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A review by bea_reads_books
The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
This book showcases a lot of problems with “white feminism”, as it were. The mother is a professor of women’s studies, but instead of having any meaningful discussions about prejudice, she just occasionally says things like “you know I don’t like that word” with a sigh when the father says something sexist. She’s used as the butt of a joke, or as a way to say “lol moms right?
This book also reeks of ableism, and is shockingly cishetero-normative for being set in a historical asylum. Realistically, these places would be filled with queer people, neurodivergent people, and disabled people - not just pretty white girls whose dads didn’t like that they had boyfriends. While it is true that women and girls deemed “promiscuous” or “troublesome” were often institutionalized, they were far from the only demographic to suffer such a fate. Refusing to acknowledge this and contributing to the erasure of people like myself, especially when writing about such a heavy topic, is irresponsible at best and extremely harmful at worst. The history of our mistreatment is not a frivolous plot point to be played with for spook-factor.
I also really hated the climax of the plot. The main antagonist of the book is an amalgamation of dark energy supposedly created by some great injustice in the asylum’s past. And what great injustice might this be? Not the forced and traumatic institutionalization of hundreds of women and girls; not the horrible mistreatment of these innocent people; not even the deaths of the women in the house. No, rather the “great injustice” that makes the house evil is the death of the warden, a horrible man who championed the suffering of the women under his watch, and who was murdered by his own daughter because he locked her away from her baby and subjected her to what is essentially torture. Placing the death of their tormentor over the suffering and deaths of hundreds of women and girls is, in my opinion, disgusting. Why was their torment not enough of a “great injustice” to generate any paranormal power?
This book also reeks of ableism, and is shockingly cishetero-normative for being set in a historical asylum. Realistically, these places would be filled with queer people, neurodivergent people, and disabled people - not just pretty white girls whose dads didn’t like that they had boyfriends. While it is true that women and girls deemed “promiscuous” or “troublesome” were often institutionalized, they were far from the only demographic to suffer such a fate. Refusing to acknowledge this and contributing to the erasure of people like myself, especially when writing about such a heavy topic, is irresponsible at best and extremely harmful at worst. The history of our mistreatment is not a frivolous plot point to be played with for spook-factor.
I also really hated the climax of the plot. The main antagonist of the book is an amalgamation of dark energy supposedly created by some great injustice in the asylum’s past. And what great injustice might this be? Not the forced and traumatic institutionalization of hundreds of women and girls; not the horrible mistreatment of these innocent people; not even the deaths of the women in the house. No, rather the “great injustice” that makes the house evil is the death of the warden, a horrible man who championed the suffering of the women under his watch, and who was murdered by his own daughter because he locked her away from her baby and subjected her to what is essentially torture. Placing the death of their tormentor over the suffering and deaths of hundreds of women and girls is, in my opinion, disgusting. Why was their torment not enough of a “great injustice” to generate any paranormal power?