House of Glass is a platypus of literature. The book has a body of one creation and a tail of another one. It starts as a gothic mystery but turns into War and Peace in the end.

What is the book about

It’s a story about Clara, a young woman whose bones are fragile like glass and whose emotional state has also been shattered by a recent loss. Clara is hired to work in a glass house of an old estate, and of course the estate hides many mysteries which Clara will try to solve.

What I liked about the book

The gothic part

The book creates a perfect gothic atmosphere. There is an old mansion, spooky sounds, and a history of complicated lives.

The mystery

I absolutely loved Clara’s attitude which turned a spooky story into almost a detective one.

Characters

The characters are not either good or bad. They are multidimensional and complicated. It’s hard to come to final conclusions about them.

Storylines

There are many storylines and they are all connected on some level.

Chekhov’s guns

Each detail mentioned in the story has its function.

What I liked less

Women’s rights agenda

I know it’s a sensitive topic so I’ll try to tread it carefully. I understand the necessity of acknowledging the problems, both historical and current ones, but modern female-authored literature seems to be overusing the topic to the point that it’s starting to repel people rather than draw the limelight to the problems.

Random villain

It feels like the characters were drawing straws to pick up a villain, and the one who landed the role didn’t really fit it.

The platypus tail

When I want to read War and Peace, I read Tolstoy. If I am drawn to the book by its gothic atmosphere, I prefer the atmosphere to persist till the end.

Final thoughts

It’s a well-written book with an interesting and complicated plot that for the most part combines mystery and gothic. If it was not for the ending I would have easily given the book five stars.

A wishlist is, basically, just another digital shelf. I simply add a book there and then go back to reading whatever I was reading, because, as we all know, the wish to get a book are the wish to read a book are two different wishes. Most of purchased books continue their undisturbed lives on shelves, some of them eternally.

Here are the books from my wishlist

Have you read any of them? Would you recommend them?

1. House of Glass by Susan Fletcher

The book has everything I love: a gothic story, an old stone house, an eerie mystery. That’s about as much as I know because, I stay away from descriptions in order not to accidentally spoil a book for myself.

2. The Parentations by Kate Mayfield

Sarah, a fellow book blogger, suggested this book to me. She said it’s really beautiful and magical, but for some reason not many people read it yet. So its place is secured on my wishlist.

3. The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir

It’s a modern story about a fictional reality show, and the characters dealing with an unexpected situation while trying to carry on with the show. I want to get a physical copy of the book because of the shiny font on the cover (I’m a bookish magpie).

4. Night-Gaunts and Other Tales of Suspense by Joyce Carol Oates

It’s a short story collection with quite an intriguing description about lovers, vengeful wives and some murders.

I first saw the book when Bookish chat posted the photo on Twitter. I hope to get a physical copy of the book because I like the cover, even though the woman seems slightly clumsily photoshopped into the armchair. I’m also worried by the book’s unflattering rating of 3.33 stars on Goodreads.

These are all the books I have on my wishlist so far. Do you have wishlists too?