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The Woman In Black - Susan Hill


Michelle

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Synopsis

When Arthur Kipps attends the funeral of Alice Drablow he is unaware of the tragic secrets which lie hidden behind her house. It is not until he glimpses a woman dressed all in black at the funeral that a creeping sense of unease begins to take hold.

 

Review

I picked this one up because I had heard good things about it, most of all that it was scary. The book begins well, with a family telling ghost stories on Christmas Eve. Arthur Kipps becomes upset, because of his own experiences, and decides to write his story down, to try help himself 'heal'.

 

Personally, I would describe this book as scary, but it is a wonderfully classic ghost story, told with wonderful descriptions, and great atmosphere. It starts slow, but builds pace, along with the haunting, leading to an ending that will stay with you, even if you've already guessed it.

 

A fab read!

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  • 2 years later...

My choice for our Bookworms group in November and it really did not disappoint. Susan Hill's writing is so good - she's very convincing writing from a man's perspective. Never once did I feel I was reading a woman pretending to be male.

The characterisation is excellent as is the story itself. The book gets off to a quick start and the suspense builds and builds towards its conclusion which although inevitable still made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up!

I've never read a ghost story before but this has given me a good taster of the genre so I shall be on the look out for more. I really recommend this.

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I read this a while ago and it has stayed with me. It's a very ominous tale and it really does give you that shiver down your spine effect. I read it in the livingroom, with the lights on and the television in the background, so in my opinion it's a very scary tale indeed.

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I haven't read the book, but I remember seeing the TV version of The Woman In Black when it was originally broadcast late on Christmas eve many years ago (from a google search, it must've been Christmas Eve 1989), and I remember it was pretty eerie stuff, mainly one certain scene which sticks in my mind. The book may well be worth checking out, then...

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I read this book for A-Level and loved it! We saw the play in London and it was so scary! Made re-reading the book very creepy! This is the only book by Hill I've read but I did enjoy it :tong:

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SueK's recommendations of Man in the Picture and The Mist in the Mirror seem intriguing as well.. I think it's great if a relatively 'modern' author can capture the same kind of bleak atmosphere as the classics. Never mind blood and guts and sex, a truly haunting, creepy story can have timeless appeal!

 

My sentiments, exactly. It's a pity that good ghost stories seem to be so out of literary fashion these days...

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  • 3 months later...

I'm going through a phase of giving books that I have previously abandoned another go. I'm finding that quite often I'm enjoying them much more on their second outing. The Woman in Black is one such book, and I thought it was an excellent read. It didn't scare me, but I did read most of it in daylight. If I had been reading it at night on my own then I might have been spooked by it.

 

I'm off to the see the play on Saturday, and can't wait. I've heard such good things about it.

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  • 2 months later...
We saw the play in London and it was so scary! Made re-reading the book very creepy!

I'm off to the see the play on Saturday, and can't wait. I've heard such good things about it.

Oooh lovely. I'd love to see that - enjoy. :smile2:

My wish came true!! It came to the Theatre Royal in Bath so I went to see it with my other Bookclub friends last night - we thought it was BRILLIANT!!

 

I couldn't believe something with only 2 cast members (plus ghost) could be executed so perfectly - but it was! :irked:

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I went with my daughter to see this late last year up in London. The production was excellent and we both enjoyed it EXCEPT, a large party of school children (aged around 16ish) came to see it and everytime there was a ghostly moment they screamed the place down!:smile2: After a while the teachers told them to keep the noise down but to no avail.

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Sue - we had the same thing with a group of 16 year olds up in the top circle - very irritating.

 

Nicola - it was brilliant. I couldn't work out how two people could pull it off - it was so clever.

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