Member Review
Review by
Joy C, Reviewer
Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
In The Companion by Kim Taylor Blakemore we have a multilayered story of a condemned woman and the acts that led to her date with the hangman. Set in the 1850s the book takes a swipe at many social issues of the day. The constricting social roles of women. The injustice of the legal system. The gulf between those with means and those who serve them. Mental illness, drug addiction, and obsession make an appearance as well. But instead of a complex story of a young woman at the mercy of the patriarchy the story is muddied and bogged down with no clear, overriding point. Is it a love story? A domestic suspense set in the past? An attempt at literary women's fiction? I couldn't get a grasp on what the author wished to say.
The story is told in drips and dollops, doled out as the scene shifts from the days leading up to Lucy Blunt's execution to the events that led to her conviction. The prose is gorgeous, almost lyrical, but Lucy herself is not very likeable. Neither are her victims. Her employer is not cruel enough to garner sympathy for his wife, nor is he negligent enough to warrant her descent into the laudanum bottle. Mrs. Burton's escape into the arms of her maid seems petty and contrived, an act to get his attention or perhaps to alleviate her boredom, not a passionate affair. The jealousies of Rebecca and Lucy are too stilted to warrant vengeance. It's not a badly written book, but it's not what the reader expects from the descriptive blurb.
Perhaps the biggest issue I have is that the book is, at its heart, a same sex love story. Not that a same sex love story can't be a great book, but there was nothing in the blurb about the LGBT content. That may or may not have affected my decision to read it, but it would have set the tone a lot better. I expected a twisty thriller, like Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace, not a jealous maid and lady's companion vying for an unstable woman's affection. The person I felt the most sympathy for was the husband. He was a good provider, turned a blind eye to his wife's proclivities, and seemed to be guilty of being a product of the time rather than a brute.
While Ms. Blakemore's story falls flat in it's ambitious attempts at social commentary it is not a bad story. I wanted to know how it all played out. Whether Lucy would hang, or if there would be a last minute reprieve. I enjoyed the descriptive language and the bleak feel of the New England mill town. It's worth the investment of time to see how it all unravels. I leave it to other readers to decide what category the book belongs to.
In The Companion by Kim Taylor Blakemore we have a multilayered story of a condemned woman and the acts that led to her date with the hangman. Set in the 1850s the book takes a swipe at many social issues of the day. The constricting social roles of women. The injustice of the legal system. The gulf between those with means and those who serve them. Mental illness, drug addiction, and obsession make an appearance as well. But instead of a complex story of a young woman at the mercy of the patriarchy the story is muddied and bogged down with no clear, overriding point. Is it a love story? A domestic suspense set in the past? An attempt at literary women's fiction? I couldn't get a grasp on what the author wished to say.
The story is told in drips and dollops, doled out as the scene shifts from the days leading up to Lucy Blunt's execution to the events that led to her conviction. The prose is gorgeous, almost lyrical, but Lucy herself is not very likeable. Neither are her victims. Her employer is not cruel enough to garner sympathy for his wife, nor is he negligent enough to warrant her descent into the laudanum bottle. Mrs. Burton's escape into the arms of her maid seems petty and contrived, an act to get his attention or perhaps to alleviate her boredom, not a passionate affair. The jealousies of Rebecca and Lucy are too stilted to warrant vengeance. It's not a badly written book, but it's not what the reader expects from the descriptive blurb.
Perhaps the biggest issue I have is that the book is, at its heart, a same sex love story. Not that a same sex love story can't be a great book, but there was nothing in the blurb about the LGBT content. That may or may not have affected my decision to read it, but it would have set the tone a lot better. I expected a twisty thriller, like Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace, not a jealous maid and lady's companion vying for an unstable woman's affection. The person I felt the most sympathy for was the husband. He was a good provider, turned a blind eye to his wife's proclivities, and seemed to be guilty of being a product of the time rather than a brute.
While Ms. Blakemore's story falls flat in it's ambitious attempts at social commentary it is not a bad story. I wanted to know how it all played out. Whether Lucy would hang, or if there would be a last minute reprieve. I enjoyed the descriptive language and the bleak feel of the New England mill town. It's worth the investment of time to see how it all unravels. I leave it to other readers to decide what category the book belongs to.
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