To be honest, I really thought I would like this even though I didn't like Dazai's No Longer Human. Junji Ito is a brilliant artist with a deliciouslyTo be honest, I really thought I would like this even though I didn't like Dazai's No Longer Human. Junji Ito is a brilliant artist with a deliciously deranged mind. Plus, I also couldn't help thinking that all the things I disliked about Dazai's semi-autobiographical novel lend themselves quite well to the horror genre.
But, sadly, no. I actually found this graphic novel to be boring and weirdly porny. Even Ito's grotesque horror couldn't make this thrilling....more
It's been a long time since my manga days, but Junji Itō makes me want to get back into it.
Uzumaki is a horror graphic novel about a town that becomesIt's been a long time since my manga days, but Junji Itō makes me want to get back into it.
Uzumaki is a horror graphic novel about a town that becomes obsessed with, and possessed by, spiral symbols. I imagine Itō sitting there with the phrase "spiral into madness" in his head and then running with it to the extreme. It's a combination of graphic body horror-- freakish and grotesque mutations --and a creeping, eerie sense of wrongness.
The imagery will stay with me, but so will the overwhelming sense of inevitability that permeates the book. The spiral is a force that cannot be reasoned with or escaped—it simply is, an existential nightmare that erases free will and consumes all in its path. Strangely, I never once felt like the point of this story was to overcome or escape the spirals.
Each chapter introduces new and ever more disturbing ways in which the spiral takes over the town and the minds of the residents, all of it building towards a climax that is simultaneously unsatisfying and surely the only way it could end....more
Old Soul is one of those books that starts strong and compelling but goes on way longer than it should have done.
The opening with Jake and Mariko was Old Soul is one of those books that starts strong and compelling but goes on way longer than it should have done.
The opening with Jake and Mariko was arresting; the kind of opening that makes you sit up straight and settle in for what is sure to be a gripping read. The pair meet by chance when they both miss a flight at Kansai International Airport. As they get to know one another, it first seems like they have nothing in common, but soon they reach a chilling realisation: they each knew someone who died in the same disturbing and mysterious way.
What connects both these deaths, thousands of miles apart, is the appearance of a strange woman in the weeks leading up to the end. This new understanding leads Jake around the world in pursuit of answers.
The chapters alternate between Jake gathering testimonies from various people who have also lost loved ones to this mysterious woman, and the woman honing in on her next victim.
I have often expressed disagreement with Kirkus reviewers, but I think in this case they got it completely right. The longer this story dragged on, the more the tension drained out of it. Jake's investigations feel like a series of short stories, ones that became repetitive after a while. The eerie, mysterious woman, once well-explained, became far less eerie and not at all mysterious.
It was like the author built up all this tension in the first 25% or so, then just allowed it to slowly fade away over the rest of the book. By around the 75% mark, my interest had waned....more
I do think pacing-wise it could have been tighter. There were definitely some slow spells (pun intended, of course) but, overall, what a wonderful and empowering read. As in Southern Book Club, the real strength of this story is in the fantastic cast of characters and the dialogue between them. They absolutely drive the book, carrying it through any slower periods and making it necessary for me to find out what happens to them.
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is set in 1970 and is a fabulous indictment of slut-shaming, religious hypocrisy and the homes for unwed mothers that used to be commonplace-- what Fern calls "a machine that took in wayward girls and put out adoptable babies". These were horrific places, with high rates of abuse, where young women and girls were bullied into repenting their sins and handing over their babies to wealthy couples.
(I should probably say at this point that the book contains grisly and gruesome depictions of pregnancy and labour and is not one I’d recommend for those currently pregnant.)
What I especially loved (and hated with a blinding fury) about Southern Book Club that I think this book also captures is what it feels like to be dismissed, to be powerless and have more powerful figures talk over you and make decisions without your input. Fern, Rose, Zinnia and Holly have been let down. By their families, by their church, by the whole stupid system. When dabbling in witchcraft offers them the chance to reclaim some control over their lives... well, wouldn't you take it?
While Hendrix doesn’t explicitly mention the recent attack on reproductive rights in the US, he throws in a mention of how these horrific homes disappeared after Roe. Ultimately, the true villain of this book is any person, church or government that believes they have a right to make decisions about women's bodies.
After everything she’d been through, after she’d created life, after they had taken her child, did they really think she was scared of something as small as God?
So I thought this was a great book. Very emotional and empathetic, often funny, occasionally scary, with villains almost as complex as the heroines....more
I read this while on the elliptical and I’m a lazy person, so that should tell you what a quick read it is. Bit of a cheat start to my 2025 challenge I read this while on the elliptical and I’m a lazy person, so that should tell you what a quick read it is. Bit of a cheat start to my 2025 challenge but, to be fair, it felt longer.
After really enjoying Laski's Little Boy Lost, I was looking forward to this early Persephone reprint. Unfortunately, The Victorian Chaise-longue is very different in both subject and style. Described as an horror, but not scary, this book is about a woman called Melanie who sits on a thrifted chaise-longue and finds herself ninety years back in time.
The style here is all a bit fever dreamy stream-of-consciousness, which is definitely not my thing. Very little actually happens as the whole setting is the chaise-longue. You might think, then, that we would focus on some character development, but I felt I knew almost nothing about Melanie as the story drew to a close.
The ending is ambiguous and, in my opinion, the book's strongest (and most Horror-esque) point. But it wasn't enough to redeem it....more
Bird Box is a tense, gripping and truly original story. Malorie is the sequel I didn't need.
However, I will say that this book may have given me a greBird Box is a tense, gripping and truly original story. Malorie is the sequel I didn't need.
However, I will say that this book may have given me a greater appreciation of what Bird Box does. It is a clever book that is so effective and frightening precisely because it is a plethora of unanswered questions. The not knowing is what creates the fear and tension.
This book is not really about that. It is not scary. Malorie's kids are now teenagers pushing against her authority because they're teenagers. After Malorie recognises two names on a census of survivors, they all set out on a journey to find them. Tom is determined not to listen to his mother and-- surprise, surprise --trouble ensues as a result. Much of what happens here is the opposite of unknown... it is completely predictable.
Bird Box left me wide-eyed and wondering what happens next. This book made me realise that sometimes it's a good thing to be left wondering....more
Bird Box is a brilliant horror. It's scary and compelling but different from the norm. Malerman's idea to write Why did I wait ten years to read this?
Bird Box is a brilliant horror. It's scary and compelling but different from the norm. Malerman's idea to write an entire novel about a horror the characters physically cannot look upon is genius. Is there anything scarier than the unknown? Can the most vividly described horror ever compete with what lurks in the shadows of our imagination? I don't think so.
Malerman doesn't spend time describing his monsters because the monster in this book is our own fear and uncertainty. It's the creak on the stairs, the feeling that something is there.
The story begins with Malorie and her two kids. They live an isolated existence in a house with blacked out windows and must wear a blindfold when going outside. They see no one else. And they're always listening.
Told between the present where Malorie plans a perilous journey and the past where we discover how she came to be living this way, the tension genuinely never ceases. I cared about the characters, even minor ones, and grieved the losses we experienced.
This is a book that will come back to haunt me on sleepless nights, I'm sure....more
There is a decent story buried in here, but all the weird porny moments took away far more than they added.
Hell House delivers some classic horror in There is a decent story buried in here, but all the weird porny moments took away far more than they added.
Hell House delivers some classic horror in the form of a supposedly haunted house. Past attempts to discover the house's secrets have led to the bizarre and brutal deaths of all those who entered, except one-- Ben Fischer, a professional medium.
Now, funded by a rich dying man who wants to know if there's an afterlife before he passes, Ben is headed back to the house with three others. There's the medium Florence Tanner who believes she can free the unruly spirits trapped in the house, Dr. Lionel Barrett, a scientist who believes the observed phenomena are being caused by residual energy, and his wife, Edith.
Chairs rocking on their own, doors locking themselves, strange noises and even stranger behaviour from the guests... just what is going on?
I wouldn't say it's overly scary, but I did find it quite engrossing. Barrett's scientific arguments vs Florence's spirituality were fun to ponder, and I wanted to discover whose theory would be the correct one. There is also exciting mystery surrounding the house's former owner, Belasco, and the existence of his son.
Though the weakness of the story was the completely gratuitous use of rapes and the weird hyper-sexualization of the female characters. The two women can't seem to keep their clothes on, with breasts spilling out everywhere and nipples being tweaked and bitten by the ghost of orgies past. The men don't seem to have the same problem and, instead, are usually the poor well-meaning victims of these sex-possessed harlots. Even with the threat of death hanging over her, Edith can still imagine no fate more horrifying than being a lesbian.
This made the whole thing slightly ludicrous, especially Edith's terror that she might get it on with a woman. I mean, I know this is the seventies, but come on-- that's your biggest concern right now?
A salty liquid trickles down my throat. The outside is crunchy cartilage. I jam it into my left cheek and bite down with my molars; jellylike matte
A salty liquid trickles down my throat. The outside is crunchy cartilage. I jam it into my left cheek and bite down with my molars; jellylike matter explodes within my mouth.
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