Andrzej reviewed The Woman In Black by Susan Hill
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
5 stars
I absolutely loved this book, and would rank it among the all-time greatest ghost-story novels. Ghost stories aren't easy to tell at novel-length -- you can't allow the pov character to become normalized to the ghost; neither can you keep the ghost completely hidden from them indefinitely -- but Susan Hill shows real mastery of her craft here, staggering the reveals and allowing a natural ebb and flow in the protagonist's understanding of what is unfolding before him, and his mental state in reaction to it.
The ghost at the story's heart is uniquely frightening, embodying an incredible, hateful malice that is nonetheless convincingly motivated. Susan Hill is doing something very special here -- the more the reader comes to sympathize with the Woman in Black, the scarier she becomes. This seamless marriage of pathos and terrifying malevolence is quite a rare feat imo.
The other thing going on here …
I absolutely loved this book, and would rank it among the all-time greatest ghost-story novels. Ghost stories aren't easy to tell at novel-length -- you can't allow the pov character to become normalized to the ghost; neither can you keep the ghost completely hidden from them indefinitely -- but Susan Hill shows real mastery of her craft here, staggering the reveals and allowing a natural ebb and flow in the protagonist's understanding of what is unfolding before him, and his mental state in reaction to it.
The ghost at the story's heart is uniquely frightening, embodying an incredible, hateful malice that is nonetheless convincingly motivated. Susan Hill is doing something very special here -- the more the reader comes to sympathize with the Woman in Black, the scarier she becomes. This seamless marriage of pathos and terrifying malevolence is quite a rare feat imo.
The other thing going on here is the way the framing device (our pov character is writing a memoir of sorts years after the events of the story) builds a sense of tragic irony and impending doom without ever laying it on too thick. We can infer certain things about the story's conclusion right from the offset, but its all done with such grace and subtlety that when the final chapter arrives, it hits you like a freight train.
It's a very strong recommend, basically. Then, when you've read it you can move on to the cinematic adaptations, both of which are good (the 1989 adaption wins imo), and both of which make smart, interesting changes to the story.
