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Sto caricando le informazioni... The Cloisters: A Novel (originale 2022; edizione 2022)di Katy Hays (Autore)
Informazioni sull'operaThe Cloisters di Katy Hays (2022)
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Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. This one was up and down for me. It's really a 3.5, but I rounded down because the ending went from a bit of turbulence to an emergency crash landing real fast. I loved the setting, all the art history, and I didn't even mind the pacing, which I've seen is probably most people's issue with the story. It is certainly a book that takes its time, but I also feel like that has a lot to do with the fact that it is less about the murder itself and more about the concept of fate vs free will and the slow-turning world of academia. Where the book fell apart for me was narrative voice and ham-fisted handling of the themes. I didn't actively dislike our main character, but “What if our whole life—how we live and die—has already been decided for us?” So this book gave off the creepy ominous vibes pretty early on and I was in love. I always find that I enjoy the academia type stories more than I anticipated and this one having tarot cards as the focus was really cool. I think what I enjoyed most about this one was that even though it had this supernatural element... the motivations were all so normal. Ambition, love, betrayal, power, envy, anger all of them played a crucial role of the story and the unfolding of events. Ann is very much motivated by her desire to be an academic and Rachel becomes someone she clings to and trusts because of the power she radiates. Ann is very skeptical of the importance that Patrick places on the tarot cards at first but I love how we gradually see her perception shift, almost to fit her motives. The book really highlights the stark contrast between the idea of fate and choice and I loved the way it did. I have to say that at times the book felt like it was dragging just a bit and I really wanted some action to happen. I was a little disappointed that the tarot cards weren't providing a bit more of an occult element but like I can forgive it because of the way things played out. The book really saved all its shock for the end. I have to admit that I didn't see the ending coming and I truly loved the shock reveals we got. I enjoyed all the ways that ambition and obsession played out in this story. I love that it kept the creepy vibes going the whole time but I feel like some elements could have been explored a bit more. Overall though it was a really good read and now I am on the search for more stories with tarot cards at the center. Ann Stilwell leaves Washington State hoping to be an art curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. Instead, she is assigned to work for Patrick Roland at The Cloisters, a Gothic museum, alongside Rachel Mondray. Rachel quickly takes Ann under her wing, esp. after Ann discovers a 15th C artifact, a set of Tarot cards. Ann becomes very interested in reading Tarot. Ann also falls for Leo Bitburg, the Cloisters gardener, who has a secret. When someone dies, the museum and the staff are all questioned. Ann questions everything she thought was real, and realizes that she doesn't really know those around her. nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
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"The Secret History meets Ninth House in this sinister, atmospheric novel following a circle of researchers as they uncover a mysterious deck of tarot cards and shocking secrets in New York's famed Met Cloisters. When Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, she expects to spend her summer working as a curatorial associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead she finds herself assigned to The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden renowned for its medieval art collection and its group of enigmatic researchers studying the history of divination. Desperate to escape her painful past, Ann is happy to indulge the researchers' more outlandish theories about the history of fortune telling. But what begins as academic curiosity quickly turns into obsession when Ann discovers a hidden 15th-century deck of tarot cards that might hold the key to predicting the future. As the dangerous game of power, seduction, and ambition at The Cloisters turns deadly, Ann becomes locked in a race for answers as the line between the arcane and the modern blurs. A haunting and magical blend of genres, The Cloisters is a gripping debut that will keep you on the edge of your seat"-- Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
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Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyClassificazione LCVotoMedia:
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I really enjoyed the Cloisters, even though it was a slow build up. The main question put the reader is whether our fates are sealed or things happen by chance. The author (or main character, at least) seems to lean toward an unalterable future, with tarot cards and astrology being an insight into what it will be. I differ on this opinion, but the book was enjoyable nonetheless.
The main characters were complex and interesting, each one with positive and negative characteristics. In fact, I wasn’t very fond of the main character, Ann, by the end of the book, even though I felt empathy toward her situation. But despite not being the most likeable characters, their motivations and the conflicts they faced were believable. Ann’s relationships to each of the people in her life is intricate and meaningful to the story.
The whole atmosphere of the book is eerie. Hays uses the claustrophobic heat of summer in New York City to her advantage for this, giving Ann a reason to spend even more time in the coolness of the Cloisters. The surrounding of historical artifacts, manuscripts, and architecture adds to the overall dark academia feel. Add to that the occult theme of the characters’ work and the unhurried plot, and you’re overwhelmed with the expectation that something very dark is about to happen at any minute. The foreshadowing alone in the story was enough the keep me reading, but the author also kept just enough details from you to make you feel the need to get to the end and discover the full picture. I was genuinely surprised by the twists at the end.
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