Genevieve Cogman rewrites the Scarlet Pimpernel with vampires and a kickass heroine? Yes, please!
Scarlet got off to a much slower start than The InvisGenevieve Cogman rewrites the Scarlet Pimpernel with vampires and a kickass heroine? Yes, please!
Scarlet got off to a much slower start than The Invisible Library. After a quick glimpse of French revolutionaries arresting a "sanguinocrat" (an actual term used to describe Robespierre and friends, but here used to describe actual blood-drinking aristocrats), we move to an English vampire's household, where Eleanor "Nellie" Dalton is employed as a maid and seamstress. Sir Percy Blakeney and his French actress wife visit and notice a striking resemblance between Eleanor and...someone very important. (Since Eleanor doesn't find out who she's supposed to be impersonating until the end of Chapter 5, I'll keep that on the DL.) The Blakeneys "borrow" Eleanor's services and enlist her in a plot that will include a fair amount of danger, making certain promises if she helps willingly.
Those first five chapters are concerned with Eleanor being properly educated and trained for her mission. The excitement doesn't start until Chapter Six (unlike the Invisible Library books that all start at full speed from the very first book. However, once the mission begins, Eleanor is in full adventure mode. I love some of the choices that Ms. Cogman makes with the plot (and characters). I don't want to say too much more than that. Yes, there's a lot of heavy emphasis on class differences and how the French Revolution went sideways, but overall it's a fun read. I'm looking forward to the next installment, although there's no predicted release date for it yet. ...more
Graphic novels don't really work for me, but I'm learning that graphic non-fiction does. Basically, it's like juvenile non-fiction which comes with haGraphic novels don't really work for me, but I'm learning that graphic non-fiction does. Basically, it's like juvenile non-fiction which comes with handy illustrations, but with more mature subject matter, like cults (American Cult) or the experiences of a Vietnamese immigrant family (The Best We Could Do).
Published NINE DAYS before Russian's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Putin's Russia provides a good summary of how Putin got where he is now, many of the atrocities that he committed along the way, and why no one really seemed to pay attention until it was too late.
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And then of course, we had Putin's lapdog in office.
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I had walked by this book many times at the library, but my 14-year-old is the one who actually brought it home along with a stack of YA novels. (I don't think he has even looked through it, though.) I'm glad I grabbed it to read on a car trip. The general gist of Putin, I already knew, but this gave a lot more detail to the story....more
After about 100 pages, I'm choosing to abandon a Grady Hendrix book, which is a first for me.
Louise is a single mom with a five-year-old daughter (PoAfter about 100 pages, I'm choosing to abandon a Grady Hendrix book, which is a first for me.
Louise is a single mom with a five-year-old daughter (Poppy) whose own parents are killed in a car accident. She dumps this news on Poppy, then abandons her (leaving her with her mostly non-custodial father) for two weeks to go deal with the funeral, house, etc. Poppy has a complete meltdown as she is faced for the first time with mortality and being separated from her mother.
Back in her hometown, Louise has a hostile relationship with her only sibling and their fighting over their inheritance is horrifying in itself. Then there's the house filled with their mother's terrible "art work" and the handmade puppets that she used for her Christian children's programs. Since this is a Grady Hendrix novel, you know the puppets are possessed. You know it's all going to end very badly and there will be a lot of gore and trauma. And where I am in my own life right now (dealing with aging parents in ill health), I just cannot. even....more
A stunning supernatural thrillerhorrifying gore fest set in Siberia, where a film crewdesperate film-maker/grifter (and his British best bro/cameramA stunning supernatural thrillerhorrifying gore fest set in Siberia, where a film crewdesperate film-maker/grifter (and his British best bro/cameraman who he owes money) is covering an elusive ghost story abouttrying to come up with a pitch centered around the Kolyma Highway, a road built on top of the bones of prisoners of Stalin's gulag.
What I expected: an atmospheric thriller that centered around the history of the Kolyma Highway. The town of Akhust, along the Kolyma, is the coldest inhabited place on the planet, and I knew from the book blurb that they find it empty...all the inhabitants just vanished, leaving their doors open and dinner on the table.
What I got: about 75 pages of that...ish...before it turned into a non-stop action gore fest where pretty much everyone dies at the hands/jaws/antlers of supernatural beasts. We get all the characters' backstories (tortured obvs) which is apparently supposed to make them well-rounded before their gruesome injuries and deaths.
There's an old woman walking the highway, praying for the spirits of those who died making the highway. She's basically unrelated to the rest of the plot and just serves as a break from the gut-wrenching horror of the rest of the crew being chased south by ghost wolves, giant elk people, and a malicious forest spirit called a parnee.
I stayed up late read the second half because I didn't want this story taking up space in my head for another night. If you like your spooky stories blood-drenched and vaguely explained, this might be the book for you. It was not for me.
“Madness, as we call it, manifests itself in many ways. People do not always wail and shriek as you say your mother did. But it does seem to run in fa“Madness, as we call it, manifests itself in many ways. People do not always wail and shriek as you say your mother did. But it does seem to run in families, I have observed, particularly through the female line. Hysteria � womb to womb. Diseased blood will out. There is no hiding from it, I am afraid.�
Laura Purcell draws on all the gothic tropes -- a haunted country estate with locked rooms and secrets, all the ancestral secrets, resentful villagers, the insane asylum where everyone discounts the inmate because of her sex -- and runs with them.
We first meet Elise Bainbridge in the asylum, where she's scarred and apparently mute, accused of murder and arson. If she's proven sane, she'll stand trial for her crimes, but the truth is so strange, it might just convince the doctor she's insane.
From there, we jump back to when Elise first arrived at The Bridge, her husband's crumbling family estate, with his cousin Sarah who previously worked as an elderly woman's companion. The pregnant widow and the spinster are meant to hide themselves from polite society while they mourn. Elise's husband's death while preparing The Bridge for inhabitance was sudden and mysterious. Maybe it was heart failure, but why are there splinters in his face?
On her first night, Elise hears strange hissing noises coming from the locked garret. When she finally gains access, she and Sarah discover realistic wooden cut-outs known as "companions" and the diary from the 1630s, written by of one of Sarah's ancestors, a woman who dabbled in herbal remedies. As the companions increase in number and seemingly move on their own, accidents start to happen.
Deliciously creepy, this one checked all the boxes for me.
This is a book for slasher enthusiasts, which isn't really me. I watched a lot of horror in my late teens and early twenties, many, many years ago, esThis is a book for slasher enthusiasts, which isn't really me. I watched a lot of horror in my late teens and early twenties, many, many years ago, especially while I worked at video stores, back when that was a job and "streaming" wasn't a thing. I remember seeing Scream twice in the theater, but with a few exceptions (i.e. the movie adaptations of World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War and The Girl with All the Gifts, both of which were disappointing), I haven't watched horror since bringing my almost-15-year-old into the world. So, with that said, I rounded my 2.5 star rating up to account for taste.
The narrator of this novel, the one whose heart is a chainsaw, is Jennifer Jade Daniels, 17-year-old, half-Indian misfit from Proofrock, Idaho. Her head is full of slasher movies, mostly -- whether she wants to admit it or not -- as an escape from how shitty her life is, living with her disfigured, alcoholic father after her mom walked out (but still lives in town with one dude or another), which has made her into the weird "horror" girl with no friends, who writes essays about slasher theory for her history teacher. Following a botched suicide attempt, she comes across evidence that a slasher movie has started in her town, and when she meets the beautiful new girl (the 32nd member of their graduating class), Jade is convinced she's met the "final girl."
Jade's head is a difficult place to be and her rambling dialogues and essays were especially rough for me, so much that I almost gave up after 50 pages. The first 250 pages or so are very slow, as Jade tries to make life match art, and then when things get rolling, it all gets cray-zee fast. There's a lot of gore, like an excruciating amount of gore, and I was left with a lot of unanswered questions.
This was the second horror-movie-referencing book I read this month (after The Final Girl Support Group), and I think I've hit my limit. I'll stick to gothic horror from here.
I'm a huge fan of Grady Hendrix (especially We Sold Our Souls). I love how he writes female characters, as well as the dark humor and supernatural eleI'm a huge fan of Grady Hendrix (especially We Sold Our Souls). I love how he writes female characters, as well as the dark humor and supernatural elements of his stories. This one, while still enjoyable, lacks a little je ne sais quoi.
TFGSG operates on the premise that all the slasher films of the late 20th century are based on actual events. The survivors, specifically the girls who fought off and/or killed their attackers, have dealt with their trauma in different ways. Our protagonist, Lynnette, has turned her apartment into a fortress, with multiple escape plans. But when someone seems to be taking down the final girls, Lynnette is flushed out of her safe place. She's running for her life again, trying to figure out who she can trust and who wants to kill her.
The "monsters" in the novel are normal humans, not vampires or ghosts or demons, which makes it all less metaphorical than Mr. Grady's previous books. And while there's some humor (mostly centered around the movie genre), there was nothing laugh-out-loud funny for me. It gets exhausting to be in Lynnette's head and constantly running with her. Overall, this was still an enjoyable story, just not quite up to my expectations.
Sasquatch. . Yeti. Legends all over the world tell of elusive ape-like creatures. It would take a disaster to bring them into contact with humaSasquatch. . Yeti. Legends all over the world tell of elusive ape-like creatures. It would take a disaster to bring them into contact with humans. Luckily, for the imagination of Max Brooks, there's a disaster just waiting to happen.
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In case you aren't aware*, there's an active volcano less than 60 miles from Seattle, with at least 80,000 people living in areas that could be wiped out by lahars (mudflows): .
Max Brooks is definitely aware.
Like World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War was just as much about pandemics as it was about zombies, Devolution is just as much about how dependent we are on technology and infrastructure as it is about Sasquatch. (They also have similar formats: a collection of first-hand accounts, interviews, reference materials, etc.)
Mr. Brooks's primary source of material is the found journal of Kate Holland. She and her husband Dan have just moved from Los Angeles to an isolated eco village somewhere in western Washington. (We don't know the exact location, but it's a 90 minute drive from Seattle, accessible by one road, which passes over a river.) The six households in Greenloop (four couples -- one with a child -- and two singles) rely on technology for everything: telecommuting for work, controlling their solar-powered homes, ordering food that's delivered weekly by drone or van. When the eruption of Mt. Rainier leaves them without any connection to the rest of the world -- able only to hear radio broadcasts -- they all deal in their own ways. (This is where Brooks's humor comes through, especially in the downfall of the seemingly perfect founders of Greenloop.)
Kate and Dan, plagued by anxiety & an inability to communicate with each other, actually rise to the occasion. (I couldn't stand Kate at the beginning of the novel, but she grew on me, as she grew as a character.) Mostar, the "artist in residence" and a survivor of the Bosnian War, uses her considerable survival instincts to rally the community. Others don't do so well. Especially when the food starts running out and they clash with a band of larger primates. (While Devolution is not a just a horror novel, it's still definitely a horror novel. Brooks saves most of the gore for the last third of the novel, but then he writes it with obvious relish. This story is not for the squeamish.)
Interspersed with Kate's journal are interviews with her brother (an original Greenloop resident who hopes she's still alive) and the park ranger who found the journal, sasquatch & primate reference materials, and other relevant sources (although it's not always immediately obvious whey they're relevant). It's a format that works for me, weaving together bits of information that wouldn't be available to a single narrator/source.
*Having grown up less than 50 miles from Mt. St. Helens, I've always been very much aware of the string of active volcanos running through the Pacific Northwest. I was just a toddler when St. Helens erupted, but my family made annual pilgrimages to see the disaster zone: the lake filled with downed trees and debris, the rusted skeletons of cars, a landscape transformed by mud and ash....more
My high school best friend and I watched Francis Ford Coppola's version of Dracula dozens of times. (Yes, we realized that Gary Oldman was pure camp aMy high school best friend and I watched Francis Ford Coppola's version of Dracula dozens of times. (Yes, we realized that Gary Oldman was pure camp and Keanu was horribly miscast, but still...) Somewhere in there, I read this original novel, the novelization of the movie, and various books about Vlad the Impaler. So the general plot of the novel was very familiar, but the details were hazy.
For a Victorian era horror novel, it's aged fairly well. The blood transfusion bits are laughable, and I couldn't stop seeing vampirism as a metaphor for rape. It all seems much less romantic than it did when I was a teen. (As do many things. ::sigh::) But in retrospect (not having watched the movie for at least 20 years), I think Coppola may have actually improved it. At least he provided some motivation for Dracula and gave him a more satisfying, dramatic death. ...more
I had a childhood and it was happy, and the fact that my mother and Maeve were able to do that for me while the country was ate up around us says probI had a childhood and it was happy, and the fact that my mother and Maeve were able to do that for me while the country was ate up around us says probably everything anyone needs to know about them.
Fifteen-year-old Orpen lives on a remote Irish island with only her mother and her mother's partner, Maeve, survivors of a zombie apocalypse and untold other catastrophes. She's been raised to fear both skrakes (the very fast and vicious undead) and men, even though she's never seen either. Her training in combat and survival skills started when she turned seven. (Her aforementioned happy childhood was pretty brief, but she has no grounds for comparison.)
The point being, in any case, that I had a home and I was loved and that was really fucking obvious even if everything else was a mystery.
By the time the book opens, Orpen is on her own, on the main island, searching for other people, but afraid of what she might find. Initially, she's accompanied by a dog and some chickens, pushing a wheelbarrow with some...interesting contents. To say any more would give away too much of the story, but obviously this is not a peaceful story of a girl and her dog walking through Ireland.
Orpen's past is revealed in alternating chapters -- what happened to the loving adults who raised her and how she came to be on the road. (Although this is structure is the current craze, it didn't work for me with this story. The jumps back and forth were jarring and distracting.)
Last Ones Left Alive is a different take on a zombie story. It's not The Girl With All the Gifts, but it has a certain quiet charm.
Christopher Buehlman's debut starts as a historical novel about a WWI vet who inherits a crumbling house in the tiny Southern town his mother fled at Christopher Buehlman's debut starts as a historical novel about a WWI vet who inherits a crumbling house in the tiny Southern town his mother fled at age 15. Even though his aunt left instructions for him to sell the house and never live there, it's the 1930s and Frank hasn't been able to get a job in academia since he "stole" another professor's young wife. The lovely Eudora can take over his late aunt's job teaching the upper grades and he can write a book about his great-grandfather, a sadistic slave owner who was murdered by his own slaves when he refused to free them after "the States' war." What could go wrong?
It turns out Whitbrow isn't quite normal and Frank's great-grandfather's abandoned plantation across the river may not be unoccupied. The horror factor escalates pretty quickly when the town votes to stop a certain ritual they've been practicing for fifty years.
She wanted to be liked. Perhaps this explained the parties, the crystalline laughter, the well-coiffed hair, the rehearsed smile. She thought that menShe wanted to be liked. Perhaps this explained the parties, the crystalline laughter, the well-coiffed hair, the rehearsed smile. She thought that men such as her father could be stern and men could be cold like Virgil, but women needed to be liked or they’d be in trouble. A woman who is not liked is a bitch, and a bitch can hardly do anything: all avenues are closed to her.
Noemi Taboada is a modern young woman in 1950s Mexico City, with a sharp mind under her bubbly, flirtatious demeanor. Her father is a successful businessman, which has allowed her to lead a debutante lifestyle and to attend the Feminine University of Mexico where she's determined to learn more than just how to be a good wife.
When a troubling letter arrives from her newly-wed cousin, Noemi's father sends her to circumvent any potential scandal, promising to give his permission to pursue a masters degree at the National University if she is successful. But Noemi finds herself in a situation far more sinister than she could have expected, a world more akin to the fairy tales her cousin Catalina told her when they were children.
I wanted to read Mexican Gothic in Spooktober, but so did a lot of other people. My library hold arrived a month later than I wished. November or not, this is the most delightfully horrifying novel I've read all year. What starts as a gothic novel with an intricately crafted air of oppression, morphs into a full-fledged horror novel by the end.
Sprinkled with allusions to fairy tales, Shakespeare, and The Yellow Wallpaper (among others), Ms. Moreno-Garcia also drops little breadcrumb clues about the sinister nature of the strange family of reclusive silver barons that Catalina has married into. (view spoiler)[ I knew the mushrooms were suspicious from the start! (hide spoiler)]
And best line goes to: (view spoiler)[“So I'll be wed in the Church of the Holy Incestuous Mushroom?� (hide spoiler)] Wise-cracking, chain-smoking Noemi is such a fabulous horror novel heroine. (I'm excited that the novel has been optioned for a .)...more
Because vampires are the original serial killers, stripped of everything that makes us human--they have no friends, no family, no roots, no children. Because vampires are the original serial killers, stripped of everything that makes us human--they have no friends, no family, no roots, no children. All they have is hunger. They eat and eat but they're never full. With this book, I wanted to pit a man freed from all responsibilities but his appetites against women whose lives are shaped by their endless responsibilities. I wanted to pit Dracula against my mom. As you'll see, it's not a fair fight.
Had this been my first Grady Hendrix novel, I might have rated it higher. (As is, I still liked it.) ±á´Ç°ù°ù´Ç°ù²õ³Ùö°ù (AKA Haunted IKEA) and My Best Friend's Exorcism ("Beaches meets The Exorcist") were great -- uniquely blending horror and camp and humor with fantastic writing -- but We Sold Our Souls blew me away.
In comparison, this one was...a little sleepy, a little restrained. Obviously, a lot of that has to do with the characters: southern suburban housewives concerned with doing everything just right. There's some (stereotypical) variation in the group: the religious zealot (Slick), the northern liberal (Maryellen), the uptight perfectionist (Grace), and her opposite (Kitty) -- the larger-than-life loudmouth. And then there's our main character, Patricia. She's lost, going through the motions, wondering how she got where she is. At least she has her friends, her not-a-book-club, where the women spice up their dull lives reading true crime novels (although they occasionally try to add some more literary options).
Then a stranger moves to town and weird shit starts happening. After being attacked by his elderly great-aunt, Patricia's life becomes entangled with the stranger, James Harris. She finds herself helping him and even inviting him to her not-a-book-club.
"Didn't y'all just love The Bridges of Madison County?" [Slick] asked. "I thought it was such a relief after last month. Just a good old-fashioned love story between a woman and a man." "Who is clearly a serial killer," Kitty said, keeping her eyes on James Harris. "I think the world is changing so quickly that people need a hopeful story," Slick said. "About a lunatic who travels from town to town seducing women, then killing them," Kitty said. "Well," Slick said. Thrown, she looked down at her notes and cleared her throat again. "We chose this book because it speaks about the powerful attraction that can exist between two strangers." "We chose this book so you'd stop going on about it," Maryellen said. "I don't think there's any actual evidence he's actually a serial killer," Slick said. Kitty picked up her copy, bristling with bright pink Post-it notes, and waggled it in the air.
After Kitty's exposition, which basically describes James Harris to a T, one of the other members turns to him:
"What about you, James Harris?" Maryellen asked. "I've never met a man who doesn't have an opinion: is Robert Kincaid a romantic American icon or a drifter who murders women?" James Harris flashed a bashful grin. "Clearly I read a very different book from you ladies," he said. "But I'm learning a lot here tonight. Carry on."
Mr. Hendrix clearly has fun juxtaposing the women's proper lives and conversations with squirm-inducing horror tropes (view spoiler)[ the marsh rats! everything in that freaking attic! and whatever the fuck comes out of Harris's throat! (hide spoiler)], which makes for some cringey, but entertaining reading. What I didn't love is all the social constraints, which took up waaaaay too much of the book for my taste. Y'all, I would not cut it as a proper southern lady. I wanted to murder a lot more people than just the damn vampire....more
You know those parties that people you don't know very well hold when their parents go on vacation? The ones that start out with a few friends and endYou know those parties that people you don't know very well hold when their parents go on vacation? The ones that start out with a few friends and end up with the police being called?
Considering the target audience is supposed to be ages 10-14 (according to the book jacket), I'm going with, "No." Most middle school students are not left unattended whilst their parents go on vacation. Also, someone's been watching too many teen movies.
I thought the material here was a little mature for the younger end of that age range, but my 13-year-old, who also read it, reassures me that it's no more graphic than video games that a lot of kids play. (That was about as much as I got out of him, other than "it was pretty good" because it contains FACTS and doesn't try to hide anything.) For example, I remember being in high school before I read about Vlad the Impaler and his penchant for sticking stakes up his enemies' bums. Eh...kids these days.
Overall, the information presented here is interesting. The "kid friendly" formatting sometimes jumbles the information a bit and I can't figure out the overall organization of the stories. While it starts chronologically (Boudica, Vlad Dracula, French Revolution, Fear in Old London Town, Pirates), after Chicago Death Hotel (1893), it jumps back to 7th century China (Empress Wu Zetian), then up to the 1920s (Al Capone), then back to the Deaths of the Roman Emperors and the Vikings, before moving on to Richard III, Boston Tea Party, Rasputin, and Civil War Tech. It all seems pretty random and far-ranging between individuals, mass hysteria, entire cultures, etc. (But my son didn't seem to notice or care.)
So, in short, better for kids than adults (at least anal retentive ones like me), decide for yourself whether your child is ready to read about "Celtic rebels stringing up naked nobles, chopping parts off and skewering women with sharp sticks from end to end," or the Norse murder technique called Blood Eagle in which "the victim's rib cage was cut away from his spine and folded back like the wings of an eagle. His lungs were then dragged out and pinned back as a sacrifice to Odin." (These are probably the absolute goriest parts of the entire book. But you've been warned.)...more
I blame Charles Dickens for the death of my father. Thus begins a story written in somewhat Dickensian prose, which is part tribute, part parody, and I blame Charles Dickens for the death of my father. Thus begins a story written in somewhat Dickensian prose, which is part tribute, part parody, and part modern take on the gothic governess & haunted house tropes. The problem is that it tries to be too many things at once.
I do believe this is supposed to be a parody of the governess story. Eliza, with her focus on her own plain appearance, her tendency to moon over any kind and somewhat attractive man, and her obstinate refusal to yield to warning signs, is an obvious play on Jane Eyre and her ilk. Still, it's all too subtle for my taste. I prefer the more obvious style of My Plain Jane.
Eliza's take on the events around her is decidedly modern -- agnostic and almost bordering on feminist -- but without full commitment. For instance, when the headmistress at her former place of employment suggests that a mathematically talented student might become a bank manager's secretary, Eliza wonders why the girl couldn't actually be the bank manager, but then pretends that the comment was a joke when the headmistress accuses her of being "a modern."
The best part, for me, is the actual ghost story. Strange events begin to occur as soon as Eliza arrives at Gaudlin Hall and, despite the reticence of the local townsfolk, she finds out that she's the sixth governess in a year. This House is indeed Haunted, but Eliza must figure out by whom and why and attempt to save her young charges and herself, all while the adultier adults (she's a very young 21) around her claim that events are perfectly explainable OR in Eliza's imagination.
This must be what Dorothy felt like, I think. Maybe. If Dorothy was six scared teenagers and Oz was hell.
For the first October in several years, I didThis must be what Dorothy felt like, I think. Maybe. If Dorothy was six scared teenagers and Oz was hell.
For the first October in several years, I didn't have a stack of spooky books ready. (I had a couple of books on my to-read list, but they ended up being disappointing.) This was a last minute find, which I didn't even realize was by the author of Sadie until after I finished. It ended up being exactly what I wanted:
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(complete with the drug dealer, the quiet misfit, two jocks -- one nicer than the other, the ASB president, and the freshman nerd)
PLUS
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The story is told from the perspective of Sloane, the Ally Sheedy character. Six months earlier, her older sister ran away, leaving her alone with their abusive father. They had always planned to leave together, and suddenly Sloane is left with no one to care about her and no reason to go on living...until the living dead take over the town.
“I wouldn't have left you like that. Not like she did to me." I swallow hard. "She always said I'd die without her and she left anyway."
"But you didn't die," he says.
"I did," I say. "I'm just waiting for the rest of me to catch up.�
A week later, Sloane finds herself at her high school with five other teens, boarding up the entrances and trying to formulate a survival strategy. Things are complicated by conflicts within the group. Two of the teens, fraternal twins Grace and Trace, lost their parents in the trek to the school. They blame Cary, the drug dealer with survival skillz, for leading them into an area swarmed with zombies. The other two boys, quiet Rhys and nerdy Harrison, seem to support Cary, but loyalties are shifty things, susceptible to internal and external influence.
Although This is Not a Test is ostensibly a zombie novel, it's horror-lite with the zombies getting relatively little page time. Most of the conflicts are intrapersonal or interpersonal: Sloane struggling to find her own value and motivation to survive, the twins' anger and grief over their parents' deaths, relationships, decision-making, etc. Ms. Summers captures all the adolescent emotions and angst, complete with naughty words and sexual situations. (These things don't bother me, but I wouldn't recommend the book for younger teens. In other words: I wouldn't want my own kids -- currently grades 5 & 7 to read this.) ...more
Mary Hand, Mary Hand, dead and buried under land... Faster, faster. Don't let her catch you. She'll say she wants to be your friend... Do not let her in Mary Hand, Mary Hand, dead and buried under land... Faster, faster. Don't let her catch you. She'll say she wants to be your friend... Do not let her in again!
What a deliciously creepy novel!
In 2014, Idlewood Hall is a decrepit ruin undergoing renovations by a mysterious wealthy woman and her son. Twenty years before, Fiona Sheridan's sister was murdered and her body left on the grounds of Idlewood. Fifteen years before that, Idlewood Hall closed its doors after 60 years of operating as a school for wayward girls. As Fiona searches for the truth about her sister's murder (under the guise of writing an article about the renovations), another girl's body is found on the grounds. Were the two murders connected? And why have all the school records disappeared? And what is the ghostly presence that's been haunting Idlewood since before the school was built?
In novels with dual timelines, often one story is stronger than the other, but not so this time. Fiona's story and alternating story of a tight-knit group of misfit students in the 1950s are both captivating. Some of the connections are a little too convenient, but they help to make a cohesive story.
By the time Alex managed to get the blood out of her good wool coat, it was too warm to wear it.
Ninth House begins towards the end, with Galaxy "Alex"By the time Alex managed to get the blood out of her good wool coat, it was too warm to wear it.
Ninth House begins towards the end, with Galaxy "Alex" Stern, "the most unlikely member of Yale's freshman class" (an accurate description from the book jacket), holed up in safe house recovering from some very serious injuries, apparently without any allies. The prologue is a disorienting introduction to Alex's experience as a member of Lethe, the titular ninth house of Yale's famed "secret" societies.
That was in the spring. But the trouble had begun on a night in the full dark of winter, when Tara Hutchins died and Alex still thought she might be able to get away with everything.
From there, we jump back to that winter night, where Alex is supervising a prognostication, which is a lovely euphemism for cutting open some mentally ill schmuck so that a rich alumnus can play with his intestines and use them like tea leaves to predict stock prices to make a bunch of rich people even richer. Alex's job is to make sure that no "grays" (ghosts) interfere with the ceremony. While other members of Lethe (the house set up to police all the other houses) take a dangerous concoction to allow them to temporarily see "beyond the veil," Alex has always been able to see ghosts, spent her adolescence trying to block them out, which led her down a dark path. Lethe has offered her a second chance, a full ride at Yale, in exchange for using her powers to keep rich boys (and some girls) in check. But somehow her mentor, senior Daniel "Darlington" Arlington V, has vanished and Alex is struggling to keep up with her studies and her duties.
I struggled with the first 50 pages or so of this book. I LOVED Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom, my only other experience reading Ms. Bardugo, but this book is very different. I didn't know anything about the secret societies at her alma mater, and the details of how the rich use their privilege to exploit others make me nauseous. Pair that with the challenge of trying to piece together what is even happening in the story, and I was ready to call it quits. Only the glowing reviews of GR friends & high ratings of some of my book group ladies kept me reading. Eventually the pieces started to come together and I was completely enthralled. (And while privileged narcissists are very much a part of this book, Alex -- who has been compared to Lisbeth Salander -- plays by her own rules within their system.)
Warnings: If you haven't read anything by this author, her YA is pretty mature for YA. There are a lot of potential triggers in this book (plenty of other reviews contain TW lists). Also, it has a cliffhanger ending and the next book isn't expected until June 2021.
No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.
As a haunted house tale, this is delicious, but I really love about this novel is Ms. Jackson's LADIES.
Obviously, there's Eleanor, who has spent her entire life being what other people want her to be and finds herself, at 32, with nothing of her own. She has nothing better to do than accept an invitation to spend the summer observing paranormal activity at a purportedly haunted house. Eleanor, in all her tormented awkwardness, is clearly our heroine. But what's a heroine without a frenemy?
I've known many Theodora's -- instafriends, as long as they get all the attention; light and breezy, until anything reflects poorly on them. Ms. Jackson so perfectly captured the little narcissist and her relationship with Eleanor. I find the critical speculation about (view spoiler)[Theodora's sexuality (is the roomate more than just a roomate? is there something between Theodora and Eleanor?) (hide spoiler)] interesting, but don't find it fundamental to the story.
The other female characters -- rigid housekeeper Mrs. Dudley and the delighfully self-obsessed Mrs. Montague -- are just there for atmosphere and comic relief, but they are both highly entertaining. In comparison, the male characters (primarily Luke and Dr. Montague) are just there. They're the "straight men" who also happen to be straight men.
I've read "The Lottery" several times (and maybe other Jackson short stories?), and finally read We Have Always Lived in the Castle a few years ago. I'm still scratching my head, wondering "why did it take me so long to read this one?"
Kicking off my creepy October reading early, this is a 1970s haunted house story that was recommended in thisKicking off my creepy October reading early, this is a 1970s haunted house story that was recommended in this summer.
To escape their hot and noisy NY apartment for the summer, a couple rents an isolated, deteriorating mansion that comes with an occupant -- a reclusive (as in, never seen) old lady who must be brought meals thrice daily.
The discontented high school English teacher (is there any other kind?) and his materialistic wife are not likable characters, although their 8-year-old son and his elderly, slightly eccentric aunt are decent, but not fully fleshed out. The plot builds very slowly, but the sense of dread is solid. There's never any doubt this will end badly....more
![Dracula [Adaptation]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388361631l/682741._SY75_.jpg)
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