
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Dec 14, 2010
Legsoffury
rated it:
I listened to this as a book on cassette. My disclaimer to the readers of this review is that the annoying voice of the narrator on the cassette tapes may have effected my judgment of the book.
This was agony to get through. I appreciated the unique viewpoints but all of the characters were deplorable. I simply could not get "into" it without a single likable character. It's not just that they were not likable, I really tried to like them, and ended up detesting them all. More...
This was agony to get through. I appreciated the unique viewpoints but all of the characters were deplorable. I simply could not get "into" it without a single likable character. It's not just that they were not likable, I really tried to like them, and ended up detesting them all. More...
May 31, 2011
Ruthiella
rated it:
“Angelica” begins as a Victorian ghost story and ends as a psychological novel. In a manner similar to “The Instance of the Fingerpost”, the story is told and retold first from the view of the hysterical, haunted mother, then the charlatan spiritualist and finally the cold, domineering father, manipulating the readers’ perspective, fears and sympathies each time. The final entry is sure to frustrate some readers and please others. Like in “The Egyptologist, Phillips plays with truth and percepti
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Jan 30, 2010
Elaine
rated it:
A very interesting approach to a novel. The story is of a failing 1880's marriage, told from 4 different points of view. The first point of view is the wife's and it becomes very apparent that she is mentally having issues, maybe from the pregnancy? The second point of view is of the mystical fortune teller, brought in to dispel the ghosts that the wife is seeing. The third part of the book is told from the husband's point of view and explains many of the thoughts and ideas that the wife is
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Jun 27, 2009
Cheryl
rated it:
This book was terrible. It struggled through every page and sometimes had a hard time staying awake. Angelica is a advertised to be a ghost story, family tragedy, and mystery rolled up into one. The same set of events told from four different characters. Sounds promising right? It was terrible. There is no actual ghost story, and what family tragedy? Even after finishing I cannot figure out what actually happened. Maybe I am simply not intelligent enough to have understood the story, but I did h
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Oct 20, 2010
Ann
rated it:
Angelica is a Victorian ghost story with some very dark disturbing psychological themes.
The title character is a little girl who seems to be the focus of hauntings by an evil entity who wishes to harm her and take her innocence.
The hauntings are tied to the conjugal relationship of her parents; the overwrought emotions of her mother and the suppressed emotions and urges of her father.
Narrated in turn by four of the key characters at the center of the hauntings, the More...
The title character is a little girl who seems to be the focus of hauntings by an evil entity who wishes to harm her and take her innocence.
The hauntings are tied to the conjugal relationship of her parents; the overwrought emotions of her mother and the suppressed emotions and urges of her father.
Narrated in turn by four of the key characters at the center of the hauntings, the More...
May 12, 2009
tom
rated it:
Wow. I heard about this book through Border's website. They had a shortlist of 5 books recommended by Stephen King (one of my favorite authors). The first book of his 5 was Angelica. I've never read any of Arthur Phillips books before, but the description made it sound interesting. So I picked it up.
How to review without spoiling it...Not your every day ghost story. In fact, maybe not a ghost story at all. The book sets itself up nicely to have you guessing and second-guessing at eve More...
How to review without spoiling it...Not your every day ghost story. In fact, maybe not a ghost story at all. The book sets itself up nicely to have you guessing and second-guessing at eve More...
Sep 27, 2011
Sarah
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Feb 23, 2010
Laura
rated it:
Written in densely metaphorical language, Angelica is about marriage, families, abuse, ghosts, and a thousand other things that somehow manage to not crowd the plot too much. This is because the plot revolves around attempting to reconstruct what happened to a family during a certain few days which change them all forever. Looking back from a great distance, the narrator is a family member attempting to make sense of what happened, despite not being in possession of all the facts.
F More...
F More...
Aug 03, 2009
Madame Charlotte
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[Read this review in English]
Aaaahh ! Je suis encore toute pantelante quand je repense à ce roman achevé cette nuit seulement. Le résumé est excellent, il en dit juste assez mais ne dévoile rien, tout en restant honnête. Les amateurs du Tour d'écrou d'Henry James ne pourront que se pâmer, car Arthur Phillips, auteur inconnu à mon bataillon, signe là une pure merveille psychologique qui en a bien des aspects. Le livre se découpe en quatre chapitres, de longueur inégale, consacré More...
Aaaahh ! Je suis encore toute pantelante quand je repense à ce roman achevé cette nuit seulement. Le résumé est excellent, il en dit juste assez mais ne dévoile rien, tout en restant honnête. Les amateurs du Tour d'écrou d'Henry James ne pourront que se pâmer, car Arthur Phillips, auteur inconnu à mon bataillon, signe là une pure merveille psychologique qui en a bien des aspects. Le livre se découpe en quatre chapitres, de longueur inégale, consacré More...
Jan 01, 2010
Nate
rated it:
Oh Arthur Phillips, you are so frequently interesting, so infrequently engaging. Your characters are almost never likeable and your plotlines, even when steeped in the Victorian gothic as here, seem never to develop momentum or tension. I want to work with you on this, I really do, as both Prague and especially The Egyptologist show promise, and had potentially gripping motifs, but it is just not working this time. Sorry.
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Alright, I persevered. I think a big part of the More...
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Alright, I persevered. I think a big part of the More...
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Apr 23, 2008
Alisa
rated it:
To continue the single sentence theme, for Angelica it has to be the bit between Constance and her husband, the (confirmed) creepy vivisectionist and (possible) child rapist, war criminal, and poltergeist, when she asks him what will happen when science has cured all disease and made the whole of humanity perfectly healthy—won’t there just be new diseases, then? And he laughs at her. Silly woman.
A sort of Rashomon of haunting, Angelica re-tells the same events (a blue demon in the sh More...
A sort of Rashomon of haunting, Angelica re-tells the same events (a blue demon in the sh More...
Jun 09, 2010
Rachel
rated it:
I believe I've now read everything Phillips has written, so I feel qualified to judge appropriately. I enjoyed Angelica, but in a very different way than his other novels. My favorite of his works still remains The Song Is You, and this book didn't really come close to that one in terms of readability or pathos. But it was very well written, well crafted I guess would be the phrase I would use. However, like his book The Egyptologist, it felt a bit gimicky. I guess I'm just not sure if Phillips
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Feb 12, 2008
Nancy
rated it:
I really hate saying this because I don't think it's fair to make comparisons between the different works of one author, but after The Egyptologist and Prague, this one was a bit of a letdown. Even though it's true that it has all of the hallmarks of Phillips' writing (uncertainty of memory, unreliable narrators views, truth as an elusive entity), all of which put together become the basis for my favorite novels, this one just didn't deliver as did the other two.
It is and isn't a gho More...
It is and isn't a gho More...
Jul 21, 2007
Jack
rated it:
Arthur Phillips’ Angelica, a cerebral tale of haunting in a Victorian era London family’s home, strives to be a mystery and a ghost story cloaked in the trappings of a literary novel. To some degree it succeeds. Like Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece Japanese film Rashomon, Phillips’ tale plays out differently as each of three different characters relates it from his or her perspective. The truth of the haunting – is it real, imagined or something even more sinister – gradually begins to unfo
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