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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A quick, simple spooky read. Originally, I did not feel very scared reading but then I took the trash out in the middle of the night after listening to the audiobook and I *sprinted* back inside. On the note of the audiobook, there are multiple British narrators and that was very hard to get used to for awhile, especially the men. But the book itself was unique and entertaining enough for me not to entirely care which character was speaking.
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What an interesting read. I immediately want to go back through it and puzzle out all the hidden metaphors about nature and time and truth, but negatives first as always. The cadence of the writing was a bit repetitive at times, and the ending was kind of weak, but not enough that I was angry about it. I also felt that there were some scenes that could have been a bit more climactic and written with a bit more oomph. However, the subdued nature of this book is part of why I enjoyed it. The weird muffled quality of it made the freaky parts even freakier. Especially that one scene at the end (you know which one if you’ve read it).
True to the subject of Folksingers, this story speaks to the heart of the storyteller. Not the flashlight under the chin, campfire kind, or the Stephen King sort. The type you hear face to face. Stories told by someone begging you to believe them. The “I swear i’m not lying”s, and the “I’ve never told anyone this before”s. The best ghost stories are just unbelievable enough to feel true, and there’s an eerie quality to this novel that says “This really could have happened to someone. This could have happened to me.”
True to the subject of Folksingers, this story speaks to the heart of the storyteller. Not the flashlight under the chin, campfire kind, or the Stephen King sort. The type you hear face to face. Stories told by someone begging you to believe them. The “I swear i’m not lying”s, and the “I’ve never told anyone this before”s. The best ghost stories are just unbelievable enough to feel true, and there’s an eerie quality to this novel that says “This really could have happened to someone. This could have happened to me.”
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was a delight.
I confess this really hits my sweet spot as I deeply love late sixties psychedelic British folk rock and I am a sucker for antiquated ghost stories. So it is no surprise how fully engrossed I was by it.
It smashed Jean Stein's narrative form of oral history (later utilized in the music scene with Legs McNeil & Gillian McCain's Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk) with a classic Victorian approach to horror writing. It plays out like a tell all story of the life of a band while revealing something of a spooky haunted house story.
The whole thing is bloodless and is all about the mood. It's not scary, it's not even "spine-tingling" but it's got great atmosphere and I cared about all the characters and what happened with them. Mostly, I cared about the discovery of the estate and what was revealed. I reminded me quite a bit of the feel of M. R. James Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance, but there was so much more going on around it that I found this piece far more compelling.
There were a couple tremendous moments that are bound to stick with me for a while, and the bird theme hits all the right notes of creepiness.
It's a light, fast, fun read of sex, drugs, and rock and roll with a solid supernatural build. If you like that kind of thing I can't recommend it enough.
I confess this really hits my sweet spot as I deeply love late sixties psychedelic British folk rock and I am a sucker for antiquated ghost stories. So it is no surprise how fully engrossed I was by it.
It smashed Jean Stein's narrative form of oral history (later utilized in the music scene with Legs McNeil & Gillian McCain's Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk) with a classic Victorian approach to horror writing. It plays out like a tell all story of the life of a band while revealing something of a spooky haunted house story.
The whole thing is bloodless and is all about the mood. It's not scary, it's not even "spine-tingling" but it's got great atmosphere and I cared about all the characters and what happened with them. Mostly, I cared about the discovery of the estate and what was revealed. I reminded me quite a bit of the feel of M. R. James Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance, but there was so much more going on around it that I found this piece far more compelling.
There were a couple tremendous moments that are bound to stick with me for a while, and the bird theme hits all the right notes of creepiness.
It's a light, fast, fun read of sex, drugs, and rock and roll with a solid supernatural build. If you like that kind of thing I can't recommend it enough.
So cool. And refreshingly odd. "Wylding Hall" is definitely one of a kind.
Let me start by saying I love rockumnetaries. And here's a list of my all-time personal favourites:
1. The Story of Anvil,
2. The Decline of Western Civilization part II: The Metal Years,
3. Lemmy,
4. Sum of the Parts,
5. Kansas: Miracles out of Nowhere,
6. God Bless Ozzy Osbourne,
7. This is It,
8. Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (for the record, I can't fucking stand Metallica, I have no clue why they are so successful, considering they are so average and Lars Ulrich, a joke of a drummer, sits behind the kit. That's why i love this film: it's a candid look into the lives of four filthy rich and clueless rockstars taking themselves a bit too seriously while recording one of their worst records ever),
9. Quiet Riot - Well Now You're Here,
10. Metal: A Headbanger's Journey.
I haven't mentioned "This is Spinal Tap" because, well, it's a great movie, all right, but it's not a proper documentary, y'know.
Anyway, enough digressing. What if I told you there's a gothic/mystery novel that feels just like a rockumentary? Well, there actually is and it's amazing. It's a mashup between [b:Coldheart Canyon|108051|Coldheart Canyon|Clive Barker|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347262524s/108051.jpg|51342] and [b:Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk|14595|Please Kill Me The Uncensored Oral History of Punk|Legs McNeil|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1436668905s/14595.jpg|1820137]. Wylding Hall is the coolest book I've read in 2018, hands down. Good stuff. Hope it gets made into a movie one day.
PS = Hope one day someone produces a documentary on Australia's unintentionally funniest band, Sadistik Exekution - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadistik_Exekution. it might turn out to be absolutely hysterical.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
The Mary Poppins-speak is beyond belabored, alongside amateur journalist mythmaking with the principal characters speaking about themselves as if they were their own fans ('history in the making', 'we were all young and beautiful and gifted'). The author compares characters to celebrities instead of inspiring imagination. The spooky bits were fine if clichéd.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes