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theweirdskittle's review against another edition
2.0
A promising concept strangled in dense prose. Overuse of words like "gawp" that had me begging for a thesaurus. I generally like twisted tales with multiple parts weaved together by a framing narrative, but the parts could barely stand on their own, much less together.
This one was a slog, and i would have DNFed if I weren't so stubborn.
This one was a slog, and i would have DNFed if I weren't so stubborn.
captainfez's review
4.0
It took me a while to read The Wanderer and I'm not entirely sure why. It might've been this cursed year - hell, let's blame that. But I certainly found that as much as I was entranced whenever I perused the book, I wasn't quick to come back to it.
Curiously, this isn't the bad thing that I had expected. It meant that each time I returned, I was surprised anew at how bizarre the thing is.
The novel is constructed as an elaborate series of records: letters, pub conversations and apocalypse-typed missives. There's a whole story about a weird writer (Simon Peterkin) who has disappeared, supposedly to off himself, but who has left a bizarre tale in his wake. There's continual references to Poe, and an academic approach to the idea of sifting for truth. But then there's a heavy Melmoth the Wanderer vibe.
And there's also murderous Punch and Judy shows. Because of course there are. They're the first clue that what's happening isn't straight disappearance or standard gumshoe fare: a puppeteer-free booth crops up in unlikely places, offering shows filled with gouts of blood. That's the way to do it! rings in the ears of characters who, like the reader, are desperate to find what the fuck is going on.
I won't spoil the story too much here, but suffice it to say the meat of the narrative is split between the stories and backstories of a pub meeting for people with uncanny experiences, and the recollection of a narrator at some point distant to that snug evening. Jarvis is always pretty clear about what's happening when, though you will likely have to adjust your sense of timescale to accommodate all the action.
In essence, the people in the pub have been marked in a particular way; they have each had an experience which has left them changed, and apart from their fellow humans. Through sharing their stories, they hope – as do we – to be at least able to name what has happened to them.
Whether that happens? Well, let's just say that there's a solid amount of weird/SFF action en route to the denouement. There's always a weird smell about, like a little-used room in a great-aunt's house, and it does propel the reader onward, albeit (in my case) in fits and starts.
In the end, I don't think The Wanderer is as successful as it might have been. There's bits where you can see the duct-tape holding it together, and the way it comes to an all-in-a-rush revelation at the end seems a little hamfisted. However, the creeping feeling of dread, and the overwhelming tang of weirdness that suffuses the work more than makes up for these shortcomings. As a first novel, it's a goddamn cracker, and I would like to see what sort of liminal perversities Jarvis comes up with in the future.
Curiously, this isn't the bad thing that I had expected. It meant that each time I returned, I was surprised anew at how bizarre the thing is.
The novel is constructed as an elaborate series of records: letters, pub conversations and apocalypse-typed missives. There's a whole story about a weird writer (Simon Peterkin) who has disappeared, supposedly to off himself, but who has left a bizarre tale in his wake. There's continual references to Poe, and an academic approach to the idea of sifting for truth. But then there's a heavy Melmoth the Wanderer vibe.
I leave it up to the reader, then, to decide what nature of thing The Wanderer really is.
And there's also murderous Punch and Judy shows. Because of course there are. They're the first clue that what's happening isn't straight disappearance or standard gumshoe fare: a puppeteer-free booth crops up in unlikely places, offering shows filled with gouts of blood. That's the way to do it! rings in the ears of characters who, like the reader, are desperate to find what the fuck is going on.
The audience was always, aged, and I recognized many of the same faces each time. It was all odd, passing odd, but I never suspected malignancy (perhaps because I was preoccupied by work: it was busy at the office then). It wasn’t till the evening I, lacking patience, got off the bus, broken down but soon fixed, I realized a weird evil was at work.
I won't spoil the story too much here, but suffice it to say the meat of the narrative is split between the stories and backstories of a pub meeting for people with uncanny experiences, and the recollection of a narrator at some point distant to that snug evening. Jarvis is always pretty clear about what's happening when, though you will likely have to adjust your sense of timescale to accommodate all the action.
In essence, the people in the pub have been marked in a particular way; they have each had an experience which has left them changed, and apart from their fellow humans. Through sharing their stories, they hope – as do we – to be at least able to name what has happened to them.
Whether that happens? Well, let's just say that there's a solid amount of weird/SFF action en route to the denouement. There's always a weird smell about, like a little-used room in a great-aunt's house, and it does propel the reader onward, albeit (in my case) in fits and starts.
In the end, I don't think The Wanderer is as successful as it might have been. There's bits where you can see the duct-tape holding it together, and the way it comes to an all-in-a-rush revelation at the end seems a little hamfisted. However, the creeping feeling of dread, and the overwhelming tang of weirdness that suffuses the work more than makes up for these shortcomings. As a first novel, it's a goddamn cracker, and I would like to see what sort of liminal perversities Jarvis comes up with in the future.
charshorrorcorner's review
4.0
I read this excellent volume of weird tales with the Literary Horror Group over at Goodreads during the month of April.
What I liked: I enjoyed the premise-which is basically a collection of short stories connected by a manuscript. Towards the end of the book the creation of the manuscript becomes the main story, but I liked the individual stories the best. These were not flat out horror stories, but they WERE horrific at times. They were more like tales of the weird and they put me in mind of Robert Aickman; these were a little more straight forward than Aickman's, but they were definitely weird.
What I didn't like : At times it felt to me that the author was trying too hard to seem....literary? Is that the word I'm looking for? There was a portion of the tale where all these nods were given to authors of the past, but said nods were given with only descriptions of the authors and not their names. For whatever reason this irked me. Is it because I didn't know who most of them were? I'm SURE that's part of it. But it also came off to me as a bit superior. (I know who these authors are, and what their behaviors were like and you don't. Cue the HA HA from Nelson Muntz on The Simpsons.)
Overall though, I thought this book was impressive, especially for a first time effort. I will be looking for more from this author in the future, because I did enjoy his imaginative telling of this super weird tale.
Highly recommended!
What I liked: I enjoyed the premise-which is basically a collection of short stories connected by a manuscript. Towards the end of the book the creation of the manuscript becomes the main story, but I liked the individual stories the best. These were not flat out horror stories, but they WERE horrific at times. They were more like tales of the weird and they put me in mind of Robert Aickman; these were a little more straight forward than Aickman's, but they were definitely weird.
What I didn't like : At times it felt to me that the author was trying too hard to seem....literary? Is that the word I'm looking for? There was a portion of the tale where all these nods were given to authors of the past, but said nods were given with only descriptions of the authors and not their names. For whatever reason this irked me. Is it because I didn't know who most of them were? I'm SURE that's part of it. But it also came off to me as a bit superior. (I know who these authors are, and what their behaviors were like and you don't. Cue the HA HA from Nelson Muntz on The Simpsons.)
Overall though, I thought this book was impressive, especially for a first time effort. I will be looking for more from this author in the future, because I did enjoy his imaginative telling of this super weird tale.
Highly recommended!
daneekasghost's review
5.0
Do you like ichor?
Do you like ichor as a word? Because The Wanderer is a book where a word like ichor feels right at home. The vocabulary is extensive and the description is remarkable. The prose is described as poetic in more that one place, and it's easy to see where that comes from.
Do you like ichor as a substance? The description is concerned with things often visceral, often gory, often downright repulsive. Horrible things are happening in The Wanderer. And they keep happening.
Do you like ichor as a signifier of horror? A signpost telling you that this book you hold in your hands is a horror novel? If the description and the viscera and the gore don't give it away, Jarvis loves what horror can be. The structure of the book is very aware of itself. A manuscript that describes something eldritch is found in the apartment of a recently disappeared author. Before you know even that, the first words of the book are an excerpt from that author's story:
The whole book careens along through the various stories that come from chance meetings with strangers (another self-aware nod to "weird tales" and horror stories) while updating the main plot. It only perhaps loses steam once or twice but quickly finds its footing.
I enjoyed it very much, for all the ichor in every sense.
Do you like ichor as a word? Because The Wanderer is a book where a word like ichor feels right at home. The vocabulary is extensive and the description is remarkable. The prose is described as poetic in more that one place, and it's easy to see where that comes from.
Do you like ichor as a substance? The description is concerned with things often visceral, often gory, often downright repulsive. Horrible things are happening in The Wanderer. And they keep happening.
Do you like ichor as a signifier of horror? A signpost telling you that this book you hold in your hands is a horror novel? If the description and the viscera and the gore don't give it away, Jarvis loves what horror can be. The structure of the book is very aware of itself. A manuscript that describes something eldritch is found in the apartment of a recently disappeared author. Before you know even that, the first words of the book are an excerpt from that author's story:
"What is it?"
"An old manuscript. Much of it is hard to make out, but..."
Mr. Leatherbotham cut in.
"What? That worn-out old Gothic trope?"
He rolled his eyes.
The whole book careens along through the various stories that come from chance meetings with strangers (another self-aware nod to "weird tales" and horror stories) while updating the main plot. It only perhaps loses steam once or twice but quickly finds its footing.
I enjoyed it very much, for all the ichor in every sense.
edjeff's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
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