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The Retreat
Since childhood, Sandra Peters has been fascinated by the small, private island of Lieloh, home to the reclusive silent-film star Valerie Swanson. Having dreamed of going to art college, Sandra is now in her forties and working as a receptionist, but she still harbours artistic ambitions. When she sees an advert for a two-week artists’ retreat on Lieloh, Sandra sets out on what might be a life-changing journey.
192 pages, Paperback
First published November 15, 2021
1 person is currently reading
314 people want to read
About the author
Alison Moore
94 books111 followers Born in Manchester in 1971, Alison Moore lives next but one to a sheep field in a village on the Leicestershire-Nottinghamshire border, with her husband Dan and son Arthur.
She is a member of Nottingham Writers’ Studio and an honorary lecturer in the School of English at Nottingham University.
In 2012 her novel The Lighthouse, the unsettling tale of a middle-aged man who embarks on a contemplative German walking holiday after the break-up of his marriage – only to find himself more alienated than ever, was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize.
She is a member of Nottingham Writers’ Studio and an honorary lecturer in the School of English at Nottingham University.
In 2012 her novel The Lighthouse, the unsettling tale of a middle-aged man who embarks on a contemplative German walking holiday after the break-up of his marriage – only to find himself more alienated than ever, was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
January 29, 2022
I thought I had the story figured out in the early chapters, but I was wrong. It’s not (just) about the creative process. At first, I was a bit underwhelmed by the ending, but it works. And on the way to the end, I was on the edge of my seat bed.
I’m left thinking the novel had to be inspired by—or is a homage to—Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. The prickly put-upon Sandra is very much an Eleanor-type.
Thank you, Cathrine!
I’m left thinking the novel had to be inspired by—or is a homage to—Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. The prickly put-upon Sandra is very much an Eleanor-type.
Thank you, Cathrine!
December 15, 2022
The retreat, she thinks, is not what she expected. On the other hand, when she dwells on this, what she expected seems vague. But it wasn’t this.
The Retreat is the 5th novel from Alison Moore, whose first, The Lighthouse, was shortlisted for the 2012 Booker Prize. All have been published via the wonderful Cromer-based Salt Publishing.
The Retreat is told in two separate strands.
The first has Sandra recalling the first time she saw the island of Lieloh, itself seen from a childhood visit to the (fictitious) channel island of Liel:
Liel was an in-between place. Lying one hundred miles from the English coast, the island resembled Sandra’s known world but it had its own currency and its own system of car number plates; its post boxes were blue and its telephone boxes were yellow. It was not far from France but was not French. The island had its own distinctive language but Sandra had only heard English spoken there, though in a foreign accent.
…
It was from the dining room window of Liel’s Sea View hotel that Sandra first saw the smaller island of Lieloh, sunlit on the horizon. It looked like the dome of a sea monster’s head, as if it were crouched on the seabed and might suddenly rise up.
Her fascination, almost obsession, with the island is only increased when her mother tells her that Lieloh is privately owned by a former silent-movie actress, Valerie Swanson, whose career finished abruptly with the advent of talkies, but who had inherited the island from her family’s wealth.
Sandra’s story then moves forward to 1999 (dated by a reference to Titanic sweeping the Oscars the previous year). She had hoped to become an artist but instead took a more secure position as a receptionist, still dabbling as an amateur painter. To her delight she comes across an advert for an artist’s retreat on Lieloh, in the Swanson family residence.
She travels to the island with 5 other (wannabe) artists, where they discover there are no phones and no mobile signal. It sounds like a set-up for an Agatha Christie murder mystery but as Sandra remarks:
In case of emergency, there’s a radio, but it’s not like this is a shooting trip; someone might suffer a paper cut, or a twisted ankle, that’s about it.
The alternating chapters are told from the perspective of Carol, a short-story writer who wants to write a fantasy novel. While undated these chapters are set closer to the present day (Carol’s ambition is for her the screen rights to her novel to be optioned by Netflix). Carol is offered the use of a private island by its current owner, to focus on writing her book.
For Sandra, the retreat is not what she hoped:
She should never have come here. It is not what she imagined – she is in the wrong house, and her community of artists does not exist, or at least she is not a part of it.
The other five artists form a strong bond but she is excluded (and excludes herself). For example as the sole vegetarian the others cook hearty dinners for each other but for her a cheese sandwich, while she helps herself to the others’ pastries that she failed to order on arrival. And her attempts to paint the island are unsuccessful, as her fellow retreatees are only too happy to confirm. This part of the novel is close to a comedy of middle-class-manners, the ultimate insult coming when another painter also called Sandra arrives, instantly proving more popular and more successful with her art.
Carol meanwhile finds the deserted house rather spooky, not helped by her friend Jayne who sends her letters and encloses comparative weather reports showing rain where Carol is and sunshine at home, and stories set on islands, novels – by Agatha Christie and H.G. Wells and William Golding – in which things take a nasty turn.
Indeed literary portents abound (also Angela Carter, Roald Dahl, Shakespeare, Maurice Sendak, L Frank Baum, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Enid Blyton, Tove Jansson, The Brothers Grimm etc), DH Lawrence’s The Man Who Loved Islands particularly relevant to both Carol and Sandra, as well as other repeated motifs in both stories such as a Josephine Baker record, the smell of garlic and reported sightings of a red-backed shrike.
And Carol gradually gets, from both ghostly goings-on in the house, as well as Joyce’s missives a sense of what might have happened in 1999. But best I say no more…
She supposes, in that sort of environment, there can be personality clashes, moments of tension; she thinks of the cabin fever of Big Brother, and the recent news report of a scientist at an Antarctic outpost stabbing a colleague who kept telling him the endings of books.
An excellent read, playful yet portentous, great fun but with much to say about female artists and artistic creation.
The Retreat is the 5th novel from Alison Moore, whose first, The Lighthouse, was shortlisted for the 2012 Booker Prize. All have been published via the wonderful Cromer-based Salt Publishing.
The Retreat is told in two separate strands.
The first has Sandra recalling the first time she saw the island of Lieloh, itself seen from a childhood visit to the (fictitious) channel island of Liel:
Liel was an in-between place. Lying one hundred miles from the English coast, the island resembled Sandra’s known world but it had its own currency and its own system of car number plates; its post boxes were blue and its telephone boxes were yellow. It was not far from France but was not French. The island had its own distinctive language but Sandra had only heard English spoken there, though in a foreign accent.
…
It was from the dining room window of Liel’s Sea View hotel that Sandra first saw the smaller island of Lieloh, sunlit on the horizon. It looked like the dome of a sea monster’s head, as if it were crouched on the seabed and might suddenly rise up.
Her fascination, almost obsession, with the island is only increased when her mother tells her that Lieloh is privately owned by a former silent-movie actress, Valerie Swanson, whose career finished abruptly with the advent of talkies, but who had inherited the island from her family’s wealth.
Sandra’s story then moves forward to 1999 (dated by a reference to Titanic sweeping the Oscars the previous year). She had hoped to become an artist but instead took a more secure position as a receptionist, still dabbling as an amateur painter. To her delight she comes across an advert for an artist’s retreat on Lieloh, in the Swanson family residence.
She travels to the island with 5 other (wannabe) artists, where they discover there are no phones and no mobile signal. It sounds like a set-up for an Agatha Christie murder mystery but as Sandra remarks:
In case of emergency, there’s a radio, but it’s not like this is a shooting trip; someone might suffer a paper cut, or a twisted ankle, that’s about it.
The alternating chapters are told from the perspective of Carol, a short-story writer who wants to write a fantasy novel. While undated these chapters are set closer to the present day (Carol’s ambition is for her the screen rights to her novel to be optioned by Netflix). Carol is offered the use of a private island by its current owner, to focus on writing her book.
For Sandra, the retreat is not what she hoped:
She should never have come here. It is not what she imagined – she is in the wrong house, and her community of artists does not exist, or at least she is not a part of it.
The other five artists form a strong bond but she is excluded (and excludes herself). For example as the sole vegetarian the others cook hearty dinners for each other but for her a cheese sandwich, while she helps herself to the others’ pastries that she failed to order on arrival. And her attempts to paint the island are unsuccessful, as her fellow retreatees are only too happy to confirm. This part of the novel is close to a comedy of middle-class-manners, the ultimate insult coming when another painter also called Sandra arrives, instantly proving more popular and more successful with her art.
Carol meanwhile finds the deserted house rather spooky, not helped by her friend Jayne who sends her letters and encloses comparative weather reports showing rain where Carol is and sunshine at home, and stories set on islands, novels – by Agatha Christie and H.G. Wells and William Golding – in which things take a nasty turn.
Indeed literary portents abound (also Angela Carter, Roald Dahl, Shakespeare, Maurice Sendak, L Frank Baum, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Enid Blyton, Tove Jansson, The Brothers Grimm etc), DH Lawrence’s The Man Who Loved Islands particularly relevant to both Carol and Sandra, as well as other repeated motifs in both stories such as a Josephine Baker record, the smell of garlic and reported sightings of a red-backed shrike.
And Carol gradually gets, from both ghostly goings-on in the house, as well as Joyce’s missives a sense of what might have happened in 1999. But best I say no more…
She supposes, in that sort of environment, there can be personality clashes, moments of tension; she thinks of the cabin fever of Big Brother, and the recent news report of a scientist at an Antarctic outpost stabbing a colleague who kept telling him the endings of books.
An excellent read, playful yet portentous, great fun but with much to say about female artists and artistic creation.
July 17, 2022
(3.5) Alison Moore’s latest document of unease centres on Lieloh, a tiny island off the English coast. Two parallel plotlines play out on the island: in the 1990s, amateur painter Sandra attends an artists’ retreat there; and in the present day, a writer named Carol stays in the same house alone as she tries to finish writing a novel. Sandra’s narrative dominates, and it can be quite difficult to read: the other artists treat her terribly – but, equally, Sandra herself is small-minded and hard to warm to. What kept me reading was the compelling sense of disquietude and impending disaster – a mood Moore excels at creating. And the endings, Sandra’s in particular, are just right.
TinyLetter | Linktree
TinyLetter | Linktree
January 3, 2023
4.5, rounded down.
Although superbly written, as have all 5 of Moore's novels I have now completed in less than a month - this one rubbed me the wrong way a bit, as it concerns someone who does not QUITE fit in and who is treated rather abominably by everyone around her for no apparent reason - which struck a bit TOO close to home for comfort; the whole thing just made me antsy - but then, again I read it in just a little over a day, so...
Also, she has trod the 'it MIGHT be a ghost' trope a little too often, so that it seems a bit stale now. As does the two alternating threads that come together in the end - I'd like to see her strike out in an entirely new and different direction. I now only have her two collections of short stories left (as I don't think I will read her children's books!) - NOT my fave format, but I'll give them a try.
Although superbly written, as have all 5 of Moore's novels I have now completed in less than a month - this one rubbed me the wrong way a bit, as it concerns someone who does not QUITE fit in and who is treated rather abominably by everyone around her for no apparent reason - which struck a bit TOO close to home for comfort; the whole thing just made me antsy - but then, again I read it in just a little over a day, so...
Also, she has trod the 'it MIGHT be a ghost' trope a little too often, so that it seems a bit stale now. As does the two alternating threads that come together in the end - I'd like to see her strike out in an entirely new and different direction. I now only have her two collections of short stories left (as I don't think I will read her children's books!) - NOT my fave format, but I'll give them a try.
November 12, 2021
With a heavily pregnant character and a parallel narrative concerning a writer on an individual retreat, also on an island, this can be read as a novel about ambition and creativity. For me, however, it’s much more about the power of group processes: the pain of exclusion and the pressure, both internal and external, to fit in. That pressure is especially intense on an island, with no easy way of escape; The Retreat, although less violent, put me in mind of The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave and The Lord of the Flies.
https://annegoodwin.weebly.com/annecd...
https://annegoodwin.weebly.com/annecd...
December 16, 2021
Alison Moore is a modern day Shirley Jackson. Every story she writes gets better and better. This one, The Retreat, did not disappoint this reader. She weaves a story of one character, Sandra, who leaves her husband and son to participate in a two week retreat on an isolated island off the coast of England. The retreat is located at the former home of a recluse and former Hollywood actress, Valerie Swanson. Sandra is a struggling painter who wants to spend “alone” time painting and improving her skills. The other main character of the story is Carol, a writer, struggling to finish her novel. Alison Moore weaves the story of these two characters in a parallel way that works so well the reader is lost in the story. I read this story with unease and anticipation. The suspense and creepiness are so prominent throughout the story it’s hard to believe it’s such a small book. I highly recommend seeking out Alison Moore for her excellent writing and uncanny ability to make a seemingly ordinary story really scary but also entertaining.
December 21, 2021
I was enjoying this book so much that I didn't want to get to the end. I read it over three days, but it's so short it could be read in a sitting. It ends rather suddenly and I'm still not sure whether I feel a bit dissatisfied by that but it has left me with a lot to think about - and that's probably a good thing. I have read all Moore's novels and her short story collection, and I find her writing style quite hypnotic. Now that I've finished the book I feel a bit bereft.
September 2, 2022
If you want to feel uncomfortable, anxious, and just general unease read this book!!
November 21, 2021
What a treat
this retreat
Moore’s work
is always so complete.
A whisper within a cry.
A cry within a whisper.
To be human is to
slowly die.
this retreat
Moore’s work
is always so complete.
A whisper within a cry.
A cry within a whisper.
To be human is to
slowly die.
November 12, 2021
Alison Moore’s Booker Prize shortlisted debut novel, The Lighthouse, is one of those books that I’ve heard great things about, has been on my TBR forever but that I’ve never quite got around to reading. Having now sampled The Retreat, Moore’s fifth – and latest – novel, I know I definitely want to read more of her work.
The Retreat is what many people would probably call a ‘quiet’ novel but it packs a powerful punch within its slender 156 pages. Aspiring artist Sandra has always been fascinated by Lieloh, the small, private island that was once the home of a reclusive silent-film star. When the opportunity arises to go to Lieloh for a two-week artists’ retreat, Sandra sets out to try and realise her artistic ambitions. But the supportive artistic community she envisages is not quite the reality she encounters when she arrives at Lieloh. Aspiring author Carol, meanwhile, just needs peace and quiet to write her book. When a friend offers her use of a private, island retreat, she heads off into isolation to dig out the words out of her. But when she arrives in her idyll, Carol begins to feel she may not be as alone as she appears.
To say any more about the plot of The Retreat would be to spoil both the story and the atmosphere of this quietly devastating study of modern alienation and artistic temperament. Not that the novel is particularly plot-heavy, as such – in fact, The Retreat is definitely a book powered by character, and by the tiny interactions of the everyday that become layered with meaning and interwoven into a wider pattern.
Small incidents – the eating of eggs, a refusal to play a game or partake in a picnic, the choice of an evening meal – become weighted with significance as Sandra attempts, unsuccessfully, to navigate group dynamics on Lieloh. Her fellow retreat residents, whilst never outright vicious, are frequently petty, selfish, and domineering whilst Sandra herself is similarly self-absorbed and narrow-minded. They make for a thoroughly unlikeable bunch – a possible issue if you don’t enjoy reading books with few, if any, sympathetic characters – but a fascinating one all the same.
Whilst most of The Retreat is given over to Sandra, personally I found Carol’s narrative to be the most compelling. Alison Moore has perfectly captured the unsettling feeling of isolation, combining this with a delightful sense of the weird to create a not-quite ghost story that revels in its atmosphere. As the novel progresses, Carol’s narrative also begins to shed new light upon Sandra’s predicament, creating a compelling yet uneasy narrative that left me feeling somewhat unsettled by the time I turned the final page.
The Retreat is not going to be a book for everyone. Those looking for continual action or sympathetic characters will not find either here. But if you’re the sort of reader who revels in atmosphere, language, and the minutiae of human interaction, The Retreat will provide a short, sharp treat to curl up with on a winter’s evening.
NB: This review also appears on my blog at https://theshelfofunreadbooks.wordpre... as part of the blog tour. My thanks go to the publisher for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review.
The Retreat is what many people would probably call a ‘quiet’ novel but it packs a powerful punch within its slender 156 pages. Aspiring artist Sandra has always been fascinated by Lieloh, the small, private island that was once the home of a reclusive silent-film star. When the opportunity arises to go to Lieloh for a two-week artists’ retreat, Sandra sets out to try and realise her artistic ambitions. But the supportive artistic community she envisages is not quite the reality she encounters when she arrives at Lieloh. Aspiring author Carol, meanwhile, just needs peace and quiet to write her book. When a friend offers her use of a private, island retreat, she heads off into isolation to dig out the words out of her. But when she arrives in her idyll, Carol begins to feel she may not be as alone as she appears.
To say any more about the plot of The Retreat would be to spoil both the story and the atmosphere of this quietly devastating study of modern alienation and artistic temperament. Not that the novel is particularly plot-heavy, as such – in fact, The Retreat is definitely a book powered by character, and by the tiny interactions of the everyday that become layered with meaning and interwoven into a wider pattern.
Small incidents – the eating of eggs, a refusal to play a game or partake in a picnic, the choice of an evening meal – become weighted with significance as Sandra attempts, unsuccessfully, to navigate group dynamics on Lieloh. Her fellow retreat residents, whilst never outright vicious, are frequently petty, selfish, and domineering whilst Sandra herself is similarly self-absorbed and narrow-minded. They make for a thoroughly unlikeable bunch – a possible issue if you don’t enjoy reading books with few, if any, sympathetic characters – but a fascinating one all the same.
Whilst most of The Retreat is given over to Sandra, personally I found Carol’s narrative to be the most compelling. Alison Moore has perfectly captured the unsettling feeling of isolation, combining this with a delightful sense of the weird to create a not-quite ghost story that revels in its atmosphere. As the novel progresses, Carol’s narrative also begins to shed new light upon Sandra’s predicament, creating a compelling yet uneasy narrative that left me feeling somewhat unsettled by the time I turned the final page.
The Retreat is not going to be a book for everyone. Those looking for continual action or sympathetic characters will not find either here. But if you’re the sort of reader who revels in atmosphere, language, and the minutiae of human interaction, The Retreat will provide a short, sharp treat to curl up with on a winter’s evening.
NB: This review also appears on my blog at https://theshelfofunreadbooks.wordpre... as part of the blog tour. My thanks go to the publisher for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review.
November 22, 2021
Sandra has always been fascinated by the small private island of Lieloh, and the stories of the enigmatic, reclusive silent film star Valerie Swanson who made her home there. Now in her forties, she has drifted into marriage, motherhood and an undemanding job as a receptionist, but longs to revisit the dream of her youth to go to art college and become an artist. When she spots an advert for a two-week artists' retreat on Lieloh, she see it as a great opportunity to explore her life-long fascination with the island and its former resident, and to pursue her artistic ambitions at the same time, so she books herself a place.
However, when Sandra arrives on the remote island with a rag-tag selection of artists of all persuasions, neither the location nor her fellow community members are quite what she was hoping for. Out of step from the first, Sandra struggles with her rising frustration at her inability to reconcile her ability with her expectation, and to fit in with her fellow artists who seem to view her with derision. Was this really a good idea?
Carol is a budding writer. Determined to finally expand her short format work into a fantasy novel, she takes up the offer from a friend to spend some time away from it all on a tiny remote island to immerse herself in her writing. Slow to settle into a solitary existence, she eventually finds a routine that allows her writing to flourish, but there is something about the house that bothers her. It often feels like there is another presence here, and odd bumps in the night have her convinced that it is haunted by the ghost of its former resident, Valerie Swanson. Is this the idyllic haven she thought it would be?
The Retreat is a beautifully written, and incredibly creepy, novel that explores a host of complex themes around alienation and ghosts from the past. Told in two alternating story lines from the points of view of Sandra in the uncomfortable few days she spends at her artists' retreat, and Carol in the months she is writing her book in her refuge from the world, it's not easy to see quite how their tales relate to each other in terms of time and place, beyond the connection to Valerie Swanson, and there is a wonderful build up of tension as you wait for their separate accounts to touch - and touch they finally do, in the most deliciously conceived way.
There is such an unsettling feel about this book, which Moore embroiders through remote settings; inclement weather, characterised with an underlying chill; and oblique references to the history of the island locations, especially about the mysterious Valerie Swanson and the apparently conflicting parts of her personality. If this wasn't enough to set you on edge, the relationships between Sandra and her fellow artists is filled with excruciating moments as she hovers around the edge of the cosy set-up they establish in the rambling house on Lieloh, always the outsider - but it's not easy to tell whether this distance between them is a deliberate act on their part, or simply something about Sandra herself, as her narrative is so unreliable. At the same time, Carol's part of the story sees her becoming divorced from reality as the isolation she has immersed herself in begins to take a toll on her mental health, and it is never clear quite how much she recounts is real or imaginary. Each cleverly contrived part of the atmospheric whole combines to build a complex picture, with layer upon layer of themes to delve into - much like the Russian Doll metaphor used so well in these pages.
This is such an impressive and immersive book that draws you in in a way belied by the fact that it is only 160 pages long. It is one to read on a single, viscerally affecting sitting and it will leave you with many things to turn over in your mind once you are done. This is my first book by Alison Moore, but will definitely not be my last. I am well and truly in love with her writing, and will be exploring her entire adult fiction back catalogue in very short order.
However, when Sandra arrives on the remote island with a rag-tag selection of artists of all persuasions, neither the location nor her fellow community members are quite what she was hoping for. Out of step from the first, Sandra struggles with her rising frustration at her inability to reconcile her ability with her expectation, and to fit in with her fellow artists who seem to view her with derision. Was this really a good idea?
Carol is a budding writer. Determined to finally expand her short format work into a fantasy novel, she takes up the offer from a friend to spend some time away from it all on a tiny remote island to immerse herself in her writing. Slow to settle into a solitary existence, she eventually finds a routine that allows her writing to flourish, but there is something about the house that bothers her. It often feels like there is another presence here, and odd bumps in the night have her convinced that it is haunted by the ghost of its former resident, Valerie Swanson. Is this the idyllic haven she thought it would be?
The Retreat is a beautifully written, and incredibly creepy, novel that explores a host of complex themes around alienation and ghosts from the past. Told in two alternating story lines from the points of view of Sandra in the uncomfortable few days she spends at her artists' retreat, and Carol in the months she is writing her book in her refuge from the world, it's not easy to see quite how their tales relate to each other in terms of time and place, beyond the connection to Valerie Swanson, and there is a wonderful build up of tension as you wait for their separate accounts to touch - and touch they finally do, in the most deliciously conceived way.
There is such an unsettling feel about this book, which Moore embroiders through remote settings; inclement weather, characterised with an underlying chill; and oblique references to the history of the island locations, especially about the mysterious Valerie Swanson and the apparently conflicting parts of her personality. If this wasn't enough to set you on edge, the relationships between Sandra and her fellow artists is filled with excruciating moments as she hovers around the edge of the cosy set-up they establish in the rambling house on Lieloh, always the outsider - but it's not easy to tell whether this distance between them is a deliberate act on their part, or simply something about Sandra herself, as her narrative is so unreliable. At the same time, Carol's part of the story sees her becoming divorced from reality as the isolation she has immersed herself in begins to take a toll on her mental health, and it is never clear quite how much she recounts is real or imaginary. Each cleverly contrived part of the atmospheric whole combines to build a complex picture, with layer upon layer of themes to delve into - much like the Russian Doll metaphor used so well in these pages.
This is such an impressive and immersive book that draws you in in a way belied by the fact that it is only 160 pages long. It is one to read on a single, viscerally affecting sitting and it will leave you with many things to turn over in your mind once you are done. This is my first book by Alison Moore, but will definitely not be my last. I am well and truly in love with her writing, and will be exploring her entire adult fiction back catalogue in very short order.
November 19, 2023
2.5 stars.
This was eerie and beautifully written I have to say.
However, I feel like I greatly wasted my time reading this. I felt like there was no actual plot and that it ended so abruptly.
There’s not a lot you can do in 160 pages but at least follow the beginning middle and end structure!!!
There were so many characters I did not care about and did not understand their purpose in the story.
This was eerie and beautifully written I have to say.
However, I feel like I greatly wasted my time reading this. I felt like there was no actual plot and that it ended so abruptly.
There’s not a lot you can do in 160 pages but at least follow the beginning middle and end structure!!!
There were so many characters I did not care about and did not understand their purpose in the story.
September 10, 2022
An excellent, unsettling book about isolation and ostracisation. The story conveys both the frustration of struggling artists, as well as the very human experience that we all have from time to time, of feeling disconnected or unable to fit in with others. By taking these uncomfortable themes and placing them in a remote setting, the result is uneasy, strange and rather entrancing.
December 15, 2023
A deeply unsatisfying and underdeveloped book that doesn’t seem to care about what it’s trying to achieve. Interesting premise though, I wish Moore had done something with it. The book is too long for what it is, it doesn’t go anywhere in the end, and the second plot line / parallel thread is mostly unnecessary and adds little to nothing (except more dull, lifeless pages). Characters lack any sort of depth or nuance, and unless the whole thing is some sort of allegory, I’m not buying it.
January 20, 2022
Full of mystery and suspense, this is an unnerving book - I was holding my breath from about half-way through because I wasn't sure how the story would evolve. In the end it was creepy rather than horrific, and the prose pulls the reader along quite gently.
January 15, 2023
I enjoyed this and found it to be a very compelling read however it ended very abruptly without any sort of conclusion which has left me perplexed and I don't know if I like that or not.
November 19, 2021
Review to follow soon.
November 9, 2021
An enthralling quick read at just over 150 pages.
I did not like how the other characters at the retreat treated Sandra. Especially around food. It made me very uncomfortable.
The story was interesting and well written. I would love to read more by this author.
I did not like how the other characters at the retreat treated Sandra. Especially around food. It made me very uncomfortable.
The story was interesting and well written. I would love to read more by this author.
February 6, 2025
At first I found the characters annoying, but once I got into the spirit of it (as it were!) that stopped bothering me. Nice and creepy!
December 11, 2022
Brilliant.
November 15, 2021
“I only realised just how good this novella was, after I had finished it”
Oh my goodness! This is going to be such a difficult review to pitch correctly and I can only hope that author, Alison Moore, feels that I have paid due care, attention and diligence to my finished post.
Let me open by admitting that I don’t generally read either the novella or short story format, which compounded by the fact that I didn’t have a page numbered copy, meant that when The Retreat ended rather unexpectedly and abruptly for me, I have to say I was left feeling almost bereft, nonplussed and actually, a little devastated.
However, the longer I took to ponder the ‘what ifs’ of the cliff-hanger final page, the more I came to realise that there was a stronger cohesive structure to the storyline, with more substance and quality, in the relatively few words of this novella, than in many full-length novels I have read. Whatever eventual outcome I chose to attach to those final words and silent scenes, appeared to be my decision, and mine alone. I doubt that no two readers will probably share the same perspective about their abandonment by the author at this crucial juncture and more importantly, what happens next!
The slow, lugubrious journey to this state of suspended reality, was beautifully constructed, one might almost say, precision engineered, by an author who is supremely confident in her ability to draw the reader so deeply into her tangled, twisted web of misery and deceit, that there can be no way back for the unsuspecting victim. Narrated in the third person, from the perspectives of the two principle protagonists, there are some seamless, well planned and measured breaks, when short chapters switch between Sandra and Carol’s individual experiences, as the two separate strands of this tale are inexorably drawn closer and closer together, until they become as one.
Sandra joins a two week excursion to the remote island of Lieloh, for a retreat experience, hoping to discover whether her long held ambition to take professional lessons and become an artist, are as much a reality as she would like them to be. However, something is immediately wrong with this idyllic picture, when it becomes obvious that, although the other five members of the group Sandra is to be marooned with, purport not to know each other, they appear to collectively gang up on her at every opportunity and visibly seek to ostracise her from the community, although she can’t fathom why. At first Sandra shrugs off the snide jibes and barbs, giving the others as wide a berth as possible, however after a few days of this treatment, something inside her snaps and she bites back, which raises the tension stakes even higher as she fights fire with fire. There are several recurring triggers which ramp up this battle of wills, whether it be the endless cheese salads Sandra is forced to eat, or the countless number of times she has to endure listening to the single old record one of the group’s number has found on the shelves. So many things which make her anxious, then angry, by varying degrees. The situation degenerates almost to breaking point, when the group is totally ignoring Sandra as though she is no longer there and Sandra has lowered herself to their level by deliberately antagonising and provoking them. In fact the visceral retaliation by Sandra is quite powerful and intense and at times I began to wonder whether the rest of the group were actually the primary source of all the discontent, or whether it was indeed Sandra herself.
The one common denominator between the two islands of Lieloh and Little Lieloh, is that they were both once home to the famous Swanson family and reclusive actress Valerie, at odds with the rest of her family, died in Little Lieloh’s single house. This is where Carol is spending an extended break, at the invitation of one of the Swanson descendants, in order to write her debut fantasy novel, in solitude and uninterrupted peace and quiet. Although it would appear that she is not as alone as she might like, or believes she is!!
This immersive multi-layered storyline, is highly disturbing, intense and textured. The fluent and honest writing is taut and concise, evocative whilst fully complementing and respecting the length of the story, with not so much as a wasted, or empty of meaning, word. The atmosphere is rich, yet cloying and claustrophobic, certainly not conducive to a restful retreat, as even when Sandra believes herself to be alone, that is seldom the case, as someone from the group is generally watching over her shoulder, if only from a distance; and unknown hidden forces are definitely at work on Little Lieloh, where Carol may have acquired an unwanted guest. Some wonderfully descriptive narrative added visual depth and range, set the scene and offered such a real and genuine sense of time and place, that I imagined I could almost reach out and be there. Although the last place I would have wanted to be is on either Lieloh or Little Lieloh, with the aura of all those negative vibes floating around, just waiting to suffocate me, or I suspect, with even worse intentions!
Alison has drawn and developed a complex cast of characters, none of whom I found particularly charming or compelling, as I had this really eerie feeling that they all seemed dissatisfied with their lives and felt totally unfulfilled. They were far too manipulative and duplicitous to make me want to invest any of my time or energy in trying to connect, or engage with them. This story was however, very much their own and although some of them were not given a particularly loud voice, they each had a tangible presence and demanded to be heard.
This very three dimensional journey, which began for me as work of contemporary literary fiction, very quickly developed into an existential study of modern alienation, before completing its journey as a deep and dark psychological drama – and all in less than 200 pages! It was thought provoking by nature and boy! did I need to think about it, which was surprisingly cathartic, after the sheer underlying air of malevolence and desolation which pervaded the pages of the book as I read. Were there perhaps parallels to be drawn between the treatment meted out to Sandra by the other members of the group, with the constant harassment and feuding between Valerie Swanson and her family? I wonder!
Alison is definitely a confident master in her chosen writing form and I look forward to connecting with some of her previous novella’s and short stories in the months ahead.
Check out my full review post, including extracts and author profile, here...
https://www.fiction-books.biz/reviews...
Oh my goodness! This is going to be such a difficult review to pitch correctly and I can only hope that author, Alison Moore, feels that I have paid due care, attention and diligence to my finished post.
Let me open by admitting that I don’t generally read either the novella or short story format, which compounded by the fact that I didn’t have a page numbered copy, meant that when The Retreat ended rather unexpectedly and abruptly for me, I have to say I was left feeling almost bereft, nonplussed and actually, a little devastated.
However, the longer I took to ponder the ‘what ifs’ of the cliff-hanger final page, the more I came to realise that there was a stronger cohesive structure to the storyline, with more substance and quality, in the relatively few words of this novella, than in many full-length novels I have read. Whatever eventual outcome I chose to attach to those final words and silent scenes, appeared to be my decision, and mine alone. I doubt that no two readers will probably share the same perspective about their abandonment by the author at this crucial juncture and more importantly, what happens next!
The slow, lugubrious journey to this state of suspended reality, was beautifully constructed, one might almost say, precision engineered, by an author who is supremely confident in her ability to draw the reader so deeply into her tangled, twisted web of misery and deceit, that there can be no way back for the unsuspecting victim. Narrated in the third person, from the perspectives of the two principle protagonists, there are some seamless, well planned and measured breaks, when short chapters switch between Sandra and Carol’s individual experiences, as the two separate strands of this tale are inexorably drawn closer and closer together, until they become as one.
Sandra joins a two week excursion to the remote island of Lieloh, for a retreat experience, hoping to discover whether her long held ambition to take professional lessons and become an artist, are as much a reality as she would like them to be. However, something is immediately wrong with this idyllic picture, when it becomes obvious that, although the other five members of the group Sandra is to be marooned with, purport not to know each other, they appear to collectively gang up on her at every opportunity and visibly seek to ostracise her from the community, although she can’t fathom why. At first Sandra shrugs off the snide jibes and barbs, giving the others as wide a berth as possible, however after a few days of this treatment, something inside her snaps and she bites back, which raises the tension stakes even higher as she fights fire with fire. There are several recurring triggers which ramp up this battle of wills, whether it be the endless cheese salads Sandra is forced to eat, or the countless number of times she has to endure listening to the single old record one of the group’s number has found on the shelves. So many things which make her anxious, then angry, by varying degrees. The situation degenerates almost to breaking point, when the group is totally ignoring Sandra as though she is no longer there and Sandra has lowered herself to their level by deliberately antagonising and provoking them. In fact the visceral retaliation by Sandra is quite powerful and intense and at times I began to wonder whether the rest of the group were actually the primary source of all the discontent, or whether it was indeed Sandra herself.
The one common denominator between the two islands of Lieloh and Little Lieloh, is that they were both once home to the famous Swanson family and reclusive actress Valerie, at odds with the rest of her family, died in Little Lieloh’s single house. This is where Carol is spending an extended break, at the invitation of one of the Swanson descendants, in order to write her debut fantasy novel, in solitude and uninterrupted peace and quiet. Although it would appear that she is not as alone as she might like, or believes she is!!
This immersive multi-layered storyline, is highly disturbing, intense and textured. The fluent and honest writing is taut and concise, evocative whilst fully complementing and respecting the length of the story, with not so much as a wasted, or empty of meaning, word. The atmosphere is rich, yet cloying and claustrophobic, certainly not conducive to a restful retreat, as even when Sandra believes herself to be alone, that is seldom the case, as someone from the group is generally watching over her shoulder, if only from a distance; and unknown hidden forces are definitely at work on Little Lieloh, where Carol may have acquired an unwanted guest. Some wonderfully descriptive narrative added visual depth and range, set the scene and offered such a real and genuine sense of time and place, that I imagined I could almost reach out and be there. Although the last place I would have wanted to be is on either Lieloh or Little Lieloh, with the aura of all those negative vibes floating around, just waiting to suffocate me, or I suspect, with even worse intentions!
Alison has drawn and developed a complex cast of characters, none of whom I found particularly charming or compelling, as I had this really eerie feeling that they all seemed dissatisfied with their lives and felt totally unfulfilled. They were far too manipulative and duplicitous to make me want to invest any of my time or energy in trying to connect, or engage with them. This story was however, very much their own and although some of them were not given a particularly loud voice, they each had a tangible presence and demanded to be heard.
This very three dimensional journey, which began for me as work of contemporary literary fiction, very quickly developed into an existential study of modern alienation, before completing its journey as a deep and dark psychological drama – and all in less than 200 pages! It was thought provoking by nature and boy! did I need to think about it, which was surprisingly cathartic, after the sheer underlying air of malevolence and desolation which pervaded the pages of the book as I read. Were there perhaps parallels to be drawn between the treatment meted out to Sandra by the other members of the group, with the constant harassment and feuding between Valerie Swanson and her family? I wonder!
Alison is definitely a confident master in her chosen writing form and I look forward to connecting with some of her previous novella’s and short stories in the months ahead.
Check out my full review post, including extracts and author profile, here...
https://www.fiction-books.biz/reviews...
February 24, 2022
This new novel by Alison Moore is typically unnerving – and it's my favourite one of hers yet. In the 1990s, fortysomething Sandra joins an artists' retreat on a private island, hoping to rekindle her interest in painting. She's also been fascinated with the island since childhood, as it belonged to a reclusive silent movie star.
The retreat does not go as Sandra had hoped. The other guests are standoffish, excluding her from their conversations and activities. (My favourite telling detail in the book is that the other group members tend to fob Sandra off with a cheese salad when making dinner, as she's the only vegetarian among them.) Her work is defaced, her things go missing… There is a sense that it's not just her fellow guests menacing Sandra, but maybe something supernatural as well.
A second strand of The Retreat is set in the present or near future. Carol retreats to the island to work on a novel, but she's by herself – and going there by private arrangement, rather than in response to a public advertisement. Ghosts interfere with Carol's stay, too, but the tone is lighter – or at least, that's the way Carol reacts.
Tension builds gradually in The Retreat, as it moves from the interpersonal to overtones of the supernatural. But, look, the highest compliment I can pay this novel is that I just wanted to keep on reading it. I don't generally say that I couldn't put a book down, but certainly I was always impatient to pick The Retreat up again. If you're in the mood for a ghostly tale, give this a go.
The retreat does not go as Sandra had hoped. The other guests are standoffish, excluding her from their conversations and activities. (My favourite telling detail in the book is that the other group members tend to fob Sandra off with a cheese salad when making dinner, as she's the only vegetarian among them.) Her work is defaced, her things go missing… There is a sense that it's not just her fellow guests menacing Sandra, but maybe something supernatural as well.
A second strand of The Retreat is set in the present or near future. Carol retreats to the island to work on a novel, but she's by herself – and going there by private arrangement, rather than in response to a public advertisement. Ghosts interfere with Carol's stay, too, but the tone is lighter – or at least, that's the way Carol reacts.
Tension builds gradually in The Retreat, as it moves from the interpersonal to overtones of the supernatural. But, look, the highest compliment I can pay this novel is that I just wanted to keep on reading it. I don't generally say that I couldn't put a book down, but certainly I was always impatient to pick The Retreat up again. If you're in the mood for a ghostly tale, give this a go.
January 6, 2022
Another wonderful novel from Alison Moore. Playing upon haunted house tropes but doing so in an innovative and considered way, The Retreat reminded me of Shirley Jackson's Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle - which is possibly the highest praise I can give. Strange, unsettling, and it keeps you guessing until the very last page (and probably beyond). Highly recommended.
March 21, 2022
A clever and disturbing novella in which two creepy tales about artists on retreats on islands dovetail beautifully. Alison Moore is a skilful, evocative writer and her words leave you pondering the stories she weaves long after the story has ended. Moving onto her next to last book, “Death and the Seaside”.
November 21, 2021
This is a dark and beguiling novel which is rich in imagery and characterisation, undercut with a sense of menace and creeping horror.
What happens when you get to the place of which you have dreamed for so long, only to find it is not the escape you wanted, or needed it to be?
On the one hand you have the narrative of Sandra, who has had ambitions of going to the island of Lieloh for so long, finally getting there as part of an artists retreat. Only her artistic ambition and thoughts of dedicating this specified time away from her family is explored through her increasingly fraught encounters with her fellow artistes.
She spends the majority of the time on the island as if she was a ghost, her very existence causing problems to all around her-when another woman named Sandra arrives, she doesn't even own her own name!
She becomes the second best Sandra!
Being vegetarian is an inconvenience for the others, who undermine her personal preferences in a million tiny acts of micro aggressions, she is systematically cut out and cut off from them, and even when she tries to share her paintings, or tries to impose some sort of order on the house, she becomes even more isolated.
The notion of retreat, appears to me to be both a personal and military term-you strategically pull back your forces in order to regroup, re-think and strategize how to move forward. And , in a sense, this is what Sandra is looking for. She wants to go back to that childhood feeling of not being responsible, having something to aim for (staying on Lieloh) and not being a wife, mother or any other noun. She wants to find herself but, when she removes all the constraints on herself as an artist, will she be able to connect with what she has always thought that life, and circumstance has kept her away from?
And , in the cruellest trick of all, Sandra has a revelation which takes the nature of retreat and stamps a muddy boot print on it.
Also narrating the novel, is writer Carol, someone who has only ever written short stories and who has dreams of writing a fantasy series. She is taken with the image of Lieloh after reading that it was the last place where silver screen film star Valerie Swanson spent her last days. Inspired by the film makers who went there to film one of her short stories, she decamps for isolation and inspiration, hopeful for a muse.
Her occupation of the house runs parallel with Sandra's and I admit to feeling confused for a while, until I got it and wow, when that penny drops you feel like the rug has been pulled out from under you.
The smoke and mirrors tricks which Alison Moore employs are so brilliantly executed that you don't even mind.
The women searching for retreat find one, but is it what they think they wanted, or needed?
And the irony of a silent movie film star, hamstrung by the invention of the 'talkies' because her voice did not come across well , is just staggering. The silencing of the voice of these three women, as Valerie stalks the backstage of this novel so I consider her a narrator, has powerful things to say on the taking away of female voices. They are variously told their voices are hideous, irrelevant, or not strong enough.
I also wonder if the island of Lieloh was deliberately named- 'Lie-LOW'- and tied in with the nature of retreat. After all, what does a retreat become if you want to escape but bring all your issues with you?
Sandra spends the majority of the story trying to send a letter home to the family she so desperately wanted time away from, Carol is trying to access her novel which she is sure, if she just gets enough inspiration is lurking in her creative heart and Valerie, she walks behind the lines of the tale as a Carter-esque creation.
Angela Carter, creator and writer of dark and twisted feminist leaning tales, is another influence on this story, she haunts the narration , being read by those who just don't seem to 'get' her, they are reading her as if another tick on their list of things to appear bohemian and 'with it'. Carol's haunting experience is steeped in gothic intensity, and what kept coming to mind, was the notion of keys and locks, and Carter's re-working of my personal favourite fairy tale, Bluebeard.
What if, when you find the key, you open the door, but can never remove the stain which results from that action?
A powerful tale of the voice of women and that which we allow to silence it, 'The Retreat' is a brilliant novel which I feel incredibly privileged to have read. Intense, lyrical and haunted, I loved it.
What happens when you get to the place of which you have dreamed for so long, only to find it is not the escape you wanted, or needed it to be?
On the one hand you have the narrative of Sandra, who has had ambitions of going to the island of Lieloh for so long, finally getting there as part of an artists retreat. Only her artistic ambition and thoughts of dedicating this specified time away from her family is explored through her increasingly fraught encounters with her fellow artistes.
She spends the majority of the time on the island as if she was a ghost, her very existence causing problems to all around her-when another woman named Sandra arrives, she doesn't even own her own name!
She becomes the second best Sandra!
Being vegetarian is an inconvenience for the others, who undermine her personal preferences in a million tiny acts of micro aggressions, she is systematically cut out and cut off from them, and even when she tries to share her paintings, or tries to impose some sort of order on the house, she becomes even more isolated.
The notion of retreat, appears to me to be both a personal and military term-you strategically pull back your forces in order to regroup, re-think and strategize how to move forward. And , in a sense, this is what Sandra is looking for. She wants to go back to that childhood feeling of not being responsible, having something to aim for (staying on Lieloh) and not being a wife, mother or any other noun. She wants to find herself but, when she removes all the constraints on herself as an artist, will she be able to connect with what she has always thought that life, and circumstance has kept her away from?
And , in the cruellest trick of all, Sandra has a revelation which takes the nature of retreat and stamps a muddy boot print on it.
Also narrating the novel, is writer Carol, someone who has only ever written short stories and who has dreams of writing a fantasy series. She is taken with the image of Lieloh after reading that it was the last place where silver screen film star Valerie Swanson spent her last days. Inspired by the film makers who went there to film one of her short stories, she decamps for isolation and inspiration, hopeful for a muse.
Her occupation of the house runs parallel with Sandra's and I admit to feeling confused for a while, until I got it and wow, when that penny drops you feel like the rug has been pulled out from under you.
The smoke and mirrors tricks which Alison Moore employs are so brilliantly executed that you don't even mind.
The women searching for retreat find one, but is it what they think they wanted, or needed?
And the irony of a silent movie film star, hamstrung by the invention of the 'talkies' because her voice did not come across well , is just staggering. The silencing of the voice of these three women, as Valerie stalks the backstage of this novel so I consider her a narrator, has powerful things to say on the taking away of female voices. They are variously told their voices are hideous, irrelevant, or not strong enough.
I also wonder if the island of Lieloh was deliberately named- 'Lie-LOW'- and tied in with the nature of retreat. After all, what does a retreat become if you want to escape but bring all your issues with you?
Sandra spends the majority of the story trying to send a letter home to the family she so desperately wanted time away from, Carol is trying to access her novel which she is sure, if she just gets enough inspiration is lurking in her creative heart and Valerie, she walks behind the lines of the tale as a Carter-esque creation.
Angela Carter, creator and writer of dark and twisted feminist leaning tales, is another influence on this story, she haunts the narration , being read by those who just don't seem to 'get' her, they are reading her as if another tick on their list of things to appear bohemian and 'with it'. Carol's haunting experience is steeped in gothic intensity, and what kept coming to mind, was the notion of keys and locks, and Carter's re-working of my personal favourite fairy tale, Bluebeard.
What if, when you find the key, you open the door, but can never remove the stain which results from that action?
A powerful tale of the voice of women and that which we allow to silence it, 'The Retreat' is a brilliant novel which I feel incredibly privileged to have read. Intense, lyrical and haunted, I loved it.
July 29, 2023
This was a fabulously dark read, a lot of what is going on left to the readers' own interpretation and dealing with some uncomfortable circumstances for the characters involved -2 timelines featuring different women but you're always wondering about the link, other than the Island they are on.
Sandra is an artist, who joins a retreat on the Island of Lieloh to learn more about the past of the Island as well as find her creative spark again. She is up against it though as the other people on the retreat seem to single her out for some very mean behaviour, leaving her on her own for the majority of the time.
In shorter chapters, we meet Carol who is an author and has been staying on the Island in a house and she starts to experience some unsettling occurrences and leads her to explore more of the history of the house and people who lived there.
This was one of those books that just kept me turning the pages wanting to know more and see how things would pan it. It had that quirky, unsettling feel that I enjoy from a story and this is an author that I always enjoy reading
Sandra is an artist, who joins a retreat on the Island of Lieloh to learn more about the past of the Island as well as find her creative spark again. She is up against it though as the other people on the retreat seem to single her out for some very mean behaviour, leaving her on her own for the majority of the time.
In shorter chapters, we meet Carol who is an author and has been staying on the Island in a house and she starts to experience some unsettling occurrences and leads her to explore more of the history of the house and people who lived there.
This was one of those books that just kept me turning the pages wanting to know more and see how things would pan it. It had that quirky, unsettling feel that I enjoy from a story and this is an author that I always enjoy reading
June 18, 2022
Sandra is a struggling artist in (what I think is) the 1990s that signs up to go to a retreat at an island home off the coast of Ireland. She doesn't fit in with the others on the retreat, her art isn't coming off the way she'd like, and things just generally seem to go wrong for her. Things of hers go missing or are damaged -- other people from the retreat being nasty, or something else?
Carol is a writer in the present(ish) day who heads to an isolated island house to finish (start?) a novel she's been trying to write. The house is more dilapidated than charming, but Carol sets to work though she can't seem to shake the sense that she isn't alone. The house's owner? Someone else on this small island?
The novel intertwines the stories of these two -- somewhat unhappy and unfulfilled -- creative women across two time frames. Interesting story, and I liked the impending sense of dread, but it didn't really wow me.
Carol is a writer in the present(ish) day who heads to an isolated island house to finish (start?) a novel she's been trying to write. The house is more dilapidated than charming, but Carol sets to work though she can't seem to shake the sense that she isn't alone. The house's owner? Someone else on this small island?
The novel intertwines the stories of these two -- somewhat unhappy and unfulfilled -- creative women across two time frames. Interesting story, and I liked the impending sense of dread, but it didn't really wow me.
April 2, 2023
This was very good, I am a huge fan of Alison Moore. I love her writing and I also love how she can combine mundane plots and premise with sinister undertones. This is a dual timeline - Sandra goes on an artists retreat to work on her watercolour painting to a private island and Carol also goes to a private island to work on her novel. This is short and an easy ready, but Moore gets so much in, art and literary references, characterisation and interactions between characters are really well written and it has supernatural elements and elements of doppelgängers and sinister goings on which are woven together with the main plot brilliantly. Moore creates the unease right from the beginning and this builds throughout the novel in a similar way to The Lighthouse which is my favourite book of hers, Moore also likes to wrote about the sea and human interactions with it as she does here also very well. Highly recommended
September 17, 2024
2.5/5
I really didn't love that ending, it was too abrupt and I don't know, it made the whole story and all the characters seem a little pointless? I really rooted for Sandra to poison everybody when it was her next turn to cook 😅 The premise is good and I did feel for Sandra and hated the rest of the group with a passion, they were so infurating!
It did really annoy me that every conversation cointainted "says" or "asks" over and over. I would have loved some more synonyms. For example
'I'd like the window open' says Sandra.
'But I want it closed' says Angie
'I was here first,' says Sandra
'I was here first when we chose our beds', says Angie.
And so on and so on. Open any random page on a conversation and you'll see what I mean.
I really didn't love that ending, it was too abrupt and I don't know, it made the whole story and all the characters seem a little pointless? I really rooted for Sandra to poison everybody when it was her next turn to cook 😅 The premise is good and I did feel for Sandra and hated the rest of the group with a passion, they were so infurating!
It did really annoy me that every conversation cointainted "says" or "asks" over and over. I would have loved some more synonyms. For example
'I'd like the window open' says Sandra.
'But I want it closed' says Angie
'I was here first,' says Sandra
'I was here first when we chose our beds', says Angie.
And so on and so on. Open any random page on a conversation and you'll see what I mean.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 18, 2022
Gripping from start to finish. A book I read in two hours straight.
The atmosphere and tension builds throughout, with the constant needling of the other guests towards Sandra becoming more and more uncomfortable.
The writing you know is good when it's as easy as breathing to read. You're not analysing whther the writing is good, you're just enjoying a really good story, the writing is the facilitator of the reading experience.
The twisty ending is short and shocking. It ends abruptly but then how else can you end a 164 page novel that has slowly built and built in tension?
3/3 concept
3/3 writing
3/3 enjoyment
0/1 feeling/moved
= 9/10 (4.5/5*)
The atmosphere and tension builds throughout, with the constant needling of the other guests towards Sandra becoming more and more uncomfortable.
The writing you know is good when it's as easy as breathing to read. You're not analysing whther the writing is good, you're just enjoying a really good story, the writing is the facilitator of the reading experience.
The twisty ending is short and shocking. It ends abruptly but then how else can you end a 164 page novel that has slowly built and built in tension?
3/3 concept
3/3 writing
3/3 enjoyment
0/1 feeling/moved
= 9/10 (4.5/5*)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews