The Fall discussion

The Fall by Bethany Griffin was a riveting read but the reader has pay close attention. The book takes place in an old house that encompasses maids, doctors, machines, a family, a twin daughter named Madeline Usher, a house with it’s own mind, and a curse. Madeline Usher unlike the rest of the past Ushers, Madeline wants to fight the fits, and hearing the house’s feelings( the things that come with the Usher curse). Rodrick, her twin, believes that Madeline is just making things up. Their mother favors Rodrick and send him to school away from the house so he cannot get the curse but as for Madeline the curse passed down to her, but she tries to find a way to escape the curse and the house. The book can be quite confusing because the reader doesn’t know to trust if Madeline is just mental or if the curse is real, along the way she faces many obstacles. Another reason why the read is confusing is because the chapters skip to different times in Madeline’s life, ages, but along with Madeline’s stories some chapters have journal excerpts from Lisbeth Usher who is a past Usher who Madeline looks up to because Lisbeth somehow escaped the curse. Throughout the book the readers not only experience fear for Madeline’s life but also a connection to her because in the end she still is a teenager growing up, and goes through loss, love, and learns how to be independent. Out of 10 I would rate this book an 8.5, I really enjoyed all the subplots, and elements of horror but it was not overwhelming with scares. The Fall to me doesn’t so much fall under the genre of horror but more of paranormal with a dark tone, with spurts of childhood elements. If you like to read books which make the reader question if things are really happening or if the author is just mental I recommend to read The Fall. Also, if you enjoy books like The Picture of Dorian Gray that have that gothic feel with bits of personality and places where it makes the reader really question if things are real, the painting in The Picture of Dorian Gray the readers were unsure of the portrait was actually changing similar in The Fall the readers are unsure if the house is actually doing all the things that happen in the book or if it is just Madeline’s imagination. I loved how original the storyline of the book was, even though it was a remake of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher there were no times in the book that I could guess what was going to happen, the story was truly one of my favorites but the only con of the book was that the story had sounded like it was start abruptly with Madeline waking up in a coffin but it took some time for the action to really start to draw me in.