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jenniferlynnkrohn's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
yowlyy's review against another edition
3.0
I loved the start, and the middle, but was disappointed by the ending, if we could call it that. It seems that he hasn't been finished, maybe because the ending was predictable?
What I loved most: the language, which made me slow down in reading it to savour every sentence; the descriptions, because of the language, and the evil touches that pop up when you don't necessarily expect it.
What I did not love: the characters...or like another reader put it, the only character, Binder, the writer, who shows up to be a selfish and unlikable person.
All in all, a good ghost story, which needs a proper finish. I am going to read more by this author, as it is clear that this book is not representative of his work.
What I loved most: the language, which made me slow down in reading it to savour every sentence; the descriptions, because of the language, and the evil touches that pop up when you don't necessarily expect it.
What I did not love: the characters...or like another reader put it, the only character, Binder, the writer, who shows up to be a selfish and unlikable person.
All in all, a good ghost story, which needs a proper finish. I am going to read more by this author, as it is clear that this book is not representative of his work.
memydogandbooks's review against another edition
2.0
Definitely not "the most terrifying novel you'll read this year". When I read horror, I expect a brilliant story that actually scares me and this just didn't live up to my expectations, to the point I started to skim read the last batch of pages.
ctgt's review against another edition
4.0
The cornfield seemed darker toward its center. Light entered at the rows’ end, ran like liquid down the middles, getting shallower and shallower. There seemed at the convergence of the rows some mass of shadows light could not defray.
William Gay takes a crack at the Bell Witch legend in this novella that was published posthumously. As with any work published without the direct involvement of the author there are plenty of questions about this story. Was this a work in progress? Was it finished but Gay didn't like it for some reason? Did he ever intend to publish the story? Unless something is discovered in his papers we will never know. It certainly seems unfinished, there are many threads hanging at the conclusion of the story and the ending is abrupt. This would be the logical interpretation of the work. I do admit to taking a "weird fiction" view of the story. What I enjoy about weird fiction are the unanswered questions, the plot mysteries that keep forcing their way back in to my thinking, the threads left dangling. So I think I ended up enjoying this more than most.
After the unexpected success of his first book, a young author struggles to come up with a second and decides to move his family onto the property where the Bell Witch hauntings took place. Needless to say, the family gets more than they bargained for:
He found himself waiting, staring intently at the doorway of the toolshed, a rectangle of Cimmerian darkness that seemed beyond darkness, darkness multiplied by itself, and he was thinking, Something is going to happen. He sensed a change in the air.
He felt watched. He turned. Some faint noise, perhaps a whisper of wind in the dry cornstalks. A black dog watched him stoically from the edge of the cornfield. An enormous dog, high-shouldered and lean, standing cold and still as ice.
Hunkered there in the darkness, he felt before himself a door, madness already raising the hand to knock. Madness sniffing at his tracks like an unwanted dog. Madness would escort him the rest of the way there, clutching at him and whispering adulterous secrets in his ear.
I really enjoyed this story but your mileage may vary.
8/10
William Gay takes a crack at the Bell Witch legend in this novella that was published posthumously. As with any work published without the direct involvement of the author there are plenty of questions about this story. Was this a work in progress? Was it finished but Gay didn't like it for some reason? Did he ever intend to publish the story? Unless something is discovered in his papers we will never know. It certainly seems unfinished, there are many threads hanging at the conclusion of the story and the ending is abrupt. This would be the logical interpretation of the work. I do admit to taking a "weird fiction" view of the story. What I enjoy about weird fiction are the unanswered questions, the plot mysteries that keep forcing their way back in to my thinking, the threads left dangling. So I think I ended up enjoying this more than most.
After the unexpected success of his first book, a young author struggles to come up with a second and decides to move his family onto the property where the Bell Witch hauntings took place. Needless to say, the family gets more than they bargained for:
He found himself waiting, staring intently at the doorway of the toolshed, a rectangle of Cimmerian darkness that seemed beyond darkness, darkness multiplied by itself, and he was thinking, Something is going to happen. He sensed a change in the air.
He felt watched. He turned. Some faint noise, perhaps a whisper of wind in the dry cornstalks. A black dog watched him stoically from the edge of the cornfield. An enormous dog, high-shouldered and lean, standing cold and still as ice.
Hunkered there in the darkness, he felt before himself a door, madness already raising the hand to knock. Madness sniffing at his tracks like an unwanted dog. Madness would escort him the rest of the way there, clutching at him and whispering adulterous secrets in his ear.
I really enjoyed this story but your mileage may vary.
8/10
kellyp's review against another edition
5.0
William Gay's play on The Shining steeped in the Bell Witch stories from my childhood? Loved this, even if a version with obviously more to go. So glad to get a chance to read more William Gay after thinking it was all over. Also Tom Franklin's intro made my heart swell.
rsurban's review against another edition
4.0
Little Sister Death is William Gay’s posthumously published attempt at writing a ghost story, and while it is definitely worth reading, and can be interpreted as a complete story if you try hard, what it seems more likely to be in an unfinished novel that was published as his last (or next to last if rumors are true) writings without the benefit a final edit or shaping. As such, it is a bit difficult to properly review, since as a complete vision it appears so…incomplete. Nevertheless, as with anything Gay wrote, his work here is a pleasure to read, even a luxury, so that, however fragmentary Little Sister Death seems in theme and plot, it is a fine, atmospheric story that any lover of good writing will appreciate.
Gay’s book is the story of a young author with writer’s block who, when urged by his publisher to try his hand at a horror story in order to sell some books and make some money, decides to excavate the Tennessee legend of the Bell Witch and use its narrative as the basis for a ghost story. The author, David Binder, disrupts the life of his wife and child by moving them into the very house in the Tennessee woods where the horrors of the Beale Haunting have supposedly played out over the preceding 200 years. From here, Gay devotes extended sections of the book to recounting the hauntings and manifestations of the supernatural that occurred at particular intervals, especially the years 1785 and 1933. While these sections are more straightforward in their recounting of events, they are also more satisfying as they give more concrete details as to historical events that occurred.
The sections of the book that deal directly with Binder and his family are more atmospheric and ambiguous, but also where Gay shines as a writer, for it is in these passages that the real beauty of the author’s writing takes wing. Also, he obliquely references past events in their present day echoes, deftly creating an eerie feeling of déjà vu that give the reader some real frissons of unease; we know more of the visitations than some characters may, so that the appearance of certain objects or individuals signal the presence of the supernatural, malevolent force.
There is absolutely no question that Little Sister Death is in some ways Gay’s homage to Stephen King’s The Shining. The inclusion of certain symbols and scenarios are just too obvious to not be intentional, and it is known that Gay and King were mutually admiring of each other. Both novels feature writers whose creativity has lapsed, who take a chance moving their family to an isolated, purportedly haunted house as a last ditch attempt to regain control of their careers and lives. The symbolic presence of bees/wasps, the historical tales of men killing their families at the house (Grady with a roque mallet, Owen Swaw with an axe), a menacing dog in Gay’s story that echoes the hedge animals of King’s, all point to a deliberate attempt on the author’s part to place his writing in context with King’s classic haunted house tale.
But in the novel’s supposed (one hates to attribute intention when the author cannot defend himself) denouement, Gay seems to be going for a horror both existential and internal, instead of reaching for the grand battle against an elemental supernatural force. While the perfunctory nature of the book’s ending leaves the true focus questionable, Gay appears to be setting his protagonist up as either an unwitting victim of demonic possession, a more complicit collaborator, or simply an ordinary man who comes to a horrific, yet mundane realization: he no longer loves his wife. Yet, after such a build-up of supernatural tropes and events, can this really have been the resolution that the author intended. Without access to his notes and other writings about this edition, we may never know. Nevertheless, there is enough of a story here to entertain and intrigue, and regardless of its state of completion, Gay’s Little Sister Death is an essential addition to his body of work.
Gay’s book is the story of a young author with writer’s block who, when urged by his publisher to try his hand at a horror story in order to sell some books and make some money, decides to excavate the Tennessee legend of the Bell Witch and use its narrative as the basis for a ghost story. The author, David Binder, disrupts the life of his wife and child by moving them into the very house in the Tennessee woods where the horrors of the Beale Haunting have supposedly played out over the preceding 200 years. From here, Gay devotes extended sections of the book to recounting the hauntings and manifestations of the supernatural that occurred at particular intervals, especially the years 1785 and 1933. While these sections are more straightforward in their recounting of events, they are also more satisfying as they give more concrete details as to historical events that occurred.
The sections of the book that deal directly with Binder and his family are more atmospheric and ambiguous, but also where Gay shines as a writer, for it is in these passages that the real beauty of the author’s writing takes wing. Also, he obliquely references past events in their present day echoes, deftly creating an eerie feeling of déjà vu that give the reader some real frissons of unease; we know more of the visitations than some characters may, so that the appearance of certain objects or individuals signal the presence of the supernatural, malevolent force.
There is absolutely no question that Little Sister Death is in some ways Gay’s homage to Stephen King’s The Shining. The inclusion of certain symbols and scenarios are just too obvious to not be intentional, and it is known that Gay and King were mutually admiring of each other. Both novels feature writers whose creativity has lapsed, who take a chance moving their family to an isolated, purportedly haunted house as a last ditch attempt to regain control of their careers and lives. The symbolic presence of bees/wasps, the historical tales of men killing their families at the house (Grady with a roque mallet, Owen Swaw with an axe), a menacing dog in Gay’s story that echoes the hedge animals of King’s, all point to a deliberate attempt on the author’s part to place his writing in context with King’s classic haunted house tale.
But in the novel’s supposed (one hates to attribute intention when the author cannot defend himself) denouement, Gay seems to be going for a horror both existential and internal, instead of reaching for the grand battle against an elemental supernatural force. While the perfunctory nature of the book’s ending leaves the true focus questionable, Gay appears to be setting his protagonist up as either an unwitting victim of demonic possession, a more complicit collaborator, or simply an ordinary man who comes to a horrific, yet mundane realization: he no longer loves his wife. Yet, after such a build-up of supernatural tropes and events, can this really have been the resolution that the author intended. Without access to his notes and other writings about this edition, we may never know. Nevertheless, there is enough of a story here to entertain and intrigue, and regardless of its state of completion, Gay’s Little Sister Death is an essential addition to his body of work.
jamiereadthis's review against another edition
4.0
William Gay just can’t do wrong by me. Especially not when he writes ghost stories like this one. (The kind of William Gay ghost story I knew I always wanted.)
spookyjane's review against another edition
3.0
This was between okay and good for me. I liked [b:Twilight|108315|Twilight|William Gay|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328910322s/108315.jpg|104375] more. There wasn't really anything wrong with it, I just wasn't as engaged in the story. I did like the premise though and that David investigated a real witch/haunting story for his novel. The atmosphere was outstanding, as usual, but I didn't mesh with how the women were treated throughout. And I understand that it all took place in the past, but even the parts that took place in the 80's was pretty appalling.
I really likedthe open ending and 'unsolved-ness' of the case/story, which really drove home the eerie-ness of the events, even more so than some of the descriptions of the occurrences.
All-in-all, it was good, and I'm glad I read it. The audiobook was really well done, and I quite enjoyed the narrator, [a:T. Ryder Smith|2978300|T. Ryder Smith|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png], as was [b:Twilight|108315|Twilight|William Gay|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328910322s/108315.jpg|104375]. He really captures the setting, atmosphere, and tension well.
I really liked
All-in-all, it was good, and I'm glad I read it. The audiobook was really well done, and I quite enjoyed the narrator, [a:T. Ryder Smith|2978300|T. Ryder Smith|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png], as was [b:Twilight|108315|Twilight|William Gay|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328910322s/108315.jpg|104375]. He really captures the setting, atmosphere, and tension well.
caryndi's review against another edition
4.0
A good, unsettling read - though I wish it could be done without bringing antiquated social structures & language into it but I do see the purpose of doing it that way. I didn't quite like the ending, though I don't know what I would have wanted instead of what we got. Either way - I did enjoy this book; it was one you could lose yourself in quite nicely.
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