Review: The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco

Publish Date: August 5, 2014
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Synopsis: Okiku wants vengeance...and she gets it. Whenever there's a monster hurting a child-the same way she was hurt 300 years ago in Japan-her spirit is there to deliver punishment. But one American boy draws her like no other. The two are pulled into a world of eerie doll rituals and dark Shinto exorcisms that will take them from the American Midwest to the remote valleys and shrines of Aomori, Japan. The boy is not a monster, but something evil writhes beneath his skin, trapped by a series of intricate tattoos. Can Okiku protect him? Or is her presence only bringing more harm?

Review: So I did watch The Ring many, many years ago and I remember it creeping me the F out. I stayed away from the TV for a while. And now, I request The Girl From the Well. I clearly didn't read the whole description before I hit request. And then when I got to it on my reading list, it was kind of like this: 

I couldn't NOT read the book, so I put my big girl panties on and began to read. And I have to say, I was slightly disappointed. But I did not have to sleep with the lights on. This book was unlike anything I had read before. It had a unique writing style and the characters didn't feel fully developed to me. I was left feeling like I didn't make connections to any of the characters and wanted to know more. Tark, the main character, isn't very warm and fuzzy and does take some warming up to. Callie, his cousin, is a pleasant girl who is focused on fixing family problems and is very supportive of Tark. Okiku is a spirit who goes after murderers in an attempt to avenge her own death 300 years before. There were man secondary characters, including a young girl named Sandra who can see the spirits when no one else can. Can we say creepy?

The story starts with a character described as a man who has "thin bony arms clasped about his neck", which you then find is a girl that he murdered. This is when you first meet Okiku, but you don't learn her name until halfway through the book. It is actually Okiku that is narrating this book, which took a lot of getting used to. You then learn that she is on the "better" end of the spirit spectrum, while a second spirit in the story is on the evil end. That is why Okiku is around in the first place- to stop the evil. Tark has lead a tough life, his mother has tried to kill him multiple times and also gave the boy tattoos all over his arms at a very young age. He doesn't fit in and needs to keep his arms covered at all times so as not to draw attention to this dark marks. Then he begins to get sick, and Callie and Okiku must help his rid himself of the black spirit to save his own life. 

I felt underwhelmed by the plot of this. While I was fearful going into it because I'm not a huge horror fan, I didn't find myself scared by this story. Creeped out, maybe. But I feel that the portions of this book that should have been Earth shattering and exciting just...weren't. The details, the mystery, the suspense, the horror- it all could have and should have been more. It also had a lot of Japanese phrases and folklore that I had trouble keeping straight. I definitely think that this will be a book people either love or hate. Definitely worth reading and finding out for yourself!

Recommended For: fans of horror novels/movies, especially movies like The Ring

*Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.