Summary
Summary
Madeline Usher has been buried alive. The doomed heroine comes to the fore in this eerie reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe's classic short story "The Fall of the House of Usher." Gothic, moody, and suspenseful from beginning to end, The Fall is literary horror for fans of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and Asylum.
Madeline awakes in a coffin. And she was put there by her own twin brother. But how did it come to this? In short, non-chronological chapters, Bethany Griffin masterfully spins a haunting and powerful tale of this tragic heroine and the curse on the Usher family. The house itself is alive, and it will never let Madeline escape, driving her to madness just as it has all of her ancestors. But she won't let it have her brother, Roderick. She'll do everything in her power to save him--and try to save herself--even if it means bringing the house down around them.
With a sinister, gothic atmosphere and relentless tension to rival Poe himself, Bethany Griffin creates a house of horrors and introduces a whole new point of view on a timeless classic. Kirkus Reviews praised it in a starred review as "A standout take on the classic haunted-house tale replete with surprises around every shadowy corner."
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 8 Up-Griffin offers an alternative take on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher." Instead of assuming the viewpoint of an outsider, as in the source material, readers get into the mind of Madeline Usher-the girl buried alive in the original tale. The author uses flashbacks to flesh out the missing details and provide backstory. This is an engrossing, creepy tale of a haunted house and its inhabitants. For those who aren't familiar with Poe's short story, this title will inspire them to run to the shelves to find it and see what happens or what is different. Those who are already familiar with it will enjoy this different point of view and ending. Altogether, the narrative's even pacing and thorough character development will keep teens engaged. The updated, supernatural spin will have savvy and reluctant readers hooked. An interesting addition to the "twisted tales" genre, for librarians looking for back doors to lead teens into the classics. Fans of the author's Masque of the Red Death (HarperCollins, 2012) will especially appreciate this title.-Saleena L. Davidson, South Brunswick Public Library, Monmouth Junction, NJ (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A girl struggles to fight the haunted family house that binds her to it in this reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher." Madeline and her brother, Roderick, come from a long line of Ushers cursed to live and die within the haunted walls of the House of Usher. Beloved by the house itself, Madeline can sense its feelings and for a long while trusts it to protect her. However, just like her mother before her, Madeline begins suffering fits. The house will do anything to keep her from leaving. And with her brother away at school and only sinister doctors remaining for company, Madeline must plot to escape before the house has its way with her, keeping her trapped forever. Griffin creates a thick, murky atmosphere within the walls of the House of Usher from the start, layering in chilling details as Madeline's situation becomes ever more dire. Though only appearing intermittently, Roderick and her parents all cast long shadows, and the house is populated with compelling characters among the ghosts of Ushers past. Readers will be swept away immediately by the eerie setting, but it's Madeline's fighting will to survive that will keep them turning pages late into the night. A standout take on the classic haunted-house tale replete with surprises around every shadowy corner. (Fantasy. 14-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Griffin follows up Masque of the Red Death (2012) and Dance of the Red Death (2013) with another Poe-daptation. This time the tale is told from the perspective of Madeline, who suffers from the same curious malady as others of her bloodline: fits of catatonia brought on by the house itself; it becomes jealous when Ushers become close to others. Doctors, including the young Dr. Winston, have taken up residence in the manse to study the aristocratic illness, while Madeline's twin brother, Roderick, bounces between school and home, struggling to forge a life of his own but always being pulled back. There is little mystery here: the house is evil from the get-go, and the falling battle axes and skittering ghosts provide little in the way of scares. Neither is there much plot: Poe's short story doesn't offer much, and the thrills (good ones, too) don't begin until the final fourth. What the book does have, however, is atmosphere Griffin excels at depicting chilly Victorian decay in a way that makes real the dour Usher curse.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2014 Booklist