Review: Impressive Debut
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 11, 2012
"Base Spirits," by Ruth Barrett, is a strong debut novel. It is an enthusiastic and colorful rendering of events gleaned from the 1600s, interfaced with a contemporary woman trying to overcome her own demons--her own base spirits. What lifts Barrett's tale from being just another spooky story in an old manor house and into the realm of the noteworthy is her attention to detail and her insights into human nature across time. The characters past and present are given a full psychology often missing from such books. Specifically, the unspoken cruelty to women that often underlies such accounts is let out of the closet in full force. When it comes to the treatment of women we may not have evolved as much as we think since the 1600's. (Fortunately, the contemporary heroine is stronger than she knows she is at first.)I do not recommend "Base Spirits" for the faint at heart. If you don't want characters to haunt you after you've finished reading a book, or if you lack the stamina to consider that a little noise you hear in the night might be trying to tell you something, you may find the book almost too much to bear at times. But if you enjoy curling up with a jolting tale (preferably on a stormy night with a cup of hot chocolate), this book is for you.If I understand correctly, Barrett has other prose projects in the works, and I look forward to watching her prose style unfold. (Here and there, I felt that a speech or description could have been stated slightly more economically.) But it is a distinctive debut worthy of attention. The author has a background in theater, and one could easily imagine the book dramatized for stage, film or television.Jon P. Bloch (The Kindle Book Review)