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saltedsnail's review against another edition
I really tried. DNF at over half way through, which is saying something with a book this scale. I’ve had this one recommended to me a thousand times as someone who DEVOURS horror and cares a lot about witnessing the works that influence the genre as a whole, I really wanted to love it…. Or at least be able to finish it. Ghost Story does so many brilliant, interesting, unconventional things in its telling and the prose is fine enough. I just cannot get past how disgustingly sexist this book is… and I read all the way through Matheson’s Hell House. I have a bad habit of hate-reading really awful sexist and exploitative pulp horror from the 70’s & 80’s and this is worse because it’s GOOD. It’s well written enough and doing brilliant things outside its abysmal portrayal of every single female character. It’s not just women boobing-boobily alongside tacky prose about ectoplasm leaking from walls or some other contrived garbage. That I can slog through, that I can laugh at. Peter Straub’s underlying dismissal of, distrust for, and general distaste of women really ruin what I would otherwise likely call a masterpiece. The women in this book are unredeemable and flat while the men in this book are dynamic, complex characters…. And this is very clearly not a self-aware choice on Straub’s part, but rather an extreme limitation of his own imagination and indication to his own prejudices. A pity, really, for a book with so much potential.
qu33nofbookz's review against another edition
1.0
How in the hell does this book have such a high star rating? I wish goodreads would add a negative star review option so I could check it for this piece of crap. I hate to give it even 1 star but I need to review it and rate it to get this out of my system. The blurb is misleading and vague. It's way over dated with references that you have to have live through or around the time this was written to understand without looking up on google. The characters, almost exclusively male, are many and one dimensional with no emotional or personal growth. Also almost all of them are perverted with one bordering on pedophilia (seriously even in the 70's a bunch of men in their late 60's and early to mid 70's are dating or having affairs or fawning over high school aged girls not yet 18?) one who is a pedophile of girls and boys with the exception of 3 or 4 with the IQ of 15-20 and two drunken buffoons one of those being the sheriff. They are all annoying.
The book jumps around so much in point of view or following the path of various characters you need a flow chart and notes to keep everything straight if you can get past the confusing and just plain crazy opening that makes no sense to the rest of the story until almost the end of the book. The pacing is very....very....slow. Nothing really happens until almost halfway through the book and the action is sparse with very little detail. The time line jumps as well without any indication or what seems like would take days happens overnight.
The ghost story that this book is titled for is probably the series of ghost stories that the old guys get together to tell very other week. After one such story all the guys are freaked out and one of them dies. After that a bunch of confusing shit happens that will get resolved at the end of the book hopefully because even half way through it isn't connected to anything else in the plot. Then a bunch of farm animals get slaughtered...who knows why maybe by the end of the story we'll know because at more then half way through it's a mystery that doesn't connect with anything in the plot again. Then a couple of town people die. From there it gets even crazier and the evil thing (still no idea what it is) is killing off just anybody it feels like. Besides the man that died who was molesting his 2 younger siblings from the original ghost story that was supposed to have started this mess there is a female whatever (no idea what) that seems to be the main cause of everything. 3/4 of the way into the story and she/it still doesn't tie into anything. No mention of what these old guys are supposed to have done in their youth either to have brought down this (whatever is going on, still no clue there) evil on them and their town. The only horror about this book is how I am still reading it (thanks OCD) and that it was published at all! Was the author high when he wrote this, the editor to stoned to see the words when checking it over and the publishing company run by moneys to mass produce this book which I would offer up to be burned in the fireplace instead of wood?
The plot is a mess! It keeps trying to be one thing and then another and it doesn't make a lot of sense and I'm over half way through. It's just a jumble of unrelated things and inconsistent babel disguised as literature. Thank god I got this from the library or I'd take it back to the store and demand my money back.
Stupid ending. Didn't even kill the woman/thing they set out to.Kind of a cliff hanger ending but there isn't another book (thank god!) and I wouldn't read it even if there was.
The book jumps around so much in point of view or following the path of various characters you need a flow chart and notes to keep everything straight if you can get past the confusing and just plain crazy opening that makes no sense to the rest of the story until almost the end of the book. The pacing is very....very....slow. Nothing really happens until almost halfway through the book and the action is sparse with very little detail. The time line jumps as well without any indication or what seems like would take days happens overnight.
The ghost story that this book is titled for is probably the series of ghost stories that the old guys get together to tell very other week. After one such story all the guys are freaked out and one of them dies. After that a bunch of confusing shit happens that will get resolved at the end of the book hopefully because even half way through it isn't connected to anything else in the plot. Then a bunch of farm animals get slaughtered...who knows why maybe by the end of the story we'll know because at more then half way through it's a mystery that doesn't connect with anything in the plot again. Then a couple of town people die. From there it gets even crazier and the evil thing (still no idea what it is) is killing off just anybody it feels like. Besides the man that died who was molesting his 2 younger siblings from the original ghost story that was supposed to have started this mess there is a female whatever (no idea what) that seems to be the main cause of everything. 3/4 of the way into the story and she/it still doesn't tie into anything. No mention of what these old guys are supposed to have done in their youth either to have brought down this (whatever is going on, still no clue there) evil on them and their town. The only horror about this book is how I am still reading it (thanks OCD) and that it was published at all! Was the author high when he wrote this, the editor to stoned to see the words when checking it over and the publishing company run by moneys to mass produce this book which I would offer up to be burned in the fireplace instead of wood?
The plot is a mess! It keeps trying to be one thing and then another and it doesn't make a lot of sense and I'm over half way through. It's just a jumble of unrelated things and inconsistent babel disguised as literature. Thank god I got this from the library or I'd take it back to the store and demand my money back.
Stupid ending. Didn't even kill the woman/thing they set out to.Kind of a cliff hanger ending but there isn't another book (thank god!) and I wouldn't read it even if there was.
bigboibarry's review against another edition
challenging
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? No
2.25
tijsboussier's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
karadavis1990's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
This just didn't quite hit for me. It felt drawn out and under-developed all at once.
esdeecarlson's review against another edition
2.0
I really wanted to like this book. It felt as though it were trying for a strong small-town ensemble story but couldn't quite make the town compelling as a character. The Chowder Society, around which much of the plot spins, was lovely, but I was not a fan of Don Wanderley, who became the main character about midway through the novel, and who felt to me like an annoyingly blatant self-insert hero. I was never frightened of the "Nightwatchers" or at all convinced of their cosmic horror. The best moments for me were in a few side character vignettes. Peter Straub is clearly an excellent prose writer, but the plot elements and the horror did not do it for me in this book.
mialeyden's review against another edition
3.0
It's not my first Peter Straub so I wasn't expecting a tidy, linear, simple story. However, this one was kind of disappointing.
The first part with the kidnapped girl was pretty interesting, then the focus switched to a bunch of guys just talking but not really doing much for like forever, I found most of that boring. I really felt Dracula's influence on the writing and structure of this part.
The conclusion was OK, but I doubt I will be thinking about this story for long.
The first part with the kidnapped girl was pretty interesting, then the focus switched to a bunch of guys just talking but not really doing much for like forever, I found most of that boring. I really felt Dracula's influence on the writing and structure of this part.
The conclusion was OK, but I doubt I will be thinking about this story for long.
cymshady's review against another edition
5.0
This was such an engrossing read for me. From the pacing, the characters, the imagery… I could not put Ghost Story down. I had high hopes from the author after reading The Talisman and this book did not disappoint.
I know an author creates relatable and likeable characters when I get right upset when they begin dying. I was so invested in their lives that I felt almost affronted when they died
I know an author creates relatable and likeable characters when I get right upset when they begin dying. I was so invested in their lives that I felt almost affronted when they died
tripod69's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
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? No
2.5