Horrid, Literally and Figuratively

The Castle of Wolfenbach:  A German Story by Eliza Parson

Gothic Romance

Bad, just so bad.

It's a "horrid" novel, one that Jane Austen referred to in her Northanger Abbey.  While many believe that "horrid" refers to the gothic nature of the writing, I believe Ms. Austen was using her tongue-in-cheek wit to describe the experience of actually reading it all the way through.

In the overly long story, Matilda is an orphan, having been cared for by an "uncle" all her life.  When she comes of age, and apparent hotness, the uncles announces they are not related and he wants to marry her.  When she refuses, he flips out (like the psycho he is) and tries to take advantage of Matilda.  She entrusts the help of a servant and flees into the night unlaunching a story of such ridiculous turns of events and rambling dialogues and explanations that it will put even the staunchest reader into the deepest sleep.

So, in essence, it's just really awful.  Personally, I'm not interested in reading books to get a point.  I just want a good read.  This wasn't it.  I'll stick to Austen and leaved the horrid writing to others.