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okenwillow's review against another edition
1.0
J’avais raté l’info de la sortie d’un nouveau Peter Straub, je me suis donc jetée dessus lorsqu’elle a fini par m’arriver aux oreilles. Malheureusement, il se passe un truc pas net avec ce roman. Dès le départ la narration est confuse, quelques pages suffisent pour s’en rendre compte, et cela ne va qu’en empirant. La traduction est également assez pénible, [...]
[La suite sur mon blog, merci :)]
[La suite sur mon blog, merci :)]
ghostroom217's review against another edition
2.0
Goes good for the first three-quarters then, with a few brief respites, turns into a slog. Like listening to someone describe a dream in tedious detail and tacking it on at the end of a book by way of explanation. Very unsatisfactory, but some really gorgeous prose along the way. I love most of the stuff Mr. Straub writes, but something went very wrong here.
nickjonesreadsbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Lee Harwell is a writer with writer's block and a detective's need to uncover just what happened to his wife and her friends in a meadow in the 1960's. There was a guru, a ritual, and, at the end of the night, a dismembered body. Harwell's wife, Lee Truax, has been obstinately silent about the events of that night. Thus, the story is the unraveling of these mysterious events as Harwell contacts the other people who were in the meadow that fateful night.
Many of the disappointed reviews I saw were from Straub fans. Perhaps I liked it more than I would have if I had certain expectations going in. I found the ending to be fairly satisfactory. There are areas I'm fuzzy about...but just enough to keep me guessing. The characters are developed well. The mystery was intriguing. The running discussion about the nature of evil was interesting--if somewhat flawed. But in the end I felt that it was a bit lacking. I got to the climax and didn't feel that it lived up to the build up. Quite. At the same time, he still has me thinking about what it all meant, so maybe I'll figure out the missing pieces soon and bring it all together.
It's obvious that Peter Straub is a gifted storyteller. I'll make sure to check out some of his other stuff at a later point.
Many of the disappointed reviews I saw were from Straub fans. Perhaps I liked it more than I would have if I had certain expectations going in. I found the ending to be fairly satisfactory. There are areas I'm fuzzy about...but just enough to keep me guessing. The characters are developed well. The mystery was intriguing. The running discussion about the nature of evil was interesting--if somewhat flawed. But in the end I felt that it was a bit lacking. I got to the climax and didn't feel that it lived up to the build up. Quite. At the same time, he still has me thinking about what it all meant, so maybe I'll figure out the missing pieces soon and bring it all together.
It's obvious that Peter Straub is a gifted storyteller. I'll make sure to check out some of his other stuff at a later point.
bibliobethreads's review against another edition
Well, Stephen king thinks it's terrifying and impossible to put down. I hate to say I completely disagree, too other wordly and overly complicated for my liking.
leighanneslit's review against another edition
2.0
Have you ever finished a book and found yourself going "what the hell did I just read?" That was me after finishing this one.
This was my first experience with Straub's writing solo and while the writing itself was find, the story I was not a fan of. Honestly, I just found myself completely disengaged with the entire story. Read the synopsis for yourself, it actually sounds interesting, but it did not deliver.
Characters I didn't care about, with stupid nicknames that got on my nerves for reasons I can't explain, but that was one thing that really drew me out of the story.
I just wanted more from this. I wanted to care. Luckily, I have noticed in other reviews that most people were disappointed in this, but his other works are great so I will be reading more from him.
A solid 2 stars.
This was my first experience with Straub's writing solo and while the writing itself was find, the story I was not a fan of. Honestly, I just found myself completely disengaged with the entire story. Read the synopsis for yourself, it actually sounds interesting, but it did not deliver.
Characters I didn't care about, with stupid nicknames that got on my nerves for reasons I can't explain, but that was one thing that really drew me out of the story.
I just wanted more from this. I wanted to care. Luckily, I have noticed in other reviews that most people were disappointed in this, but his other works are great so I will be reading more from him.
A solid 2 stars.
lisagray68's review against another edition
2.0
Apparently this is classic Straub. Not really my cup of tea. I'm ok with sci fi supernatural stuff, but I wasn't a huge fan of this book.
nattazz2's review against another edition
2.0
This took so long to get into and to finish. I have to agree with those who said that nothing really happy happened. Oof.
amcael's review against another edition
2.0
I didn't love this. I liked a bit of it but I think mostly I enjoyed the premise. I had a lot of problems with all of the characters, I know I don't need to like them but I truly didn't like any of them and didn't believe any of their actions were especially probable.
A few of the things I found ridiculous, keeping it spoiler free:
1) How Lee H. didn't insist on knowing what happened in the field from his wife immediately.
2) How everyone was obsessed with "the Eel"
3) Why Lee H was down with his gf just becoming the groupie of some crazy cult leader and afterwards didn't question her about her time with Spencer?
Honestly, I just didn't enjoy it. It was so long for what just turned out to be not a lot of payoff. I do in general enjoy Peter Straub's work and I will continue to read it, this one just wasn't for me.
A few of the things I found ridiculous, keeping it spoiler free:
1) How Lee H. didn't insist on knowing what happened in the field from his wife immediately.
2) How everyone was obsessed with "the Eel"
3) Why Lee H was down with his gf just becoming the groupie of some crazy cult leader and afterwards didn't question her about her time with Spencer?
Honestly, I just didn't enjoy it. It was so long for what just turned out to be not a lot of payoff. I do in general enjoy Peter Straub's work and I will continue to read it, this one just wasn't for me.
pbro42's review against another edition
1.0
Plodding. The jumps between time periods were confusing and not clearly delineated. The characters were wooden and lacked substance. None of the rationale for them following the guru made sense to me.
Why did he name the wife and the main character the same thing? It was frustrating to read.
I gave up a third of the way in.
Why did he name the wife and the main character the same thing? It was frustrating to read.
I gave up a third of the way in.
aquinas's review against another edition
4.0
Good book, extremely different than most of Straub's books. Hints of Lovecraft, and you have to pay close attention to what your reading or youll lose track of whats going on.