This House Is Haunted

De: John Boyne

Narrado por: Alison Larkin

Written in Dickensian prose, This House Is Haunted is a striking homage to the classic 19-century ghost story. Set in Norfolk in 1867, Eliza Caine responds to an ad for a governess position at Gaudlin Hall.

When she arrives at the hall, shaken by an unsettling disturbance that occurred during her travels, she is greeted by the two children now in her care, Isabella and Eustace. There is no adult present to represent her mysterious employer, and the children offer no explanation.

Later that night in her room, another terrifying experience further reinforces the sense that something is very wrong. From the moment Eliza rises the following morning, her every step seems dogged by a malign presence that lives within Gaudlin's walls. Eliza realizes that if she and the children are to survive its violent attentions, she must first uncover the hall's long-buried secrets and confront the demons of its past.

Clever, captivating, and witty, This House Is Haunted is pure entertainment with a catch.

©2013 John Boyne (P)2013 Tantor

Reseñas de la Crítica

"A perfect, shivery gothic tale." ( Booklist)

Very good

I enjoyed this listen, the story was good and kept me interested. The narrator was great. I listened to the whole thing in one day!

Great Narrator, Blah Storytelling

Would you try another book from John Boyne and/or Alison Larkin?

I would love to listen to something else narrated by Ms. Larkin; her enthusiastic narration really saved what could have been a terrible audiobook. I'd be open to another book by Mr. Boyne as well, since his technical writing was good and the poor storytelling here may be a fluke on his part.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Boyne worried too much about replicating a gothic feel, and not enough about fleshing out his characters or story. If he'd reversed the tendency, it all would have been much better.

SPOILER: As an example of the poor storytelling, the sole motivation Boyne gave the mother for becoming a murderous psychopath was that she had been sexually abused as a child. This could have worked in theory, but the way he handed it left a bad taste in my mouth. The way he wrote the story, Boyne expected the reader to accept the idea that an abused child would naturally grow up to be a homicidal maniac as a truism requiring no further explanation. That just seems rather insulting towards the 99.99% victims of abuse that don't go on to commit multiple homicides to me. Handling that more intelligently would have improved the story, as well as given the mother greater depth.

Any additional comments?

Not a great book, but not a bad one either. If you like this style of gothic writing, it's worth a credit. Just don't expect it to do more than pass the time.

Not your usual John Boyne

John Boyne is my favorite author, I have read or listened to many of his books and always love them. So I didn't hesitate before getting this one. I was disappointed, just not much of a story. I won't give up on him though.

Excellent novel!

Absolutely loved listening to this novel and plan to re-listen to it again soon!

Entertaining

If you could sum up This House Is Haunted in three words, what would they be?

Delightful, entertaining, enjoyable

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes! This book was delightful! I loved the narrator who portrayed the story quite well. I especially loved the writer's use of the "Old" English word usage.

Which character – as performed by Alison Larkin – was your favorite?

The governess

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes

Any additional comments?

no

this house is haunted

loved it! looked forward to listening to more whenever I wasn't able to. the voice acting was amazing too

This house is haunted

Excellent book! It has a weird vibe since there are two children on their own and mystery surrounding their dad.I liked it.

Well Read - Not Very Scary, Had Promise

Any additional comments?

Alison Larkin is a delight. She was perfect and the main reason I kept going. The story begins quite deliciously. The sightings and hints of ghosts have great promise, but we never hear of these initial ghostly appearances again. The actual haunting seemed heavily influenced by special efffects in Hollywood movies, which was a shame. It was easy to figure out who the ghosts were and this took away from the chilling effect. I also think the main character's stoic, resigned, not very scared acceptance of her situation was over played. The children were creepy. However, as I said at the beginning of this review, Ms. Larkin was delightful and perfect so,I kept listening. She makes the credit well worth it.

Suspenseful and Atmospheric

Beautifully written, Victorian gothic/ghost story. I was a little let down with the ending, but it was unsettling, and maybe that's the desired result ? No question, though, that John Boyne is a fabulous writer !

Perfect haunted house story

I would've taken this book to be a gothic ghost story if I didn't already know it was written only recently. This was a treat.