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gabriella_'s review against another edition
dark
funny
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Had a bit of a slow start but it picks up. It could’ve been a LOT shorter. It was edgy but ultimately this is like if Harry Potter was written as a horror and done better (in my opinion). It was still misogynistic though.
akouznetsov's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
domproc's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
kmt75's review
dark
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
1.75
As bad as Ghost Story but in a different way. Just a mess. Overlong. Incomprehensible in places. The framing device sucks and needlessly complicates the entire, mostly unnecessary, first third of the book. And there's a Bugs Bunny cameo. This is the kind of schmaltzy, nostalgic 50s coming of age garbage that a whole bunch of 80s horror writers love and that only Stephen King can kinda, sort of pull off. Sometimes.
thomouser's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
tjr's review against another edition
3.0
“More than twenty years ago, an underrated Arizona schoolboy named Tom Flanagan was asked by another boy to spend the Christmas vacation with him at the house of his uncle” (Straub 3). With this intriguing introductory sentence, Peter Straub’s Shadowland begins. Okay, it might not be the most intriguing sentence ever, but it fulfils the function of catching a reader’s attention and bringing the reader further into the story; for this reason this sentence is a successful introductory sentence.
Turning, now, to my reactions of the novel, I do remember thinking upon finishing Shadowland, “Did this novel have to be so long?” It was my impression that a few of the longer stream-of-consciousness passages could have been curbed, some of the extended flights of magic and phantasmagoria could have been shortened, so that I might have stayed more focused on the text as I was reading it. It was, after all, supposed to be a page-turning thriller, and I found that the thrill of the tale was somewhat lost by the continuous distraction these extended bouts of elaboration caused. As it was, I continually found myself drifting away from the page, only to return a few lines/paragraphs later with the question, What is going on? Perhaps Mr. Straub was rushed and had to fulfill contractual obligations after the success of Ghost Story and thought abstract fill would prove advantageous. Perhaps not. In the end, it doesn’t really matter: The book was published and Mr. Straub was paid. What readers think of the novel, twenty-six years later, matters in the least.
Although I write these criticisms above, and as a result I might be coming across as rather harsh, I did actually enjoy reading this novel. Part of this enjoyment was precisely because of the effort required to keep everything in order, mentally. The setting was eerie and fun to read, and at times it was a real challenge to keep track of the characters (there’s like over a dozen!) as they magically shifted in and out of the text at the whim of some super magician (extra-textually Mr. Straub?). I could see the direction Straub was taking, and I saw what effects he wanted to take. This novel hinted at metafiction—Straub was dabbling with it as the boys in his narrative were dabbling with magic—and I’m thinking that as I read more of Mr. Straub’s works, in chronological order, I will see how an author progressively develops this trait in his writing.
I guess I will find out. Shadowlandwon’t be the last of Mr. Straub’s novels that I read.
Works Cited
Straub, Peter. Shadowland. New York: Berkley Publishing Corporation, 1981.
Turning, now, to my reactions of the novel, I do remember thinking upon finishing Shadowland, “Did this novel have to be so long?” It was my impression that a few of the longer stream-of-consciousness passages could have been curbed, some of the extended flights of magic and phantasmagoria could have been shortened, so that I might have stayed more focused on the text as I was reading it. It was, after all, supposed to be a page-turning thriller, and I found that the thrill of the tale was somewhat lost by the continuous distraction these extended bouts of elaboration caused. As it was, I continually found myself drifting away from the page, only to return a few lines/paragraphs later with the question, What is going on? Perhaps Mr. Straub was rushed and had to fulfill contractual obligations after the success of Ghost Story and thought abstract fill would prove advantageous. Perhaps not. In the end, it doesn’t really matter: The book was published and Mr. Straub was paid. What readers think of the novel, twenty-six years later, matters in the least.
Although I write these criticisms above, and as a result I might be coming across as rather harsh, I did actually enjoy reading this novel. Part of this enjoyment was precisely because of the effort required to keep everything in order, mentally. The setting was eerie and fun to read, and at times it was a real challenge to keep track of the characters (there’s like over a dozen!) as they magically shifted in and out of the text at the whim of some super magician (extra-textually Mr. Straub?). I could see the direction Straub was taking, and I saw what effects he wanted to take. This novel hinted at metafiction—Straub was dabbling with it as the boys in his narrative were dabbling with magic—and I’m thinking that as I read more of Mr. Straub’s works, in chronological order, I will see how an author progressively develops this trait in his writing.
I guess I will find out. Shadowlandwon’t be the last of Mr. Straub’s novels that I read.
Works Cited
Straub, Peter. Shadowland. New York: Berkley Publishing Corporation, 1981.
susanmacnicol's review
4.0
I loved this book from start to finish. I read it a while ago and am just due to meet someone who's actually modelling their house around this book and its rooms, so I thought I'd better refresh my memory. I'm a real fan of this sort of maniacal magic story telling, where nothing is it as seems. The story of Tom and Del and Rose is so interwoven with treachery and teenage angst. I found the one sexy scene in the book, where Rosa reaches into Tom's trousers and gives him relief from the sexual urges he has, without him really even knowing what's happening, to be highly erotic and really well written. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone with the same tastes.
lesliekyla's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25