Oscars Asylum

Have you ever read a creepy book in the dark of night in order to stay awake to feed your 2-month-old? And then have your spouse let out a snore so loud you mistake it for the growl of a monster? So then you react by dropping your book onto your nursing child’s head, causing them to spit out your boob and begin to scream while milk sprays around the room like a fire hose? Uh…me either…

I enjoy reading creepy books, and most of the time they aren’t scary enough to give me the chills. Asylum by Madeleine Roux, however, definitely had the spooky factor. It was interesting because the book as a whole wasn’t my favorite—it could have used another editing pass to tighten some of the prose. There were times when some of the sentences felt clunky and would pull me out of the story. And the ending was a bit befuddled—it felt rushed and slightly unclear--but this will likely resolve a bit more with the subsequent books in the series.

With all that being said, the tension Roux builds while the protagonists are in an old wing of a closed-down asylum are chilling. I actually had to put the book down at 3AM while feeding my son because it got that creepy. For me, that made the book super fun and I was able to forgive the other shortcomings of the book. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a fun read. I will definitely be checking out the next book in the series, but I probably won’t be reading it while feeding my son at night.

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Every year, the husband and I sit down and try to watch all of best picture Oscar nominees. I’m hoping this year to make it through some of the documentaries too (thanks Ben for the idea). Thus far, we have watched 3 of the nine best picture films: Arrival, La La Land, and Hell or High Water. Overall, none of them knocked it out of the park, but right now, I am rooting for Arrival, just because I’d love to see a good sci-fi film win. I am excited to watch the other 6 films though. The Oscars happen on February 26th so once we’re through them all, I’ll post my predictions.