The Hounding: A Novel

The imagery was very vivid however the story was slow moving and the characters poorly developed and stereotypical in many ways.

** spoiler alert ** In just under 200 pages, there was a lot of character development in this book. The storyline made it a very fast read. The book contained a lot of beautiful writing. A few lines stood out: When describing Anne, the eldest sister: - "She seemed to know about hardship, how it crept into one's life like a cuckoo, casting out happiness forever." After Pete's vision of the girls changing into dogs: - "That was the problem with unearthly things, things sent from heaven or hell: they made witnesses seem like madmen." What Joseph learned after the death of his wife: - "Little tasks were the foot soldiers in the ongoing battle of despair." It wasn't clear to me, even at the very end of the story, whether the girls had indeed turned into dogs. There are greyhounds pictured on the book's cover, but there are only three of them, when there are five sisters. I suppose greyhounds were chosen since they have in their nature a desire to run. I do wish the author has expanded on the ending. I wasn't sure whether Grandfather Mansfield had died. Perhaps that is why his sight returned (i.e., he was in heaven) or whether he had a vision of the girls (dogs) running free. This was an amazing debut novel from the author, Xenobe Purvis, and I look forward to reading more from her.

It's okay. The description is dead on. I didn't feel transported though and what I mean by that is I was hoping the novel was written in more of a gothic style. It's okay that it's not. It's the author's choice and I think it makes the book more approachable for readers. It is a timeless tale or at least should be in today's day and age.

Book club rating: 3.8 ⭐️ Final statement: Pete Darling is allergic to shutting tf up.

Girlhood is a spectrum 👧🏼💞🐶