Book: We Hear The Dead by Dianne K. Salerni
Release date: May 1, 2010
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
From: Publisher
Summary:
It started out as a harmless prank. But soon enough, spiritualism was the fastest growing movement of the nineteenth century, and Maggie Fox was trapped in a life of deceit.
Meticulously researched by the author, We Hear the Dead reveals the secret of how the Fox sisters faked their rapping sounds and their motives for inventing the séance and founding spiritualism.
*****
When I started We Hear The Dead I had high hopes. I had read great reviews for it and I was very intrigued by the premise. Sadly, it wasn’t as good as I had hoped or expected.
Maggie Fox and her younger sister, Kate, didn’t mean to create a new religion with a harmless prank but they did. The spiritualist movement began with them and grew to be much more popular than anyone expected. Maggie and Kate made their living with these spirit circles. All that changed when Maggie met Elisha Kent Kane. He wasn’t like the other suitors in many ways but in one way especially. He wanted Maggie to give it all up for him. Would she do it or would she choose her family over her love?
Like I said, the premise was great. Something unique and intriguing. I love history so of course it appealed to me. And at first I was really into it. The first part of the book was great but once Elisha entered the picture it got kind of boring. There was a lot of time spent sitting around waiting for him and it didn’t seem necessary. Towards the end it picked up again but there were times when I didn’t want to continue.
Another thing that bugged me was Maggie. She seemed very immature and she spent a lot of the time crying. She talked about feminism some but she herself waited around on Elisha forever. And he is a whole different matter. From the moment he met Maggie he wanted to change her and that is not love, in my opinion. The only character in the book that I really liked was Kate and she didn’t even have that big of a part. I wanted to know more about her.
Overall, We Hear The Dead was a good book that could have been so much better. The spirit rapping part was great but it was overshadowed by Maggie and Elisha’s relationship. The topic of the spiritualist movement was fantastic and if you enjoy history as much as I do then I recommend it for that alone. Otherwise, this might be one to check out from you library.
First line: I began the deception when I was too young to know right from wrong.
Writing: 4
Characters: 3
Plot: 3
Ending: 4
Originality: 5
Overall: 19=C
Cover: 4=B-
Disappointing it got such a bad review. When I read the plot summary it made me want to read it.
Excellent review. 🙂
Sorry you didn’t like it more, I’m still looking forward to reading my copy to see what I think 🙂
Thats too bad that is was not as good as is could have been, i am still very intrigued though