#the death of jane lawrence
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Gothic fiction is when there is an old mansion, that's it
#this is a joke#like i get that it easily symbolizes the themes#lack of control uncertainty decay feeling powerless#what better place than a big rotting house where you kight not be familiar with the rooms/layout#*might#it's also a LOT of the books I can think of#gothic#the death of jane lawrence#mexican gothic#the little stranger#la hacienda#jane eyre#northanger abbey#the haunting of hill house#we have always lived in the castle#the yellow wallpaper#i feel like i'm still probably forgetting some house gothics
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cmon, get your books:
The Luminous Dead - f/f, horror, caves, spelunking ( powells | amazon | b&n )
The Death of Jane Lawrence - m/f, horror, magic, surgery ( powells | amazon | b&n )
Yellow Jessamine - short, sapphic, and (you guessed it) horror ( the publisher | amazon )
Last to Leave the Room - f/f, horror, doppelgängers, freaky basement, too many zoom meetings ( the publisher | amazon | b&n )
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Reccer Spotlight: Laura!
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
The Fall of the House of Usher
This is How You Lose the Time War
The Death of Jane Lawrence
Within These Wicked Walls
Laura's recs are saying Gothic (Heroine) RIGHTS. Full text available in their tab of the Bella's Book Club Summer Reading '23 Reclist!
more info on BBC Summer Reading 2023
more Reccer Spotlights
#reccer spotlight#summer reading#summer reading challenge#booklr#book club#book recs#bella's book club#we have always lived in the castle#the fall of the house of usher#this is how you lose the time war#the death of jane lawrence#within these wicked walls
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Stack Challenge: Scavenger Hunt edition x
Scripty Title: Ever Alice
Face on the Cover: The Forest Grimm
Book by Favorite Author: Warrior of the Wild
Still on the TBR: Death of Jane Lawrence
Flowers on the Cover: Keeper of Lost Things
Letters of my First Name in the Title: Summer of a Thousand Pies
#bookstack#stack challenge#scavenger hunt#books#the forest grimm#warrior of the wild#the keeper of lost things#the death of jane lawrence#ever alice#the summer of a thousand pies#fantasy#middle grade#thriller#mystery#reading#reader#book spines#coffee and currently reading#bookblr#booklr
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youtube
First book review I've posted in a while! And it's a patron request!!
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"i can fix him"
whatever else you can say about jane lawrence
i mean
she did fix him
#the death of jane lawrence#alexi talks#personally id never say anything bad about her period#god forbid women do anything
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"The Death of Lawrence" by Caitlin Starling
🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕 (5/5) (Spice Level: Mentioned/Minor Explicit)
“Practical, unassuming Jane Shoringfield has done the calculations, and decided that the most secure path forward is this: a husband, in a marriage of convenience, who will allow her to remain independent and occupied with meaningful work. Her first choice, the dashing but reclusive doctor Augustine Lawrence, agrees to her proposal with only one condition: that she must never visit Lindridge Hall, his crumbling family manor outside of town. Yet on their wedding night, an accident strands her at his door in a pitch-black rainstorm, and she finds him changed. Gone is the bold, courageous surgeon, and in his place is a terrified, paranoid man—one who cannot tell reality from nightmare, and fears Jane is an apparition, come to haunt him.
By morning, Augustine is himself again, but Jane knows something is deeply wrong at Lindridge Hall, and with the man she has so hastily bound her safety to. Set in a dark-mirror version of post-war England, Starling crafts a new kind of gothic horror from the bones of the beloved canon. This Crimson Peak-inspired story assembles, then upends, every expectation set in place by Shirley Jackson and Rebecca, and will leave readers shaken, desperate to begin again as soon as they are finished.”
This book is where my bias is going to come out in full force- but that’s alright, because this is my blog and I write these for me. Nothing I say is law, and my opinions aren’t your opinions. But I have a deep and feral rage that this book has less than 4 stars on goodreads. I digress.
Now, in full transparency I am normally fairly sketchy when it comes to romance in horror. Few books in my opinion manage to balance the two. When I read horror I'm looking for something that elicits sensations of dread and that’s difficult to do when characters are trying to make out at the same time… or worse, it turns out like “Baby Teeth” by Zoje Stage and you characters having sex in front of a literal child.
That being said, I feel like “The Death of Jane Lawrence” handles the balance beautifully. The characters work with and against each other, dancing with the horror that refuses to be relegated to the background. Romance is built carefully on the steps of the haunting psychological horror that Starling builds within Lindridge Hall. Jane, ever pragmatic, approaches her feelings with practiced practicality; Augustine meanwhile, is a tightlipped whirlwind who oscillates between practicality and his emotional turmoil. The two push and pull in tune with the ghosts that haunt each of them, and they build a romance in spite of, and because of, the things that happen to and around them. They’re dynamic is genuinely delightful to see play out in every scene, with Jane’s blunt practicality putting a direct pressure on Augustine’s skittish nature, and Augustin being so afraid and yet so enamored.
And Jane! This is pure speculation, and perhaps even projection, but Jane reads as a mature, autistic woman. She struggles with the social dance and manners expected of her, preferring the rigidity of scrip and numbers. Her marriage proposal to Augustine is made after compiling a list of eligible bachelors in the town with careful consideration of age, financial standing, and most importantly- who would be the most likely to accept a marriage of convenience. Where there is no expectation of sex, love, or children. Something she has no desire to pursue. Her proposal is accompanied with an offer even, that in exchange for the marriage she’ll act as accountant.
Because Jane copes with the world through numbers. Numbers are practical, the math is repetitive and familiar when the rest of her world view is being challenged. Numbers are soothing for her. She originally self-soothes by doing the accounting for her adoptive family, and then in doing the accounting for Augustine’s medical practice upon their agreement. When things at Lindridge Hall begin to spiral, Jane soothes herself with numbers on paper. When numbers aren’t as accessible, Jane soothes with stimming, repetitive motions that help her to regain some focus and control.
Her logic and rigid thinking are challenged continuously by the horror of this book. Ghosts, logistically, don’t make sense to her. Neither does religion, truthfully- when you die, you are dead. So the ghosts and magic haunting Lindridge Hall and her lover challenge this rigidity- and she resists, logicking the events even if it means accepting a lapse in her own sanity. She’d prefer to be labeled clinically insane instead of rewriting her worldview, even as she’s confronted with the evidence over, and over.
The writing in “The Death of Jane Lawrence” flows beautifully. Starling is able to elegantly craft sensations of dread and give voice to characters’ fears and anxieties. The pacing is set through Jane’s eyes, through Augustin’s dread and reluctance as their world shifts and warps around them. The story rides waves of false crescendos- leading the reader to believe that this is the big moment, and then letting the tension dissipate to apprehension. Some may not like this, but I think it lends itself beautifully to the actual sforzando of a climax. The true final conflict is sudden, gripping. And then it slinks away into the dark to leave you to grasp at what happens. The happy ending is jarring.
My love of this book makes it difficult to criticize, but I will admit that there are some scenes- sex scenes in particular, that left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. Not for how they’re written, but their actual story impact. But I tend to be more averse to that, so take salt with this opinion with all the others.
Anyway, I loved this book and I can only hope that Caitlin Starling’s other books are even half as captivating.
Cheers, friends!
#book blog#book review#books#sharpteethreview#bibliophile#literature#horror books#horror#the death of jane lawrence#review
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I just finished The Death of Jane Lawrence and I feel like I’m like the only person who isn’t a reviewer who actually really liked the ending???
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
Okay so yeah the ending was a little confusing BUT I think it’s really brilliant in that it’s representative of their relationship. She meets Augustine, he’s super hot, she’s super in love yadda yadda. But THEN she discovers there are parts of him she doesn’t like, like the fact that he was super in love with his dead wife she didn’t know about, and he’s incredibly cowardly and self martyring with the deaths of his patients. And then things reach a head, they get in a really bad fight (when she seals him in the crypt) and then she works to make things right again, and they come out of it as new people (kind of literally).
A lot of people don’t seem to like the surreal turn it takes when Jane starts practicing magic, with the drug fueled, grueling rituals, but it’s a really interesting dive into her psychology in my opinion. People also don’t seem to like that Jane doesn’t stay independent of Augustine, but that’s kind of the whole point of her character. She attaches herself to other people constantly and ISNT an independent character at all, as she’s still absorbed by her parents deaths. I think it’s pretty badass that she tries to save one of the few people she really loves.
People also say that it doesn’t make sense that she would become so into magic when she’s so logical. But again that’s the POINT. She’s a logical person who is undone by the idea of illogical magic, of belief in things she cannot prove, the opposite of hard things like math. In a way, the book is both a love story and a coming of age story, as love changes her and she also matures past her former self (and she’s described as being young, I believe she’s only 19 or so?).
People who are into historical fiction and gothic tales spend to be less into surreal horror, I’ve found, which is totally fine, whatever floats your boat. Maybe I like it more because pretty much every piece of media that I love has some weird nonsensical press or surrealism to it.
Finally, the ending: my interpretation is that she and Augustine both died in the crypt and Jane succeeds in bringing both of them back as “new people”. As in, she remakes them anew with all of their improved parts. That’s also why Mr. Lowell is suspicious of Jane, since he’s the undertaker. I think it’s a really interesting ending I haven’t really seen before.
The one thing that I’m not big on is the pretty predictable twist that she is elodies ghost all along. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen other media that does similar things, but I saw it coming from a mile away.
Overall, I’m going to be thinking about this book a lot and I thoroughly enjoyed it!
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you ever mean to read a book but don't get around to it for awhile (because life the universe & everything)
so finally you manage to read it and you're just
MAD
because it is so exactly your sort of thing and you knew that going in but you still didn't read it and you could have had this story in your head for YEARS (ish? when the fuck was this thing published, time is lie, whatever) but instead you've only got it now
but at least you have it now,
so you're not really mad anymore
(but you're still a little mad, hvdu write this good a book specifically aimed at my id, I'm glaring at you very much in particular author who is on tumblr but I'm not going to tag because idk that seems rude)
#the death of jane lawrence#caitlin starling#body horror for reals tho if you're curious about it#I mean I also like the luminous dead but it's not MY book in the way jane lawrence is a ME book iykwim#I have no idea if these tags are making any sense at this point#must go yell at seri at some point I just realized I never did#jilly reads
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10 Books Read in my 26th Year
1. 'A Sloth's Guide to Mindfulness' by Ton Mak
2. '1984' by George Orwell
3. 'The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde' by Robert Louis Stevenson
4. 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' by L. Frank Baum
5. 'Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austen
6. 'Catch-22' by Joseph Heller
7. 'Little Women' by Louisa May Alcott
8. 'The Old Man and The Sea' by Ernest Hemingway
9. 'The Death of Jane Lawrence' by Caitlin Starling
10. 'Dune: Messiah' by Frank Herbert
#book recommendations#a sloth's guide to mindfulness#ton mak#1984#george orwell#the strange case of dr jekyll and mr hyde#robert louis stevenson#the wonderful wizard of oz#l frank baum#catch 22#joseph heller#little women#louisa may alcott#the old man and the sea#ernest hemingway#the death of jane lawrence#caitlin starling#dune messiah#frank herbert#26th year
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– Caitlin Starling, The Death of Jane Lawrence
#book quote of the day#Caitlin Starling#the death of jane lawrence#Jane Shoringfield Lawrence#Dr. Augustine Lawrence#gothic books#horror#halloween book recs#mystery literature#historical fiction
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LOVE that she killed the original augustine and remade him in her image. as she should. after all the shit he put her through, why not kill the bastard and make a better, more improved husband? jane lawrence did nothing wrong. all women with poor husbands should have at least ONE chance to murderize and remake their spouse into a better one with the power of magic. no more gaslighting. no more lyin ass liars. just desserts and good dick for my girl 😌
#i support womens right to do away with trash husbands#jane did nothing wrong#the death of jane lawrence#caitlin starling#real talk#book hoe
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Owlcrate Feb Day 3: Oven Mitt & Baking
I'm a sucker for some baked goods, and usually have a good selection in my home. Gotta have a fun reading snack!
#unboxing#owlcrate#the scarlet veil#oven mitt#baking#cinnamon rolls#not a book#stack challenge#cozy#cottagecore#autumn#cozy vibes#bookblr#booklr#the death of jane lawrence#books#reading#book box#book subscription
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the death of jane lawrence is so real it’s like what if we entered into a marriage of convenience and my stranger husband has this crumbling decrepit old manor that i’m not allowed to sleep in but i get stranded there on our wedding night and he’s so sexy that i sleep w him and find out all his secrets and that there are maybe ghosts haunting him <3
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Do I, in my brain, know that tumblr isn't really the platform to try to promo Patreon content? Yes. But an indie author must do what they must.
So anyway if you want to see my review of The Death of Jane Lawrence early it is up on Patreon! Woohoo!
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