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torgiepie's review
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
The premise was interesting, but the plot was lacking for me. It made sense if you summed it up, but the execution was messy and hard to follow.
the_coycaterpillar_reads's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Nana is seriously original. A beautifully dark rush of a novella. Perfectly pitched, brutal and viscerally entertaining.
Nana’s can be full of wisdom and knowledge, but Nana’s can also be deadly.
Having read so many horror novella’s, the content can be completely hit or miss for me, it usually doesn’t take long to work out if a story is going to work for me. Mark Towse made that decision easier, the first paragraph, hell, the first sentence reeled me in, like a hook in a fish. The seatbelt was engaged, and I was ready for the G-Force to strip my bones dry!
A sense of dread, all encompassing tension made sure that the pages flew by along with the minutes. The characters were introduced, and I had red flags appear clouding my vision, all I could see was red, so would I pay attention or would I say screw it and continue anyway. Red flags be damned, I was a bull, and I was going headfirst!
Mark Towse leads us up an unsuspecting garden path – a beautifully painted front door, window flower boxes with fragrant roses. Little do you know that behind that perfumed scent is the indistinguishable stench of rotting flesh and putrid ooze. It drips from your Nana, her friends and all the old people who live down an unsuspecting street. Mark Towse knows them, is on a first name basis with them, soon you will be too. The real question is though, will you get on Nana Ivy’s goat too?
Olly is preparing to go and visit his Nana Ivy. He is dreading it, to put it mildly. She stinks, she hates modern technology and isn’t a fan of his mum. I mean he isn’t much of a fan of his mum either at the moment. Olly found evidence of his mum cheating on his dad, and he is fuming. He longs for the closeness that he once shared with her – those Saturday afternoon’s spend baking. Now they spend more time avoiding each other. But visiting his Nana should sort everything, or so his dad tells him.
Newhaven Crescent houses a community of old age pensioners that appear to look out for one another. They know everyone’s names, their hobbies, their inside leg measurement. But underneath the friendly surface lies something altogether more sinister. Why is the missing persons connected to the community rising?
shawna_reads's review
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
"The magic will die with her."
Olly's Nana, Ivy, lives on Newhaven Crescent where she takes care of the crazy elderly residents. It is no surprise to her when their veins turn black and their skin begins to shed. She knows what needs to be done as she has a dark secret. Olly doesn't know how he feels about the residents, but soon he will realize there's more to Nana than candy and slippers.
Right off the bat you meet the residents of Newhaven Crescent as a young boy was delivering newspapers to them. They were old, vile, funny, and crude. Then came Olly who was forced to stay with his nana one night while his parents needed time to work on their marriage. The residents were hosting a talent show and that was where shit hit the fan.
I can't believe how gross this novella was, but that was what made it fun. The way Nana took care of the residents like kin to the descriptions of the deformities to the sexual deviant behaviours displayed by the elders 🤢 At first I thought "Aw, how sweet of nana", but then my thoughts turned to "What the actual fuck is going on?" 😂
I'm not going to say much more as it's only 120 pages long. Just know that this novella was unsettling and disturbing, yet fun and entertaining.
Olly's Nana, Ivy, lives on Newhaven Crescent where she takes care of the crazy elderly residents. It is no surprise to her when their veins turn black and their skin begins to shed. She knows what needs to be done as she has a dark secret. Olly doesn't know how he feels about the residents, but soon he will realize there's more to Nana than candy and slippers.
Right off the bat you meet the residents of Newhaven Crescent as a young boy was delivering newspapers to them. They were old, vile, funny, and crude. Then came Olly who was forced to stay with his nana one night while his parents needed time to work on their marriage. The residents were hosting a talent show and that was where shit hit the fan.
I can't believe how gross this novella was, but that was what made it fun. The way Nana took care of the residents like kin to the descriptions of the deformities to the sexual deviant behaviours displayed by the elders 🤢 At first I thought "Aw, how sweet of nana", but then my thoughts turned to "What the actual fuck is going on?" 😂
I'm not going to say much more as it's only 120 pages long. Just know that this novella was unsettling and disturbing, yet fun and entertaining.
amy_da1sy's review against another edition
4.0
This was such a fun entertaining story and I really loved reading it
reads_vicariously's review against another edition
4.0
My own mortality was never on my mind as a child. Exuberance and life to the fullest for me. But the older I get the more I think about getting old. My own aging is disconcerting to me, but it doesn't hold a candle to the disturbing contents of Mark Towse's creepy debut novella.
Although I have fond memories of my grandparents, there is something subconsciously unnerving about old people. Here the fear of aging and the elderly is taken to the extreme. The story plays out mostly through the eyes of a 12 year old boy, trapped for the night in a suburban community where his Nana resides. There is something very wrong with residents, but the author allows the mystery to build until it reaches a breaking point in the final act. The book cycles through a large cast of characters in a relatively short amount of time, but I never felt lost or confused. Towse does a great job of painting them each with their own personalities and quirks. He also does a great job of describing the aging process in excessively gross ways. Thanks for the queasy stomach Mark!
I loved the restrained pacing of this one. It takes its time introducing you to the main characters as we follow the boy on his paper route around the community. Then we head off to a certain "community event" and that's when things really get wild. There are some moments that drag a little, but they are punctuated with enough shock and hilarity (seriously, laughed out loud in parts) that it didn't bother me too much. And the story builds to a climactic scene that simply has to be read to be believed. So get reading!
Although I have fond memories of my grandparents, there is something subconsciously unnerving about old people. Here the fear of aging and the elderly is taken to the extreme. The story plays out mostly through the eyes of a 12 year old boy, trapped for the night in a suburban community where his Nana resides. There is something very wrong with residents, but the author allows the mystery to build until it reaches a breaking point in the final act. The book cycles through a large cast of characters in a relatively short amount of time, but I never felt lost or confused. Towse does a great job of painting them each with their own personalities and quirks. He also does a great job of describing the aging process in excessively gross ways. Thanks for the queasy stomach Mark!
I loved the restrained pacing of this one. It takes its time introducing you to the main characters as we follow the boy on his paper route around the community. Then we head off to a certain "community event" and that's when things really get wild. There are some moments that drag a little, but they are punctuated with enough shock and hilarity (seriously, laughed out loud in parts) that it didn't bother me too much. And the story builds to a climactic scene that simply has to be read to be believed. So get reading!
thathorrorbish's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
bibliophileroxy's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
mims_is_reading's review against another edition
5.0
This was such a surprise to me. It was a total cover-buy and I wasn't expecting much, let alone awesome, dark humor-induced, thrill ride I got. PS. I'm pretty sure Towse introduced a new horror sub-genre here. They'll probably refer to him as "the maker of geriatric horror" in the future.
amandatacklestbr's review
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0