Cat Chaotic's Reviews > The Haar

** spoiler alert ** I had really high hopes for this book but sadly it was a huge letdown. I admit I had different expectations to what the story was going to be about and what it’d entail. Had I known it was about an elderly woman becoming obsessed with a jelly creature and pretending it’s her husband - I would’ve never picked the book up.

Sadly this is the exact king of plot or trope (?) that I hate with a passion. The widow left behind and stumbles upon something they feel connects them with their old partner and now their whole story and personality revolves around this love story that has already ended long since the story began and we have to be force fed their romance while the widow spirals into this delusion in order to ignore their problems. The worst part is the ending. We never know what really happened to Muriel’s husband but that’s okay. She decides to spend the rest of her life with the jelly thing in the ocean and just pretend that’s her real husband. Isn’t that great!? No, not really. That’s terrible! Why would she want that for herself? It feels so out of character as well. Despite how much she wants the jelly thing to be her husband she is aware that he actually isn’t him. Therefore shouldn’t she be embracing death and possibly actually having a chance to reconnect with her REAL husband in the afterlife? Instead of settling for sea jello?

Muriel is a likable character at first but like I said. I abhor characters that make their personality solely based on someone they love. So once she starts becoming infatuated with the sea jello she became less likable and all the more detestable. To the point that I was no longer rooting for her and was beginning to lose sympathy for her. Is she a bad person? No. Not at all. But she does become increasingly annoying as the plot continues and again the obsession and her sole goal being to just be able to peacefully hold a sea creature in her house and have it shape shift into her husband so she can play house with it - it’s just not my jam. Her sadness is completely understandable and valid. However the lengths she goes through to keep her delusions alive does come off as rather pathetic. It’s one thing to miss your husband. It’s another to keep a sea creature alive and beg it to cosplay as your hubby cause you have unresolved issues.

Despite the amount of times I have been ragging on the sea creature, I actually do like him. I think Arthur and Avalon (the creature) are the only likable characters in this book. The gore scenes involving Avalon were the best parts of the books. That as well as the fire scene with Arthur. They’re well written and the imagery was perfect. It also happens to be the only interesting parts in this book. Avalon and his characterization carried the plot on his back. Being able to explore him as a creature but still keep some aspects hidden was great! It helped keep the allure and what he’s capable of in the dark. Which made it all the more interesting to read about.

However the interest stops there. This isn’t necessarily a horror novel, I’d personally say. It does have horror elements but it’s mostly about a elderly woman coming to terms with her grief and regrets. The gore just spices it up a little but not a whole lot. It really is a drama more than anything. I wish there was more to say but looking back at it there really isn’t much to say.

That’s kind of literally all that happens in the book. Other than the obvious plot of being forced out of their cottage homes and such. It really is just about a woman not wanting to give up her house, still trying to process the loss of her husband, and constant repetitions about how she’s not afraid of death. Which confuses me all the more about the ending unless I’m interpreting it wrong?

Sadly this was set up not to be my cup of tea from the very beginning. It’s main plot is a trope I don’t like and I had gotten the wrong impression upon what the book would be about and what would take place. So when it wasn’t that, I was heavily disappointed and turned off. So that’s my bad. I can see more open minded people who don’t share my sentiments about tropes like this, actually liking this. Its not a bad book. Just not really my taste nor what I was looking for in terms of strictly being a horror novel.