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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
From Transgress Magazine: http://transgressmagazine.com/2013/02/14/stephen-dobyns-the-burn-palace/
Stephen Dobyns‘ new novel, The Burn Palace, is a difficult book to deconstruct. The narrative is a tangle of shifting perspectives and sharp turns, and stylistically, is a bit disarming at first.
However, we’re in the hands of an old master. What Dobyns does better than most is capture the quirks and suspicions of small-town America, and similar to his 1997 masterpiece, The Church of Dead Girls, The Burn Palace offers us an eagle-eyed, warts-and-all perspective of residents of Brewster, Rhode Island.
As with the loose-ended Church, the horror lives not so much in the conflict, but rather in how the residents respond to the conflict. In this novel, Dobyns’ first in more than a decade, the catalytic event is a dramatic kidnapping. A newborn has been stolen from the local hospital, replaced with a corn snake, and thus, the town of Brewster is shrouded in mystery and controversy.
And fear.
From the local diner to holistic healing centers, Brewster is that odd amalgamation of new age/old age found in many small towns. It is also a town of secrets and tragedy and disaster. Dobyns brings to life the town’s diverse personalities, going to door to door in a literary trick or treat.
It’s kind of like Winesburg, Ohio—if Sherwood Anderson had grown up on Stephen King’s street.
Of course, the prose is excellent, and only someone like Dobyns could reconcile this many narratives and POVs in one book. That said, this is a dense work, more so for the constant shifting of perspectives, never setting us on stable ground.
But then again, isn’t that the point? Rather than simply using his words to construct a referent, Dobyns, with his background in poetry, uses the words themselves to disorient, to make us confused, uncomfortable and always uncertain, but excited, about what comes next.
Stephen Dobyns‘ new novel, The Burn Palace, is a difficult book to deconstruct. The narrative is a tangle of shifting perspectives and sharp turns, and stylistically, is a bit disarming at first.
However, we’re in the hands of an old master. What Dobyns does better than most is capture the quirks and suspicions of small-town America, and similar to his 1997 masterpiece, The Church of Dead Girls, The Burn Palace offers us an eagle-eyed, warts-and-all perspective of residents of Brewster, Rhode Island.
As with the loose-ended Church, the horror lives not so much in the conflict, but rather in how the residents respond to the conflict. In this novel, Dobyns’ first in more than a decade, the catalytic event is a dramatic kidnapping. A newborn has been stolen from the local hospital, replaced with a corn snake, and thus, the town of Brewster is shrouded in mystery and controversy.
And fear.
From the local diner to holistic healing centers, Brewster is that odd amalgamation of new age/old age found in many small towns. It is also a town of secrets and tragedy and disaster. Dobyns brings to life the town’s diverse personalities, going to door to door in a literary trick or treat.
It’s kind of like Winesburg, Ohio—if Sherwood Anderson had grown up on Stephen King’s street.
Of course, the prose is excellent, and only someone like Dobyns could reconcile this many narratives and POVs in one book. That said, this is a dense work, more so for the constant shifting of perspectives, never setting us on stable ground.
But then again, isn’t that the point? Rather than simply using his words to construct a referent, Dobyns, with his background in poetry, uses the words themselves to disorient, to make us confused, uncomfortable and always uncertain, but excited, about what comes next.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
2.5 stars.
This novel is set in the small town of Brewster, Rhode Island, a town where nothing big ever seems to happen. Until one night, while a nurse on duty is distracted, a baby is stolen from the hospital and a snake left in its place. From there on, other crimes and strange occurrences start to happen, causing mass hysteria in the town. The police are not sure whether it's due to criminal activity or something in the realms of the supernatural.
I was quite a strangely written book, as it was written as though from a bird's eye view. I kind of felt that I was in a drone looking down on everything, and I think that the result is, I didn't really connect with any of the characters. It was an interesting story though, and everything tied together nicely at the end.
This novel is set in the small town of Brewster, Rhode Island, a town where nothing big ever seems to happen. Until one night, while a nurse on duty is distracted, a baby is stolen from the hospital and a snake left in its place. From there on, other crimes and strange occurrences start to happen, causing mass hysteria in the town. The police are not sure whether it's due to criminal activity or something in the realms of the supernatural.
I was quite a strangely written book, as it was written as though from a bird's eye view. I kind of felt that I was in a drone looking down on everything, and I think that the result is, I didn't really connect with any of the characters. It was an interesting story though, and everything tied together nicely at the end.
Well written, reminiscent of Stephen King's work. I love how you got to really know the main characters A little slow in some parts but I couldn't put it down in the end. You really have to watch those small towns...
Talk about the perfect read during a blizzard: it's got possible Satanism, werewolves, a high body count and a solution that doesn't get telegraphed. Add to that a writing style that ranges from "you are there" to sounding vaguely like the Narrator in "Our Town" and, well, yes, I loved this book. I'd first met Dobyns through his Charlie Bradshaw series, then read Church of Dead Girls but then he disappeared, so when I saw that this was available, I jumped on it.
Brewster RI is a small, sleepy town until a baby is stolen from the neonatal unit and replaced with a corn snake. Then a visiting insurance investigator is stabbed, and scalped. And then there's Carl Krause, who seems to be off his meds and acting very strangely, including growling. Added to this are extremely (unnaturally) aggressive coyotes and another girl who was raped and her baby stolen. Soon there are competing police jurisdictions and several widely divergent lines of inquiry, at the heart of which are Woody (a laconic state trooper recently jilted by his finance) and Bobby (an amiable black man who drives a Z). What's really going on is buried under several layers of "alternative" religious rituals and the fear that there might be shapeshifters. Until the very end, I had no idea who would end up alive or who was behind everything. Yay!
ARC provided by publisher.
Brewster RI is a small, sleepy town until a baby is stolen from the neonatal unit and replaced with a corn snake. Then a visiting insurance investigator is stabbed, and scalped. And then there's Carl Krause, who seems to be off his meds and acting very strangely, including growling. Added to this are extremely (unnaturally) aggressive coyotes and another girl who was raped and her baby stolen. Soon there are competing police jurisdictions and several widely divergent lines of inquiry, at the heart of which are Woody (a laconic state trooper recently jilted by his finance) and Bobby (an amiable black man who drives a Z). What's really going on is buried under several layers of "alternative" religious rituals and the fear that there might be shapeshifters. Until the very end, I had no idea who would end up alive or who was behind everything. Yay!
ARC provided by publisher.
I imagine this would have been better if I had read it faster. Also, aside from being set in New England, I'm not sure how this work in any way resembles Stephen King. If they mean us to compare it to his body of work, themes, and/or any sort of inexplicable supernatural phenomena, I would say they are pretty far off the mark. I had the same sense of disappointment at the end that I did after watching Scooby Doo episodes as a kid. Those darn meddling kids.
I picked this book up mainly for the fact that Stephen King gave it such high praise. I don't know what Mr. King was on when he read this book but such high praise it is not worthy of. I will say the book started good. A shocking start that kept getting stranger and stranger as the story progressed. However, since nothing much was happening by the mid portion of the book I was bored. However, I kept reading on hoping for some real big shocker but was let down with a mediocre conclusion. Also, I feel the book had many loose ends and plot holes. Really, what was the point of Hercel and his magic trick? Just what was the point.? Did I miss something? And the coyote nonsense was just that. Nonsense and for a large part just a filler. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this book when many better reading options are available. I feel that Stephen King only gave this such high praise because the Author mentioned a few of Mr. King's works in this book and he must have felt obligated to give Mr. Dobyns a good review because of it. Skip this one people...You will thank me for it.
I was excited to start this one – Eliza at Penguin rarely guides me wrong. After the first few chapters, though, I was wondering what I’d gotten myself into. Things were going so s.l.o.w.l.y. Sure, there’s the snake-in-the-hospital-crib thing and the requisite hullabaloo that follows. And then I was like “Ok, what now?”
“What now?” indeed. We get a lot of meet so-and-so, then so-and-so’s brief history, their “Where was I?” when the snake happened, and, for some, their “Oh crap! How do I cover this up?” after the snake happened. I was almost snoozing by the time the litany ended.
Then Stephen Dobyns pounces, with a “Ha! And you thought there wasn’t any point to this!” And I got involved in the lives of all of these people I hadn’t cared about meeting earlier. This is when I went back and re-read up to this point, so you’ll want to pay attention from the get-go and save yourself the re-read time. Just FYI.
Brewster is like any other small town, I’d imagine. It has its share of local flavor, and its share of small-town politics and problems. What it didn’t bargain for, however, is a missing baby. And when the police start investigating, they run up against rabid coyotes, stolen pets, scalped visitors, Wiccans, Satanists, ritual rapes, and one going-off-his-rocker stepfather and husband. All of which add up to hysteria in the populace, journalists looking for a scoop, and uniforms of various agencies stomping all over trying to figure out what the heck is going on…
And when you find out what’s really going on under all the craziness, you’ll pretty much be amazed by Dobyns’ genius.
Pick this one up – if you’re a fan of thrillers, you won’t be disappointed. The main characters are complex, the plot is complicated, and if you figured out whodunnit (and what’s going on) before you’re done with two-thirds of the book, you come back and let me know how.
drey’s rating: Outstanding!
“What now?” indeed. We get a lot of meet so-and-so, then so-and-so’s brief history, their “Where was I?” when the snake happened, and, for some, their “Oh crap! How do I cover this up?” after the snake happened. I was almost snoozing by the time the litany ended.
Then Stephen Dobyns pounces, with a “Ha! And you thought there wasn’t any point to this!” And I got involved in the lives of all of these people I hadn’t cared about meeting earlier. This is when I went back and re-read up to this point, so you’ll want to pay attention from the get-go and save yourself the re-read time. Just FYI.
Brewster is like any other small town, I’d imagine. It has its share of local flavor, and its share of small-town politics and problems. What it didn’t bargain for, however, is a missing baby. And when the police start investigating, they run up against rabid coyotes, stolen pets, scalped visitors, Wiccans, Satanists, ritual rapes, and one going-off-his-rocker stepfather and husband. All of which add up to hysteria in the populace, journalists looking for a scoop, and uniforms of various agencies stomping all over trying to figure out what the heck is going on…
And when you find out what’s really going on under all the craziness, you’ll pretty much be amazed by Dobyns’ genius.
Pick this one up – if you’re a fan of thrillers, you won’t be disappointed. The main characters are complex, the plot is complicated, and if you figured out whodunnit (and what’s going on) before you’re done with two-thirds of the book, you come back and let me know how.
drey’s rating: Outstanding!
It's about 100 pages too long and the plot is pretty convoluted, but I still thought this was a lot of fun. Whoever said that it's a combination of Stephen King and Richard Russo was pretty spot-on.
Some interesting ideas and plenty of good writing, but not a plot that convinces.