Book review - The Girl from the Well

Title: The Girl from the Well
Author: Rin Chupeco
Genre: Horror
Similar books: The Poisoned House by Michael Ford
                     White Space by Ilsa Bick
Rating: 

Surprisingly beautiful, somewhat eerie

Summary: Okiku has been a ghost, a vengeful spirit, for so long that she barely remembers what she once was. She exists only to get vengeance for other victims and prevent them from becoming like her. It is simple. Simple until she meets Tark, the tattooed boy with an evil presence clinging to him. For some reason, Okiku can't seem to leave Tark behind. For some reason, she finds that she wants to save him.
My Opinion: There is so much to talk about with this book. Firstly, it's a bold move to make the vengeful ghost your narrator, especially since Okiku is largely detached emotionally at the beginning. this, of course, makes it a little slow to start but that resolves as Okiku gets caught up in Tark's situation. Plot-wise this has a lot of standard horror movie elements but with very good reason. As the book tells us, many of those elements originated with the Okiku ghost story. What really makes this book stand out is the atmosphere. There is an elegant beauty to Chupeco's storytelling. Even when Okiku becomes overwhelmed by her rage and starts repeating words like hate and consume it has a sort of poetry in the repetition. Personally, I wasn't frightened through most of the book but I was engrossed and could easily picture the various scenes. They are well described without becoming weighted down with physical description, leaving just enough for the reader to imagine himself. 
More information: The Girl from the Well releases August 5th.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.