Welcome to a Character Tragedy

Have you ever read a book and wanted to smack the main character upside the head?

I have - very recently in fact. It was tough to get through some parts of the book, but I persisted (mostly out of a sense of completion pride). I’m glad I did because, though I found the main character frustrating, I was interested to see how her story would end.

I’m not going to spoil the book for you guys (though I doubt most of you will read it). I picked it up because I liked some of the other author’s work - as eccentric as it is - and the cover art was very 1970s pulp. It was in the horror section and claimed to be a gothic tale - one of my favorite sub-genres. It was advertised as a feminist retelling of a grisly fairy tale.

The book : Bluebeard’s Castle.

The author: Anna Biller.

My first introduction to Anna Biller was a YouTuber’s review of her movie “The Love Witch”. It’s a movie I greatly enjoy for its aesthetic. The plot is also interesting as it focuses on a witch looking for her ideal man. There’s some magic and murder and tons of camp. I recommend it for people who like campy movies and a healthy dose of 1970s influence. Sadly they couldn’t edit out all the modern cars.

Bluebeard’s Castle is still very clearly an Anna Biller creation, and the camp is still there. The difference are the characters. Judith is not Elaine and Gavin is definitely not Griff. Actually, Gavin doesn’t feel like a character for most of the book. He’s more of a paper thin dreamy wish fulfillment that suddenly turns into a nightmare.

It’s very clear early on that Judith is easy to manipulate when given the opportunity to live out a fantasy. She rejects the more interesting and complex (actually developed) character of Tony early on because he is too safe and boring. Honestly, Tony is the best character in this book, aside from the cats.

Gavin love bombs Judith into running away with him to Paris. They then get married in about a month and buy a castle together. Oh, and did I mention that Judith writes gothic historical romance fiction? I’d almost call her a self insert for Biller except that I’ve seen her interviews and she’s a lovely person. 

Judith is insufferable and frustrating. She claims to be a feminist - and on surface level she kind of is - but it’s a white woman’s feminism. She still gets jealous and takes it out on the wrong people. She thinks that her problems can be solved by loving a (really quite terrible) man enough. She refuses to listen to people who actually care about her well-being (see my note about Tony). The woman needs therapy and doesn’t consider it once in the whole story. There are so many mommy issues.

I could go through all her faults (oh my god the alcohol abuse), but that’s not the point of this post. I’m also probably making the book sound terrible with my descriptions. It’s not a bad book. Heck, I even liked it.

Not that I’m putting it in my top ten anytime soon, but the book does suck you in and you hope for the best, even though you’ll know it’ll end for the worst.

I still don’t want to spoil the book for the (very) few of you interested in checking it out. However, near the end of the book we finally get a few points of view changes that add more context. One is from Gavin, and we do see that he is a real character, not a product of Judith’s imagination. The second is from an omnipotent narrator which wraps up the story in a neat little bow and drives home the message. Honestly, I think this book could have used more of this type of narration - not a lot - but enough to break up some of Judith’s inner thoughts. And boy does she have thoughts - chapters upon chapters of thoughts. Biller could have benefited from a few writer’s group critiques to tighten up the story.

The third and final point of view shift is to a character in one of Judith’s books. The character is in a similar situation to Judith and based off the fairytale Bluebeard. However, this character’s fate is different than Judith’s. It is the final wish of the tragic author after the last one turned out so wrong.

I may have just spoiled the ending…oh well.

Somewhere in the universe Judith exists in, there is a monkey paw that curled its finger anytime Judith truly wanted something. Maybe Biller is planning on having some of these characters show up again and she’ll do a retelling of The Monkey’s Paw. 

Did I enjoy the book? Not really. Am I satisfied with its ending? Yes. Do I recommend it? Maybe…I’m not really sure.

I still really like “The Love Witch”, but Bluebeard’s Castle is an entirely different story. Elaine would have had her fun with Gavin. Griff would have been too boring for Judith.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please, like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y’all like hearing from me.

Until next week.