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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
Genuinely unsure how this book has this many stars. Did we all read the same book?
The beginning was sort of promising, but then it dragged and dragged. I was at about 65-70% and still NOTHING had happened. And when things did happen, they made NO sense; they just happened for the sake of happening. Maybe it was supposed to be creepy and chilling, but to me, it was just lazy and lame writing! The plot? There is no plot. Just a house haunted by sand ghosts.
Don't even get me started on the characters.
Oh my fucking God, the characters. We have a beyond strange father-daughter dynamic with Luker and India... India is supposed to be 13 years old, but her father Luker cusses at her, hangs around her in the nude, and just talks to her like she's one of his idiot gang buddies. Isn't this set in the 1960s or something in Alabama??? Were they not more conservative back then even for someone who lived in New York? What normal adult man tells his PRE-TEEEN daughter "to shut the fuck up" and tells her jokingly that he will "punch her" if she did this or that? Not to mention lets her see him nude and discusses his sex life with her (!!!). I just find this extremely bizarre and unrealistic no matter how nonchalantly and liberal the parent is...
India herself talks and behaves like she's an adult. Don't tell me "she's just mature for her age", because that would be bullshit.
The rest of the characters are just so one-dimensional. Odessa was only defined by her being "black" - mentioning it once or a few times is OK until we get used to who is who, but repeatedly referring to her as "the black woman this" and "her black hand that" is just annoying and serves NO purpose whatsoever. Surely her character is more than just African-American? But that's what I mean, the characters have NOTHING to them; they're just like caricatures or something.
I also did not care at all for the Southern drawl, it made me cringe every time I read the dialogue because of it.
Overall, the book sucked. It started off well, but it stagnated and then went downhill. The book has no plot, no substance. It was also not scary at all. The only thing good about it is the atmosphere and descriptions that set the scene in the beginning, but that's it. I am shocked at its average rating and the glowing positive reviews it has.
The beginning was sort of promising, but then it dragged and dragged. I was at about 65-70% and still NOTHING had happened. And when things did happen, they made NO sense; they just happened for the sake of happening. Maybe it was supposed to be creepy and chilling, but to me, it was just lazy and lame writing! The plot? There is no plot. Just a house haunted by sand ghosts.
Don't even get me started on the characters.
Oh my fucking God, the characters. We have a beyond strange father-daughter dynamic with Luker and India... India is supposed to be 13 years old, but her father Luker cusses at her, hangs around her in the nude, and just talks to her like she's one of his idiot gang buddies. Isn't this set in the 1960s or something in Alabama??? Were they not more conservative back then even for someone who lived in New York? What normal adult man tells his PRE-TEEEN daughter "to shut the fuck up" and tells her jokingly that he will "punch her" if she did this or that? Not to mention lets her see him nude and discusses his sex life with her (!!!). I just find this extremely bizarre and unrealistic no matter how nonchalantly and liberal the parent is...
India herself talks and behaves like she's an adult. Don't tell me "she's just mature for her age", because that would be bullshit.
The rest of the characters are just so one-dimensional. Odessa was only defined by her being "black" - mentioning it once or a few times is OK until we get used to who is who, but repeatedly referring to her as "the black woman this" and "her black hand that" is just annoying and serves NO purpose whatsoever. Surely her character is more than just African-American? But that's what I mean, the characters have NOTHING to them; they're just like caricatures or something.
I also did not care at all for the Southern drawl, it made me cringe every time I read the dialogue because of it.
Overall, the book sucked. It started off well, but it stagnated and then went downhill. The book has no plot, no substance. It was also not scary at all. The only thing good about it is the atmosphere and descriptions that set the scene in the beginning, but that's it. I am shocked at its average rating and the glowing positive reviews it has.
dark
mysterious
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
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book is intensely atmospheric, but not the dark, empty, haunted house atmosphere. Instead, it captures the lazy, hot, bright days of summer at a southern vacation home. It's as much a character study about a declining wealthy Southern family as it is a horror novel. Even when creepy things happen, they're enveloped by the routine of eating, putting puzzles together, and laying in a hammock until they become almost normal, or at least can be put to the back of your mind -- until something else happens. I want more horror books (and movies) like this.
read this the month it came out when I was in 8th grade. reading it again...creepy as hell!
Excellent, scary haunted house novel. I can see why Stephen King liked McDowell so much. Not as literary as ‘Haunting of Hill House’, not as gruesome as ‘Hell House’, not as dense as ‘The Shining’, but I thought it could hang with all of those. My main criticism is the heavy use of the ‘wise old black character’ trope. Even she was wondering why everyone kept asking her about the goings on. The short chapters were nice, they let everything sink in.
Sunn0))) is a good listening accompaniment.
Sunn0))) is a good listening accompaniment.
Me gustó mucho.
Llegué a él por un hilo en Twitter de libros de terror.
La verdad se nota que el autor sabe escribir muy bien.
Ojalá la hicieran película de terror
Llegué a él por un hilo en Twitter de libros de terror.
La verdad se nota que el autor sabe escribir muy bien.
Ojalá la hicieran película de terror
Please do not read on if you are easily disturbed by the graphic image below.
This is an image of a little girl right before her death. I'm sure many of you have seen this image. If you're a horror fanatic and feel the pain of this little girl, this is the book for you.
This is my second Michael McDowell Once again, the master of ghost houses and familial interactions as well as making one feel welcome in the Southern State of Alabama.
I cannot express how much Mr McDowell as burrowed into my heart and has terrorised my mind. Dare I say, better than Richard Matheson, who also has a place in my heart with his books [bc:Hell House|33547|Hell House|Richard Matheson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1384259876s/33547.jpg|804298] and [bc:What Dreams May Come|33555|What Dreams May Come|Richard Matheson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386924911s/33555.jpg|33617] but when I read [bc:Blackwater: The Complete Caskey Family Saga|23476097|Blackwater The Complete Caskey Family Saga (Blackwater, #1-6)|Michael McDowell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1431177310s/23476097.jpg|43067426] and this book, I had fallen in love with the world of McDowell's Alabama ghost houses.
Not only is McDowell a fantastic writer of horrific events, but he seamlessly manages to integrate family interactions, wonderful characters (especially India, who I will talk about in my full review) and a very satisfactory set-up and pay-off.. The characters are diverse and black characters are written like real people - which is rare for an author who mainly wrote in the 60s to 80s.
This book is one of the best I've read this year, if not in the last five years.
Thank you Malcolm McDowell
Also R.C. Bray is a legend of audio book readings. He did every character perfectly.
This is an image of a little girl right before her death. I'm sure many of you have seen this image. If you're a horror fanatic and feel the pain of this little girl, this is the book for you.
Spoiler
This is my second Michael McDowell Once again, the master of ghost houses and familial interactions as well as making one feel welcome in the Southern State of Alabama.
I cannot express how much Mr McDowell as burrowed into my heart and has terrorised my mind. Dare I say, better than Richard Matheson, who also has a place in my heart with his books [bc:Hell House|33547|Hell House|Richard Matheson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1384259876s/33547.jpg|804298] and [bc:What Dreams May Come|33555|What Dreams May Come|Richard Matheson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386924911s/33555.jpg|33617] but when I read [bc:Blackwater: The Complete Caskey Family Saga|23476097|Blackwater The Complete Caskey Family Saga (Blackwater, #1-6)|Michael McDowell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1431177310s/23476097.jpg|43067426] and this book, I had fallen in love with the world of McDowell's Alabama ghost houses.
Not only is McDowell a fantastic writer of horrific events, but he seamlessly manages to integrate family interactions, wonderful characters (especially India, who I will talk about in my full review) and a very satisfactory set-up and pay-off.. The characters are diverse and black characters are written like real people - which is rare for an author who mainly wrote in the 60s to 80s.
This book is one of the best I've read this year, if not in the last five years.
Thank you Malcolm McDowell
Also R.C. Bray is a legend of audio book readings. He did every character perfectly.
I can’t believe I’ve never read (or can’t remember) reading McDowell. I was a big 80s horror reader. This was a real treat and a quick read. McDowell is great at building a creeping sense of unease, not a lot happens for the first 60% of the book….but, it’s the thought of what could happen or what’s lurking around the corner that keeps the story gripping. The ending didn’t quite get me there though. It felt rushed and had little explanation for playing out the way it did. It felt like it was tacked on more than being organic to the plot.
It was amusing to find out McDowell was the screenwriter for Beetlejuice. The cadence of the characters speech here, and the house, all feel exactly the same. There’s a strong resemblance between the Deetz family and most of the secondary main characters, plus India is nearly a carbon copy of Lydia.
It was amusing to find out McDowell was the screenwriter for Beetlejuice. The cadence of the characters speech here, and the house, all feel exactly the same. There’s a strong resemblance between the Deetz family and most of the secondary main characters, plus India is nearly a carbon copy of Lydia.