the_lirazel reviewed Dragonwyck by Anya Seton
Review of 'Dragonwyck' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
4.0 stars
This book isn't a gothic romance, it's a character study that just happens to have a gothic backdrop. And the character it's studying isn't Miranda, it's Nicholas: a raging psychopath, a textbook abuser. The fairytale of the farm girl become (America's version of a) princess--including delightful descriptions of a fashionable wardrobe--interweave with the growing awareness of Nicholas's darkness. The tension mounts very slowly, seems to dissolve a few times, but comes rising back before it reaches its climax.
And it's damn readable too.
There are definitely a lot of weaknesses to this book. Jeff just doesn't really work as a character imo, the fatphobia directed at Johanna is just gross, there's a Puritanical distrust of luxury even while reveling in descriptions of that luxury, and the ending reads too much like Miranda has Learned Her Lesson and will be content to be Good and Virtuous and Work Hard …
4.0 stars
This book isn't a gothic romance, it's a character study that just happens to have a gothic backdrop. And the character it's studying isn't Miranda, it's Nicholas: a raging psychopath, a textbook abuser. The fairytale of the farm girl become (America's version of a) princess--including delightful descriptions of a fashionable wardrobe--interweave with the growing awareness of Nicholas's darkness. The tension mounts very slowly, seems to dissolve a few times, but comes rising back before it reaches its climax.
And it's damn readable too.
There are definitely a lot of weaknesses to this book. Jeff just doesn't really work as a character imo, the fatphobia directed at Johanna is just gross, there's a Puritanical distrust of luxury even while reveling in descriptions of that luxury, and the ending reads too much like Miranda has Learned Her Lesson and will be content to be Good and Virtuous and Work Hard and Never Wish for Fine Things Ever Again that's more than a little off-putting. But the characterization of Nicholas and the atmosphere of the oppression at Dragonwyck is so strongly drawn that the weaknesses are almost irrelevant. It's no surprise to me that, like in Rebecca, the house has to be destroyed in the end. The house is everything. That's one of my favorite tropes, and it's put to great use in this book.
