Although the book intentionally blurs the line between what is subjective, and what is objective, the book is written as a first-hand account of experiences. In the writing style adopted by the author, the mental ticks and potholes of a mentally disturbed individual truly comes through.

Not surprising that this was written by the same author as The Red Tree.

The book jumped around so much that I could never get into it. It was very promising but not for me. Could not finish it.

No.

Average Sounding. Not inspiring.

Not really.

This book was the worst one I have listened to ever! I somehow managed to listen to the whole thing, despite my better judgement, in the vain hope that something would start to make sense or have any redeeming features by the end.

the Narrator did a really good job though.

I have no idea why anyone would ever like this book, although I know it is quite popular, maybe I am just clueless, but the writing style, the content, and the pacing of the book irritated the crap out of me. This book really made me mad!!

I really liked the story, which meanders back and forth across fantasy/hallucination, supernatural occurrence, and everyday experience -- while somehow being impossible to stop listening to. The unreliable narrator-protagonist, a mentally ill young artist, India Morgan Phelps aka Imp reveals her slow unraveling through her accounts of being haunted -- by an archetype first glimpsed in a turn-of-the-century painting of a mermaid. The haunting-thriller-quasi-horror thing isn't usually my cup of tea, but this was intelligent and creepy and doesn't have a pat ending. Recommended if you're up for something new.

i try this book twice but could not follow the story at all

the bee keeper apprentice

she was ok

disappointment

maybe

Can't put my finger on why I was not too crazy about this book, sort of hard to follow at times. Kept thinking to myself, get to the point already. Very good narration though!

i really wanted to love this book. i set myself up to rave about it....but i just can't. based on all the reviews i have read (here, on goodreads and otherwise), this book seemed to have all the makings of a story i would love. fantasy, female narrator, gothic horror and the promise of an incredibly talented author.

Caitlin Kiernan is a talented author. this much is true. there are words and paragraphs and portions of this novel that are so beautifully written they begged to be framed as art. but then there were parts that were so...so...hmmm.
let me try to explain.

Imp could be an interesting narrator, but the fact that you never quite know (because of her schizophrenia) what is reality and what is fiction gets quite tiresome very quickly in this novel...an element that never sat right with me -- and never gets resolved. the novel ends in ambiguity with more questions than answers...and not that i need a neat and tidy ending, but i would like to feel some sort of resolution or growth or something that makes me feel like the book ended where it should have ended.

some of Imp's ramblings are so difficult to pick apart and understand, it is frustrating. i dont want to be tired after reading a novel. not to say i don't like reading a difficult book. look at how American Gods left me...thats a difficult book that i found immensely satisfying. but this book felt like all work with no payoff. again, i just felt that i was left with nothing at the end. just confusion and sadness and i was actually rather annoyed. maybe if i had read the physical book instead of listening to this it would have been more manageable?

final note -- no real likeable characters in this. including Imp. i wanted so much to like her. really i did. but i just couldn't.

there is a lot of folk lore and fairy tale in this book, which i did enjoy...but as i said, those portions were few and far between, and couldn't hold the rest of the book up on their unsteady stilts.

start from the beginning and change the whole plot

get better ideas for a story

indifference

The idea of a mentally challenged girl isnt all that new so lets make her a Lesbian, that'll do it!

Plot is not lineal enough, floats around and repeats itself, truly boring. This story was making me insane, had to stop a quarter of the way through.

Needed to get to the point ,or points earlier. Nor have I been able to develope any empathy for Imp. She's unrealistic, I have relatives and friends who suffer from schizophrenia and are on medication, they are neither isolated nor vacant as this character is portrayed.

Maybe if I was desperate

went on way to much in circles... had no idea who was who

Nil

Disapointment that I had spent my credit on this.