Title: The Doll Factory
Author: Elizabeth Macneal
Publication Date: August 13, 2019
Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler
Format: NetGalley eARC
In this “sharp, scary, gorgeously evocative tale of love, art, and obsession” (Paula Hawkins, #1 bestselling author of The Girl on the Train), a beautiful young artist in Victorian London is stalked by an insane collector of curiosities who may also be a serial killer.
In 1850s London, the Great Exhibition is being erected in Hyde Park and, among the crowd watching the dazzling spectacle, two people meet by happenstance. For Iris, an arrestingly attractive aspiring artist, it is a brief and forgettable moment but for Silas, a curiosity collector enchanted by all things strange and beautiful, the meeting marks a new beginning.
When Iris is asked to model for Pre-Raphaelite artist Louis Frost, she agrees on the condition that he will also teach her to paint. Suddenly, her world begins to expand beyond her wildest dreams—but she has no idea that evil is waiting in the shadows. Silas has only thought of one thing since that chance meeting, and his obsession is darkening by the day.
I will always show up for dark, scheming, less-than-sane characters who I would never want to meet in real life, thank you.
Because they’re fun. You know, from a distance. Like a tiger. Sure, it’s cute and really cool to watch, but I’m not going to let it eat me.
The Doll Factory transports the reader back to Victorian times in a vivid depiction of life, death, art, and just a smidge of crazy mixed with a Gothic atmosphere.
If you read the blurb, you pretty much know the entire plot of this story, so there’s not many twists and surprises to be had. The real pleasure of the read comes in the character development and watching things unfold, even if you know where it’s ultimately going. Because it’s surprisingly easy to rationalize madness, as it turns out.
❧ Oh, the worlds people can build up in their minds, based on one singular moment experienced two entirely divergent ways. It was magnificent and creepy.
For Iris, meeting Silas is an entirely forgettable moment. In fact, Silas’ role in society, in general, seems to be a forgettable one. But for Silas, the moment becomes everything.
It was so stinking creepy watching these interactions play out from two conflicting perspectives and the way Silas builds up scenes in his mind that then become real to him, even though they never happened.
I have a bit of a, I admit, macabre fascination with the point where a seemingly normal person becomes unable to function in society and slips into madness. In Silas’ case, though, we also get to learn about his history, bit by bit, and that was equally gripping, watching it unravel and trying to suss out reality from these intricate fantasies he’s created.
❧ I don’t think this is supposed to be a Cinderella retelling (at least, I haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere), but it definitely felt like a Cinderella story to me, with a bit of a darker twist.
You know, because chopping off bits of your feet and having crows peck your sisters’ eyes out isn’t dark enough. Though, to be fair, who hasn’t dreamed of setting a murder of crows loose on their siblings at one point or another?
Whether intentional or not, the book feels like its basic structure is borrowed straight from Cinderella:
✿ Poor woman with a good heart who is taken advantage of
✿ Clearly will never marry due to her situation
✿ Carries the weight of the family, who treats them like crap
✿ Is forbidden from doing the things she wants and has to secretly rebel
✿ Meets a rich man and falls for him, like you do
✿ “He loves me, he loves me not” tug of war
✿ A few other spoilerish things I can’t mention
✿ Obviously is the most beautiful woman, despite being told how ugly she is
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing if this is the sort of trope you like. I didn’t know this going in, and it’s not exactly what I look for in romance. There’s also more to the story than just this, because there are other point-of-view characters that operate outside of this. But it was obvious enough where at some point, I paused from reading and had to go look up if I’d missed somewhere if it was mentioned as a Cinderella trope.
“Very well. Carry me to bed.”
“To Bedlam, you fool.”
❧ Louis is so charming that even though I wanted to be frustrated by his naivete, I just couldn’t.
There’s just something about his character that is charming, even in its flaws. He almost perfectly embodies the beliefs of the pre-Raphaelite artists all on his own. He approaches his art so seriously, studiously, almost manically, wanting to get everything just right and just so. But in his life, he’s laid back, carefree, not nearly as put together and observant as he is as a painter. I thought it was a really interesting juxtaposition.
“Is it very fragile?”
“Not at all—but it is exceedingly valuable. You see, I borrowed it from the British Museum.”
“I didn’t know you could.”
Louis fidgets. “Well, I didn’t exactly ask them.”
❧ If you read the blurb, you pretty much can guess the entire plot and how the book will end, so you really have to be in it for the characters.
As I’ve said, I really like the descent into madness books, so I was really here for that. But it’s a bit of a double-edge sword, because that means there are long sections where it just drags and feel like not much is happening. Because wow, quotidian life back then was just as boring as quotidian life now, except with a layer of grime and disgust dusted on top.
❧ The Gothic vibe is strong with this one, and Macneal does a great job of portraying Victorian life without shying away from the gritty, disgusting realities.
Which means that this is pretty much where all the trigger warnings go, right?
Trigger warnings: sex, prostitution, child abuse, animal cruelty, crude language, drugs. Basically … fairly accurate Victorian historical fiction.
I enjoyed how dark the book was, because let me tell you, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Actually, that time period kind of sucked for a large majority of the population. And boy does it show.
Just because the setting is full of darkness, though, doesn’t mean there aren’t things to love, like questions of loyalty, family bonds, and the beauty and meaning of art.
The passion with which the painters talk about their work and the little society they form is charming and served as a nice break from the darker context of the story.
❧ There seems to be a disconnect between the “arrestingly attractive” description of Iris in the blurb and her actual portrayal in the book.
I’m not really sure why this is. Or even why Iris would be considered arrestingly attractive, because I sort of thought the point was that she was … normalish?
Iris is one of a set of twins. In the book, though, her sister, Rose, is the one who has prospects and is sociable and eligible and likely to marry. It seems Iris is destined to be an old spinster, because when she was born, her clavicle broke and so her shoulder bone didn’t heal quite right and left her with a deformity.
I actually loved the idea of Iris not being some jaw-dropping beauty, but someone who was found beautiful by these two men for entirely different reasons. Silas, in love with bones and uniqueness, of course would be attracted to her deformity. Louis, in love with art, would be struck at how well she fits the atmosphere of his portrait.
To me, that makes a much more appealing story than “she was beautiful and so men loved her.” Which, like I said, that doesn’t actually seem to be the case in the book.
❧ There are three point-of-view characters, but only two of them really felt important, which was kind of disappointing because I liked the third character and wanted them to have a larger role.
I mean, they sounded like they were geared up to play a significant role. There was so much foreshadowing and build-up for them to. Actually, their arc was pretty interesting, and their turmoil was relatable, stuck between obligation to family and doing the right thing. In the end, their role just didn’t amount to much in the grand scheme of things, unfortunately, certainly not in the way I’d hoped.
One could certainly argue that that was the point, especially given the Gothic context and all the other subject matter. All the characters were disappointed in some way, so why not the reader, too? That seems fair. Subverting expectations is also a legitimate strategy. But for me, I just really wanted that payoff somehow.
❧ The ending felt rushed and sudden, bumping right up against the actual climax of the book.
The ending wasn’t unsatisfactory, per se. I thought it wrapped things up fine and was a good way to end the story. But it felt extremely abrupt, like there were still things that could have been said to smooth it out a bit more between the end of the story and the epilogue. I found myself flipping through the pages again, thinking maybe I missed something.
❧ The title is a bit misleading and sort of confusing, because very little time in this story is actually spent at “the doll factory,” and it plays basically no role in the overall plot.
I was sort of confused, waiting for it to come back into play, thinking surely, if it’s the titular thing, it means something, right? But the actual shop did pretty much nothing except serve as a barrier for Iris, and one that she overcomes at the very beginning of the story.
I enjoyed reading your review! Less certain about the book… I have seen many raving reviews and have been looking forward to read it, but now I am not sure. Gothic and dark appeals to me, cinderella stories and predictable plots not so much.
Whenever I’m in doubt, I always read the Amazon excerpt and see if that draws me in. xD You could try that. 🙂 Also, take the Cinderella thing with a grain of salt, because I think that may just be me? I don’t think I’ve seen any other reviews mention that, so my brain may just be misfiring. It does that sometimes. 😉
Hmm…. The more I read reviews about this one, the more I think it’s just not gonna be for me. Not that I don’t like characters who are lost in their own madness and aren’t in touch with reality, but from reading your review it seems like there’s a lot of disconnect between many elements of the book. The blurb actually gives me Perfume vibes (although tbh I never read the book just watched the movie lol) though!
I’d never heard of Perfume before. I looked it up, and it does sound like a slightly similar idea, though a little different. But definitely along the same vein as that!
Descent into madness stories are hit and miss for me. I love the concept, but sometimes they’re done *too* well, if you know what I mean. And then I start getting creeped out and don’t enjoy the read. Is this book written in present tense? One of the quotes you have is, and so I’m wondering if that’s the entire book. It does seem like the kind of book that could handle present tense, but it seems to me that not all authors are good at writing in present. I’m curious how that worked in this one.
It is written in present tense! Present tense is usually hit or miss for me, but I felt like it worked here because it provided a sort of immediacy, and when mixed with the accurate portrayal of the setting, it seemed sort of like the reader was being invited to experience it at the same time. Present tense is hard, but I had no problems with it here.
Definitely got a creep factor as it went on. I sort of love that, though. I’ve read some different descent to madness, and the creepiest thing about this one, I think, is how well he rationalizes things and acts, well, sane.
That’s good! I think present tense is being used more these days, so more authors are getting practice at it. It does seem to work best for some genres, though.
Yeah, the creepiest thing is often when characters can rationalize horrible things. *shudder* How they can make you start to wonder if this horrible thing is, in fact, completely rational.