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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
I picked this up when it first came out, but, unlike most Seanan McGuire books, I didn't immediately tear into it. I was familiar with Rose's story thanks to the serial fiction published in The Edge of Propinquity. It turns out the book is as far removed from the serial as the serial is from the original song that inspired it.
Rose Marshall is a road ghost. If you've ever heard the tale of the hitchhiking ghost who vanishes before reaching its destination, you know the other side of Rose's story. Rose is a benevolent ghost, but there are those who don't think so, and want her stopped. And then there's Bobby Cross, the reason she's been stuck at age 16 for the last 60 years. She lives in fear of being caught by him, at the same time as she rescues those who die on the road from his grasp.
The story doesn't entirely lose its serial-fiction roots. Rose repeats herself frequently and explains things the reader might already know. Each chapter could easily be read as a stand-alone story, though you'd lose the overall narrative arc. Rose warns the reader early on about the fluid nature of time to a ghost, and so it makes sense that she might go over things she's already said. She's not sure where the reader is jumping into the story.
Rose's voice is more lyrical and rich than Seanan McGuire's other first-person narrators. She speaks in metaphor and imagery, evoking the sort of rambling thoughts that can only come to mind when you're alone on a lonely stretch of road with nothing better to think about. That's not to say the book rambles. She often sets the mood with a few well-placed words. Her voice reads as a combination of road metaphors, 1950's slang, and trucker shorthand.
If you've read the serialized version of this story, you'll have the bare bones of the plot laid out, but you'll have missed out on a lot of details that tie the story together. I couldn't do a compare-and-contrast, because I can't be positive if I forgot certain details from the serialized story or if they weren't there. I do know that this version of Rose's story is the richer and more vibrant.
Rose's story takes place in the same universe as McGuire's InCryptid stories, which start with Discount Armageddon. Rose refers several times to the Healy family and its creepy, possibly-haunted house in her hometown, though none of the family members make an appearance. Rose is seeing another side of that world. I can see where she might cross paths with a future InCryptid story, but there's no room for it in this tale.
Once upon a time, the "Sparrow Hill Road" short stories made me interested in looking up road ghost stories to learn more about the tales Rose refers to. Sparrow Hill Road in its polished form makes me nostalgic for a time I never lived through, and finishing it makes me miss a friend I've never met. Unlike in the short stories, this version leaves room for more of Rose's story. I look forward to visiting more of the second America Rose guides us through.
I've been recommending this book all over the place to friends interested in ghost stories and local tales and urban legends. It's an excellent compilation of those tales, at the same time as it gives them a face and their own voice. I can't overstate how highly I recommend this book.
Rose Marshall is a road ghost. If you've ever heard the tale of the hitchhiking ghost who vanishes before reaching its destination, you know the other side of Rose's story. Rose is a benevolent ghost, but there are those who don't think so, and want her stopped. And then there's Bobby Cross, the reason she's been stuck at age 16 for the last 60 years. She lives in fear of being caught by him, at the same time as she rescues those who die on the road from his grasp.
The story doesn't entirely lose its serial-fiction roots. Rose repeats herself frequently and explains things the reader might already know. Each chapter could easily be read as a stand-alone story, though you'd lose the overall narrative arc. Rose warns the reader early on about the fluid nature of time to a ghost, and so it makes sense that she might go over things she's already said. She's not sure where the reader is jumping into the story.
Rose's voice is more lyrical and rich than Seanan McGuire's other first-person narrators. She speaks in metaphor and imagery, evoking the sort of rambling thoughts that can only come to mind when you're alone on a lonely stretch of road with nothing better to think about. That's not to say the book rambles. She often sets the mood with a few well-placed words. Her voice reads as a combination of road metaphors, 1950's slang, and trucker shorthand.
If you've read the serialized version of this story, you'll have the bare bones of the plot laid out, but you'll have missed out on a lot of details that tie the story together. I couldn't do a compare-and-contrast, because I can't be positive if I forgot certain details from the serialized story or if they weren't there. I do know that this version of Rose's story is the richer and more vibrant.
Rose's story takes place in the same universe as McGuire's InCryptid stories, which start with Discount Armageddon. Rose refers several times to the Healy family and its creepy, possibly-haunted house in her hometown, though none of the family members make an appearance. Rose is seeing another side of that world. I can see where she might cross paths with a future InCryptid story, but there's no room for it in this tale.
Once upon a time, the "Sparrow Hill Road" short stories made me interested in looking up road ghost stories to learn more about the tales Rose refers to. Sparrow Hill Road in its polished form makes me nostalgic for a time I never lived through, and finishing it makes me miss a friend I've never met. Unlike in the short stories, this version leaves room for more of Rose's story. I look forward to visiting more of the second America Rose guides us through.
I've been recommending this book all over the place to friends interested in ghost stories and local tales and urban legends. It's an excellent compilation of those tales, at the same time as it gives them a face and their own voice. I can't overstate how highly I recommend this book.
This book was written as a serial and is best read like that to avoid the pitfalls that other readers and reviewers have encountered. saying that, I read it in one go with the serial caveat in mind. I loved it's endearing charm and underlying spookiness.
Have you heard of the urban legend of the Vanishing Hitchhiker? Normally a young woman, often in an evening gown, she hitches a ride with a passing motorist. Sometimes she borrows a coat or a scarf. Then she disappears. Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire is narrated by this legend. Driven off the road in 1952 while wearing her prom dress, Rose Marshall has been haunting the roads ever since.
“’Go toward the light,’ they tell the dead, but in my experience, the light has always been an oncoming car,” says Rose (p. 108).
This book was not what I expected. Although it’s a ghost story, it can’t be classified as horror or even as scary. The narrative jumps around in time, from 1952 to the present, as Rose relates her encounters with various living and dead people (and some who are somewhere in between). We learn about her life, and her death, and what’s it like to be a ghost who is called home whenever a person who you cared about in life is ready to die.
We meet ghost hunters and an undead stretch of road, and we visit many diners, where Rose can enjoy a hamburger and a malt if given freely to her by someone living.
This is a story of the road, not just Sparrow Hill Road, where Rose died, but the entire network of roads across the U.S., and the ghost roads that lay underneath them. This book is a love letter to the roads, and to the drivers that navigate them, and to the diners that once gave them food and rest.
“Every inch of ground on this planet is a palimpsest, scraped clean and overwritten a million times, leaving behind just as many ghosts. That daylight America exists, alongside a thousand other Americas just like it, but the twilight Americas outnumber them a thousand-fold, and beneath them, the midnight Americas lurk, hungry and waiting.” (p. 41)
This is not a book of great action. Rose’s character is well drawn, and the author spends a lot of time on world building. Hitchers and routewitches, gather-grims and bean sidhe. Some of these are real legends and some were created by the author, but I didn’t really care which as I read this fascinating book. McGuire’s ghostroad underworld felt like a real place, and Rose like a real person (although a dead one).
Sparrow Hill Road gets a little draggy in the middle and turns a bit far-fetched as Rose reunites with her long-lost love in automobile form, but the narrative constantly went in directions I did not expect. I recommend this unusual novel to any reader who likes something a little out of the ordinary and is willing to be pulled along into the fantastical.
“’Go toward the light,’ they tell the dead, but in my experience, the light has always been an oncoming car,” says Rose (p. 108).
This book was not what I expected. Although it’s a ghost story, it can’t be classified as horror or even as scary. The narrative jumps around in time, from 1952 to the present, as Rose relates her encounters with various living and dead people (and some who are somewhere in between). We learn about her life, and her death, and what’s it like to be a ghost who is called home whenever a person who you cared about in life is ready to die.
We meet ghost hunters and an undead stretch of road, and we visit many diners, where Rose can enjoy a hamburger and a malt if given freely to her by someone living.
This is a story of the road, not just Sparrow Hill Road, where Rose died, but the entire network of roads across the U.S., and the ghost roads that lay underneath them. This book is a love letter to the roads, and to the drivers that navigate them, and to the diners that once gave them food and rest.
“Every inch of ground on this planet is a palimpsest, scraped clean and overwritten a million times, leaving behind just as many ghosts. That daylight America exists, alongside a thousand other Americas just like it, but the twilight Americas outnumber them a thousand-fold, and beneath them, the midnight Americas lurk, hungry and waiting.” (p. 41)
This is not a book of great action. Rose’s character is well drawn, and the author spends a lot of time on world building. Hitchers and routewitches, gather-grims and bean sidhe. Some of these are real legends and some were created by the author, but I didn’t really care which as I read this fascinating book. McGuire’s ghostroad underworld felt like a real place, and Rose like a real person (although a dead one).
Sparrow Hill Road gets a little draggy in the middle and turns a bit far-fetched as Rose reunites with her long-lost love in automobile form, but the narrative constantly went in directions I did not expect. I recommend this unusual novel to any reader who likes something a little out of the ordinary and is willing to be pulled along into the fantastical.
Well written but very loose. More like a collection of short stories, more or less connected. Really interesting 'world' though.
Started on a road trip, got home and thought it was over only to find out there were several more chapters. I didn't care enough about the characters or plot to finish it.
I liked it, but I had been hoping there would be more fleshing out of Rose's connection to the Price family. Also, the author's tendency to flat-out repeat various background details, which I usually don't mind too much, really felt like a drag on this book, which is more like a collection of short stories that share a main character—and every short story took the time to repeat Rose's backstory so far.
This is Seanan at her best, I think.
I first read a few of these stories in high school, online, but had to stop because reading on a computer screen is pretty difficult for me to keep up. I'm really, really glad I did, because it's much better that I got to read them now, in physical book form, racing to the end without knowing what was going to happen. It is necessary to keep in mind that these were originally published as disparate short stories; putting them together to make a coherent novel works alright, but there is some overlap, there are some redundancies; we hear a lot of the same thing slid into certain paragraphs, to remind readers who might be starting with that story, and sometimes the timeline doesn't quite add up. It's okay.
I definitely alternated between goosebumps and tears during this book. I occasionally had physical shivers up my spine; I almost constantly fell in love with the absolutely breathtaking language. This is the sad side of every ghost story. This is the bitter half of every road trip by someone who's in love with the road.
I do wish it had more of an ending. But maybe it's not over yet.
I first read a few of these stories in high school, online, but had to stop because reading on a computer screen is pretty difficult for me to keep up. I'm really, really glad I did, because it's much better that I got to read them now, in physical book form, racing to the end without knowing what was going to happen. It is necessary to keep in mind that these were originally published as disparate short stories; putting them together to make a coherent novel works alright, but there is some overlap, there are some redundancies; we hear a lot of the same thing slid into certain paragraphs, to remind readers who might be starting with that story, and sometimes the timeline doesn't quite add up. It's okay.
I definitely alternated between goosebumps and tears during this book. I occasionally had physical shivers up my spine; I almost constantly fell in love with the absolutely breathtaking language. This is the sad side of every ghost story. This is the bitter half of every road trip by someone who's in love with the road.
I do wish it had more of an ending. But maybe it's not over yet.
It's fitting that this tale -- more a series of connected stories than a single novel -- is set on the roads. It doesn't really start or stop, it just keeps on going.
The setting is the American Midwest, so the use of Irish and Norse and Greek mythology (banshees and valkyries and Persephone/Hades) was jarring. Since highways are such an American phenomenon, it was a missed opportunity to use or create some actual American mythology. I half-expected Mr. Wednesday and Shadow to make an appearance.
The setting is the American Midwest, so the use of Irish and Norse and Greek mythology (banshees and valkyries and Persephone/Hades) was jarring. Since highways are such an American phenomenon, it was a missed opportunity to use or create some actual American mythology. I half-expected Mr. Wednesday and Shadow to make an appearance.
I love this author. The audionarrator is good. And the world is interesting. Mostly wholesome.