The Woman in Black

Final thoughts from my notes:

- The ending literally made me gasp
- After leaving the Eel Marsh House the first time, I found myself dragging myself through the book
- It's chilling and unsettling
- Although the ending was predictable and I saw it coming a mile away — the way it was told and excuted was incredible. The ending sucks you in and spits you out with an abrupt ending making it a fitting end for this book
- The ending was so good that it bumped my rating from a 3.5 to a 4. Though I liked the writing, I wasn't sure if I could see myself reading this again but the way it ended just tied up the story so well and devastatingly that I could see myself reading this again during Halloween time.
- The writing was incredible. After only a few pages in, I already wanted to read more of her work.
- Definitely a must read for writers

An engaging, creepy read that really helped me set a tone for this year's spooky season! It maintains a sort of low level, constant eeriness without ever going over the top, but also without ever spiraling downward into dullness. That's a tricky thing to get right and I found the balancing act on display here to be really impressive! A smidge more action might've been an improvement, but it may also have cheapened things? I really came away from this one respecting the author's restraint. And there's no denying that when the story finally does show some teeth it's done so to great effect.

I'm gonna have to dig up the original film adaptation soon! It looks good. Maybe do a double feature with the Daniel Radcliffe version? I remember nothing about that movie other than that I thought it was surprisingly solid.

This is one of those times where a story is so tropey that it's formulaic, but where the author unabashedly and completely leans into the trope as to make it pretty enjoyable to read.

The premise of this book is oddly similar to that of Bram Stoker's Dracula. A young, upcoming, and betrothed lawyer is sent to a remote estate to take care of a client's paperwork. He first meets townspeople who seem positively traumatised by the said estate and whatever lurks those grounds, but who all remain maddeningly reticent and silent, and simply just give him furtive scared looks and ominous cryptic hints. Lawyer has to hole himself up in the said estate to complete his work, and you probably can fill in the rest.

But whereas in Dracula there is an active malevolence that dogs the steps of Jonathan Harker, in The Woman In Black, the evil is a bit more passive. We get the sense that Arthur Kipps had simply stumbled into the wrong place at the wrong time. Arthur meanwhile constantly swings between being balls-of-steel fearless and scared shit senseless, all of which simply serves to place him in situations to experience the ghostliness of the story. The beginning of this book was also a little messy and confusing, where we are first introduced to Arthur Kipps at different ages all at once, but certainly gets better once the storytelling becomes more linear. The plot is fairly predictable throughout and doesn't serve up any mind-bending twists, but even when you see it coming, it's still executed pretty well and makes a pretty enjoyable read.

When you can see most of the plot points coming, it does take something away from the horror aspect of it. This book makes for a great verbal ghost story, and I can even see why it makes for excellent material for adaptation into the mediums of film and theatre, so it's a bit odd that in its original textual medium it falls a bit flat. I never really felt properly scared throughout even though I knew I was reading scary moments. It was scary only insofar that I can imagine it being a properly scary moment in a movie.

I'll leave more commentary under spoilers about the horror aspect of the book since it would inevitably spoil the plot, but suffice to say that this is indeed a “classic ghost story”. This is probably an excellent tale to recount around the campfire, or would make a great Halloween read. It's almost self-aware in that the story begins with Arthur being unexpectedly triggered when his family is telling each other ghost stories around the fire on Christmas Eve, which then motivates him to put down his experiences on paper. So if you go in with that expectation, you certainly won't be disappointed.

Spoilery thoughts: The book felt like a textbook skeleton model of “how a ghost story should go”. We have the retrospective suspense when Arthur keeps repeating how traumatised he is from that incident in his life so long ago, then the prospective suspense when he's starting from the beginning and then talking about how everyone in that village gave him weird looks. Then of course we have the nights spent alone in the manor (usually starts off accidentally) where more ghostly incidents happen, some hints of the backstory of the ghost (there must always be one), a climax, and then eventually rescue and salvation after which the hero will certainly find out the full story of the ghost, then ending with the creepy “the ghost still survives” moment where we find out what happens in the future with Arthur's wife and son. It's a very very common horror formula and it was so obvious here that Hill might as well have written this as a casual example in a writing class.Also, the fact that the Arthur immediately concludes that the thing he's seeing is a ghost almost from the get-go and then spends the rest of the book just basically saying, “I ain't scared of no ghosts.” in his bravado kinda takes something away from the suspense. A lot of horror stories work better when there's a bit of suspense for the reader in who/what exactly the malevolent entity is, but in this one, we know immediately that these are just... ghosts, just spirits of people who are dead, so there's nothing more to know about them. The ghosts were completely unmysterious for most of the book and so there was no veil to pull down later in the book, which therefore resulted in a pretty meh climax.I might have overlooked this more if the story also gave me something a bit more with the ghost's backstory, but even there it felt rather unsubstantial. So the ghost turns out to be Jennet, a mother driven to grief and sorrow after her child dies in a drowning accident. She nurses a lifelong hatred for Alice Drablow simply because she was the one who asked them to go out on that trip to town that day? It just seems a little out of proportion. I'm by no means disregarding the enormity of grief a parent can have for a child who passes suddenly, but the way this was explained and portrayed in the book just doesn't do it justice. I can't quite understand or get behind how deep Jennet's hatred and evilness must be, or why she seems to be targeting other children around the town. For that matter, why does she target Arthur in the end, and why so long after his visit to Eel Marsh? Perhaps she was jealous of other children surviving when hers didn't and that jealousy was so strong that it eclipsed her sanity, but that was never quite conveyed and that point was never really driven home to the reader imo.

Une histoire d'horreur et de fantômes glaçante, encore un livre dont j'ignorais l'existence et que j'ai découvert grâce au film. Une très bonne ambiance, qui s'installe de façon pernicieuse et vient tout doucement faire frisonner le lecteur, jusqu'à provoquer des sueurs froides à la lecture de ces quelques pages...

The spooky bits were good, everything else put me to sleep, at one point literally. This book reads like a reddit nosleep post if they had those in [whenever this book is set, I don't care, I have forgotten]. Non-descript mandude who constantly insist he's a rational intelligent man is spooked by spooky shit yet insist on seeking out the spooky shit and then proceeds to shitting his pants. I didn't care about what happened to him. I wouldn't have cared about him even if the book wasn't written by an older version of him and therefore we know he survives More disappointing I didn't care about the spooky stuffs backstory either - it was pretty predictable and not terribly interesting. And then - the book ends. It literally ends with him going “enough”. Enough! The end. I at least expected something to happen in his present or I don't know what the point of the framing device was. Why'd I spend the first chapter remembering his family's names when they never show up again! Whatever. Came for the creepy bits, stayed for the creepy bits, so, a rather weak 3 stars for the creepy bits.

I was pleasantly surprised by this short tale. It was both entertaining and frightening, It was for the most part predictable but then again it is almost always the case with a good ghost story.
For those looking for a quick read and a most certainly a little scare, I would most definitely recommend this book.

3.5 Stars for The Women in Black.
We open the story with our main Character Artur Kipps and his family telling Ghost stories around the fire on Christmas eve, Arthur struggling with memories of his past quickly steps away before reliving his spooky experiences.
Arthur, a Junior lawyer is sent into the countryside to attend a funeral for one of his law firm's clients, he quickly realizes that all is not normal with the house he must explore.
The story is well written leaving most of the horror to your imagination with the final chapter ending well and genuinely leaving me with chills.
I would have liked more from the story but remembering this book is under 200 pages I feel like the story is well fleshed out with the main character of Arthur well fleshed out and believable, now I need to watch the stage show!

Resenha do blog Sincerando.com, escrita por Sarah Sindorf

Assisti ao filme porque o Daniel Radcliffe ia aparecer, admito. Sou uma grande fã de Harry Potter e estava curiosa para ver como seria sua atuação em um filme diferente. A história não chamou muita atenção, mas dei uma chance. Acabei lendo o livro, no qual o filme se baseou, agora em janeiro.

A história se passa na Inglaterra, com o jovem advogado Arthur Kipps, que é mandado ao interior do país, para cuidar dos papéis que uma cliente idosa e recentemente falecida, que morava isolada numa mansão, onde metade do dia fica inacessível pois a maré sobe e a casa fica ilhada.

A premissa é interessante, pois ele começa a ver uma mulher vestida de preto, sobre a qual ninguém da cidade quer falar, e os moradores locais parecem muito dispostos a encorajá-lo a voltar para Londres. Entretanto, ao contrário do filme, o livro é demasiadamente parado, a história é muito entediante, e tão passável, que não consegue se manter em minha memória.

No filme colocaram a mulher como um ser diabólico que aparece para causar uma tragédia (não falarei sobre para não estragar a história para quem ficar interessado, mas na verdade é muito óbvio, e a revelação do mistério parece piada), e existem várias cenas chocantes que chamam a atenção e ficam presas na cabeça, entretanto, no livro, ela é um ser mais sutil, que causa o mau de uma forma mais implícita, e muito mais silenciosa.

O interessante é ver a discrepância entre os personagens do livro e do filme. O do filme é um jovem viúvo, com um filho pequeno, que acaba nessa viagem numa situação obrigatória, pois dá a entender que o personagem estava tendo um desempenho pequeno no trabalho, e precisava se esforçar mais, com a penalidade de perder o emprego se não aceitasse. É uma pessoa calada, instropectiva e atormentada. No livro, pelo contrário, é um jovem ambicioso, noivo de uma bela mulher, e aceita o trabalho com a esperança de crescer mais ainda na firma e se tornar futuramente sócio, dando assim um futuro melhor para sua noiva. Os dois são céticos quanto a situação que estão passando, e muito determinados a resolvê-la.

O final do livro e do filme também são muito diferentes, e eu confesso que gosto mais do final do filme.

No fundo, a história é de puro suspense, e o filme nos traz muito mais angústia do que o livro. Não considero nenhum dos dois como terror, mas o filme consegue trazer mais sustos. Considero a história fraca, conseguimos entender as explicações que a autora nos passa, mas elas não nos envolvem e não nos ajudam a crer na história. É uma daquelas em que você fica sem resolução.

Existe um outro filme, anterior a esse, que não assisti, e o final é diferente também, pelo pedaço que puder ver no youtube.

Se estiver procurando uma história de terror, não recomendo. É um livro pequeno, então se a curiosidade falar mais alto, não é muito tempo a se perder.

Obs: Aparentemente será lançado um outro filme, com um casal sendo assombrado pela mesma mulher, na mansão.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2339741/

Link da resenha: http://www.sincerando.com/2013/01/a-mulher-de-preto.html

I went with the audible original of this, narrated by Paapa Essiedu. It was fantastically done, with music and all the ghostly thuds. The only hiccup was dialogue was lowered as if those speaking to Arthur were further away—a cool idea, but I found these lines to be hard to hear both at work with an AirPod in and in the car. The narration as fantastic though.

I found myself truly blown away that this novel is from the 80s. The author’s voice, the way it’s written, the way the content is presented, just all speaks to it being a classic of much older origin. With that sort of Victorian-gothic creeping atmosphere you’d expect from the ghost stories that started it all. Even following in the footsteps of the likes of The Turn of the Screw and the later The Haunting of Hill House with its focus on the feel of the haunting much more than the actions of any ghost. And while this novel does turn into actual consequence, I felt that it still toed the line.

Arthur is a junior solicitor, so when the chance to prove himself is presented, he jumps at the opportunity. Penning a brief explanation to his fiancée, certain she will understand, he leaves for the job. He has been tasked with attending the funeral of Mrs. Drablow, the sole occupant and owner of Eel Marsh House. After representing his firm at the funeral, he must go to the house and search it for any document of worth before her final business is settled. However, the house is at the end of a causeway, wreathed in fog and mist, and becomes unreachable during the tide. As if that wasn’t enough to raise his hackles, there’s also something more at work here. Her secrets, some of which are even sinister, are boiling just below the surface.

I really enjoyed how the author made the reader feel each and every thudding heart beat from Arthur. That each eerie instance is drawn out for all it’s worth. It excels as an atmospheric ghost horror, and that’s a genre I don’t always think succeeds. And I still can’t believe the facsimile quality of their much older sounding writing, it’s honestly a triumph.

While you’ll most likely find yourself uneasy, or feeling suspense, I doubt anyone will actually feel genuine fear or terror. While the ending is truly horrific and bleak, the story is just much more understated than that. Definitely for fans of those ghostly tales of old.

I appreciated the fact that this book was not full of cheap horror thrills, but I felt that every time it seemed like something was going to happen nothing did. In fact, the narrator's fears seemed largely unwarranted.

It wasn't until the end that something moderately satisfying happened. And when it did, it was over in a flash.

The best part of this book was the dog. She was the real hero of the piece.