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The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
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The Little Stranger

by Sarah Waters

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
2,9272201,804 (3.6)1 / 470
1940s (50) 2009 (28) 2010 (35) 21st century (26) booker prize shortlist (30) British (69) class (32) England (140) family (21) fiction (435) ghost stories (95) ghosts (163) gothic (115) haunted house (81) historical (27) historical fiction (141) horror (72) mental illness (38) mystery (80) novel (41) Post World War II (20) postwar (25) read (39) read in 2009 (38) read in 2010 (27) supernatural (48) suspense (31) to-read (63) unread (18) WWII (18)
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English (210)  Dutch (3)  Finnish (3)  Spanish (2)  Catalan (1)  Swedish (1)  All languages (220)
Showing 1-5 of 210 (next | show all)
A novel about the crumbling remains of a once-great English manor house, the now-impoverished aristocratic family struggling with its upkeep, and the family doctor who finds his life becoming increasingly intertwined with theirs. And, perhaps, also of something else, something in the house that might be a ghost, or might be the projected imaginings of unhappy, stressed-out souls, or neither, or both.

Objectively, this is a rather slow book. It takes at least a hundred pages before anything at all happens, and it doesn't exactly get much more fast-paced from there. And, while the are some moderately spooky moments, it's not slow in that creepy, building-up-suspense way, either, exactly. It just quietly takes its time. But Waters' writing flows so effortlessly and is so utterly readable, that it doesn't really feel slow. In fact, I found it pretty absorbing, in an oddly low-key sort of way. Similarly, the ending, which is suggestive and ambiguous, rather than building to a big revelatory climax, doesn't seem like it should be entirely satisfying, but pretty much worked for me, anyway. ( )
  bragan | May 18, 2013 |
The Little Stranger, by Sarah Waters, takes place just after the end of World War II, in a formerly magnificent country estate in rural England. The Ayres family has fallen on hard times, however, and their home, Hundreds Hall, has become shabby in its genteel decline. Dr. Faraday, a country physician who comes from the lower classes, is summoned to the Hall to care for Betty, the young servant of the household, and from that unprepossessing start, he soon finds himself enmeshed with the upper class family. The son and heir has long suffered from war wounds, both physical and mental; the mother's health and mental faculties are gradually declining; and strapping sister Caroline seems to be the only one of the family untouched by the troubles of the house, but perhaps she is merely covering up what she knows of the evils haunting the house and family.... I generally dislike the label "literary fiction" because it tends to ghettoize all other kinds of fiction no matter how well written they are, but I would have to use that term to describe this novel. Also terms such as "ghost story," "psychological thriller" and "haunted house" come to mind, all set within a scenario in which the reader is free to decide what s/he would like to believe about the goings-on at Hundreds Hall. The writing style is a little old-fashioned, as is fitting for the period in which the novel is set, but that in no way keeps the reader from becoming absorbed by the book. I actually took a great deal of time to read this novel - a week, whereas ordinarily I would have read at least two books of comparable length in that period - simply because I wanted to savour the experience for as long as I could. Recommended. ( )
  thefirstalicat | Apr 30, 2013 |
This is a psychological thriller, very well-written but a little thin for Sarah Waters. You keep turning pages because you want to see why all these strange things are happening, but it’s hard to feel totally invested in these lonely people. The ending is excellent, and brings everything together. ( )
  astrologerjenny | Apr 25, 2013 |
Simon Vance did a wonderful narration of this audio book. Had I read a hard copy I might have given it 3 stars. I was disappointed with the ending, but the story, plot and characters were, otherwise, nicely developed. ( )
  BALE | Apr 21, 2013 |
A fantastic book. Why? Well when you have finished a book and still keep on thinking about it the author did a very good job.

After about 100 pages I expected that I knew what was really happening (Mainly because of other books I'd ready by Sarah Waters) but boy did she put me on the wrong footing here.

After reading this it was so hard to start a new book. 4.5 stars. ( )
  Marlene-NL | Apr 12, 2013 |
Showing 1-5 of 210 (next | show all)
While at one turn, the novel looks to be a ghost story, the next it is a psychological drama of the calibre of du Maurier's Rebecca. But it is also a brilliantly observed story, verging on comedy, about Britain on the cusp of the modern age.
 
In the end, though, however fresh the prose, confident the plotting and astute the social analysis, The Little Stranger has a slightly secondhand feel to it. Waters is clearly at the top of her game, with few to match her ability to bring the past to life in a fully imagined world. I look forward to the book in which she leaves behind past templates, with their limitations, and breaks away to make her own literary history.
 
I guess the Waters fans I spoke to were right to be anxious. There is plenty of lovely writing here, and the plot wasn't so dissatisfying that it put me off entirely. But it made me wary. Should I be? Or is it her worst work? Or, indeed, am I missing something? Over to you.
 
The Little Stranger, like all the best works of postmodernist fiction, acknowledges both that making up stories is a mistaken and hopeless way to try to understand the world, and at the same time that it’s the best – perhaps the only – way we have.
 
The story ends in madness, suicide and a creepy darkness reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier's "Rebecca" -- mixed with jolts of anxiety and social upheaval reminiscent of today's news.
 

» Add other authors (15 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Sarah Watersprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Dewey, AmandaDesignersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ho, AndreaCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Trevillions, MichaelCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Vance, SimonNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
Dedication
To my parents, Mary and Ron, and my sister, Deborah.
First words
I first saw Hundreds Hall when I was ten years old.
Quotations
I'd regularly heard her referred to locally as 'rather hearty', a 'natural spinster', a 'clever girl' - in other words she was noticeably plain.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Wikipedia in English (2)

Book description
A chilling and vividly rendered ghost story set in postwar Britain, by the bestselling and award-winning author of The Night Watch and Fingersmith.

Sarah Waters's trilogy of Victorian novels Tipping the Velvet, Affinity, and Fingersmith earned her legions of fans around the world, a number of awards, and a reputation as one of today's most gifted historical novelists. With her most recent book, The Night Watch, Waters turned to the 1940s and delivered a tender and intricate novel of relationships that brought her the greatest success she has achieved so far. With The Little Stranger, Waters revisits the fertile setting of Britain in the 1940s — and gives us a sinister tale of a haunted house, brimming with the rich atmosphere and psychological complexity that have become hallmarks of Waters's work.

The Little Stranger follows the strange adventures of Dr. Faraday, the son of a maid who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country doctor. One dusty postwar summer in his home of rural Warwickshire, he is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for more than two centuries, the Georgian house, once grand and handsome, is now in decline — its masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, the clock in its stable yard permanently fixed at twenty to nine. But are the Ayreses haunted by something more ominous than a dying way of life? Little does Dr. Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become entwined with his.

Abundantly atmospheric and elegantly told, The Little Stranger is Sarah Waters's most thrilling and ambitious novel yet.
Haiku summary
Strange happenings at
Hundreds Hall: poltergeist or
Rational answer?
(passion4reading)

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One dusty postwar summer in his home of rural Warwickshire, Dr. Faraday is called to a patient at lonely Hundreds Hall, the residence of the Ayres family for more than two centuries. Its owners, mother, son and daughter, are struggling to keep pace with a changing society, as well as conflicts of their own. But the Ayreses are haunted by something more sinister than a dying way of life.… (more)

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