The Essex Serpent

Readable, but boring.

On the surface, this book is a beautifully deep and detailed historical novel, with all the right period details. It???s also a bit of a mystery/horror novel, with all those tiny nods to the (historical) legend of the Essex Serpent and the touches of folk horror in how the people of Aldwinter talk about it and deal with it.
But at its core, it???s all about the characters, who are all quite complex and layered in their portrayals. None of them fits into any sort of stereotype one might find of them in Victorian novels: Cora isn???t necessarily the typical widow (merry or otherwise), William isn???t the typical parson, Martha isn???t the typical lady???s companion, etc. Each character has an idea of what the other characters are like before meeting them, then another idea of what they???re like after meeting them. That idea changes throughout the course of the novel as the plot plays out - a plot that is largely driven by the way the characters interact with each other. There???s a kind of ripple effect: one character takes some kind of action (or doesn???t), and the effects of their action or inaction affects the other characters, to a greater or lesser degree. This is what makes the characters - and the novel - enjoyable to read.
This dynamic is clearest with Cora and William. Initially they have some negative ideas about what the other is like, but when they finally meet each other in person those ideas change, and become more positive. But as the novel goes on, it becomes clear that though they get along and agree on a lot of things, there???s also plenty of things they DON???T agree on - but that just makes them more interesting to each other, more enjoyable to be around. This creates an interesting push-and-pull between them, that ripples out onto the other characters. Those characters, in turn, react to that dynamic, and their reactions spark similar reactions in other characters, including Cora and William.
Of course, none of these dynamics would be interesting if the characters themselves weren???t interesting on their own. As I mentioned earlier, none of the characters are stereotypes, but some are, I think, a bit more interesting than others - largely because of how they shine a light on aspects of British Victorian history that might not always be made obvious in other media based on the time period. The most obvious example here is Martha: her socialist politics provide a refreshing contrast to the politics of the other characters, but her sapphic-coded relationship with Cora, and her more complicated, politically-slanted relationship with Spencer, also add angles and layers to her that are not always visible in media and literature about the Victorian period.
But where does this leave the Essex Serpent itself, and its story? While it???s still a presence in the novel, and is the reason why all the characters come together in the first place, it???s really more of a symbol than any kind of actual threat. In that sense it can be viewed in many different ways, but the one I lean more towards is that it is a symbol of making assumptions, and disillusionment: two things all the characters undergo, for better and for worse.
So overall, while some readers might come to this novel expecting something in the horror or gothic vein (like I did, initially), they???ll quickly come to learn that this really is a story about the characters in it, and how they interact with and react to each other, than about any supposed monster lurking in the river. While this might be disappointing to some readers who were looking for a scarier read, others might find themselves unexpectedly delighted by the novel???s character-heavy focus and the author???s wonderful prose. 

1.5

A complicated story, much like our life is. I wouldn't call its effect cathartic, but in a way it really is therapeutic. Already started watching the show, curious how they will carry it out.
Even though there's no drama in the end, it left me just a bit sad, but I can't see what about. Maybe it's something subconscious.

A good old fashioned novel with a lot of story to get lost in. Cora Seaborne is freed from a terrible marriage by the death of her husband. The doctor who treated Michael Seaborne has fallen in love with her, but she is focused on experiencing and enjoying her freedom. She goes to Essex to look for fossils and comes into a community of people who believe there is a sea monster terrorizing their village. Here she meets William Ransome, the local priest, his wife Stella, and their children. Although Cora does not think much of religion, she becomes close friends with Will and his family, with surprising results.

There are so many oppositions in this novel: religion vs. science, superstition vs. reason, tradition vs. modernity, social classes rubbing up against each other in uncomfortable ways, innovations in medicine that go against people's sense of God's place in their lives or against their sense of human value. Almost everyone in the story is baffled, but out of all this friction comes a sense of growth.

An earthquake, the colour blue, the colour red, buttons, mud flats, sheep, a goat, another goat, skinned moles on poles, stinky fish, a strange child, some more strange children, tuberculosis, social housing, mass hysteria and cups of Bovril. All this and more in this complicated tale of superstition and tradition versus science and progress, with religion in the middle shouting “hey, why can't we just all get along”.

I quite enjoyed it but if you are (and I wasn't when I started reading this) after a gothic romp about chasing a monster look away, look away.

Beautifully written novel of ideas set in the late Victorian era. London and Essex are convincingly evoked and the characters - well they are so perfectly what they are supposed to be that it is hard not to claim cliche, though they are they still drag you into the world. This book adhered to the necessary tropes of its genre so well, I laughed with joy. Just a lovely book in which not a lot happens in terms in physical action, but much life happens indeed. Recommended for folks who do not need wham bam boom books set in the 19th century.

Well written, but I was never really gripped by it. But, then I often don't get along with historical novels written now.

I picked up The Essex Serpent in an effort to start reading more literary works. That effort paid off, and the habit persisted even if the original book did not. I began this novel in early January and am finally calling it quits in July at 70%.

There is nothing to fault with the novel itself. The characters, setting and relationships are all interesting and I genuinely enjoyed reading the book every time I picked it up. The brush of the unknown, magical elements within the story really improved the concept. I'm giving the book a solid four stars due to how much I enjoyed the book when I originally started it. However, after having left it for so long the plot was hard to remember and my interest in the book have faded, so it remains an unfinished four stars. I have every belief that a reread will be a successful four or five stars.

Gorgeous prose, compelling characters with interesting and complex relationships, and a bit of a mystery thrown in made this an absolute winner for me. Likely to be on my list of favorites for 2018.

This book was a pleasant surprise. I was thinking it was going to be pretty pulpy. But it wasn't. It's a gothic or mystery type novel. It has mystery and unraveling. It is a work that has elements of feminism and socialism which is a nice break from most Victorian-era novels. Which are mostly about modesty and puritanism.

Update: reread it in English. It was even better.
Some things I liked:
p. 24: “ Come tomorrow, if you like, to the grave. I said I'd go alone, but perhaps that's the point; perhaps we are always alone, no matter the company we keep.”
p.127: “Sometimes I think I sold my soul, so that I could live as I must. Oh, I don't mean without morals or conscience - I only mean with freedom to think the thoughts that come, to send them to go, not to let them run along tracks someone else set, leading only this way or that..' .... ‘I've sold my soul, though I'm afraid it didn't fetch too high a price. I had faith, the sort I think you might be born with, but I've seen what it does and I traded it in. It's a sort of blindness, or a choice to be mad - to turn your back on everything new and wonderful - not to see that there's no fewer miracles in the microscope than in the gospels!”
p. 216: “‘No such business', he said cheerfully. ‘I'm quite religious you know: no patience for the supernatural'”.
p. 343: “We've loved each other so long I've never been a man and not loved her. I can no more imagine life without her than without my own limbs. Who will I be if she is gone? If she is not looking at me - will I still be here? Will I look in the mirror one morning and find my reflection gone?

Some words I liked or did not now:
genuflect - kneeling in a religious manner (for a shrine or something)
auspicious - favorable circumstances
declivity - incline or gradient in height
beck - brook or stream
tincture - a trace or vestige
distrait - preoccupied
homunculus - a miniature human
caul - a portion of the enclosing sac of a fetus
shingle - beach gravel

The slightly-Gothic Victorian tale of a headstrong young widow who delights in nature and discovery and her new-found freedom from a cruel marriage. Cora, and her entourage of lovable and eccentric companions, come to Essex for the air and her amateur passion for palaeontology, and end up enthralled by the local's belief in the return of a feared mythical creature. While there, she finds a deep and untypical friendship/love with a local vicar, Will.

The novel has a little bit of everything, part Gothic beast story, part love story, part historical portrait of Victorian times, part feminism, part socialism, but none of these parts ever take the upper hand, so I mainly see it as a portrait of a wide range of vividly painted characters that range from slightly wacky to stubbornly love-struck to loyal revolutionary, that are all tied to each by love of one sort or another. The more I think about the characters and their bonds, the more I admire the novel. The writing is atmospheric and clever, sometimes very funny, and always quite beautiful.

This one kind of fizzled out for me. I was really into it until just past halfway, then I had to force myself to keep reading. I love the characters, the setting, the differing philosophies between those who love the naturals sciences and those who love faith. There is so much to like in this story - Francis is so weird yet charming, Stella in her blue bower, Cora and Will meeting over freeing a sheep from the bog. But past a certain point it just seemed like repetitions of things already talked about, with no strong finish.

‘'Come tomorrow, if you like, to the grave. I said I'd go alone, but perhaps that's the point; perhaps we are always alone, no matter the company we keep.''

This novel is as complex, as beautiful and mesmerizing as its cover. It is astonishing, an exciting, majestic literary journey. It deserves all the recognition it gets and then some. It is plain and simple one of the most beautiful, unique novels I've ever read. There will be no ‘'but'' or ‘'or'' in my review. ‘The Essex Serpent' is perfection...

Cora Seaborne- a highly symbolic surname- is a young widow with an interest- nay, an adoration- in science and in the workings of nature. She cannot stand anything she considers as superstition but is always keen to learn. Prompted by a friendly couple, she travels to the parish of Aldwinter to experience the frenzy that has come with the rumors of an appearance by the Essex Serpent, a devilish Loch Ness-like monster that has returned after almost 200 years. Her meeting with Will Ransome, the local vicar, will bring forth all kinds of debates between them, all kinds of contradictions between the world we think we know and the one we aren't able to see.

Perry focuses on three issues. The contrast between Science and Religion. She doesn't take sides, a token of how skillful she is. She respects both and lets the reader decide. Then, we have the Victorians' obsession with everything that has to do with the supernatural and the occult and the misunderstood position of the women in the society of the era. She stresses that not all women were victims of the restrictions and the norms, but they had to face disbelief, scorn and accusations as the price for their freedom. For Cora, freedom comes through the death of her husband, a man as tyrannical as he was cold, whose personality can be traced in Francis, Cora's son, who is an intriguing child, but highly unlikeable.

‘'Girls and boys come out to play...The moon does shine as bright as day.''

The children form a main point of view in the book. Joanna, Naomi, Francis see the world in their own eyes. They experience the phenomena in personal ways which couldn't be more different and diverse and the interpretation sets quite a few things in motion. The omens in the community are numerous. People falling victims of a strange illness, young girls experience a fit of unusually lively laughter, the moon is full and red, the crops are failing, the residents sprain their ankles all too easily. The children believe in the signs and try to protect the world from changing into something they don't wish to know.

‘'Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils.''

Does the serpent exist? The smell is foul, the sounds otherworldly, the feeling of uneasiness and restlessness has been plaguing the community. Each resident finds the chance to blame everyone else but themselves and stories from the past haven't been forgotten. Perhaps, the serpent stands as a symbol for the community's narrow-mindedness and fear of progress.. Their dusty lives constantly influence the young ones and when Cora or Luke try to put some sense into their heads, they're scorned and attacked. These are people who fear darkness but in truth are in love with it. They don't want it to go away because it provides them with an excuse to live.

‘'We both speak of illuminating the world, but we have different sources of light, you and I.''

Cora and Will are worlds apart, at first glance. Cora is the naturalist, the science lover, the one who looks at nature and sees causes and effects. Will sees the divine presence, the Hand of God released from medieval superstitions. They argue. They disagree and grow closer, their banter is full of well-drawn arguments (and sexual tension...) but they respect each other's views even if they're too proud to admit it. They are against all prejudices, religious and social, but deep down they're helpless. They try to shed their skin and come to terms with the other's reality, but this requires a kind of sacrifice they're not willing to commit. And they're trapped in a world where the mob cannot be freed by their fears and nightly terrors.

‘'There was a crooked man'', he said, ‘'who walked a crooked mile.''

Same thing happens with Luke whose appearance makes people suspicious of his intentions. He is a doctor, highly skilled, highly intelligent, whose offers are denied out of terror. He speaks outright and faces adversity and hostility from minds that are buried in the mud where the Serpent resides. Luke is the most fascinating character along with Cora. Will, on the other hand, well...not so much...

Will is a coward. He denies his moments of clarity and is afraid of his feelings. Cora makes him a complete, rounded character. When he's alone, he becomes a shadow and yet, he cannot see it or refuse to do so. Cora shakes his mundane life, but he prefers mediocrity. His wife, Stella is a pathetic woman. A figure created out of boredom, docility and piousness in the extreme. Martha, Cora's maid, is a shrew in heh most negative way possible. She's full of anger for everything and everyone, she hates everyone's existence and believes she has to constantly speak her mind (which is usually wrong) ad interfere in Cora's life in a presumptuous, rude, vulgar manner. Stella and Martha required a lot of patience from me in order to avoid skipping their pages...

I don't need to stress how exceptional Perry's writing is. Poetic, lyrical, dark, Gothic. There is stream of consciousness at times, there are diary entries, correspondence. There are passages with descriptions that seemed to have jumped straight out of a tale by Poe. The language may remind you of the Bronte sisters. There are bloody images- with a Viking blood eagle reference- and there is also a hymn to the beauty of the foreboding nature. Rooks and ruins, waves and the moon. The dialogue is perfection, the moments when Perry describes the actions and the state of mind of our main characters simultaneously contain some of the most exquisite pieces of writing I've recently found in a novel (and I have found a plethora...). It gives an atmosphere of darkness, an eerie feeling that something is about to happen. One of our characters will cross a personal limit or a new wound will occur.. Who knows...Perry definitely knows how to create anticipation and this is one of the most important aspects in Gothic Fiction, particularly. The Author's Notes contain a ton of fascinating suggestive reads and they are jewels in themselves.

For me, this book is as close to perfect as it can get. Let yourself wonder in a dark coastal town and look the serpent in the eye...

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com

3.5 stars Overall I did enjoy this however I didn't live up to the hype unfortunately. I saw this on a lot of people's favourites of 2016 so really thought I was going to be wowed by it but it was just okay for me. The pacing was a little odd, some of the scenes were just a bit flat and some parts I ended up skimming as it wasn't grabbing me. It was generally just a bit lacking, but as I said it was a fairly enjoyable read, just not a favourite.

See my full review at The Emerald City Book Review. The premise sounded irresistible to me, yet even though The Essex Serpent had all the ingredients for a book I ought to love, I had a hard time warming to it somehow. Perhaps this was partly because the constant switching of perspective also made it hard for me to settle into the story. Certain threads and relationships were not developed as much as I would have liked, as the zigzagging plot kept dropping one to pick up another. I remained oddly distant from the characters, and sometimes had the sensation of being told rather than shown about their characteristics; they felt intellectually constructed out of era-appropriate ingredients (paleontology, anatomy, consumption, sexual repression, etc.) rather than spontaneously living.

Unsettling is definitely what The Essex Serpent is all about, though, so perhaps this is an appropriate effect. And at the end, suddenly, the characters came together in a way that surprised me, bringing them to life more vividly. If the book had gone on from there for another hundred pages or so, I might have felt more connected to it.

5 star read! I adored this book!!!! It has everything you could ever want. It has romance, it has love triangles and even love rectangles ! It has folk tales and fantasy elements and much much more! It has captivating characters and each character is given the depth and consideration they deserve within the wider plot . It has twists and turns and shocking and heartwarming moments. Sarah Perry is such a talented writer. She is a strong contender for the future. She had beautiful prose, fantastic character development and superb plot development. I will read anything and everything she will write in the future and I urge you to do the same! If you do anything this summer....read this book!!!