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Feb 11, 2012

Tatiana rated it:

Looking back at The Little Stranger, I think I quite liked the novel as a whole, especially the ending that wrapped up the tale in a curious and deliciously ambiguous and enigmatic way.

This sort-of-ghost-story is an interesting portrayal of the downfall of an aristocratic family in post-war Britain and a deep exploration of what it means (psychologically) for such a family to witness a slow dilapidation of its once grand estate.

Sarah Waters's writing is elegant and her desc More...

17 comments like (11 people liked it)

Oct 31, 2011

Margaret rated it:

Departing from her preferred 19th century context, as she did in her last book The Night Watch, Sarah Waters sets her latest novel in post-World War II Warwickshire and tries her hand at an Old Dark House, Haunted-Or-Is-It story in the Jamesian tradition of subtle, ambiguous psychological chillers (The Turn of the Screw, The Beast In the Jungle. But while James intuitively understood that the atmosphere of such tales depends on sustaining the unsettling mood, and so they’re best realized – and More...

11 comments like (15 people liked it)

Oct 04, 2011

Amanda rated it:

I was too busy wanting this book to be something that it wasn't, that when I realized my frustration at the narrator was Water's intent and plot strategy, I couldn't get passed my disappointment to fully enjoy what she created.

I have read similar books, which I won't mention here for fear of ruining them with the comparison, but this too may have played into my reading/opinion/frustration at The Little Stranger.

I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend this book, but if you More...

2 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jul 28, 2011

Jo rated it:

This review is going to be like one of those fridge poetry thingymabobs because I'm tired and coherency isn't a top priority of mine right now.
Here are some words and phrases that came to my mind after finishing this book, in no particular order.

Atmospheric | Subtle| DON'T LOOK THROUGH THE KEYHOLE! | Observations are almost clinical at points | Man, I need to read more of Sarah Waters' books | Passionate | Perfectly paced | Holy twisteroo, Batman | WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?! | Don't More...

14 comments like (15 people liked it)

May 22, 2009

Laura rated it:

If you are looking for a traditional horror novel, you won't find it in
The Little Stranger. This book is not a variant on The Shining that just happens to be set in post-WWII Britain: it is essentially historical fiction that happens to have a touch of the supernatural about it. And as historical fiction it is excellent. Sarah Waters evokes the atmosphere not only of another time (1947) but, for Americans at least, another place as well because in many ways The Little Stranger is a very " More...

9 comments like (46 people liked it)

Mar 27, 2011

Manussawee rated it:

I was really hoping to like this book more, but I was left a little unsatisfied and disappointed.

The book told a story of a country doctor, Dr Faraday, who became involved in affairs of an old English family, the Ayres. Faraday had known the family since he was a boy through his mother who used to work for the family. The house, Hundreds Hall, had made a strong impression with Faraday even as a young boy. His feelings were rekindled when he was given the opportunity to visit the Hal More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Nov 22, 2010

Mike rated it:

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2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Apr 21, 2010

Cynthia rated it:

I love ghost stories and this was a luscious one. Set in the 1940’s right after the war a young WREN comes back to the family manor house after her RAF brother gets badly burned and her mother needs help with his care and care of the quickly dilapidating house. They’ve even had to sell some of the vast land to stay solvent. Things for the gentry are changing quickly. They only have two servants left and the youngest one, a girl just into her teens, gets ill they call a doctor who has just ar More...

7 comments like (9 people liked it)

Oct 22, 2009

Bettie rated it:

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27 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 01, 2010

Melinda rated it:

If you're not afraid of things that go bump in the night this psychological thriller is for you. Taking place just after WWW2, The Little Stranger tells the story of Hundreds Hall, a once grand estate and its owners the Ayers family. Dr. Farrady, whose mother once served as a maid at the manor, is called to look in on a sick servant. He is shocked by the condition of the house and its occupants. Soon their lives intertwine ...

Waters takes her time developing the rich storyline an More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 31, 2010

Laurel rated it:

I have been wanting to read something by Sarah Waters for awhile now, and chose this book primarily because it was one of only 2 available by her on Audible.com. I love stories where the house becomes a character in and of itself. What I don't tend to like, though, is when said house appears to be haunted. Creepy stories ... well... they totally creep me out. :) But this book is not your average ghost story. In fact, we are not even sure IF it is a ghost story, all the way to the end. The ee More...

17 comments like (7 people liked it)

Feb 19, 2011

Jen rated it:

I read other reviews that praised the depth of the characters, but I never felt engaged enough to agree. The premise was good, the details were lovely, but the story itself didn't seem fully realized and I didn't miss the characters when I closed the book. A decent read.

0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Nov 02, 2009

Diana rated it:

I was quite torn about how to rate this book and went between 2 and 3 stars. I love most of Waters' books. I loved Tipping the Velvet and Affinity was a great ghost story, but this book was like her other book Night Watch-long, drawn-out and left me wondering what the point was. Faraday, the main character is not really likeable-but that being said, neither are any of the other characters. The book ends with no real wrapping up of any details-though you are left with this feeling that the au More...

21 comments like (20 people liked it)

Mar 22, 2011

Paul rated it:

I have finished The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. I considered giving it a wide variety of ratings(2,3 or 4),but in the end I will give it 4 stars. It was incredibly well written. The subtlety of her writing and the depth of the characters were wonderful. Makes me think how different it is to read this kind of book, rather than a fluffy romance novel. I am struggling to deside if I would rate it higher than Wolf Hall(for a book group). I'm affaid if I don't, it's just because I didn't like th More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 06, 2010

Nicola rated it:

This book was really great! I chose to read it after seeing it on the TV book club and I am really glad I did. It is one of the best written books I have read in a while and the story is clever and compelling. The characters are well developed and I can see why the TV book club chose this book because it opens up theories and themes that would be great to discuss.

The story is essentially a ghost story set at Hundreds hall following the story of the Ayres family as their home and soc More...

3 comments like (6 people liked it)

Apr 30, 2009

William rated it:

One of the more enjoyable aspects of Sarah Waters' slow paced (occasionally excruciatingly so) ghost novel, "The Little Stranger," is how subtle and contemplative its frights are, rather than being necessarily immediate or shocking. The ending is cleverly done – and softly done – so much so that to hint at it might ruin the question Waters finally poses; a frustrating notion since the slower tone and pace of the novel, combined with readers' preexisting expectations for what makes a g More...

0 comments like (15 people liked it)

Jul 09, 2010

Kathy rated it:

I'm rather torn between a 3 and a 4, would like a 3 1/2 choice. I liked the book, but I felt that the potential was there for more than I got. I enjoy gothic novels, but this gothic-like one inspired more hopelessness than ghoulishness. I think in the end I just felt let down. Dr. Faraday, the narrator of the story and one of its main characters, seemed a little flat, underdeveloped, always leaving too much guessing about his essence. The characters seemed caught in a paralysis of inaction m More...

4 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 13, 2011

Blair rated it:

I don't know why I didn't write a review of this when I read it, presumably because I didn't have time - I'll have to rectify this at some point, but would have to read the book in full again in order to do it justice. I can say that I thought it was absolutely wonderful - an automatic addition to my all-time favourites list; I'd give it six stars if I could. It seems to have divided opinion amongst other readers, and I'd love to say I understand why, but actually I don't. In my eyes The Little More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 30, 2010

Katie rated it:

A local doctor makes a house-call to the estate where his mother used to work as a maid. The mansion has fallen on hard times, its owners become eccentric under the strain of poor finances and past tragedy. Oh, and maybe they're being haunted.

If someone had told me the end of this book ahead of time, I might never have read it because it is the kind of finish I normally detest. But Waters has such a deft hand that, like fellow Brits Ishiguro and McEwan, she makes what might easil More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 30, 2009

Lori rated it:

The ending of this book is so subtle and so...open to interpretation, that I feel as though I might be getting it wrong. I hope I'm not. There's a sort of _Turning of the Screw_ element to this ghost story (Is there a ghost or isn't there? Whose point of view can you trust?) that might not be pleasing to some readers. The whole novel is a rather slow build. But if you can hang on by finding the characters interesting, you'll be rewarded with a startling sort of gothic tale. My heart was pounding More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

May 25, 2010

Hannah rated it:

The Little Stranger is a hard book to peg down. Part ghost story, part psychological study, part post-WWII British history lesson, it incompasses all of these attributes, yet can't fully be classified as any of them.

Slow moving at times, chilling in small snippets, I never quite felt the story got off the ground. It felt as though the potential was there for a tremendous novel, but all the parts didn't "click", IMO.

Not a waste of reading time (hence the 3 stars More...

4 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 26, 2012

Jim rated it:

Really enjoyed it. This reading is whatever you want it to be, I kept looking at whether it was a romance, a horror story with demented spirits, a good old fashioned mystery, or a family attacked and victims of the passing of time. The narrator kept you off balance to, not intentionally because he was trying to do good but his roots caused him problems and his wants and needs are woven throughout the writing. This is one of those can't put down books. One is left with lots of thoughts, I sti More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 17, 2009

Emily rated it:

Awesome ghost story in a rundown English house just after wwii.

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Aug 02, 2011

Janet added it

In 1919 when Doctor Faraday is ten years old, he attends a fête in the grounds of Hundreds Hall, a large Georgian house in Warwickshire. His mother was a nursery maid there and still knows some of the staff, so she takes her son into the kitchen to visit them. One of the parlour maids takes him upstairs with her whilst on an errand and he picks off a plaster acorn with a penknife because he is so attracted to it, but his mother is horrified when she finds it later and puts it on the fire.

Late More...

0 comments like

Aug 02, 2011

JChipol added it

I have enjoyed all of Sarah Water’s novels so far, and she is fast becoming one of my favourite writers. ‘The Little Stranger’, though very different to her other books, is still an exceptional read. One of the more enjoyable aspects of Sarah Waters' slow paced ‘ghost novel’ is how subtle and contemplative it is, rather than being shocking or 'supernaturally unbelievable'.

I can imagine this novel being filmed in the same style and pace as Alejandro Amenábar’s film, ‘The Others’. There is also More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 20, 2010

Joyce rated it:

I bought The Little Stranger because I think Sarah Waters is an accomplished writer, not because I knew anything about the story. Particularly after reading The Night Watch, I felt that anything she wrote was well worth reading.[return][return]Waters is a mature writer, a master of language, and someone who uses detail superbly in creating a mood. She has been compared to Dickens in this respect; actually, I think she s better because Dickens, after all, was paid by the word, modern writers a More...

0 comments like

Mar 05, 2010

Sara added it

In her new book The Little Stranger, award-winning author Sarah Waters (Fingersmith; The Night Watch) spins an unsettling tale of class struggle, sexual repression, and other ghosts that haunt a declining manor home. The year is 1949, and Dr. Faraday is an unassuming English country doctor who becomes entranced by the once-wealthy Ayres family living in Hundreds Hall. Faraday is ashamed of his working-class background, and he insinuates himself into the world of the elderly Mrs. Ayers and her tw More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 17, 2012

Jana rated it:

With "The Little Stranger" author Sarah Waters departs from the settings, characters and style of her first three historical novels, "Tipping the Velvet," "Affinity," and "Fingersmith," all set in Victorian England. Nor is this book like her more recent "The Night Watch," a sensitive and passionate love story set in wartime England. "The Little Stranger" is a sinister, Hitchcockian-like tale of a haunted house, ghosts and madness. It pr More...

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Jan 13, 2012

Fiona rated it:

I found this book unsatisfying.

Partly this was good, in a Turn of the Screw ghost story kind of way - I thought while it was a moderately good ghost story, it was an altogether good tale, although the ghost elements seemed to be picked up and dropped very quickly: "A bad thing happened. And then another, unrelated bad thing happened. And then another, unrelated bad thing happened. Repeat ad infintem."

Partly, my problem with this book was the same problem I had wi More...

0 comments like

Jan 12, 2012

Karen rated it:

If you love Shirley Jackson (The Haunting of Hill House, We Have Always Lived in the Castle), please read this. Here it is:

After the end of the second World War, a remote English country house called Hundreds is falling to pieces around the Ayres family. A country doctor is called out to see to the ailing maid. He acquaints himself with the elderly Mrs. Ayres and her daughter Caroline, begins to treat her son Roderick for a war injury, and slowly becomes a fixture. After a while, s More...

0 comments like