Book Review || This House is Haunted (2013)
"Eliza Caine responds to an ad for a governess position at Gaudlin Hall. There is no adult present to represent her mysterious employer, and the children offer no explanation."
: 🌕 : SPOILER ALERT : 🌕 :
It is important to note that most of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book & those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters that contain reflections on abuse, child endangerment, death of a child, sexual abuse of a minor, suicide, psychological distress, graphic descriptions of body decay, & others.
“I've always considered myself to be the sturdy type. You know, the sort who can put up with any unpleasant situation if I have to.”
Eliza Caine is 21 years old when her last remaining parent dies. She is orphaned in a house that does not belong to her, in a city that sees her roaming the streets without opportunity for a welcomed male gaze, working tirelessly in a school for girls. Eliza is something of a lost soul which is ironic for so too is her father who wanders alongside her in all her future adventures.
Coming to a head, the ghost of her father & the ghost of a homicidal mother fight head-to-head over Eliza. Lest we forget the two children who wander the grounds of this abode at which Eliza was hired to be their governess but, like Eliza’s common sense, the children’s needs fall to the waste side in this gothic horror-style novel wherein ghosts rule the world of the living & the abuse done on to children sees adults more perplexed on the repercussions of abuse than on the safety of the children around them.
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I learned long ago to keep my expectations low when reading gothic novels. There are very few authors who can do the genre justice & these are outnumbered by those who grasp the basic concept, once thought to be done right, & reproduce it to no end.
Many readers have become familiar with the plot employed within this book: a young woman accepts a job as a governess to children inhabiting a strange & secluded home. During her time employed at the house, she encounters ghastly things that make her question her sanity & those of the children, for surely young people might also be the demons haunting this house. In all, this is an overdone layout & one that rarely shows the fruits of the labour of writing.
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While reading this book I found my mind wandering to all the other mediums in which I have come across this same story before. What differentiates this book from others is its disjointed framework, one that left me questioning the seriousness of this work.
The primary example I would like to employ towards this point touches on the subject of linguistics. I am certainly not an expert on English, nor am I an expert on Victorian English, however, there was a significant disconnect between all previous works taking place during such a period & the discourse presented in this book. The use of the word “trauma”, specifically, is misused.
When Eliza & Mr. Raisin are speaking about a series of abuses that Santina experienced during her childhood they reference that traumas affect us all our lives. However, the word trauma was being utilized as a means of expressing distinct physical wounds per its introduction into English vernacular in 1690 & would only begin to be used to reference psychotic, psychological, & undo mental stresses in 1894, this being a total of 27 years after the story takes place.
There are of course other such words that are whimsically tossed around & joining these with some of the personal approaches to gender, societal expectations, child-rearing, religion, etc. I could not help but feel put out. This book is not written authentically to leave the reader with confirmation of the time.
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The plot of this story is seemingly nonexistent. Eliza comes to Gaudlin Hall to care for children & yet spends all her time pestering people for the story of something that does not concern her.
Certainly, upon learning that she is the sixth governess in under a year, there might be some explaining that would need to be done but, this story takes place in 1867, people died of bizarre occurrences all the time—they still do—so what would lead Eliza to feel that the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the previous governess’ were abnormal? Truly, one could regard each of the incidents & conclude with justifiable reasoning that they were accidental.
Yet for all her boasting of smarts & intelligence, Eliza amazes the reader by simply being able to place one foot in front of the other so little is she able to grasp at the straws of the obvious.
I understand & appreciate that most gothic-style stories are written with just such a woman at the head. However, the extent to which Eliza’s character was without reason & made absurd decisions was overwhelming. This is a character who declares that she would never leave the children on their own, so much does she love them, while simultaneously running to the village on her first morning at the house to inquire about the whereabouts of the parental figures. She then spends hours in the village, eating scones, talking with people, & bullying others for information, all of which is none of her business. Finally, once she believes that there might be information to garner, she returns to the house to assume the role of a similar caretaker to the children as their mother, with a little bit less psychosis & a bit more ego.
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The aspect of this book that I found the most troublesome was the approach to abuse. The sexual abuse done to children was touched on quite a bit as several characters had been made aware of predators in their community & others had begun exploring the topic in conversation, profiting off rumours of such events. However, when it came time for characters to act their intentions, those primarily on the safety & wellbeing of children, the adults always proved themselves to be incompetent.
Why did Isabella have to die? Why did we read an entire story in which Eliza was caring & kind to Eustache but seemingly ignored Isabella—a child who was long subjugated to the abusive tendencies of her mother & would have faced the repercussions of such abuse in the visual formats as her mother violently attacked two people.
This poor child is treated like a plague by all those around her & then finally ends up being crushed to death by the foundation of the house in which she grew up, only for the one person she had hope in, to leave the premises as happy as a clam that she got to raise Eustache as her child & be rid of Isabella’s weird tendencies. This is such a travesty.
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There were so many opportunities for the author to explore some depth of the subject matter as he employed the realities experienced by children so frequently that it left the absence of maturity a gaping hole. Throughout this entire book, we explore how trauma presents itself in various ways.
Santina became crazed by the sole caretaker responsibilities of her children because she was worried that they would be subjected to abuse at the hands of others. Isabella was closed off & emotionally stunted because her mother was oppressive & dangerous. The little girl who was abused by her teacher evoked behaviours of extremism. Yet, all the while Eliza never cared about that.
What Eliza cared about was men & their impact on her & her life. She did not care for the well-being of women nor did she care for their friendship. She spent her time imagining being Eustache’s parental figure; Mr. Raisin’s wife; the loving companion to the male teacher who was a child predator; & the list goes on.
What did it bring to have her constantly daydreaming about what it would be like to be with a man in a romantic way? It brought nothing. This entire premise brought down the quality of the story significantly & rendered Eliza to be a most unlikeable character—more so than she already was.
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At the end of the day, there are books of higher quality lining the shelves of libraries & bookstores alike. Some books see action fulfilled by characters with forethought & depth; events transpiring due to logical series of movements; & ghosts performing tricks that impact those they haunted in dreadful ways.
However, I could not find it in myself to care that Eliza stuck her hands into scalding water. I could not believe that there was no twist for surely it was obvious that the ghost of her father was pining for her safety against the attacks done by the obvious ghost of Santina? The trajectory of this story took no turns, held no twists & was just what one assumed it would be but, somehow lesser even than that.
C. 💌