Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

I read this book in August of 2024, and I still think about it on a regular basis. Starling House is the sort of book that is not only packed but overflowing with symbolism and metaphors equating everything that happens to real life. It's a beautiful, dark, twisted, heart-wrenching story that everyone should read, if they can take it. This isn't a fast-paced book at all, but neither is the life of someone who dealt with trauma and abuse their entire childhood. It's raw, and rips apart bits and pieces of who you are, one by one, until you become something entirely different. Sometimes, you become something that scares you and everyone around you.

I gave this book 5 stars, and if I could, I'd give it even more.

This is one of those books that's really enjoyable to read and has a nice ending and makes you think about it for just a few days after reading the final words.

The story builds slowly, and it takes a while to finally feel like a fantasy, and then the climax comes, and you're not quite on the edge of your seat, but almost.

Opal is a character that is either completely relatable or not at all. She's blunt and straightforward; she lies, she steals, and she goes behind people's backs.

Jasper is a depressed teenager who's just trying to get through the day as best he can, knowing his older sister has given up everything just to take care of him.

Arthur is a man who likes to pretend he's cynical and angry and mad at the world. But he's just a man who's never really felt like he had a choice to be exactly who he is. Arthur is the representation of all of us who feel trapped in our lives with no way out. Upset at a world that's never really given us a chance to live out our dreams.

This book does a wonderful job of zeroing in on the darkest, dirtiest, angriest parts of human nature and forcing you to take a look at it in a more positive light.

It's an even mix between plot- and character-driven. The ending will make you realize that some of the bad people and places you've heard about in life maybe aren't so bad after all. Maybe they just had an experience that got twisted and misshapen, and nobody else cared enough to push through the lies and rumors to find out the truth.