House of Hollow (Book Review)

 

Book Review and Discussion

Blurb:

Seventeen-year-old Iris Hollow has always been strange. Something happened to her and her two older sisters when they were children, something they can’t quite remember but that left each of them with an identical half-moon scar at the base of their throats. 

Iris has spent most of her teenage years trying to avoid the weirdness that sticks to her like tar. But when her eldest sister, Grey, goes missing under suspicious circumstances, Iris learns just how weird her life can get: horned men start shadowing her, a corpse falls out of her sister’s ceiling, and ugly, impossible memories start to twist their way to the forefront of her mind. 

As Iris retraces Grey’s last known footsteps and follows the increasingly bizarre trail of breadcrumbs she left behind, it becomes apparent that the only way to save her sister is to decipher the mystery of what happened to them as children. 

The closer Iris gets to the truth, the closer she comes to understanding that the answer is dark and dangerous – and that Grey has been keeping a terrible secret from her for years.

Review:

This book left me absolutely messed up. There were times where I had to reread sections because it was absolutely mind boggling. 

This story is incredibly original. It takes traditional fairy tale tropes (I’m talking the dark Grimms tropes) and twists them to fit the modern setting. It includes diverse characters (not so much race, moreso gender and sexuality) that paint a vivid and authentic modern day. I feel like Sutherland did a great job including enough allusions that the story felt like it could happen today. Now, obviously it is a fantasy horror book (now more commonly known as paranormal horror) so we know that it can’t happen. However, there are times where you are sitting at the edge of the chair or couch in anticipation of what is going to happen next because it feels so real.

I felt like Sutherland was trying to paint a picture of feeling out of place in your own skin, finding your ownself, and breaking away from family which are all things that teens feel. The entire book felt like a metaphor to all the struggles that teenagers undergo. Therefore, I do think that this book is appropriate for teens, but it does have some harsh language, discussion of sexuality, and dark imagery. Therefore, I think it is for teens 16-17 and up.

As you can see, I rated this book 3.5 stars. That is because of some characters and the ending. There was a specific character, Tyler, that at the end of the story I could not figure out what his role in the book is. There were some times where his character helped reveal some new information, however, the ratio of needed presence to unneeded presence was tipped too far into the latter. I did love his character. I liked his background, history, and vibe. However, he felt unnecessary to the plot: a total npc. However, Tyler only knocked the book down half a star. 

Second. The ending felt incredibly empty and too cleanly wrapped up. I was incredibly dissatisfied. You mean to tell me that after every major revelation at the end of the book, there are absolutely no consequences? None whatsoever? Nah! I think Sutherland wanted the book to have a happy ending, however, a happy ending did not make sense for this book. In what ways are the characters-- except for the mother-- deserving of a happy ending? Why do these characters just get to have a normal life after everything that happened? There really was no trying to right wrongs. I just… I just couldn’t understand the ending. I wanted to knock the book down to a 2.5 or 3 stars because of the ending, however, the rest of the book was very memorable and good that I couldn’t do that.

Discussion: If you haven’t read the book, stop reading here. Spoilers ahead!

I really, honestly, cannot get behind the ending. Iris should not have just waltz back to the living world to Cate to continue on. Cate shouldn’t have forgiven her or Vivi. I know if I was in Cate’s shoes, I wouldn’t have. Then, Iris has the audacity to then become someone different. Why would you put Cate through that? The whole reason why Cate forgave Iris was because Iris acted like the original one. Now, Iris is going to take that away from here? No way. I think that Iris and Vivi should’ve tried to atone. I know it was Grey who did most of it, but the other two went along with the whole skin-napping. AND, nothing happened to Grey except that the sisters don’t talk to her anymore. I feel like something more should’ve happened. The girls didn’t deserve a happy ending for killing three kids, stealing their skin, and assuming their lives. Like, no way.

I also feel like the father wouldn’t have given up on his quest for vengeance just because Iris went “Papa.” If that’s all it took, why did she do that when he was still alive? It was terribly inconsistent.