This House Is Haunted (John Boyne)

This review is being written because my friend Laura wrote a review on her blog about this book (You can read that here). She said she absolutely loved it and, to be honest, I was quite intrigued by the book cover. So, upon reading her blog post, I searched for the book in the library database, and voila! They had a copy available to read, so here are my thoughts!

This House Is Haunted is an adult fiction (the first adult one to be reviewed here - all previous were teen) that follows the troubles of Eliza Caine as she takes on a new job in a new place. The story written takes place in 1867 in the city of London initially, before transitioning to the Norfolk countryside. Eliza Caine must learn to survive through troubling times whilst putting the lives of two young orphaned children before her own. Again, as always, I never like to expose too much of the plot line in fear that I might give away something important; however, I will say that the main plot follows that of a ghost story.

The Book Cover

The main character Eliza Caine is one whom I strive to be. I feel that I often put myself first - much like the character H. Bennet - far too often and therefore tend to forget that there are others who I should care for in addition. I apologize ... that was a very complicated way of putting that! Eliza is a strong woman in the story who doesn't let herself be pushed around by anyone, one who sets her mind to a task and doesn't quit until she has succeeded. That's something I like to see in female characters!

Alternative Book Cover

Though I did thoroughly enjoy watching the ghost story unfold before my eyes, I have to say that the book did take me a long time to feel engrossed in it. It took perhaps nine chapters before I felt myself fall into the story completely. The first few chapters were majorly skimmed on my part as I felt the story lacked something; the plot missed a sense of purpose and the writing style was far too descriptive for my liking. It felt as though the author was simply trying to lengthen his novel.

With all of that said, I would rate This House Is Haunted a mere 2.7/5 because of what I stated in the previous paragraph. A slow start to a plot, along with an over descriptive style, is something I can not ignore to be a negative; however, once started, the story was rather enjoyable.

Until next time,
Happy Reading Fellow Bookworms :)

Leave a comment with your thoughts on this story or with a suggestion of another book I should read & review!