Book Review: The Girl From The Well by Rin Chupeco

Author:  Rin Chupeco
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Date published: 5 August 2014
Buy on: Amazon, Book Depository

You may think me biased, being murdered myself. But my state of being has nothing to do with the curiosity toward my own species, if we can be called such. We do not go gentle, as your poet encourages, into that good night. 

A dead girl walks the streets.

She hunts murderers. Child killers, much like the man who threw her body down a well three hundred years ago.

And when a strange boy bearing stranger tattoos moves into the neighborhood so, she discovers, does something else. And soon both will be drawn into the world of eerie doll rituals and dark Shinto exorcisms that will take them from American suburbia to the remote valleys and shrines of Aomori, Japan.

Because the boy has a terrifying secret - one that would just kill to get out. 

The Girl from the Well is A YA Horror novel pitched as "Dexter" meets "The Grudge", based on a well-loved Japanese ghost story

Review:

So...I've been thinking of trying a new style of reviewing. It is quite simple, really. 

Why you should read the book

So, first of all the writing. What a beautiful writing. I think the best way to describe it is as a Japanese writing. While you may think me somewhat not politically correct with that phrase I will explain.

While there are all sorts of writing styles- as many as there are people on this earth, I'd say culture and roots and language affects the writing style.

For example what few books by French authors I read had the same feeling to them in the writing style- the beat wasn't fast but it was steady, the language and descriptions were matter of fact and though it was not dramatic the drama level was kept at the same level all along, hanging in the background just beyond your reach yet tainting everything.

Japanese writing style is calm, somewhat leisure and descriptive, with an emotional undertone. It has a prolonging tune that keeps you waiting to a climax that is rather disappointing and anti- climatic in its existence. It is lyrical, and in my opinion at least very beautiful. I usually look at things somewhat differently after reading such work.

"Time had taught me to temper the malice within. But for a long long time, I was a great and terrible thing. I was a creature that found pleasure in the ripping. In the tearing. I am no longer that monster. But memories of that creature still lurk within this well. There are some things that never fully die." 

Secondly this IS a horror story. True, those that really love horror stories might not feel the goosebumps while reading this book but scardy cats such as myself surely will. 

Those who are interested in the Japanese ghosts stories and culture will find this interesting enough. 

Why you shouldn't read the book

First of all, if you are one of those that wake up in the morning dreaming of Jack the Reaper and think that was a good dream, if you like horror and your room is painted in black or of you are just a horror geek then truth be told this book might be just a little anemic for you. 

Secondly, not much is happening. There is a plot and there is a climax and we are being led to something but it happens slowly. So if you are looking for a nightmare of a rollercoaster this is not for you. 

Thirdly, I'd like to point it out right now- while the story is told by the ghost, fact is she is more of an observer (some would say stalker) than a MC. Some of you might not like it. Personally, I think that the very fact that the author chose such MC has set problems to the book since a ghost can't do much but observe and scare. Which is exactly what she does - shame is for some what she observe may not be that inetresting or scary.

"It is not in my nature, to be interested in the living. But there are many things, I have found, that defy nature."

My thoughts

All that being said truth is I loved this book. From the writing style to the story to the way it ended. I was scared shitless from all the scary moments (I'm a scardy cat. when I go to a horror movie I grip my friends' hands tightly). 

I loved what was seen here from the Japanese culture and I loved the fact that Akiko wasn't good or bad but somewhere in between. 

So yeah, while I am well aware to the fact that this book is far from perfect for me it is a 5 stars read. 

An ARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.