Pharos: A Ghost Story by Alice Thompson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Pharos: A Ghost Story
Book Review: an original and exciting read
Summary: 5 Stars
Pharos is one of the best books I've read recently. Beautifully written, it tells a compelling ghost story. The author has managed to accurately capture the 19th century atmosphere of Scotland without sacrificing the terrifc characterization. I especially liked the mysterious and sexy woman, washed up next to the lighthouse. The author keeps you guessing the outcome until the truly original denoument. I cannot recommend this book strongly enough, anyone who likes excting mysteries and/or interesting new forms of writing will not be disappointed!Book Review: A HAUNTING AND ATMOSPHERIC GHOST STORY...
Summary: 4 Stars
This is an intriguing and spooky, old fashioned ghost story, set in nineteenth century Scotland in a lighthouse on a remote island. At the lighthouse lives Cameron, the Principal Keeper of the Lighthouse, as well as Simon, his new assistant. Life is very structured and routine on the island. Cameron and Simon work side by side in tandem, as they maintain the lighthouse and keep its nightly beacon of light burning brightly. They life a simple though apparently solitary life. Yet, at the opposite end of the island, a young golden girl sits in a trance by a crypt.
One day, Simon finds a woman with long dark hair and large gray eyes submerged beneath a bed of seaweed. This woman has no memory of who she is or from where she came. They arbitrarily name her Lucia after a ship that once wrecked itself on the rocks off shore. From the moment she is found, however, nothing is ever the same on that island.
Not even the arrival on the island of Charlotte, Cameron's no nonsense sister, can offset the growing sense of dread and wonder that oppressively seems to permeate the island. A sense of evil and of things being not quite right lays like a miasma over all.
This is an atmospheric and evocative novella that will keep the reader turning its pages. Those readers who like ghost stories will have an appreciation for this book.
Book Review: A HAUNTING AND ATMOSPHERIC GHOST STORY...
Summary: 4 Stars
This is an intriguing and spooky, old fashioned ghost story, set in nineteenth century Scotland in a lighthouse on a remote island. At the lighthouse lives Cameron, the Principal Keeper of the Lighthouse, as well as Simon, his new assistant. Life is very structured and routine on the island. Cameron and Simon work side by side in tandem, as they maintain the lighthouse and keep its nightly beacon of light burning brightly. They life a simple though apparently solitary life. Yet, at the opposite end of the island, a young golden girl sits in a trance by a crypt.
One day, Simon finds a woman with long dark hair and large gray eyes submerged beneath a bed of seaweed. This woman has no memory of who she is or from where she came. They arbitrarily name her Lucia after a ship that once wrecked itself on the rocks off shore. From the moment she is found, however, nothing is ever the same on that island.
Not even the arrival on the island of Charlotte, Cameron's no nonsense sister, can offset the growing sense of dread and wonder that oppressively seems to permeate the island. A sense of evil and of things being not quite right lays like a miasma over all.
This is an atmospheric and evocative novella that will keep the reader turning its pages. Those readers who like ghost stories will have an appreciation for this book.
Book Review: A pale ghost of a ghost story
Summary: 2 Stars
An award-winning author. A not so uncommon genre. But the result, a novella, was even too long drawn out. The plot seemed interesting enough at the beginning, but I feel the author only managed to skim along the plot lines, only gave out tidbits whenever describing the locale and the few characters she had to work with. I didn't feel drawn in at all to the world she was trying to set down on page. Glimpses of Cameron's growing self-doubt, Lucia's meandering episodes, his assistant's seemingly new-found magical abilities, a mysterious child wandering the island, nothing was working for me. Midway through the story I hardly cared about any of the characters any more, and not surprisingly the ending lacked the plot twist that I was naively but half expecting to see--utterly anticlimactic.
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