I've read two other books (An Inconvenient Wife, which was interesting because of the diagnosis of "hysteria" in the 19th c, and The Spiritualist, which was less successful) by Chance. I admit to being fascinating by her topics, but have had difficulty liking any of her characters.
Although attracted by the idea of a ghost and the treatment of epilepsy in the 1800's, The Visitant was...offensive. Characters--this time I had no feeling of ambiguity. Elena annoyed me beyond reason. Almost everything she said or did was lacking in common sense or worse. Samuel and Nero were just as weirdly ineffective. None of the characters seemed appropriate to the time period, and although Chance tried to use the Victorian dichotomies of prudery/repression and science/mysticism to her advantage, she failed to make it work.
It is easily predictable from the first chapter, there are too many hints that are too obvious, and nothing "develops"-- everything feels either rushed or forced.
I'm not sure if the author was trying for a kind of insta-love romantic triangle or sordid soft-porn; both, I guess. The characters certainly deserved each other. While my feelings about the first two novels by Chance that I read were mixed, The Visitant made me want to wash my brain.
Read in June; Blog post scheduled for August 29.
NetGalley/Lake Union Publishing
Historical mystery/Supernatural. Sept. 22, 2015.
Oh, no! I guess this is one book that I will not be putting on my To Read list. :) I'm sorry you had to read it, though. I hate when books leave a bad aftertaste. Hopefully the next one will be better.
ReplyDeleteThe portion that talks about the treatment of epileptics as insane and/or degenerate was interesting. I researched some stuff about that, and it was a sad situation. The rest of the novel was not what I want to read.
DeleteI'd have given it a DNF if I don't feel connected to the characters and the story. I've not heard of this author and I'll keep in mind what you've said about this book in future.
ReplyDeleteI read it in June, and I must have had a book drought at the time or I would have consigned it to the DNF pile. I just checked Goodreads reviews and most of the reviews were very positive, but it did not work for me in any way.
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