After thoroughly enjoying The Last House on Needless Street, I was excited to see what else Catriona Ward has up her sleeve. But after finishing Sundial, I'm not sure I totally got it.
On the surface, Rob has the family she's always dreamed of: a husband and two beautiful daughters. But when her eldest daughter Callie starts acting strange and her husband seems to encourage it, Rob decides the best thing for everyone is to take Callie to Sundial, the desert town where she grew up. She left Sundial many years ago, swearing never to go back, but now she suspects it will give her the answers she's been looking for.
This was a really uneven reading experience for me. Initially, I had a lot of trouble getting into the story. There was something about the style that came across a bit awkward, with its abundance of odd phrases and metaphors and even characters. I think this is done on purpose to give the narrative a sense of discordance, but it made it hard to follow. It wasn't until the halfway point that I felt like I was finally invested enough in the story to want to continue.
There's a lot going on in here, maybe too much. What at first seems like a dysfunctional family story quickly morphs to include spousal and child abuse, animal abuse, infidelity, scientific experiments gone wrong, ghostly interactions, and lots of maggots. I'm a simple girl, and all of this put together confused me a bit. At times, I wasn't sure what exactly was going on or what the focus was supposed to be.
There is even a story within the story. It is a completely separate thing, but it uses the same names as the characters in our main story. If you're scratching your head like, What? you're not the only one. I'm not afraid to admit I was really befuddled. Even though it was only a few pages here and there, it didn't feel necessary and could've easily been left out.
That isn't to say I didn't enjoy the story because there were parts that really grabbed me. But as a whole, it reads more like a first draft instead of a final one. There were lots of interesting ideas, but they don't all seem to congeal into a cohesive narrative that flows and makes sense. Still, I remain a fan of Ward's imagination, and I suspect I'll keep coming back for more.
Readaroo Rating: 3 stars
My heartfelt thanks for the advance copy that was provided for my honest and unbiased review.
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