Scan barcode
A review by simonlorden
Carrion Crow by Heather Parry
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I received an ARC through NetGalley and this is my honest and voluntary review.
A very Gothic and claustrophobic story told in two POVs. We start with Marguerite, Cécile's daughter named after a French princess, but we also see a lot of Cécile's POV later on in the story, which makes this a story in two timelines.
Marguerite is trapped in the attic, sent her by her mother, who wishes her to prepare for being a good wife before Cécile allows her to marry. And Marguerite is eager to be finished with her education and get out, daydreaming about a life she will live with her kind older husband, and with her lover while her husband is at work. Her only company in the attic is a crow that has moved in through a hole in the roof.
Cécile is trapped in a different way. The daughter of a rich businessman, trapped in an arranged marriage to a member of the aristocracy, among people who see her as an outsider. Trapped by her three children and her husband's increasing disrespect and antics. There are horrors and cruelty in Cécile's POV that almost shocked me more than Marguerite's, because they felt more real - things like Cécile's mother always being in bed because she's either pregnant or recovering, or how the whole thing ends with her husband's family.
There is a lot of focus on food and eating, which is also mixed up with bodily functions and body horror as Marguerite slowly loses the plot in the attic. It's very slow-paced and inward-focused, which wasn't really my style, but it fits the genre and the story. There is sooo much focus on eating and the proper way to prepare meals, which of course ties into the proper way to be a wife. I would like to try a turtle soup once, though.
I have to admit, at the end I was left asking WHY. I read all of Cécile's POV, but I still didn't /fully/ understand why she would do this to her eldest daughter and not the others, and how it would go on for so long. But that very drastic overreaction is the whole premise of the story, so I won't question it too much.
tldr; Overall a bit slow for me personally sometimes, but I love how it unfolds. Marguerite's daydreams about the life she will live once she's out of the attic with Alouette were my favorite parts.
A very Gothic and claustrophobic story told in two POVs. We start with Marguerite, Cécile's daughter named after a French princess, but we also see a lot of Cécile's POV later on in the story, which makes this a story in two timelines.
Marguerite is trapped in the attic, sent her by her mother, who wishes her to prepare for being a good wife before Cécile allows her to marry. And Marguerite is eager to be finished with her education and get out, daydreaming about a life she will live with her kind older husband, and with her lover while her husband is at work. Her only company in the attic is a crow that has moved in through a hole in the roof.
Cécile is trapped in a different way. The daughter of a rich businessman, trapped in an arranged marriage to a member of the aristocracy, among people who see her as an outsider. Trapped by her three children and her husband's increasing disrespect and antics. There are horrors and cruelty in Cécile's POV that almost shocked me more than Marguerite's, because they felt more real - things like Cécile's mother always being in bed because she's either pregnant or recovering, or how the whole thing ends with her husband's family.
There is a lot of focus on food and eating, which is also mixed up with bodily functions and body horror as Marguerite slowly loses the plot in the attic. It's very slow-paced and inward-focused, which wasn't really my style, but it fits the genre and the story. There is sooo much focus on eating and the proper way to prepare meals, which of course ties into the proper way to be a wife. I would like to try a turtle soup once, though.
I have to admit, at the end I was left asking WHY. I read all of Cécile's POV, but I still didn't /fully/ understand why she would do this to her eldest daughter and not the others, and how it would go on for so long. But that very drastic overreaction is the whole premise of the story, so I won't question it too much.
tldr; Overall a bit slow for me personally sometimes, but I love how it unfolds. Marguerite's daydreams about the life she will live once she's out of the attic with Alouette were my favorite parts.