John A. and Marguerite E. W. (aliennightbird) reviewed on 4/25/2009 + 40 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

Perhaps it was style of which the book was written, but I read about a third of the way through the book before I started to feel anything but disgust for any of the characters, including Margaret. Everyone seemed to be psychotic, sociopathic, depressed, or something else wrong with their minds. The family at Angelfield probably couldn't help it. There were deep mental problems, evil acts, and way-too-close, inappropriate, and distructive family relationships going back at lest three generations. Talk about a dysfunctional family! (But, I felt, that Margaret should have more of a reaction to the abuse that Vida Winter told her about than, "Hmmmm. What an interesting mystery.")

But, the story was told, for the most part, with such a detatched, dispassionate, almost journalistic feeling that it was hard for me to feel passion. Perhaps Vida Winter, having lived through it all, no longer feels the need to express emotion over the long-ago sometimes horrific acts?

Grandfather is depressed because his wife died giving birth to his daughter, and locks himself in his room. Finally, in desperation, the housekeeper shoves his infant daughter, Isabel, in his arms. Well....that brings him out of his funk, but only partly, because now he dotes on his daughter, but in an extremely inappropriate manner (not sexual, but still...).

Meanwhile, he totally ignores and neglects his nine-year-old son, Charlie, who, without love, disipline, or guidance, takes out his rage by becoming increasingly violent and cruel. He starts out by arranging "accidents" for the maids and understaff of the household, causing some of them to be seriously injured. Staff doesn't last long at this house! Later, Charlie "graduates" to torturing and later raping his sister. However, Isabel seems to enjoy it, and turn it on Charlies, thus becoming his collaberator, ESPECIALLY when she decides that she wants to date. To get rid of him, she throw young women at him, and he rapes them instead. When she marries and leaves the house, he continues the rampage on his own. Still, he is "in love" and misses Isabel, which leads to self-mutalation.

Fast forward a few years. Isabel has given birth to girl twins, and her husband has died. So she returns with her twins to Angelfield and Charlie. As the twins grow, they in turn have far too close a relationship to each other, speak only in "twin talk", relate only to each other, and cannot seem to understand the feelings of others. Furthurmore, their personalities are polar opposites of each other. One is gentle and docile and apparently mentally retarded. She allows her twin, who is wild, cruel, domineering, cunning, and violent, to abuse her and lead her into frightenly bad deeds. When a doctor and a governess try to experiment on the the twins by seperating them for several months, they both become catatonic until they are reunited.

And, of course, since the family is rich, most people are afraid to bring charges against any of the family members, for the most part.

Did the "wild" twin really live to become the famous author, Vida Winter?

I was about ready to give up on the book after I read about a third of the way through it. I prefer stories that involve all my emotions, not just disgust.

However, I pushed my way through it. When the governess and the doctor experimented on the twins, I actually finally started to feel sorry for them. Then, as Margaret explores on her own the mystery of the family at Angelfield, the twins's personalities develope into something approachable. More "normal" characters are added to the cast as well.

So, it seems that everyone left alive in the story is searching for their past, their family, trying to reconcile their losses and past deeds. Everything weaves together in the end into a complex, interesting human drama and satisfying mystery.

Still, I think that I would have appreciate the book better if the story and the characters had been written/presented in a different way.

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