Publisher: William Morrow
Date of publication: August 2015
Twenty-five-year-old Ivy Rowan rises from her sickbed after
being struck by the great influenza epidemic of 1918, only to discover that the
world has been torn apart in just a few short days.
But Ivy’s lifelong gift—or curse—remains. She sees the
uninvited ones—ghosts of loved ones who appear to her, unasked for and
unwelcomed, for they always herald impending death. On that October evening in
1918, Ivy sees the spirit of her grandmother, rocking in her mother’s chair. An
hour later, she learns her younger brother and father have killed a young
German out of retaliation for the death in the Great War of Ivy’s other brother,
Billy.
Horrified, she leaves home and soon realizes that the flu
has caused utter panic and the rules governing society have broken down. Ivy is
drawn into this new world of jazz, passion, and freedom, where people live for
today, because they could be stricken by nightfall. She even enters into a
relationship with the murdered German man’s brother, Daniel Schendel. But as
her “uninvited guests” begin to appear to her more often, she knows her life
will be torn apart once again, and terrifying secrets will unfold.
The Uninvited had an interesting premise that made me want to read it. I was expecting more of a ghost story. While there are some paranormal elements, there wasn't enough to justify calling it a ghost story. I wanted to like the book, but in the end, I really didn't care for it. The story takes place during the Influenza outbreak in the early 1900s during WWI. Tensions were high and anything remotely unpatriotic sounding was met with swift punishment. People were dying on the battlefront as well as home from the flu outbreak. Ivy is recovering from her own bout with the flu when she finds out her father and brother killed a German man.
I struggled through the story because it felt like it kind of just meandered. The beginning half was really slow. I started questioning whether to continue with the book when Ivy makes the decision to give herself to Daniel to help make amends for her father and brother killing his brother. That was a WTF moment for me. Who does that? It just seemed out of character for a spinster recluse to make all of a sudden. The "romance" between Daniel and Ivy was unrealistic for me.
The book did pick up in the last quarter of the book. If you can stick with it for that long, you may end up liking the twist. For me, that particular twisted ending has been overdone and I felt kind of cheated. I think had the book focused more on the what was actually happening historically with the epidemic and the war, I might have like it a bit more.
About Cat Winters
Cat Winters’s debut novel, In the Shadow of
Blackbirds, was released to widespread critical acclaim. The novel has been
named a finalist for the 2014 Morris Award, a School Library Journal Best
Book of 2013, and a Booklist 2013 Top 10 Horror Fiction for
Youth. Winters lives in Portland ,
Oregon
Purchase Links
Cat’s Tour Stops
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Pages a Day … Stephanie’s Book Reviews
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Tuesday, August 18th: Bibliophilia, Please
Wednesday, August 19th: Peeking Between the Pages
Thursday, August 20th: Raven Haired Girl
Thursday, August 20th: From the TBR Pile
Friday, August 21st: A Chick Who Reads
Thursday, August 27th: Sidewalk Shoes
Friday, August 28th: The Reader’s Hollow
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