The Little Stranger [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

I call myself a huge Waters fan, have read all her books and just LOVE all her writing - until this one came along.

I bought "The Little Stranger" in Dublin, fresh off the presses, glad to have caught yet another one of her works, nominated for the Man Booker nonetheless!

While the read was thrilling and chilling throughout, oftentimes similarly hair-raising as Affinity, the ending is shockingly flat, short, simple, absolutely lacking any turn whatsoever. Or is it?

Dumbfounded and speechless, I felt fooled and couldn't help thinking that Waters must've had some deadline to meet and couldn't elaborate on the ending any further...unless I've totally missed the "surprise"?!

What? She just fell? Or jumped? Or was she pushed?? The rejected and surely hyper-frustrated lover had nothing to do with it? And WhatWhereWho-The-Heck is the Little Stranger?! Oh, the potential....

The ending of Affinity had me crying in shock; Fingersmith's twists and turns, too, absolutely gave me whole-body goose-bumps - this?

A great beginning followed by a definitely weird and creepy development make for a bubble about to burst with mystery and suspense, but alas, it all just ends in a flat matter-of-fact wheeze rather than the "bang" Waters fans hope for and justly expect of her by now.

So sad. I wish I could get Waters' take on and explanation of this book's ending. I simply MUST've missed something!

I'll lay out my stall straight away: I think Sarah Waters is one of our best living writers and I've enjoyed every one of her books. 'The Little Stranger's is her first venture into the ghost story, though it's a muted, subtle ghost story with none of the gothic horror of, say, 'The Woman in Black'.

Its subtlety also means there's plenty of scope for character development and, as with Sarah's other novels, it's the characters that make the book as the central theme of social upheaval and change in the post-war years is explored. What impressed me the most was Faraday's voice: it perfectly captures a slightly chip-on-the-shoulder, aging heterosexual male, an amazing achievement given the writer's background. Also perfectly captured is the oppressive, creepy atmosphere of Hundreds Hall.

As for the ending... well, I can see that this has caused a lot of controversy and debate but I thought it worked brilliantly. It is laden with ambiguity and meaning and the fact that it's impossible to come to any definite conclusion is what gives it its strength. I haven't stopped thinking about it since I put the book down.

Overall: in some ways a change of direction for Sarah Waters, nevertheless a creepy, atmospheric ghost story.

England nach dem 2. Weltkrieg: Labour regiert, das alte England der Gentry verschwindet nach und nach. Auch die Familie Ayres ist davon betroffen. Sohn Roddrick leitet unter schweren Kriegstraumata, der Familiensitz verfällt zunehmend und auch das Land bringt nicht mehr genug ein das Leben der Familie zu sichern. Felsenfest halten sie jedoch an der alten Art zu leben fest, immer darauf bedacht, in der ländlichen Öffentlichkeit nicht aufzufallen und keinen Skandal zu produzieren. Ihnen zur Seite steht der Ladarzt Dr. Farraday. Seine Mutter arbeitete als Hausangestellte auf dem Anwesen der Ayres und er kennt das Haus noch aus glanzreicheren Zeiten. Doch merkwürdige Dinge ereignen sich auf Hundreds Hall, Spuren erscheinen an den Wänden und immer wieder verletzt Roddrick sich auf unerklärliche Weise.
Mit großem Vergnügen habe ich "Der Besucher" (so der deutsche Titel) gelesen. Es ist ein komplexer, vielschichtiger Genreroman, indem weder Spannung noch intellektuelles Vergnügen zu kurz kommen. Sarah Waters ist eine ganz wunderbare Sozialstudie einer Welt im Verschwinden gelungen. Dabei fängt sich die Stimmung von Melancholie, aber auch von Aufbruch gut ein. Das Buch ist gruselig, aber auf eine subtile Weise. Die Handlung wird mit der Zeit, wie es sich für ein gutes Mystery-Buch gehört, immer verstickter. Rationale und übernatürliche Erklärungen ringen permanent mitteinander und bieten dem Leser keine leichten Lösungen an. Besonders gefallen hat mir der Charakter des Erzählers, Dr. Faraday.