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swirls's review against another edition
4.0
That was weird. Also... oddly familiar. Possibly something I read as a child lol. Very readable, very quick, very nostalgic for anyone who loved horror paperbacks in the 90s.
My first time picking up something from the "Paperbacks From Hell" line but definitely not my last.
My first time picking up something from the "Paperbacks From Hell" line but definitely not my last.
everyotherpageorso's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
angus_mckeogh's review against another edition
1.0
This book was mentioned in Paperbacks from Hell. Moreover, there was an odd introduction at the beginning of the book, which talked about how the author knew from the age of 8 that she’d be a published author one day, and then it continued on to note that this first novel of hers was worked over significantly in workshop, and all the other students on the read aloud had concluded that it was brilliant. Well, sure enough, it’s been published. It’s actually two disconnected novellas. And I’ll wrap up this review just by stating that it was terrible. Not scary, no surprises, and I wasn’t able to develop any concern for the main characters. Begs the question how something like this makes it to print.
saldre's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
luminous's review against another edition
5.0
Apparently I like the darkness, too.
Sparse writing style that wastes no words yet draws us everything we need.
First story: young bride accidentally gets locked into a pitch dark network of underground caverns, can't find a way out, meets someone she thought was dead who reaches her how to survive by eating slugs, discovers she is pregnant, has a baby, names the baby Clinton and raises him. When she thinks he is about 8 or 10, she attempts to get out again, finds an old well, parkours up the well slowly and painfully, and eventually gets out. Her family tells her it's been TWENTY years and they're pretty much assholes all around, having come to terms with her "death" years ago and they don't want to fit her back into their lives. She kidnaps her husband's youngest daughter by his new wife and takes her to live in the caverns. Years pass and Clint and Mary have kids. She goes out again and tells Michael he can see his daughter if he comes to the caverns with her. She basically lures him to his death.
I like that a lot is questionable as to whether it's real or not, and that it is possible to figure out which is which. Her friend who she thought was dead was indeed a hallucination as her mind struggles to find a way to save her dying body. Clint, however, is real. He has his own POV chapter. I think if he did it it would make sense to think he was a hallucination and that Mary simply died in the caverns at some point after she took her there.
One part that really beggars belief is that her family didn't think to explore or explore further in the caverns when she disappeared.. I don't think they even tried that, or if they did, they didn't try very hard. It seems like Michael might have remembered closing that big door over the hole to the vast network of underground caves the same day his wife disappeared lol.
The creepiness, the utter darkness, the way her body adapted to living in the caves and had trouble up above, and the way she became so good at manipulation were both wonderful. I wouldn't say she's unreliable, but we see a lot through her eyes. Like Michael's death. In her eyes, it is inevitable. But when you think about it, she led him to the best spot for the monster to get him, and then she spooked him so that he might fall in the water!
Second story is a leftist t longer, and more touching and sad Tha horror, though there's definitely horrific parts. It's also sickly sweet in a wholesome Norman Rockwell fashion, especially at first. Eventually you learn why. Now I think at the beginning was not long after her mother died. I thought at first Fern was going to meet Martha and fix her nose, but it turned out Martha was her daughter. I was a bit annoyed that Fern stayed with Harry after he decided to utterly hate his own daughter. I know it's like the 30s but Fern had a means of support and could have lived anywhere.
Very perceptive character work. Priscilla was a great gray character, as was Leon. Engstrom got things right about farms and Chicago.
Also, horrifying ending! And sad.
Sparse writing style that wastes no words yet draws us everything we need.
First story: young bride accidentally gets locked into a pitch dark network of underground caverns, can't find a way out, meets someone she thought was dead who reaches her how to survive by eating slugs, discovers she is pregnant, has a baby, names the baby Clinton and raises him. When she thinks he is about 8 or 10, she attempts to get out again, finds an old well, parkours up the well slowly and painfully, and eventually gets out. Her family tells her it's been TWENTY years and they're pretty much assholes all around, having come to terms with her "death" years ago and they don't want to fit her back into their lives. She kidnaps her husband's youngest daughter by his new wife and takes her to live in the caverns. Years pass and Clint and Mary have kids. She goes out again and tells Michael he can see his daughter if he comes to the caverns with her. She basically lures him to his death.
I like that a lot is questionable as to whether it's real or not, and that it is possible to figure out which is which. Her friend who she thought was dead was indeed a hallucination as her mind struggles to find a way to save her dying body. Clint, however, is real. He has his own POV chapter. I think if he did it it would make sense to think he was a hallucination and that Mary simply died in the caverns at some point after she took her there.
One part that really beggars belief is that her family didn't think to explore or explore further in the caverns when she disappeared.. I don't think they even tried that, or if they did, they didn't try very hard. It seems like Michael might have remembered closing that big door over the hole to the vast network of underground caves the same day his wife disappeared lol.
The creepiness, the utter darkness, the way her body adapted to living in the caves and had trouble up above, and the way she became so good at manipulation were both wonderful. I wouldn't say she's unreliable, but we see a lot through her eyes. Like Michael's death. In her eyes, it is inevitable. But when you think about it, she led him to the best spot for the monster to get him, and then she spooked him so that he might fall in the water!
Second story is a leftist t longer, and more touching and sad Tha horror, though there's definitely horrific parts. It's also sickly sweet in a wholesome Norman Rockwell fashion, especially at first. Eventually you learn why. Now I think at the beginning was not long after her mother died. I thought at first Fern was going to meet Martha and fix her nose, but it turned out Martha was her daughter. I was a bit annoyed that Fern stayed with Harry after he decided to utterly hate his own daughter. I know it's like the 30s but Fern had a means of support and could have lived anywhere.
Very perceptive character work. Priscilla was a great gray character, as was Leon. Engstrom got things right about farms and Chicago.
Also, horrifying ending! And sad.
schout's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
maises's review against another edition
dark
tense
3.25
“When Darkness Loves Us” blew my expectations away. Extremely well-written, especially when it came to inner character voices. Really dark and unapologetic about it. I liked that everything was so visceral and people dealt with trauma in messy, indiscernible ways. Some unforgivable things happen and that was just that.
After the first story, I didn’t expect to like “Beauty is…” as much, and while I think some of it fell a little too flat for me (the parent chapters were a little slow), the build up ended with a bang. I was worried it would fall into the “mentally ill as source of horror” trope, but Engstrom portrays this in a way that is at least not accusatory or unsympathetic. Still not the best aged work. I enjoyed reading both stories, but might just prefer the first in terms of subject matter.
After the first story, I didn’t expect to like “Beauty is…” as much, and while I think some of it fell a little too flat for me (the parent chapters were a little slow), the build up ended with a bang. I was worried it would fall into the “mentally ill as source of horror” trope, but Engstrom portrays this in a way that is at least not accusatory or unsympathetic. Still not the best aged work. I enjoyed reading both stories, but might just prefer the first in terms of subject matter.
madmooney's review against another edition
5.0
Thank you to the friend who recently frogmarched me in to picking up this title (despite a busy reading schedule that was focusing on reading mostly new works).
This novel contains two stories:
a) the titular When Darkness Loves Us
b) Beauty Is...
What Darkness Loves Us tells the multigenerational story of a family 'branching into their own lifestyle, and how this haunts those left behind'. A pregnant and newlywed Sally Ann is exploring the farmstead of her husbands land, and gets accidentally trapped in a vast and dark underground cave system, with no means of finding her way back. Here she survives, gives birth to a son, and is forced to make an autoschediastic home (as any mother would for her child). Mother and Son do find their way back to the surface eventually...and that is when things get chilling.
I found myself grimacing my way through this story - so much so that when I saw a friend on the subway, they had seem concerned for me by the faces that I was making. It was a very unsettling story.
Beauty Is.. is even 'worse' - your heart will sink to lows going through this one, and will fall even faster given how it ends. Do not spend hope in reading Martha's story here, it will not yield any dividend. In the Stephen King quote when he speaks about the three types of terror, Beauty Is falls under the Terror (with a capital T):
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/84666-the-3-types-of-terror-the-gross-out-the-sight-of
All in all, I am glad that I was pushed into reading this double feature, it has definetly expanded this readers threshold for ickiness.
This novel contains two stories:
a) the titular When Darkness Loves Us
b) Beauty Is...
What Darkness Loves Us tells the multigenerational story of a family 'branching into their own lifestyle, and how this haunts those left behind'. A pregnant and newlywed Sally Ann is exploring the farmstead of her husbands land, and gets accidentally trapped in a vast and dark underground cave system, with no means of finding her way back. Here she survives, gives birth to a son, and is forced to make an autoschediastic home (as any mother would for her child). Mother and Son do find their way back to the surface eventually...and that is when things get chilling.
I found myself grimacing my way through this story - so much so that when I saw a friend on the subway, they had seem concerned for me by the faces that I was making. It was a very unsettling story.
Beauty Is.. is even 'worse' - your heart will sink to lows going through this one, and will fall even faster given how it ends. Do not spend hope in reading Martha's story here, it will not yield any dividend. In the Stephen King quote when he speaks about the three types of terror, Beauty Is falls under the Terror (with a capital T):
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/84666-the-3-types-of-terror-the-gross-out-the-sight-of
All in all, I am glad that I was pushed into reading this double feature, it has definetly expanded this readers threshold for ickiness.