The Thirteenth Tale- A Novel by Diane Setterfield
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Web ID: 16778152Suspence for Book Lovers
As an avid reader, stories about books and those passionate about them always have a special fascination. This excellent novel invests a delightful amount of time at the outset establishing the protagonist's deep attachment to the written word, and then transitions to the exploration of a mystery through the trope of a storyteller speaking to a writer. I'd call the plot measured but never lagging, the characters well-developed and layered, the gradual revelation of the mystery excitingly suspenseful, and the ending gratifying. Enjoy!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Whimsical
All you need to do is read the blurb on the back and think of a magical and whimsical tale. Tuck in for an all night reading session!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Dark and Atmospheric Read
The Thirteenth Tale is a Gothic mystery, full of dark atmosphere and family shadows. I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this one, but I've had it on my shelf for a while now and decided it was time to pick it up. The pace is very slow for this one, and I'm sure that will put off a lot of readers. For me, it was perfect for the style of writing and for the underlying story. This was not meant to be fast, or even medium-paced. The mystery surrounding the author, Vida Winter, and her story of beginnings, middles and endings was done very well. I did not expect the conclusion that came at the end. Overall, a very dark and enjoyable read and one I recommend.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Deathless discovery
The only work of literature I've ever seen even close to what this accomplishes was Anne Rice's novel Armand written in a completely different style that emanates from the hemisphere of the brain not typically used for composition. This entire book slides right off my mind before I'm even done with the sentence I forgot what I might have read just a bit ago thrice times and then the period arrives as train cheating schedules. Furthermore, the entire book may be a lie or riddle or a mystery or a puzzle or maybe even an encyclopedia of how life is far stranger than any matrix of reptilian angels clockworking our salvation from the tech of magical hel. I'm sure I'll have to read this thing more than 15 times before I even start to understand what's going on. But I have faith that as I edge towards that understanding I discover our true essence from before time and form. If you're reading this Diane, I'm the kind of jerk who thinks he's smarter than everyone in the world but I bow to the floor in appreciation of this capitulation of everything up till now. I am humbled by this book that is so far beyond my ability right now.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Interesting (Fictional) Look Into an Author's Life
I love this book so much! The main character is a book lover and journalist who lives above a bookstore (dream) and is called out of the blue to write a famous reclusive author's autobiography--her "last tale." She never expected to have the project force her to look back at her own ghosts, reflect on family secrets, and learn more about how our own truths can be both our healing and our downfall. This book will make you reflect on your own truths and how you face them! Or, if you don't want to read it like an English Professor, will be an amazing tale of a journalist stumbling upon a ghost story while writing an autobiography.
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Riveting Gothic Tale
This book ate me alive. I read seven pages one day. I read the other 399 the next. There is something incredibly captivating about the writing style and the story itself. It is set in the 20th century and told in the form of two interlocking stories: one from the point of view of a young amateur biographer named Margaret who works in her father’s book store and the other told to Margaret by the famous author Vida Winter about the disturbing Angelfield family. The story Vida weaves of the past twists and turns with more mysteries popping up as the tale progresses. The story she tells is extremely gothic; incest, ghosts, adultery, and madness make up the fabric of the Angelfield family. Theirs is not a happy story, and the tragedy feels like a car crash you cannot look away from. The main character is Margaret, a British woman whose age is not explicitly stated, but is likely between 25 and 30-years-old. She is the only child of a dysfunctional family, close with her father but not her mother. Since Margaret’s birth, her mother has suffered from some vague mental illness causing a rift between them. Margaret is resourceful and intelligent, though her character remains within the normal behavior for a woman in the 20th century. Even though I really liked Margaret, Vida Winter was far more interesting. A writer with a mysterious past, she is famous for telling a different personal history every time she is interviewed by reporters. The stories are outlandish and riveting, nearly as interesting as her novels that all of Britain reads voraciously. Vida is the catalyst for the book’s plot, deciding to finally tell her real life story now that she is nearing her death. The Angelfield family’s story begins with a grandmother who died upon the birth of her daughter, Isabelle, and a grandfather who dotes upon little Isabelle, while somewhat ignoring his older child, Charlie. Isabelle is flighty, caring only for herself. Charlie is violent and enjoys causing harm to animals and humans alike. The siblings have a strange, unsettling bond that continues even past Isabelle’s death. Isabelle has twin girls, Emmeline and Adeline March, who are just as unnerving as Isabelle and Charlie. One twin is complacent and suspected to be mentally disabled, while the other is violent. A governess, Hester Barrow, is called in to help manage Isabelle’s twins and attempt to teach them to speak properly – they only communicate in their own made-up language – and assimilate them into normal society. Hester is far smarter than is considered possible for women of the time period and is limited in her scientific pursuits by her gender. Margaret visits the Angelfield estate and the nearby town to gather information on the Angelfield family and research Vida’s story. Members of the town become enmeshed in the gothic web of the Angelfield family. One, Aurelius Love, befriends Margaret during her research, and his story creates more delightfully intriguing mysteries for Margaret to puzzle over. I had a blast coming up with theories about where the story would go, having the next few pages of the book shatter them, and then coming up with new ones. I did not see the final twist coming, not until the moment before Margaret figures it out. I’m not usually a mystery novel person, but the way the book allows readers to insert themselves into the role of the biographer makes it feel incredibly interactive. Also, I’m a sucker for a gothic novel. The interweaving storylines create a myriad of mysteries and clues that keep the novel from feeling slow despite its leisurely pace. The emphasis on the motif of twins as something different from ordinary people adds another gothic element to the novel. Twins, or extremely close siblings, can have an eerie symbiotic relationship. They become magic in and of themselves, speaking in their own languages and sensing things about the other. Both of the interweaving stories focus around twins: one with two living and eerie twins, the other with a twin whose other half died at birth. Mental health plays a large role in the book, and I appreciate the author’s handling of it. It is more generic madness, the kind that often exists in gothic stories such as Jane Eyre, rather than a modern concept of mental health. Margaret’s mother suffers from issues that would have been diagnosed as hysteria during the time period the novel is set in. The mother’s health is treated in a slightly negative light, but this stems from Margaret’s somewhat negative relationship with her mother, rather than her mother’s mental health. As there seems to have been no diagnosis (and honestly a diagnosis of hysteria doesn’t sound overly helpful), Margaret has a lingering sense of abandonment and struggles to engage with her mother at all. Overall, there is some of the time period’s discriminatory attitudes towards mental health struggles, but not so much that it takes over the novel or makes it difficult to engage with. Since this review is so long I will not include spoilers. You can find the spoilers section of my review on my blog The Artistry of Reading.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Worthy read.
Well written with a storyline that unfolds throughout. I read it while doing almost everything (except to shower, wet pages don't turn so well).
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com