Starling House

Opal and her younger brother Jasper have grown up in a complacent Kentucky town built on, like the rest of America, a shameful bloody past swept under a whitewashed rug.

After their mom dies, the only thing that keeps Opal going is ensuring Jasper has a future to look forward to outside of this place. She also dreams constantly about a spooky house down the road. But that is fine and normal and don't worry about it.

Opal is stubborn, and finds herself caught in cycles of miscommunication with both Jasper and spooky house occupant Arthur. Some readers may consider that frustrating. I am personally sympathetic to control freak women who do not vocalize their priorities and try to think their way out of problems and assume they understand and moreover are responsible for their loved ones' happiness. Who knows why I would find that so compelling? Truly a mystery. Anyway I'm saying I did not mind that but I get it if you do.

I really liked the slow build of magic being real only for Opal to be too tired to react or care. It reminded me of when they tried to tell us all that aliens exist and we could not summon anything in response. I liked the way in which the house was sentient. It was a petulant moody annoyance that was trying its very best to help with an enormous undertaking.

I liked how irritable the love interests were about being horny. I liked that they matched each others' melodramatic martyr energy. I like that the book kept reiterating how ugly Opal's soulmate was, because it is true that sometimes ugly is the hottest thing.

I'm just waffling with the end. I didn't feel like a take-home point really landed for me. I was interested in these themes of home and family. What we do and do not owe our biological family. How names and family are things we can change and decide for ourselves. The idea of property - who owns a house? Who owns land? How does past pain and lack of closure map onto places that still exist to this day?

I felt like Opal was trying to say something about all of this at the end, but I didn't fully grasp its significance or feel like the ending culminated meaningfully. I think part of it, is that it feels like Opal went from her life revolving around Jasper to her life revolving around Arthur. And I guess home ownership? I mean, part of me gets it. I do be Zillowin. And I think a quaint quiet life is okay to be content in, especially after surviving chaos. But did the townsfolk just all get amnesia? Or are they really that disengaged? I'll have what they're having.

I don't know, it felt flat for me. Unrelatedly, the word “harassed” was repeated far too many times. I felt harassed. HA. Okay.

I did have tons of fun reading this, despite the ending. They should turn the cover artwork into wallpaper for me to buy. I'd recommend this to fans of [b:Rules for Vanishing|42872940|Rules for Vanishing|Kate Alice Marshall|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1552954687l/42872940.SX50.jpg|66663075], [b:We Have Always Lived in the Castle|89724|We Have Always Lived in the Castle|Shirley Jackson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1704229774l/89724.SX50.jpg|847007], [b:Pet|43568395|Pet (Pet, #1)|Akwaeke Emezi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1548836225l/43568395.SX50.jpg|60224408], [b:The Perfectly Fine House|52294362|The Perfectly Fine House|Stephen Kozeniewski|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1583945288l/52294362.SY75.jpg|77451566], [b:Through the Woods|18659623|Through the Woods|Emily Carroll|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1414845473l/18659623.SX50.jpg|26477611] and [b:Book Lovers|58690308|Book Lovers|Emily Henry|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1638867089l/58690308.SY75.jpg|92341790].