3.5
The unreliable narration was superb, and with us being left with so many unanswered questions, the gothic atmosphere of the story was pronounced.
Were there ever any ghosts? If there were, were they controlling the children or vice versa?
My interpretation is that there were ghosts but that they weren’t so bad and kept the children company as they dealt with the neglect from their uncle. With this interpretation the main character’s need to protect them from the ghosts of Quint and Miss Jessel comes across as a need for her to have the children under her control, for the sake of feeling power and control as opposed to their own happiness and safety. Her love and over the top concern for the children seems needed, relatable and justified at the beginning of the story but by the end it seems stifling. And Miles escapes her stifling grasp in the end, she seeks to protect him even if it means restriction but in the end he joins the ghosts. I don’t think she imagined because there was nothing alluded to from her past that alluded to her being inclined to imagine, and because it wouldn’t make for a rewarding ending.

The best part of gothic books are the lead up to the final big act and the dread you feel first as the whip is being brought down upon the readers and then the blow of the strike. That is how reading this story felt, so many things were left unsaid and not confronted for propriety’s sake when it would have been better to address them head on because the main character began to dread and suppose worse happenings that what really occurred (the reason for Mile’s expulsion for instance). And the final blow being how the story ends with Mile’s heart stopping, it’s likely that looking at the main character’s prior behavior, asking Flora to be taken away from Bly, and declaring that she will deal with Miles, that she might be charged with the murder of the boy and hanged.

I think the main character was the most interesting, and I know both series have been adapted by Mike Flanagan but the protagonist reminds me of Nelly in Haunting of Hill House. I especially loved reading about the duality of her love and then suspicion of the children, I also believe she kept referring to how lovely and innocent and lovable Miles and Flora were whenever she spoke about them and her suspicions because she was secretly harboring resentment and bitter feelings towards them that she did not want to narrate to the readers. But those feelings came across to us in her actions, like when they spotted Miss Jessel and Flora said she could not see Miss Jessel and became afraid of the main character.

It’s a very scary story because being in charge of the health, safety, education and happiness of the most vulnerable members of society is no easy task, and protecting them from external horrors is one thing. But having the horrors potentially be the children themselves is another thing entirely, it is so hard to prove, get support and solve such an issue without others believing you are the source of danger. The main character would have been wise to have left Bly manor but she was invested in the children and so are readers. Although I think the governess/mc was too invested in the children, obsessed with them and wanted to control every part of them, and perhaps rely on them to fulfill every emotional bond she needs; I caught the slight predatory undertones the governess uses when describing the children which had me side eye her a bit, but also possibly indicates as other reviewers have said, a peeresses sexuality. Especially since she fell in love and/or became infatuated with the children’s uncle immediately indicating which hints at a lack of experience in love and expression of sexuality if she spills her emotions and desires all over the floor at the first sight of a man. That is how we begin to see she is flawed, a potential danger to the children and an unreliable narrator.

I am interested to know the exact reasons and circumstances as to how Miss Jessel and Quint died.
I’ll definitely be watching some analysis videos of this story because I love all the possible interpretations of it.