I picked this up because Joyce received a lot of hype. What a let-down!
The basic setup — Victoria promises to sleep with Byron to save her family from some financial ruin or whatever. Except that I didn’t get any sense of urgency or importance of saving her family. Victoria doesn’t even seem to like her family all that much. Byron is a typical wounded dark hero, who’s just not at all mysterious or interesting.
The writing’s unusually ornate and heavy. Maybe Joyce was trying to show off her vocabulary. Unfortunately, it had an unintended effect: if this were a film, it would be a poorly done B-horror flick with over-the-top sets and make-up on its actors. Victoria’s just cold and brittle with very little depth, and I couldn’t even finish this book because it wore me down with utter boredom and disinterest.
The Veil of Night supposedly follows the old Gothic tradition. Which I believe is an excuse to justify the lack of humor and dullness of this book. It has none of the mystery or seething passion of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights or Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. I won’t bother picking up Joyce’s second “Gothic” novel.
Post a Comment