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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
I've been searching all month for a good scary read to get me in the Halloween mood and this was it! I loved the setting (haunted houses are my jam), I loved the characters that McDowell wrote so realistically; I'll be remembering all of them for some time to come (India is a badass and I adore her). I loved the slow burn of creepiness that kept building and building until the climax. McDowell shows some serious skill with his writing; he tells the reader enough, but ends up holding back everything in order to make the reader build what's missing, which really ups the creepy factor. He never goes into detail about character description, which allows the reader to create the physical embodiments of the characters in their own mind and which I noticed and appreciated-- often authors get bogged down in recreating their characters for the reader. McDowell showed us through action and conversation what these characters might look like. And McDowell doesn't waste words. Every scene had meaning and implications, and no time is wasted on useless backstory or explanations of personality traits, so you get a nice, tidy, scary novel in only about 200 pages. Off to go search for more of McDowell's books so I can read them all!
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
I was looking for a good horror book to listen to while crocheting. This was not it.
The story was pretty good. It was more of a family story, how families interact, what causes them to tick, the oddities that we all have, etc. As for horror it falls extremely short in my opinion.
Not a total waste of time, just not the horror I was seeking.
The story was pretty good. It was more of a family story, how families interact, what causes them to tick, the oddities that we all have, etc. As for horror it falls extremely short in my opinion.
Not a total waste of time, just not the horror I was seeking.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
An unusual ghost story, told in heat and sand rather than gloom and rain, but still genuinely creepy. There are things that actually discomforted me, which is quite a comment given all the horror I consume. This is definitely going in my re-read pile.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
One of the weirdest, scariest books I’ve ever read. I loved it!
An extremely well written novel. This was a pleasure to read and I more-or-less inhaled it in a day.
I think this novel is a masterclass in pacing. We as readers were McDowell's frogs, gently submerged in comfortable, tepid water.
We were only lightly perturbed when India drew those grotesque, stillborn children by accident.
We were a little discomfited when we learnt about the dark, isolated, "third house".
We became uneasy once Martha-Ann, long dead, reached toward us - arms outstretched, mouth spilling over with sand.
We only became afraid once we learnt the locks don't hold Elementals in, and our ankles were stained with blood and scratches.
McDowell has written a thrilling novel, and managed to establish interesting characters and settings throughout. Family dynamics, environments and dialogue always felt fresh, real and not over-caricatured. A tough job when writing a novel based exclusively in the American deep south (which is always riddled with stereotypes).
Highly recommend this novel to those looking for an exciting, exceptionally written read.
I think this novel is a masterclass in pacing. We as readers were McDowell's frogs, gently submerged in comfortable, tepid water.
We were only lightly perturbed when India drew those grotesque, stillborn children by accident.
We were a little discomfited when we learnt about the dark, isolated, "third house".
We became uneasy once Martha-Ann, long dead, reached toward us - arms outstretched, mouth spilling over with sand.
We only became afraid once we learnt the locks don't hold Elementals in, and our ankles were stained with blood and scratches.
McDowell has written a thrilling novel, and managed to establish interesting characters and settings throughout. Family dynamics, environments and dialogue always felt fresh, real and not over-caricatured. A tough job when writing a novel based exclusively in the American deep south (which is always riddled with stereotypes).
Highly recommend this novel to those looking for an exciting, exceptionally written read.
Savage mothers eat their children up!
I couldn't get enough of this book. So unique and so familiar at the same time. Such defined characters (and I include Beldame and the weather itself as characters) and such a sense of mounting dread. This novel felt so real and grounded in reality, that even though it wasn't necessarily an absolute shocker I would still count it as one of the most thrilling horror reads I've had in a good long while. So much is done with next to no gore, lore is built naturally and is almost lovecraftian in its intangibility. The dialogue was so well done I found myself reading it in a Southern accent without even thinking about it.
Incredible. No way I thought this novel could live to the praise I've seen it get, but damn if it doesn't come close. I'd give this novella 9/10 or more accurately; 2 out of 2 eyes swallowed...whole.
I couldn't get enough of this book. So unique and so familiar at the same time. Such defined characters (and I include Beldame and the weather itself as characters) and such a sense of mounting dread. This novel felt so real and grounded in reality, that even though it wasn't necessarily an absolute shocker I would still count it as one of the most thrilling horror reads I've had in a good long while. So much is done with next to no gore, lore is built naturally and is almost lovecraftian in its intangibility. The dialogue was so well done I found myself reading it in a Southern accent without even thinking about it.
Incredible. No way I thought this novel could live to the praise I've seen it get, but damn if it doesn't come close. I'd give this novella 9/10 or more accurately; 2 out of 2 eyes swallowed...whole.
This was great, a genuinely creepy and unnerving haunted house story. The dread builds throughout at a slow pace but I was into it from the start. The setting is a house on a sand dune in Alabama, so it’s was cool to read a gothic horror in that setting. Did not know that sun and sand could be as scary as rain and fog!
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
When I picked up The Elementals, I was looking for a good Gothic horror novel set in the South, a setting I'm quite familiar with. Unfortunately, what I got was a mediocre family drama with a ghost story in it that was soundly ineffective horror. The writing wasn't the best (surely people can't be "crying" their sentences all the time), and almost every woman in the story reads as hysterical. Not a single character is truly believable, except perhaps Leigh, who is essentially a cardboard cutout of a new money Southern belle. The author, clearly inspired by Stephen King, indulged in the magical negro trope and then proceeded to kill off the only non-white character . There was a real opportunity here for commentary on the treatment of Black domestic servants in the South after integration, and the author refused to take it, instead falling back on kind and wholly innocent white folks all around. I finished this book out of obligation, not interest or entertainment and I cannot recommend it. This book's only redeeming quality is that it does something new with its ghosts and in a fairly unique setting, especially for when it was written.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Death of parent, Murder
Moderate: Pregnancy
Minor: Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury
I think my idea of a horror novel is different than the reviewers who loved this book. I didn't find it frightening. I occasionally thought "Hm, that was a little creepy" but I certainly wasn't scared. The writing itself was pretty amazing, but the plot was rather boring.