The Little Stranger

When I read - somewhere- that this book was compared to Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House" I just knew I had to read it! For those of you who saw the movie ever so many years ago you will remember that it was the house that was haunted - and not so much the people. A strange tale, indeed. "The Little Stranger" is not -- well, not as "strange" as "Hill House" - at least not in quite the same way. It is a tale that comes across as being much more plausible. It is an intriguing tale of an English manor home fallen upon hard times and the high-society folks who live within its walls. It is a story of strange happenings within the walls, of a proud family struggling to keep their heads above water after the war and the kindness of the local country doctor who befriends them and is ultimately drawn into all of the mysterious happenings. Right from the first page the author begins to establish a sense of time and place - characters that are so well fleshed out you easily envision each one. The writing flows so well and is so entriguing you find yourself quickly reading on to learn more and more. By the end of the book you feel as though the characters are your own neighbors and forelorn friends. The "haunting" aspect of the story is quite subtle -- just the way I like it. Written for "thinking adults" and not necessarily those who want to be left shaking in their boots with fear as they turn each page, you are made to think about what is going on - left to puzzle out the strangeness of what occurs - just as the characters are doing. I can still envision the manor home, the class differences in society, and I still feel the emotions of each person involved. The strangeness of what occurs gives you an uneasy feeling - a touch of fear - a sense of foreboding. I felt that weird type of fear that leaves you wanting a bit more of it - the puzzlement of what is actually going on in that home. To say much more will give away too much of the plot but just let me say this: the ending will forever haunt you -- it will leave you wondering and thinking about every little detail that transpired between the covers of this book. I will definitely wait about a month and then re-read this one! It is that well crafted - it is that good. My friends who have read this book each have a different conclusion about the end -- it is definitely a book for those who "think". If I could give this book a million "stars" for pleasure I certainly would. I highly recommend reading this tale of a very, very strange haunting and hope that the author crafts another equally brilliant - soon.

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, "The Little Stranger" accrued positive reception from critics when it was released in May of 2009 - quotes ranged from describing it as "deliciously creepy" to "a terrific, chilling read you can get lost in". Even Stephen King weighed in, saying "several sleepless nights are guaranteed". If by "sleepless nights" King meant the scares it offers will keep a reader awake most of the night in a state of nervous tension, he is wrong. Though it is an interesting and elegantly told story about the possibility (not confirmation) of a malevolent spirit causing a family distress, it does not come close to the disturbing depictions and scenarios a horror novel offers (especially his). The "scares" contained herein are of an insidious nature- what the reader is offered instead of aggressive and demonic aura is a slow and delicious build, a grand tease, the reader strung along to the very end. So if by "sleepless nights" King meant that the story hooks a reader with such urgency that sleep is sacrificed to finish that paragraph, that chapter (and chapters are LONG, averaging about 30 pages each) or perhaps the entire book, then he is not far off the mark. British author Sarah Waters (Tipping The Velvet) brings things full circle for the character of Dr. Faraday, the voice of the book. Though never having lived within the walls of Hundreds Hall, an 18th century Georgian estate in his hometown of Warwickshire, Faraday has a long and curious history with the house, beginning when he is 10 years old. Returning 30 years later on a call to examine a young housemaid, he is disheartened by Hundreds's fall into disrepair and his once innocent fascination with the place begins to border on obsession, Faraday becoming an integral part of a strange and tragic history for the Ayres family. It is through his eyes that we see Hundreds' distraught occupants. There is Angela Ayres, the matriarch, described as lovely and old-fashioned; Roderick, her son and a war veteran who has returned from combat, his psychological scars more prominent than the physical; and Caroline, her 27-year old daughter who cares nothing of her spinster status and runs free and barefoot about the property like a tomboy, her dog Gyp two steps behind. Faraday awkwardly falls into their lives and once he bridges the gap from family physician to family friend and begins courting Caroline, he is without escape from the "taint" of which both the Ayres children are convinced has taken hold of the family. Before I started reading "The Little Stranger", I went to Amazon.com's product page and took a brief glimpse of its customer reviews. The average review was 3.5 stars (out of a possible 5), a substandard score that suggested that many people who read it found that it didn't meet their expectations. I went into this novel expecting what most people did: a ghost story, a narrative that focused on a frightening haunt. What I got instead was something literary rather than plot-driven, an examination on the effects of modernization (Waters never intended to write a ghost story; she was exploring "the rise of socialism in the UK and how the fading gentry dealt with losing their legacies"), familial hardship and tragedy, and possibly the author's supposition on where the paranormal comes from through a theory offered by a character named Seeley. The book is best read at long stretches - those who drift in and out frequently due to lack of time will become disinterested quickly due to Waters's painstaking build (it takes over 100 pages before anything untoward happens at Hundreds). Characters are irksome - Caroline bothered me at times, her emotional restraint bordering on detachment and frigidity. I began to wish as much as Faraday did that she would just let go and let herself be loved by him and I became as frustrated with her as he did when his gentle advances were rebuffed time and time again. But Faraday is transparent - Caroline's insinuation that he wants a marriage in order to possess the house isn't just paranoid accusation and in the end he gets what he subconsciously longed for at great price. Nonetheless, Waters is a masterful storyteller and it is because of her capabilities as both a raconteur and an astute craftswoman of prose that I award her book a 4-star rating. If not for my diminished expectation of plot and the deliberate pace, it would've had 5. Bottom line: Do not go into "The Little Stranger" thinking you will get a straightforward story about frightening apparitions and disembodied voices, the kinds of in-your-face scares that most people look for this time of year. This is, much like Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House" before it, a tale of psychological terror, one that picks away slowly and agonizingly at the sanity of its characters. Waters will pick at your imagination, stealing it well into the wee hours that you'll be reading.

Capturing

The Ayres family - Mother and two adult children - live in Hundreds Hall in the years following WW2. Struggiling to make ends meet, son of the house Roderick, a scarred war hero, runs the farm and what remains of the estate while his plain but plucky sister Caroline sees to the day to day running of the large property. Into their lives comes Dr Faraday, firstly treating new 'maid-of-all-work' Betty for a made-up stomach complaint caused more by the 14 year olds lonliness in being away from home. Dr Faraday offers to try new treatment on the leg injury sustained by Rod and before long he is a regular visitor at the former grand house, taking tea with the family and attending drinks parties. But something is not right at Hundreds Hall. Roderick begins to act strangely and when a fire breaks out in his room, Dr Faraday hears his confession of seeing objects move of their own accord and doors being opened that were securely shut. With the gloomy atmosphere of the house - much of which is unused - and the pressure of trying to maintain it clearly weighing on the young mans mind, Faraday persaudes him to go into a private clinic for treatment of what he believes is clearly a mental breakdown. With Roderick away, Caroline and the doctor become more friendly and before long romance between the almost 40 year old GP and the daughter of the big house is clear for all to see. But to the doctors dismay, Caroline is now reporting strange events similar to those her brother witnessed. When Betty the maid and daily woman Mrs Beasley also begin reporting things, Dr Faraday tries to convince them that the condition of the house and the old electrical wiring system is most probably the cause of all the strange happenings. But an increasingly highly strung Caroline is not convinced and when her Mother is subject to a chilling incident in the former nursery rooms, she tells the doctor that she believed Roderick, from his clinic, is somehow projecting a part of himself and 'haunting' the property. As Dr Faraday struggles to convince Caroline that there is nothing supernatural occuring, tragedy strikes again at Hundreds Hall, and before long the Doctor finds himself desperately trying to save Caroline from what appears to be an increasingly fragile and nervous mental condition. But IS it just the creakings and groanings of an old house and the overactive imaginations of a closeted well-bred family - or is there some sort of evil spirit determined to get the Ayres family out of Hundreds? Well written, genuinely creepy and with characters the reader can picture and care about 'The Little Stranger' is a page turning ideal for a long, dark winter night......

Brought this on vacation and I loved it. It was slow moving but so creepy.

Sarah Waters écrit excellemment bien (j'en étais déjà convaincu après avoir lu 'The Paying Guests') et quelques lignes suffisent à plonger le lecteur dans son univers. Dans le cas présent, l'action se situe dans les années d'après-guerre et l'on suit la lente descente aux Enfers de la famille Ayres, la mère et ses deux enfants - des aristocrates désargentés qui vivent dans leur manoir isolé de Hundreds. Comme si les difficultés financières ne suffisaient pas à leur malheur, des phénomènes étranges et inquiétants se produisent soudain dans l'ancestrale demeure. Interventions surnaturelles ou folie de ses habitants?... Quoiqu'il en soit, le roman ménage de jolis frissons pour le lecteur. Le surnaturel est traité avec sobriété, à l'instar des classiques, ce qui le rend d'autant plus percutant. J'ai été captivé par le récit de bout en bout et par tous ses aspects: faillite financière de l'aristocratie, histoire de fantôme, petite romance entre la fille et le docteur Faraday (le narrateur). Un grand roman et très bien écrit.

Loved it. I didn't know what to expect but was gripped by the story. A very different book to what I normally read. It's a kind of ghost story but then you don't know if there really are ghosts... Brilliant.