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A review by tdwightdavis
Little Sister Death by William Gay
4.0
The Bell Witch was probably the first ghost story I ever heard. Growing up in Nashville, she was the go-to scary story. A local haunting that literally everyone I knew believed was at least somewhat real. I remember my older sister telling my that my grandmother’s house was really close to the house where the Bell Witch haunting took place, and that because it was so close to the house it was likely that she would haunt my grandmother’s house too. I had to spend the night once when I was 10 and I didn’t sleep all night, convinced I was hearing taunting voices and laughing.
Little Sister Death is William Gay’s spin on the Bell Witch haunting. A writer born in East Tennessee but now living in Chicago has modest success among the literary elite with his first novel but can’t seem to recapture that creative spark to write a second novel and is thus struggling financially. In order to make ends meet, he agrees to write a cheap paperback thriller that will sell well so that he can make some money. Fascinated by a haunting in Tennessee, he moves into the supposedly haunted mansion with his wife and daughter in order to research for his novel. Strangeness ensues.
Unfortunately, Gay didn’t complete the novel before his death, and that’s clear towards the end. The last 20 pages or so feel super rushed and disparate, and there’s really no ending. But it really speaks to how amazing of a writer Gay was that even his unfinished manuscript is so much more suspenseful, entertaining, and well-written than a lot of fully formed novel. The man was a once-in-a-generation talent who died far too soon. I was engrossed by this novel. I couldn’t put it down. There were parts that legitimately terrified me, and as someone who loves horror that is no easy feat. But Gay imbues this ghost story with his typical literary brilliance. This book is like if Stephen King had the writing ability of Faulkner with a good bit of Flannery O’Connor sprinkled in. It’s just such a shame that the last bit was so much weaker than the rest of the book, and that there’s no real resolution. I would love to know what Gay had in mind to wrap up this amazing story.
The book includes two essays as well. The first essay, written by Tom Franklin, one of Gay’s few friends, details what William Gay was like. It’s a moving and intimate portrait of a reclusive and simple man who also happened to be a brilliant writer. It’s well worth reading if you’re a massive Gay fan as I am. The second essay comes at the end of the novel and is a non-fiction piece about the real Bell Witch, the inspiration for this story. It includes Gay’s reflections about the story and the truth or myth surrounding the haunting, as well as his own firsthand experience in the cave on Bell’s property where the Witch still supposedly resides today. This was the first non-fiction piece I’ve read by Gay and it turns out he’s just as talented and brilliant at that as he is with fiction. It’s truly a massive loss that he died with so little finished work.
Little Sister Death is William Gay’s spin on the Bell Witch haunting. A writer born in East Tennessee but now living in Chicago has modest success among the literary elite with his first novel but can’t seem to recapture that creative spark to write a second novel and is thus struggling financially. In order to make ends meet, he agrees to write a cheap paperback thriller that will sell well so that he can make some money. Fascinated by a haunting in Tennessee, he moves into the supposedly haunted mansion with his wife and daughter in order to research for his novel. Strangeness ensues.
Unfortunately, Gay didn’t complete the novel before his death, and that’s clear towards the end. The last 20 pages or so feel super rushed and disparate, and there’s really no ending. But it really speaks to how amazing of a writer Gay was that even his unfinished manuscript is so much more suspenseful, entertaining, and well-written than a lot of fully formed novel. The man was a once-in-a-generation talent who died far too soon. I was engrossed by this novel. I couldn’t put it down. There were parts that legitimately terrified me, and as someone who loves horror that is no easy feat. But Gay imbues this ghost story with his typical literary brilliance. This book is like if Stephen King had the writing ability of Faulkner with a good bit of Flannery O’Connor sprinkled in. It’s just such a shame that the last bit was so much weaker than the rest of the book, and that there’s no real resolution. I would love to know what Gay had in mind to wrap up this amazing story.
The book includes two essays as well. The first essay, written by Tom Franklin, one of Gay’s few friends, details what William Gay was like. It’s a moving and intimate portrait of a reclusive and simple man who also happened to be a brilliant writer. It’s well worth reading if you’re a massive Gay fan as I am. The second essay comes at the end of the novel and is a non-fiction piece about the real Bell Witch, the inspiration for this story. It includes Gay’s reflections about the story and the truth or myth surrounding the haunting, as well as his own firsthand experience in the cave on Bell’s property where the Witch still supposedly resides today. This was the first non-fiction piece I’ve read by Gay and it turns out he’s just as talented and brilliant at that as he is with fiction. It’s truly a massive loss that he died with so little finished work.