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A review by tashenone
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
5.0
Coming of age as an Immortal: A Modern Vampire Tale
In this modern age, a good vampire story is quite hard to come by which makes this work all the more enticing. It is likely this book ranks among the darkest of novels but earns that title not through shock factor or traditional terror but by showing a reality so stark it will make you believe it’s a true story. Amazingly, and even more fascinating and disturbing, is that this is not even the heart of the tale. Childhood and the difficulties that come with it is the focus of this darkness, a pitch black that is inconceivably deep and yet never completely obscures the wonder and lightness of being young. The juxtaposition of eternal existence as a damned creature, cursed to live forever as a child, with the loss of innocence that traditionally signifies childhood’s end is a masterstroke by Lindqvist that makes this book so much more than the sum of its parts.
In this modern age, a good vampire story is quite hard to come by which makes this work all the more enticing. It is likely this book ranks among the darkest of novels but earns that title not through shock factor or traditional terror but by showing a reality so stark it will make you believe it’s a true story. Amazingly, and even more fascinating and disturbing, is that this is not even the heart of the tale. Childhood and the difficulties that come with it is the focus of this darkness, a pitch black that is inconceivably deep and yet never completely obscures the wonder and lightness of being young. The juxtaposition of eternal existence as a damned creature, cursed to live forever as a child, with the loss of innocence that traditionally signifies childhood’s end is a masterstroke by Lindqvist that makes this book so much more than the sum of its parts.