[Review] Mors irrumat omnia - A Modern Female Gothic: "Ninth House" by Leigh Bardugo
TW: Rape, rape culture, gore and horror, mention of sexism and racism
Ninth House tells us the story of Galaxy Stern - called Alex - at Yale after she had been chosen to become part of Lethe, a house on the campus tasked with the looking after and observing of the arcane doings of the "Ancient Eight", secret societies on the Yale Campus dabbling in magic and every house has their specialty. As someone who hasn't even finished high school Alex doesn't seem like she could be able to attend a prestigious college like Yale but she has one talent that got her into it: She can see ghosts - called Grays - without having to use any kind of magic. Which makes her the perfect person to work for Lethe as they have to keep Grays out during rituals done by any of the houses. And the semester barely started when suddenly a girl is murdered on campus and Alex feels like there is more to the case than what is said. That maybe the houses have in any shape or form to do with the girl's murder.
This story is steeped in creepy and disturbing magic, horrible tragedies, and distrust. There is blood, there are bones, there are drugs, there are humans being the actual monsters in the world. Alex Stern is a girl with a horrible past who basically never saw herself getting out of the dump that was her life until she got that opportunity to go to Yale for Lethe. But especially there she doesn't fit in. She's not rich, she's probably not 'white enough' (she never knew her father so it's not clear what her ethnic background exactly is), and she has to act as if she didn't have a past with drug abuse and people dying around her.
We see her life through her eyes in the present of the story and through the eyes of her mentor at Lethe, Darlington, when reading about the near past. The chapters for the most part interchange between past and present but sometimes we get a glimpse of a past that lies back a bit further so we'll see what exactly had happened to Alex before she came to Yale.
I've read and seen a couple of reviews so far and I think this is already were many people started to have issues with this book. I have to add that I didn't but I understand that this change in point-of-views and time isn't the right thing for everyone. It also means this story focuses strongly on the characters. Something some readers already had issues with when reading Bardugo's Six of Crows.
This does make the book seem boring for some in the first 100 pages apparently. I personally was hooked. It gave me some important backstory for Alex while building up this world of magic and secret societies that is so raw and disgusting that I can't wait to see the TV adaptation. The book managed to creep me out and I hope the show will do the same. Even though it still will take a while until we can finally see it.
Talking about the magic in this world, it is not simple wand-waving magic. This is blood and bone magic that can hurt and kill if you aren't careful. It's the kind of magic that intrigues and gets you hooked like a drug while it also makes you very uncomfortable at times.
And being uncomfortable is the right phrase for this whole thing. There are parts about rape, drug use, prostitution, and many more related things. Because this world is drawing parallels between drug use and magic, as well as parallels between rape culture and some magical elements. All the while also talking about actual drug use and actual rape culture. There are also a few small comments on racism in the text but it's a bit less of the focus. Though it does mention white women piggybacking to success on the backs of poor, immigrant and non-white women. Though discussing how that is shown is a bit of a spoiler. But it becomes obvious in my opinion when you reach the ending of this book.
Ninth House is definitely not a story for everyone. It has different horror elements from ghost stories, psychological horror, and gothic fiction (e.g. houses which seem to be alive. It's a gothic fiction trope and in more recent years done very well in Guillermo Del Toro's Crimson Peak). I would even go so far as to claim that American Female Gothic is definitely part of the genres of this book, with the supernatural, morbid, feminist, and architectural focused elements.
What do I mean by that, for everyone who hasn't ever looked into the Gothic as a fiction genre? First we have to look at what the typical tropes for Gothic fiction are. There are many and they differ a bit if you look at European or American Gothic. But overall there is a sense of terror in these stories that are supposed to excite you and be "pleasurable".
To understand this we have to look at the definitions of "terror" and "horror" in gothic fiction. Both are important elements of this type of fiction and knowing it can also help us to understand the "horror" genre itself better, in my opinion.
"Terror is usually described as the feeling of dread and anticipation that precedes the horrifying experience. By contrast, horror is the feeling of revulsion that usually follows a frightening sight, sound, or otherwise experience."¹
Obviously there is also a lot of horror in this story but tension - meaning "terror" in this case - is prevalent throughout this story as well. This doesn't immediately mean this is Gothic as Horror as a general genre relies on this a lot. But it is a good way to already define this as "horror". Magic and ghosts don't immediately make horror or else Harry Potter would be horror as well. But what one experiences, e.g. when watching a horror movie and they build up the plot for a jump scare (or fake out), that is this interplay of terror and horror that the genre relies on.
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Disclaimer: I wasn't asked or paid to talk about this book, author or anything and anyone else mentioned. Everything I said is my own opinion unless otherwise stated. English isn't my native language so sorry if you find any grammar mistakes I didn't pick up on. I'm also not a professor of English literature so this is all based on stuff I read up on and learned about in a class I took in university.
"Mors irrumat omnia. Death fucks us all."
Secret societies have been fascinating humans for some time now. From the Illuminati to the Freemasons, there have been plenty of books, articles, and strange forum entries written about any of these. So what would happen if that gets mixed in with magic, colleges, and human rights issues? That's when you get Ninth House.
Ninth House tells us the story of Galaxy Stern - called Alex - at Yale after she had been chosen to become part of Lethe, a house on the campus tasked with the looking after and observing of the arcane doings of the "Ancient Eight", secret societies on the Yale Campus dabbling in magic and every house has their specialty. As someone who hasn't even finished high school Alex doesn't seem like she could be able to attend a prestigious college like Yale but she has one talent that got her into it: She can see ghosts - called Grays - without having to use any kind of magic. Which makes her the perfect person to work for Lethe as they have to keep Grays out during rituals done by any of the houses. And the semester barely started when suddenly a girl is murdered on campus and Alex feels like there is more to the case than what is said. That maybe the houses have in any shape or form to do with the girl's murder.
This story is steeped in creepy and disturbing magic, horrible tragedies, and distrust. There is blood, there are bones, there are drugs, there are humans being the actual monsters in the world. Alex Stern is a girl with a horrible past who basically never saw herself getting out of the dump that was her life until she got that opportunity to go to Yale for Lethe. But especially there she doesn't fit in. She's not rich, she's probably not 'white enough' (she never knew her father so it's not clear what her ethnic background exactly is), and she has to act as if she didn't have a past with drug abuse and people dying around her.
We see her life through her eyes in the present of the story and through the eyes of her mentor at Lethe, Darlington, when reading about the near past. The chapters for the most part interchange between past and present but sometimes we get a glimpse of a past that lies back a bit further so we'll see what exactly had happened to Alex before she came to Yale.
I've read and seen a couple of reviews so far and I think this is already were many people started to have issues with this book. I have to add that I didn't but I understand that this change in point-of-views and time isn't the right thing for everyone. It also means this story focuses strongly on the characters. Something some readers already had issues with when reading Bardugo's Six of Crows.
This does make the book seem boring for some in the first 100 pages apparently. I personally was hooked. It gave me some important backstory for Alex while building up this world of magic and secret societies that is so raw and disgusting that I can't wait to see the TV adaptation. The book managed to creep me out and I hope the show will do the same. Even though it still will take a while until we can finally see it.
Talking about the magic in this world, it is not simple wand-waving magic. This is blood and bone magic that can hurt and kill if you aren't careful. It's the kind of magic that intrigues and gets you hooked like a drug while it also makes you very uncomfortable at times.
And being uncomfortable is the right phrase for this whole thing. There are parts about rape, drug use, prostitution, and many more related things. Because this world is drawing parallels between drug use and magic, as well as parallels between rape culture and some magical elements. All the while also talking about actual drug use and actual rape culture. There are also a few small comments on racism in the text but it's a bit less of the focus. Though it does mention white women piggybacking to success on the backs of poor, immigrant and non-white women. Though discussing how that is shown is a bit of a spoiler. But it becomes obvious in my opinion when you reach the ending of this book.
Ninth House is definitely not a story for everyone. It has different horror elements from ghost stories, psychological horror, and gothic fiction (e.g. houses which seem to be alive. It's a gothic fiction trope and in more recent years done very well in Guillermo Del Toro's Crimson Peak). I would even go so far as to claim that American Female Gothic is definitely part of the genres of this book, with the supernatural, morbid, feminist, and architectural focused elements.
What do I mean by that, for everyone who hasn't ever looked into the Gothic as a fiction genre? First we have to look at what the typical tropes for Gothic fiction are. There are many and they differ a bit if you look at European or American Gothic. But overall there is a sense of terror in these stories that are supposed to excite you and be "pleasurable".
To understand this we have to look at the definitions of "terror" and "horror" in gothic fiction. Both are important elements of this type of fiction and knowing it can also help us to understand the "horror" genre itself better, in my opinion.
"Terror is usually described as the feeling of dread and anticipation that precedes the horrifying experience. By contrast, horror is the feeling of revulsion that usually follows a frightening sight, sound, or otherwise experience."¹
Obviously there is also a lot of horror in this story but tension - meaning "terror" in this case - is prevalent throughout this story as well. This doesn't immediately mean this is Gothic as Horror as a general genre relies on this a lot. But it is a good way to already define this as "horror". Magic and ghosts don't immediately make horror or else Harry Potter would be horror as well. But what one experiences, e.g. when watching a horror movie and they build up the plot for a jump scare (or fake out), that is this interplay of terror and horror that the genre relies on.
If we now look into the supernatural aspects of the story, the ghost story aspect of Ninth House lends itself well to the definition of the Female Gothic. The ghosts in these stories are usually more a means to an end and even sometimes metaphors. A movie that did that well, and I will say it again and again, is Crimson Peak. Here the ghosts are guiding Edith to the solution of what is wrong with her husband and sister-in-law. It is the same for Alex. The proper ghosts (there are other creatures that can actually hurt her but they aren't really ghosts) are guiding her and help her in finding out what is going on. They actually are quite harmless despite them seeming like they aren't. They can be disruptive but they aren't really malicious.
The Supernatural in the Female Gothic is also used to discuss the position of women in society, their sexuality, and general treatment of them. Ninth House uses magic and how it is used on a college campus to draw parallels and sometimes even directly talk about rape culture and how women - especially poor women and women of color - are treated by men and even women in higher social positions than they are.
"The female protagonists pursued in these texts are often caught in an unfamiliar and terrifying landscape, delivering higher degrees of terror."²
Alex is pursued throughout the story. By her past, by people who want to do her harm because of what she might know. Yale is strictly speaking not exactly what is meant by "landscape" as usually in the Gothic an actual landscape somewhere far away from civilization is a typical setting, but it is still unfamiliar and terrifying for Alex to be in this place. It's foreign, she doesn't really fit in, and because of where she comes from and what she has experienced before everything is terrifying to some degree. Be it the ghosts are just simply being around these people who she can't trust.
Alex is pursued throughout the story. By her past, by people who want to do her harm because of what she might know. Yale is strictly speaking not exactly what is meant by "landscape" as usually in the Gothic an actual landscape somewhere far away from civilization is a typical setting, but it is still unfamiliar and terrifying for Alex to be in this place. It's foreign, she doesn't really fit in, and because of where she comes from and what she has experienced before everything is terrifying to some degree. Be it the ghosts are just simply being around these people who she can't trust.
And this is where the terror comes in. Alex is always on edge and so are we as a reader. We get pulled along with her as she tries to maneuver this world that is completely alien to her and that seems to want her dead so she can't open up what the patriarchal and elitist society wants to be closed and tucked away.
"Characteristic of the female Gothic, the natural cause of terror is not the supernatural, but rather female disability and societal horrors: rape, incest and the threatening control of the male antagonist."³
Going from the morbid elements that are rape and the like, lets look at the morbid elements that are also typical in the Gothic, even though they also exist a lot outside of it. The bones, blood and general decay. Bones and Blood are elements of the rituals done by the houses to work their magic. Especially blood one will find a lot. Death is the next thing important to some of these rituals as well, which is where the decay plays into it.
Going from the morbid elements that are rape and the like, lets look at the morbid elements that are also typical in the Gothic, even though they also exist a lot outside of it. The bones, blood and general decay. Bones and Blood are elements of the rituals done by the houses to work their magic. Especially blood one will find a lot. Death is the next thing important to some of these rituals as well, which is where the decay plays into it.
But I would also say that decay can also be seen in a metaphorical sense to describe the secret societies and the general society developing. It is more a decay of society as there is no proper growth. Also, New Haven (that's where Yale college is, for anyone who isn't American) is described at being on the precipice between growth and death, forever. It seems to grow but never gets any further. The college is thriving but companies never grow and keep on existing in this place.
The setting itself also lends itself to another aspect of the Gothic: the connection to architecture. There is obviously mention of actual Gothic architecture but also of many more architectural elements of Yale. A college campus like this lends itself well to it. But it's not just that. One element of Gothic fiction you will find in Ninth House is the, already mentioned, house that feels alive. The places Alex goes to that belong to Lethe all groan and sigh as if they are alive. They open up for certain people only and are a means of protection. The last point is a bit more uncommon usually but we could see this as a form of subverting that trope. Examples for the house that feels alive can be found in Crimson Peak and in Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher.
This all can be used to describe this book as Female Gothic but there are a few more elements that also help to describe it as American Female Gothic. Obviously the setting being in the USA could be one but that's not just it. American Gothic also deals a lot with the madness of characters (can also be found in E.A. Poe's works for example) and in the case of Ninth House there is a presumed madness of Alex which then intersects with the Female aspects.
Overall Ninth House has a lot of these Gothic elements and is probably, or especially, because of this not for everyone. It's something I've seen often before. If you do not understand or like the elements of the Gothic it won't work for you. I can - again - use Crimson Peak as an example for that. It was promoted as a horror movie about ghosts when in fact it was a gothic romance with ghosts in it. Many critics, especially men, didn't understand this and rated it badly which led to the movie being more or less a flop. Undeservedly so because it is such a good example for modern Gothic. Movie reviewer and actress Clarke Wolfe wrote a really good post on Nerdist back then which I can recommend to read as well.
It is not pure Gothic as the explanation of the supernatural is still supernatural in nature but this is something you will find a lot nowadays. Just look at the works of Neil Gaiman for example or even The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. Both are authors beloved by the subculture for a reason as well as authors who use Gothic elements in their writing to describe whatever they want to talk about.
For these reasons I can recommend Ninth House to everyone who likes Gothic fiction, who likes Stephen King's works (there is a reason he liked this book. If you have ever read It you will know what I mean), and for anyone who want to experience something close to psychological horror.
4.5/5★
"All you children playing with fire, looking surprised when the house burns down."
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Footnotes:
¹ Definition taken from Wiki, but that's the one I learned back when I took a class on gothic fiction. I just can't find my stuff right now.
² also Wiki because it's easier to link that
³ same as before. Can be read up on elsewhere though.
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