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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
Haven't read early John Saul since I was a teenager. Can't remember hardly a thing other than they scared me at the time and contributed to my love of horror. I can't imagine any of his books would have the same effect on me now. John Saul just isn't that good of a writer, even all these years later, I don't think he's gotten any better.
5 oktober 2014:
Twee sterren voor dit boek van John Saul.
Een dochter, een tiener nog maar, vermoordt haar ouders. Daarna verhangt ze zichzelf. Haar kleine broertje is hier getuigen van. Jaren later in een klein dorpje wordt Peter Balsam aangesteld als leraar Latijn en psychologie op een katholieke middelbare school.
Hij doet dit op verzoek van een jeugdvriend maar als snel na de komst van Balsam wordt het dorp getroffen door het noodlot. Alle vingers wijzen naar Balsam. Maar hij is zich van geen kwaad bewust.
Maar welk lot treft het dorp waar de meisjes worden getroffen door zondebesef en waar alleen boetedoening en zelfmoord de oplossing voor is.
En wat heeft Balsam hier echt mee te maken?
Maar hoe Balsam ook zoekt naar een oplossing en een reden, hoe dieper hij in de problemen raakt.
En wat heeft de eminentie van de kostschool hiermee te maken? Hij is tenslotte de man die Balsam heeft gehaald naar Neilsville.
De tekst is goed geschreven en het verhaal loopt lekker, maar ik mis net dat kleine beetje spanning. Het boek brengt je tot de rand en haalt je dan weer weg. Daarnaast lijkt het of cruciale stukken zijn geschrapt, terwijl ze voor het verhaal van belang zijn. Het einde in onbevredigend en onvoltooid. Het wat en waarom worden niet helemaal beantwoord. Dit geeft het verhaal een anticlimax. En het missen van de spanning, maakt dat het boek voor mij het slechtste boek van John Saul is dat ik tot nu toe heb gelezen.
Het boek is te makkelijk weg te leggen en je pakt het daarna niet snel meer op. John Saul is een van mijn favoriete auteurs en dat schept verwachtingen, maar dit is echt een tegenvaller.
---
John Saul is geboren in 1942 in Pasadena, Californië. Hij groeide op in Whittier en haalde zijn diploma in 1959 van de Whittier High School.
Na verschillende opleidingen aan net zoveel beroepsopleidingen te hebben gevolgd zonder het behalen van een diploma of graad, besloot hij van school te gaan en auteur te worden. In de daarop 15 jaar schreef Saul verschillende manuscripten en had hij verschillende baantjes. Geen enkele uitgever zag iets in zijn verhalen, totdat zijn agent bij Dell terecht kwam. Daar wilden ze niets kopen, maar vroegen ze hem of hij een psychologische thriller kon schrijven. Saul maakte een verhaallijn, schreef het uit en hoopte dat het goed genoeg was. Zowel zijn agent als Dell waren laaiend enthousiast en zagen in dit verhaal een bestseller. Dell pakte groots uit. Advertenties en TV spots voor deze onbekende auteur werden gemaakt. En het slaagde. Saul werd in een klap wereldberoemd. Suffer the Children was geboren. Alle boeken die erna kwamen wel in de Bestsellerlijsten en zijn boeken werden wereldwijd uitgebracht en in verschillende talen vertaalt. De boeken werden uitgegeven door uitgeverijen die zijn verbonden aan Random House. Naast auteur is Saul ook acteur, scriptschrijver en is 1 van zijn boeken in 1984 uitgebracht als film.
Meer informatie over John Saul is te vinden op een van de onderstaande sites.
http://www.johnsaul.com/index.html
---
Boekinformatie:
©1978 John Saul; Dell Books
Punish the Sinners
W&L boeken Amsterdam
Vertaling: Rob van Moppes
Omslagfoto: Kate Higgins
Omslagontwerp: Huug Schippers
ISBN: 90.6756.092.8/90.6213.460.2
Paperback; 252 pagina’s
Twee sterren voor dit boek van John Saul.
Een dochter, een tiener nog maar, vermoordt haar ouders. Daarna verhangt ze zichzelf. Haar kleine broertje is hier getuigen van. Jaren later in een klein dorpje wordt Peter Balsam aangesteld als leraar Latijn en psychologie op een katholieke middelbare school.
Hij doet dit op verzoek van een jeugdvriend maar als snel na de komst van Balsam wordt het dorp getroffen door het noodlot. Alle vingers wijzen naar Balsam. Maar hij is zich van geen kwaad bewust.
Maar welk lot treft het dorp waar de meisjes worden getroffen door zondebesef en waar alleen boetedoening en zelfmoord de oplossing voor is.
En wat heeft Balsam hier echt mee te maken?
Maar hoe Balsam ook zoekt naar een oplossing en een reden, hoe dieper hij in de problemen raakt.
En wat heeft de eminentie van de kostschool hiermee te maken? Hij is tenslotte de man die Balsam heeft gehaald naar Neilsville.
De tekst is goed geschreven en het verhaal loopt lekker, maar ik mis net dat kleine beetje spanning. Het boek brengt je tot de rand en haalt je dan weer weg. Daarnaast lijkt het of cruciale stukken zijn geschrapt, terwijl ze voor het verhaal van belang zijn. Het einde in onbevredigend en onvoltooid. Het wat en waarom worden niet helemaal beantwoord. Dit geeft het verhaal een anticlimax. En het missen van de spanning, maakt dat het boek voor mij het slechtste boek van John Saul is dat ik tot nu toe heb gelezen.
Het boek is te makkelijk weg te leggen en je pakt het daarna niet snel meer op. John Saul is een van mijn favoriete auteurs en dat schept verwachtingen, maar dit is echt een tegenvaller.
---
John Saul is geboren in 1942 in Pasadena, Californië. Hij groeide op in Whittier en haalde zijn diploma in 1959 van de Whittier High School.
Na verschillende opleidingen aan net zoveel beroepsopleidingen te hebben gevolgd zonder het behalen van een diploma of graad, besloot hij van school te gaan en auteur te worden. In de daarop 15 jaar schreef Saul verschillende manuscripten en had hij verschillende baantjes. Geen enkele uitgever zag iets in zijn verhalen, totdat zijn agent bij Dell terecht kwam. Daar wilden ze niets kopen, maar vroegen ze hem of hij een psychologische thriller kon schrijven. Saul maakte een verhaallijn, schreef het uit en hoopte dat het goed genoeg was. Zowel zijn agent als Dell waren laaiend enthousiast en zagen in dit verhaal een bestseller. Dell pakte groots uit. Advertenties en TV spots voor deze onbekende auteur werden gemaakt. En het slaagde. Saul werd in een klap wereldberoemd. Suffer the Children was geboren. Alle boeken die erna kwamen wel in de Bestsellerlijsten en zijn boeken werden wereldwijd uitgebracht en in verschillende talen vertaalt. De boeken werden uitgegeven door uitgeverijen die zijn verbonden aan Random House. Naast auteur is Saul ook acteur, scriptschrijver en is 1 van zijn boeken in 1984 uitgebracht als film.
Meer informatie over John Saul is te vinden op een van de onderstaande sites.
http://www.johnsaul.com/index.html
---
Boekinformatie:
©1978 John Saul; Dell Books
Punish the Sinners
W&L boeken Amsterdam
Vertaling: Rob van Moppes
Omslagfoto: Kate Higgins
Omslagontwerp: Huug Schippers
ISBN: 90.6756.092.8/90.6213.460.2
Paperback; 252 pagina’s
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Offensively bad. I feel dumber for having read this.
The plot is nonsensical. The characters paper thin. The stakes for the main character non-existent. Just a disgusting mess of a book.
The plot is nonsensical. The characters paper thin. The stakes for the main character non-existent. Just a disgusting mess of a book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Suicide
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was written beautifully. Though the contents of this book was horrible and gory. Definitely, not a pleasent read.
John Saul captured a religion mystery in one small town, Neilsville, and who better to blame than the new psychology teacher, Peter Balsam. Right away, Peter, found the town with an evil vibe hanging heavily around it. Though, as his weeks progressed in the strange town, the feeling subsided but the thoughts never died down.
A group of 4 friends and 1 outcast play host to the begining of the gruesome events starting to creep up. Chanting, thoughts, control, prayers.
The man beyond it all, deluded and victimised from a traumatic childhood, Peter Vernon or now Monsignor Vernon. A man with a passion and a wicked mind, with the intentions only for the church and his faith. He breaks the town, gains their trust with deception and reigns victorious.
This book is amazing in its own right but delvs deep on religion and suicide. Major trigger warning for details of suicide attempts, some are rather graphic. It is a horrible book and it plays with your mind but I feel like that was what John Saul wanted. The descriptions and changes in perception really grasps what he is trying to get at.
It is not a happy ending but not sad either. I liked reading this and I dare say I enjoyed it. John Saul is an incredible author and I can't wait to read the rest of his horror books.
Read at your own precaution. This isn't a book to be taken lightly.
John Saul captured a religion mystery in one small town, Neilsville, and who better to blame than the new psychology teacher, Peter Balsam. Right away, Peter, found the town with an evil vibe hanging heavily around it. Though, as his weeks progressed in the strange town, the feeling subsided but the thoughts never died down.
A group of 4 friends and 1 outcast play host to the begining of the gruesome events starting to creep up. Chanting, thoughts, control, prayers.
The man beyond it all, deluded and victimised from a traumatic childhood, Peter Vernon or now Monsignor Vernon. A man with a passion and a wicked mind, with the intentions only for the church and his faith. He breaks the town, gains their trust with deception and reigns victorious.
This book is amazing in its own right but delvs deep on religion and suicide. Major trigger warning for details of suicide attempts, some are rather graphic. It is a horrible book and it plays with your mind but I feel like that was what John Saul wanted. The descriptions and changes in perception really grasps what he is trying to get at.
It is not a happy ending but not sad either. I liked reading this and I dare say I enjoyed it. John Saul is an incredible author and I can't wait to read the rest of his horror books.
Read at your own precaution. This isn't a book to be taken lightly.
Although it gets off to kind of a slow start compared to some of his other work, this is still an interesting book.
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
John Saul is among a class of horror and thriller writers I feel deserves so much more attention than he gets. I read When the Wind Blows and Suffer the Children, so I was looking forward to reading my third novel of Saul's and did so as a buddy read with Julie from A Girl and a Book on Booktube. I felt When the Wind Blows was really good, while Suffer the Children was good. I would say that Punish the Sinners falls in between, where I feel that it was dark and brutal, yet I feel that in this second novel of Saul's, he has been able to find explanations for everything at hand. This novel proves to be quite intense with its explanation into religious contradictories within a cult within the Catholic church and graphically explores the topic of suicide, but I would stand by the idea that it is very well written and tackles the subject matter head on.
Peter Balsam was previous a student at St. Francis Xavier that specializes in psychology, has written and argued about the topic of suicide, married and separated from his wife, and is now being called by Monsignor Peter Vernon to take a position as a Latin and Psychology teacher at St. Francis Xavier's Catholic high school. It is Peter's teaching of psychology that catches the most attention, for it strays away from the laws of the church and instead reflects his belief as to how the subject matter should be taught. Among his students are Judy Nelson, Karen Morton, Penny Anderson, and Janet Connally, who are friends, Jim Mulvey, Karen's boyfriend, and Marilyn Crane, an outcast to the rest of the group. Peter's methods of teaching involve hands on approaches, many of which involve experimentation on a rat and its actions when it comes to completing mazes, such as one on frustration and how the more difficult and impossible an obstacle becomes, the more frustrated the rat will become.
Peter's teaching, and his presence, lead to a sense of agitation among the students, but placing the blame on him is not necessarily the most accurate thing to do. Students begin attempting suicide, while the parents possess an inability to misunderstand their children, which I feel if anyone, the parents are the most annoying characters in the entire book for how narrow-minded and self-considerate they really are. While I feel they love their children, they have the crappiest timing. Jim Mulvey does not hold a great impression on me, either. At the same time, Peter is being restricted by the Monsignor as to what he can teach and Peter is frequently scolded for his material and how he executes it. While Peter talks about resigning, the Monsignor does not want him to do so, for he needs him much more than Peter could imagine. He even wants Peter to join his group that worships St. Peter Martyr, which presents in itself horrors that are bound to cement something into the minds of readers.
I really like Peter Balsam and I really feel that his classes are meaningful. I feel like I would get something out of them. He does, however, reflect a teaching environment like that in Dead Poets Society, where Balsam portrays the role that Robin Williams did when he played John Keating (who was an individual thinking English teacher), while Vernon is a bit of a more eccentric version of Headmaster Nolan (played by Norman Lloyd). When it comes to controversial, Peter proves to carry that label and it is just about impossible to rip off. Novels of this nature where everyone is oblivious to what is really happening have the tendency to bother me, but since they give reasons (or unsubstantial reasons) as to everyone's oblivion and due to the nature of suicide, the explanation to me is strong enough and does not take away from the substance of the work at hand. The teenagers are a bit shallow in how they see one another and those they find lower than them, but I feel that in many cases their attitude is accurate with that necessary dose of horrific happenings, especially with that historical horror that took place between St. Peter Balsam and St. Peter of Verona.
This novel is not for everyone: the sensitive, the squeamish, or for those that get frustrated very easily. It is, however, a novel that is bound to be intense and keep you on the edge of your seat. John Saul has an answer to everything he has to offer and has the ability to present something so horrific and lingering and make such a monstrosity that inflicts itself onto what ever group or individual he is aiming. The characters, both good, bad, and frustrating, are well developed and the horrors that seek through the minds of the citizens of Neilsville, Washington are also really rich and powerful. This novel made me think and that is exactly what I like getting out of anything I read. I would recommend everything I have read from John Saul and this is no exception to the rule.
Here is a video review of Punish the Sinners I completed on the Literary Gladiators channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-xSajvtVtc
Peter Balsam was previous a student at St. Francis Xavier that specializes in psychology, has written and argued about the topic of suicide, married and separated from his wife, and is now being called by Monsignor Peter Vernon to take a position as a Latin and Psychology teacher at St. Francis Xavier's Catholic high school. It is Peter's teaching of psychology that catches the most attention, for it strays away from the laws of the church and instead reflects his belief as to how the subject matter should be taught. Among his students are Judy Nelson, Karen Morton, Penny Anderson, and Janet Connally, who are friends, Jim Mulvey, Karen's boyfriend, and Marilyn Crane, an outcast to the rest of the group. Peter's methods of teaching involve hands on approaches, many of which involve experimentation on a rat and its actions when it comes to completing mazes, such as one on frustration and how the more difficult and impossible an obstacle becomes, the more frustrated the rat will become.
Peter's teaching, and his presence, lead to a sense of agitation among the students, but placing the blame on him is not necessarily the most accurate thing to do. Students begin attempting suicide, while the parents possess an inability to misunderstand their children, which I feel if anyone, the parents are the most annoying characters in the entire book for how narrow-minded and self-considerate they really are. While I feel they love their children, they have the crappiest timing. Jim Mulvey does not hold a great impression on me, either. At the same time, Peter is being restricted by the Monsignor as to what he can teach and Peter is frequently scolded for his material and how he executes it. While Peter talks about resigning, the Monsignor does not want him to do so, for he needs him much more than Peter could imagine. He even wants Peter to join his group that worships St. Peter Martyr, which presents in itself horrors that are bound to cement something into the minds of readers.
I really like Peter Balsam and I really feel that his classes are meaningful. I feel like I would get something out of them. He does, however, reflect a teaching environment like that in Dead Poets Society, where Balsam portrays the role that Robin Williams did when he played John Keating (who was an individual thinking English teacher), while Vernon is a bit of a more eccentric version of Headmaster Nolan (played by Norman Lloyd). When it comes to controversial, Peter proves to carry that label and it is just about impossible to rip off. Novels of this nature where everyone is oblivious to what is really happening have the tendency to bother me, but since they give reasons (or unsubstantial reasons) as to everyone's oblivion and due to the nature of suicide, the explanation to me is strong enough and does not take away from the substance of the work at hand. The teenagers are a bit shallow in how they see one another and those they find lower than them, but I feel that in many cases their attitude is accurate with that necessary dose of horrific happenings, especially with that historical horror that took place between St. Peter Balsam and St. Peter of Verona.
This novel is not for everyone: the sensitive, the squeamish, or for those that get frustrated very easily. It is, however, a novel that is bound to be intense and keep you on the edge of your seat. John Saul has an answer to everything he has to offer and has the ability to present something so horrific and lingering and make such a monstrosity that inflicts itself onto what ever group or individual he is aiming. The characters, both good, bad, and frustrating, are well developed and the horrors that seek through the minds of the citizens of Neilsville, Washington are also really rich and powerful. This novel made me think and that is exactly what I like getting out of anything I read. I would recommend everything I have read from John Saul and this is no exception to the rule.
Here is a video review of Punish the Sinners I completed on the Literary Gladiators channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-xSajvtVtc