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Jennifer
read and liked
Hev's
review of The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
I HAVE ALSO BEEN INFORMED THAT THIS REVIEW HAS SPOILERS IN I...more
MY REVIEWS ARE NOT LIKE MOST PEOPLE'S REVIEWS. I STATE THINGS AS I READ THEM & AS I SEE THEM. YOU CAN HAVE YOUR OPINION, JUST DON'T EXPECT ME TO SHARE IT OR CHANGE MY OPINION.
I HAVE ALSO BEEN INFORMED THAT THIS REVIEW HAS SPOILERS IN IT. I GUESS PEOPLE DON'T READ BOOKS JUST FOR THE ENJOYMENT OF READING ANYMORE. THAT IS TO THEIR DISAPPOINTMENT.
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield was, for a lack of a better word, an interesting book. Just when you think you have everything figured out and Mrs. Setterfield can not surprise you anymore, she pulls another surprise out of her hat. Which that was a surprise in itself. Rarely do I find a book that can leave me guessing and have to actually tell me what happens before I figure things out for myself. I never figure out that there was a cousin until Mrs. Setterfield inform me of such. That blew my mind, it had been three years since I had a book that did that to me. Trust me, it is a welcome respite from always figuring out the books plots and who-done-it before the author tells the reader who did it. I am so glad that Michelle made us read this book (yes, I said made us read), cause if I went off of what the back cover said I never would have read it. The back does not do justice to the book. It doesn't even come close to summerizing what the book is about. Personally, I think Mrs. Setterfield needs to re-do the back cover and re-publish the book. I think it would hit all the best seller lists then instead of just the New York Times Best seller list.
Before I delve into my review and the characters I would like to explain how and why I came to some of my conclusions. First off, when it came to the twins, Adeline & Emmeline. I understand the language that they spoke completely. Being a twin, I grew up knowing the language. Personally, I feel that the twins had a form of autism and that their twin language was how they communicated with themselves. But at the time of the story autism was not thought of yet. So when the governess and the doctor separated the twins, they caused a downward spiral that Adeline & Emmeline could not recover. The ghost that the governess was seeing was, of course, Vida. Vida was the only reason that Emmeline didn't react like Adeline. Vida understood the twin talk because she had spent her entire life with the twins. Most people if they would just stop & listen to the twins would understand their language, but they don't listen. My mother quickly understood my twin language cause at first that was all I would speak. With an autisic child it is best to try and keep everything the same; same house, same routine, same people, etc. I have seen this work with autistic children so I know that it works. As for the loss that Margaret Lea felt growing up for the loss of her siamese twin, I do understand the loss of a twin feeling. I wasn't a siamese twin but my twin was lost before we were born. So I do understand the feeling of growing up feeling like there is supposed to be someone else there.
As for the two grand estates that the story takes place in. I believe that this is because Emmeline was use to living in a manor estate (see above paragraph) and for Emmeline to remain comfortable Vida knew that she would have to have an estate similar to Angelfield. If you will remember Miss Lea's first trip to the estate and Vida's description of Angelfield you will realize that they both sound similar in a sense. To a autistic person they would be similar enough to help the person stay calm. Also the twins were used to this lifestyle and people would talk if they lived any other way.
Both Miss Lea & Miss Winter shared a few things in common with each other. Though if I understood the book correctly Miss Winter was not actually a twin. She was the child of Charlie's rape on Sybilla March *page 71* (Ms. Setterfield leads us to assume it was Miss March who was raped) and then was abadoned on Angelfield. We learned this on page 357 & page 400. So Miss Lea & Miss Winter do not share the reporte of being twins. But they do share the love of books & Jane Austin.
Mrs. Lea was in a major depression over the loss of her child. In my opinion, Mrs. Lea blamed Margaret for the loss of the twin. Where is Margaret understood why her twin was lost, but she still felt the loss of that twin. Since they were siamese twins then I imagine Miss Lea felt a bigger loss then a normal separated twin. No one actually understands the relationship between twins, though scientists have tried to understand it. I doubt if anyone will ever under the connections between twins. If Miss Lea's parents had told her about her sister then she might have been able to deal with her feelings of loss a little easier. But then if Miss Lea's mother didn't blameher for the loss it would have helped also.
The book revolved completely around books & libraries. To me this is just Ms. Setterfield's way of telling her readers that there is stories within stories within stories. Within this book there are so many different storylines you almost have to be careful to make sure that you are switching story lines with the author. Personally, I counted about five different story lines in this book, but those were just the ones that I counted. That does not mean that Ms. Setterfield finished all those story lines.
To some people thing that The Thirteenth Tale is a classic, gothic novel but in my opinion I would classify this book as an adult fiction book. I found this book in the young adult section of my book store and after reading it I can not see how some young adults would understand it. This book is not a ghost story, it lacks all the necessary requirements for a ghost tale. There is no ghost in the story. Yes, there is the thought of a ghost, but it isn't a ghost. If you will think about each time that the supposed "ghost" was seen it was written in such a way that you automatically thought it was a person not a ghost. To me, in order, for a tale to be considered a ghost tale it has to have a scary part and ghosts. Well, this book really didn't have either of those parts so to me it did not classify as a classic gothic novel.
When you read the book you should notice that as Miss Winter tells her story she changes the point of view from third to first person, from "they" to "we" to "I". To me Miss Winter did this in order to see if Miss Lea would catch on and figure out about the third child. When I read about the "other presence" in the rooms and the girl that was playing with Emmeline in the fields that told me that there was another child.
When you read the book, you will notice that all through the times when Miss Winter is telling her story to Miss Lea that there is mysteries within mysteries. One of those is Miss Winter herself. She was abadoned on the ground of Angelfield as a child and found by John. The only people who knew about her were John, Missus, Adeline, & Emmeline. Personally, I first suspected a third child when Charlie turned to Sybil March on page 71. Then when I read that the governess saw Emmeline playing in the field with Adeline and then the governess found out that Adeline was at the doctors house for the whole afternoon. That told me that there was another child. Also that would explain why Emmeline was able to handle the separation from Adeline and why Adeline couldn't handle the separation from Emmeline.
I remember in the book that Miss Lae telling Mr. Love that Mrs. Lea preferred telling "weightless" stories in place of heavy ones and that sometimes it's better "not to know". When I read this I had a major problem with this. My parents believed in telling me the truth of the matter even if the truth was not good. Even though the truth was not always good or easy to bear I always knew what was going to happen and I was never shocked or surprised when something happened. I am not a believer in not telling children the truth. I have found that most children can handle the truth as long as it is explain to them in a language that they can understand.
To me the first book that Miss Winter wrote, Thirteen Tales of Change & Desperation,was her way of trying to tell her personal story. The last tale would have been her personal story of how she was born. You found out about that on page 400. Though the tale was never finished because Miss Winter's life revolved around taking the place of one of the twins. She never really had a ife of her own.
Another thing that I noticed about this book was that Ms. Setterfield never gives a time frame for when this tale takes place. She gives you hints and such, but never an exact date. Personally, I believe that this tale took place around the 1920's or the 1930's. I get this from the language that Ms. Setterfield used, the transportation, and the styling of clothing that was described in the book. Plus with the language used to describe the houses tells me that it is not a modern time. But this is just my opinion.
In conclusion, The Thirteenth Tale is a very interesting book, that will take you on a spinning twisting tale. I would recommend this book for any adult that was wanting a book to read that they could get lost in. Personally, I had a hard time putting it done every night to go to sleep. I throughly enjoyed this book. I didn't figure out all the mysteries until the very end, which for me is highly unusual. I normally read mystery & thrillers, and even those books I figure out the plot before the author tells the reader. With The Thirteenth Tale I only figured out one of the plots, the third child, and I had to be told the other ones. So in that sense it was a wonderful book.(less)
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