This was a book club read!

I don't normally go for slow, historical reads like this so this book was definitely a challenge. Let's start with the good: the story had incredible atmosphere. The prose draws you until you feel like you're standing right there and watching these events happen. The descriptions are unflinching and harsh. The themes of greed and gluttony and identity and running from your past are executed exceedingly well. There were several beautiful, heartbreaking quotes that I know are going stick with me for a while.

That said, I did have some problems. The prose was a bit unapproachable. Not just in Good Stab's chapters, where the confusion is intentional for the story but I had even had trouble following sometimes in Arthur's AND Etsy's chapters, which could be a device to show their descent into madness/paranoia, but it made it annoying to read because they were being vague and meandering to the point where I got lost sometimes and just had to give up and keep reading. I also didn't like the ending. <spoiler>I understand the whole idea of making it a 'full circle' moment where Arthur finally dies and the past is finally put to rest, but the last bit of the book kind of ruined the horror vibe for me. Etsy's inner monologue was painfully modern and took some of the wind out of the sails of this book and made the tone less solemn, which could only be detrimental to a story like this. I think this book would be better served with it ending when Etsy discovered what Good Stab had done to Arthur and reading the letter right then to understand why. The letter was definitely the best part of the ending; I knew Arthur wasn't a good guy but what he did was even more monstrous than I imagined. Maybe that's why I think it should've ended without him dying; so he could 'pay for his sins' even more.</spoiler>

I enjoyed parts of this overall, even if it wasn't my typical read, but as a whole it didn't blow me away.

C.A.P.E Rating:
Characters - 4/5
Atmosphere - 5/5
Plot - 3/5
Enjoyment - 3/5