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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
From the international bestselling author of the chilling and horrific Let the Right One, Handling the Undead and Harbor comes a new novel that appears innocent and charming at first, but eventually leads the reader down a long dark path, covered in blood and filled with bodies. Little Star will lull you into enjoyment and then terrify you all the way to the end.
Lennart finds an abandoned baby in the woods, left for dead. He brings it home, feeds and looks after it, much to the reluctance of his wife, Laila. A musical duo who have essentially disappeared into obscurity, Lennart finds a new lease of life with this baby who grows to become a beautiful young girl with a unique singing voice. Jerry, the son, eventually looks after the girl, moving to Stockholm, after his parents suffer a gruesome end, and the child enters a national singing contest and becomes a celebrity, renowned throughout Sweden. But she also has plans of her own, viewed through her fractured, distorted lens of a psyche, with an idea of what is good and right not shared by many others.
Lindqvist’s novel is an addictive read, much like his others, with a seemingly simple story that turns into something dark and sinister, combined with the harsh geology of Sweden, and his own unusual characters. Little Star will keep you up late, and by then you’ll be too scared to go to bed.
Originally written on November 10, 2012 ©Alex C. Telander.
For more reviews, go to Bookbanter
Lennart finds an abandoned baby in the woods, left for dead. He brings it home, feeds and looks after it, much to the reluctance of his wife, Laila. A musical duo who have essentially disappeared into obscurity, Lennart finds a new lease of life with this baby who grows to become a beautiful young girl with a unique singing voice. Jerry, the son, eventually looks after the girl, moving to Stockholm, after his parents suffer a gruesome end, and the child enters a national singing contest and becomes a celebrity, renowned throughout Sweden. But she also has plans of her own, viewed through her fractured, distorted lens of a psyche, with an idea of what is good and right not shared by many others.
Lindqvist’s novel is an addictive read, much like his others, with a seemingly simple story that turns into something dark and sinister, combined with the harsh geology of Sweden, and his own unusual characters. Little Star will keep you up late, and by then you’ll be too scared to go to bed.
Originally written on November 10, 2012 ©Alex C. Telander.
For more reviews, go to Bookbanter
Lennert and Laila Cederstrom aren't well know. They had one near-miss of a hit decades ago and left the spotlight behind. Now, Lennert makes a living writing songs for others and Laila spends her days hobbling about the house and trying to avoid Lennert's rage. But when Lennert comes home with a baby, everything changes for the couple. Lennert found the child abandoned in the woods. The first thing he noticed, though, was that the baby seemed to be singing. From day one, Lennert insists the child will not be spoken to. She's to live in their basement, cut off from outside influence. In fact, she's more an experiment for Lennert than anything else. They call her Little One. Years later, the girl -- now called Theres -- is entered into a national singing contest that's televised around the country. From her living room another girl is immediately drawn to Theres. The two become friends and what follows is more horrific than anyone could imagine.
Though the shocking end is inevitable, I still felt a bit steamrolled by the brutality of it! Like Let the Right One In, the characters in this book struggle to fit in. Theres, because of the circumstances of her early years, is awkward and different, but her new friend, Teresa, is a pretty typical teen.
There's never any explanation about Theres's abandonment or her seemingly peculiar talent. For me, it made the book that much more interesting. I sympathized with Theres and wondered what if throughout the whole story. And of course sympathizing with her makes the ending that much more horrific!
Though the shocking end is inevitable, I still felt a bit steamrolled by the brutality of it! Like Let the Right One In, the characters in this book struggle to fit in. Theres, because of the circumstances of her early years, is awkward and different, but her new friend, Teresa, is a pretty typical teen.
There's never any explanation about Theres's abandonment or her seemingly peculiar talent. For me, it made the book that much more interesting. I sympathized with Theres and wondered what if throughout the whole story. And of course sympathizing with her makes the ending that much more horrific!
John Lindqvist is really a compelling writer - he writes with subtlety even as he explores the most grotesque qualities of human relationships. I have previously read and loved Let the Right One In and Handling the Undead. I loved them for their human quality in the face of inhuman plots, characters, or behaviours.
Little Star began promisingly with an exploration of an unbalanced family finding a baby in the woods and choosing to raise in an cellar, shut away from the world, and how this environment would shape a child.
If the entire book had explored this issue, I would have found it much more satisfying. Instead Lindqvist decided to bring in other teenaged girls who felt lost and alone or abused and bind them together with music. The result was like film The Craft, minus the magic and witchcraft. I appreciate what Lundqvist was trying to achieve, but I don't feel like it was the most interesting way in which an unsettling, sheltered girl with a perfectly pitched, enthralling voice could have been used for a horror novel. Given the hint at the ending within the first few pages of the book, I was carried through with anticipation that was ultimately let down. The Big Ending was lackluster, for all of its blood and gore.
The dust jacket description stated that Little Star is "... and unforgetable portrait of adolescence, a modern-day Carrie...". I think that that's a bit of a stretch. Carrie more fully explored the effects of ostracization on an unbalanced, if powerful psyche. This book does paint a realistic picture of teen bullying online and off, I guess, but I personally didn't care to explore that aspect of what I considered to be secondary characters.
I would recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed other works by John Lindqvist - it wasn't my favourite, but the writing is strong and the story is good.
Little Star began promisingly with an exploration of an unbalanced family finding a baby in the woods and choosing to raise in an cellar, shut away from the world, and how this environment would shape a child.
If the entire book had explored this issue, I would have found it much more satisfying. Instead Lindqvist decided to bring in other teenaged girls who felt lost and alone or abused and bind them together with music. The result was like film The Craft, minus the magic and witchcraft. I appreciate what Lundqvist was trying to achieve, but I don't feel like it was the most interesting way in which an unsettling, sheltered girl with a perfectly pitched, enthralling voice could have been used for a horror novel. Given the hint at the ending within the first few pages of the book, I was carried through with anticipation that was ultimately let down. The Big Ending was lackluster, for all of its blood and gore.
The dust jacket description stated that Little Star is "... and unforgetable portrait of adolescence, a modern-day Carrie...". I think that that's a bit of a stretch. Carrie more fully explored the effects of ostracization on an unbalanced, if powerful psyche. This book does paint a realistic picture of teen bullying online and off, I guess, but I personally didn't care to explore that aspect of what I considered to be secondary characters.
I would recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed other works by John Lindqvist - it wasn't my favourite, but the writing is strong and the story is good.
This book is so bloody amazing, it’s been days since I finished it and I still can’t get over it! It is one of the most brutal and goriest books I have ever read and I just DEVOURED it. I was a bit hesitant at first because I wasn’t a huge fan of Let the Right One In but Little Star is on a whole different planet compared to that one and I’m so glad I gave it a chance because I couldn’t have loved it more. The whole story is just BRILLIANT, I have never read anything like it and I doubt I ever will again. It’s just so gruesome and chilling that I actually felt shivers down to my bones at certain moments. It gets so damn brutal and it is freaking GLORIOUS. By far one of the best and most horrifying horror novels I’ve read in a LONG time, this is what I CRAVE from horror!
Started strong but then descended into mindless gore for the gore's sake. Apart from the shock value, there was really nothing much to this book.
I have mixed feelings about this novel. On one level it spooked me and made me feel nauseous on more than one occasion but the ending for me felt a bit dragged out and didn't really live up to the build up that I felt it should have. The themes and storyline were seriously interesting and from the beginning I got hooked but I found by the end I was looking forward to finishing it a little too much and it just didn't have the same mood for me as let the right one in, although the beginning certainly promised it. So all in all a good read if a little long. I wish I could change the ending though...
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
