Reviews

The Girl in a Swing by Richard Adams

leftfooter's review against another edition

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3.0

Not a review but …

A bit like Watership Down:
- Set near Newbury
- You know it won’t turn out well
- They are at it like rabbits

loraxe's review

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3.0

I enjoyed the slow pace, and old-fashioned feel but it felt a bit like he neeeded to tidy up loose ends. Why did he need to have ESP and then not have it anymore? Still, a nice change.

spellcast's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

larsdradrach's review

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5.0

Adams is a master of conveying a scary mood, even without the usual horror story ingredients , the story is at he same time highly erotic and entertaining. One of Adams best books.

P.S newer watch the movie it's horrible

leenie78's review against another edition

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1.0

DNF

neilcake's review

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3.0

I enjoyed the beginning, and the end very much. The middle seemed to drag on quite a lot though with nothing happening. I'm not sure I get it either. There's a bit where Karin says, "you know who I am?" and Alan says "yes", and he keeps referring to how he knows who she is. I don't know who she is. I know what she's done [I think], but I don't understand why she did it. And why, if she has done that, Alan isn't bothered by it. Perhaps some other Goodreader can enlighten me in the comments. Because I've either missed something explicit from earlier in the story, or something implicit that perhaps wasn't made clear enough. Or there's a fault in the logic.

I like Richard Adams' novels though. I think I only have two left to read - The Plague Dogs, which is in my cupboard, and Maia, which I haven't found yet. I'll be sad when there are no more. The Girl in the Swing isn't as good as Watership Down or Shardik though.

bbrassfield's review

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5.0

2nd time through. More rewarding this time, although the book has stayed with me through the years so that when I learned of Richard Adams having died I immediately felt the desire to read this again, some 36 years after the first time I stumbled upon it as a 15 year old in the library, remembering he was the author who wrote the interesting book about the rabbits, Hazel and Fiver. The Girl in a Swing is just as haunting these many years later and just as excellent. Rest eternal Mr. Adams and thank you for the wonderfully imaginative stories.

haplessheather's review

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dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

naturegirlj9's review

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3.0

Frustrating. Overly verbose. Beautiful. It doesn't really start until 100 or so pages in, and then it had me. Adams goes into so much detail about ceramics and pottery that I found myself glazing over whenever he'd start to describe anything that wasn't directly related to the main characters. The relationship between Alan and Kathe was beautifully done and for me the suspense was in her and her implied secret. At the end I was left wondering if what I read into it all was correct. There are things I will always remember about this story. Unfortunately frustration is one of them.good gothic. Skip the first 100 pages: He's kind of an uptight guy who inherits his family's ceramic antiques business. Then Kathe comes along and he comes alive.

elaine56's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0