Sleep, Pale Sister

‘Sleep Pale Sister’ is an early Joanne Harris novel and has a slightly unformed feeling in comparison to, say, [b:Chocolat|47401|Chocolat (Chocolat, #1)|Joanne Harris|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388674628s/47401.jpg|2930558]. It is a ghostly gothic melodrama, chiefly notable to my mind for the variations in character awareness of this. The two male narrators sometimes comment wryly that their lives resemble a gothic novel; at other times they forget it and are filled with such uncontrollable dread that they knock back laudanum until the situation improves. One of the female narrators, meanwhile, is the one turning all those depicted into players in a ghostly gothic melodrama. To my mind she was by far the most interesting show more character, perhaps because she remained the most mysterious. The titular pale sister, Effie, was largely a pawn and thus pitiful. Both leading men, however, were absolutely hateful. Their cavalier attitude can be summed up as, ‘Well I wouldn’t say that murdering women was a hobby of mine, but it’s bound to happen now and again isn’t it.’

The atmosphere of the whole thing is certainly oppressive, although I wouldn’t call it frightening. The relatively slow pacing creates definite tension and I was intrigued to see how events would play out. Nonetheless, the inconsistent level of self-consciousness within the narrative prevented me from being swept away by it. While it does not read as a pastiche of gothic melodrama, with a few changes I think it could have. Perhaps that would have worked better for me? As it was, I liked the imagery and theme of the Furies (as well as the cats named after them!), yet found myself observing the characters more dispassionately than I’d expect for such a melodramatic book. show less

"Sleep.Pale Sister" is a page-turner. It is a Gothic horror story involving the classic elements of obsessive love, passionate desires driving erratic behavior, mystical potions and magical spells invoking ghosts, harmful to some, helpful to others. I found Joanne Harris' book to be one of those the reader will cuddle up with, tucked up with a warm blanket, a steaming mug of tea and a purring cat. With a lusty wind blowing outside, it is a quick read and the dreamlike sequences that carry the reader through the story are never less than mesmerizing, enchanting and powerful. While it is a horror story, it says a great deal to the reader about love, that between a child and mother and husband and wife, between friends and lovers. Effie, show more the child-bride is groomed for and eventually marries Henry Chester, a painter with a penchant for very young girls. Soon after they marry though, Henry becomes disillusioned with his bride, who by now, has modeled for Henry dozens of times. His masterpiece though is finally achieved through his obsession with a ghost-child brought to life through Effie and the ghost-child, Marta's, own tortured mother. Saying more will give away the plot and it is crucial that the reader follow the twisted path that Henry takes during drug-induced stupors, twisted dream states and sensual scenes drawn by Harris' skillful pen. The writing I found to be exceptional, the story true to life while carrying the reader in a dream-like state through the horror scenes. If you like a quick read, full of images and frightening realities, don't miss this. The characters, though full of flaws, ring true and as Harris hands each character their own chapter to narrate, the reader gets to know each one by their motivations and weaknesses. Although the ending may not come as a surprise, the delight for the reader is in the story we are told. show less

Gripping. Immensely haunting and ethereal. Characters were a tad underdeveloped, but I forgave it as I turned page after page after page...What a pleasantly dark and pessimistic tale from such a pleasantly optimistic author. The role of Devil's Advocate certainly becomes Ms. Harris.

A rather silly gothic romp...

Painter, Henry Chester had a rather twisted childhood which filled him with dark and perverse desires and a terrible guilt and shame about them. He thought all women were whores and so the only woman he felt he could marry was his child model, who he had been paying to have tutored and kept isolated by her aunt until she was 18 and he married her. When on their wedding night it turned out she wanted sex (horrors!) so obviously she was a whore too! The solution was to keep her drugged up on laudnum, while he went and visited the whorehouse where at least he knew exactly what he was getting. His wife, Effie, suddenly developed the ability to leave her body and run around as her naked spectral self which show more empowered her enough to find a lover.. and get involved in a twisted revenge plot.. which didn't turn out too well for anyone involved. It was quite a story... show less

The themes in this story are very gothic; lust, drugs, madness, revenge, and murder. A Pre-Raphaelite artist, Henry Chester, marries his seventeen year old model Effie who he has been using as a model since she was eleven. He portrays her in his paintings as an innocent, but on their wedding night she displays sexual desires. He has psychological issues involving religion and his mother which causes him to be guilt ridden about having sex with his wife. Henry is cruel to Effie and tries to control her by giving her laudanum. She turns to a lover, Mose. Mose introduces her to the local madam, Fanny, who knows Effie's husband because he frequents her brothel. Fanny concocts a plan to extort money from Henry, but Effie and Mose don't show more realize that Fanny has her own reasons for destroying Henry's life.

Each chapter of this book is told from a different characters point of view. This helps you to understand Henry's cruelty, Mose's selfishness, how easily manipulated Effie is, and Fanny's dark motives. This book was very hard to put down. The story was very engaging. show less

Very dark, very Gothic and a good read. Harris has created a dream-like, murky story, narrated by four different characters. It's a psychological drama, a ghost story, a murder story, a novel about artists and models and sexual obsessions, all wrapped in one. Is it perfect? Not quite. The voices sound a little too similar to one another for that. But never mind, it's a great read for a rainy night by the fire. Enjoy.

This was not my favourite of Joanne Harris' books. I found it readable but the main character was not my favourite.

It's one of her earlier novels, and it's written in a sort of neo-gothic style, which I thought was interesting but I wasn't really sure I liked. It's a pretty angsty book and I remember it being pretty morbid.

I think the biggest problem I had with it is that the main character is male, and most of Joanne Harris' main characters are female. I found it a bit slow in places, and while it was cohesive it just wasn't my favourite of hers.

But, after reviewing a few of Harris' books that I read, I'd love to read some more of her work again soon.