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A review by motherhorror
Pearl by Josh Malerman
5.0
This one is HORROR, full stop!
Malerman is not dancing the line or skirting the edges, he's square in the middle of traditional horror. PEARL is a Creature/Monster/Animal horror story about an unusual pig.
Where Wilbur was "some pig" and an asset to his family farm in CHARLOTTE'S WEB, Pearl the Pig is an absolute terror.
Pearl is a large, male pig with telekinetic power and a "bad eye" which is actually his "good eye". You'll see.
One day, an unfortunate incident on the family farm starts a vicious chain of events. It's quite literally an unfathomable nightmare. I read this entire book gripping the edges. I could feel my eyes widening in shock and awe. I had no idea how Malerman was able to induce so much fear from a story about an evil pig, but he managed it alright! When I read Chapter 27 last night before bed, I was pretty unnerved. Does your reader brain ever get fixated on one scary sentence and you find that your eyes will pour over the words again and again? It's almost like the scarier the sentence, the more infatuated I am with it.
There were some very disturbing images Malerman described with precise details. They sorta stuck in my head as I turned out the light. I love those creepy book feelings that linger long after you've set the book down!
I do have a couple of nagging, little details I need to highlight though because they are worth mentioning and for the sake of other readers, I must tell you:
I have this pet peeve with invented slang words and phrases. Similar to "Hell's Heaven" or "Pig Shit!" in UNBURY CAROL, Malerman uses some funky words and phrases that stand out:
"Jebus" "Pukin" and "nuckin futz" (I've heard this one before. It's letter swapping fuckin' nuts).
But they weren't used as often in the dialog as they were in UNBURY. So nothing to get too excited about but it's one of those things where you're either going to get bugged by it or you're not and they kind of bug me.
A literary device that Malerman uses that's very unique to him is these "stream of consciousness" style inner monologues that I love! Some readers may encounter them and have difficulty with them because they're so different, but I really love the way the characters talk to themselves in their brain and weird thoughts pop in and out--it feels like how our real brains work with all these thought segments overlapping and interrupting each other.
Really cool.
Lastly, the end was a little weird for me. I'm not entirely sure if I missed something or not but I loved all the chaos and craziness in the last handful of chapters. This one was really compelling, scary, and original.
Highly recommend.
Malerman is not dancing the line or skirting the edges, he's square in the middle of traditional horror. PEARL is a Creature/Monster/Animal horror story about an unusual pig.
Where Wilbur was "some pig" and an asset to his family farm in CHARLOTTE'S WEB, Pearl the Pig is an absolute terror.
Pearl is a large, male pig with telekinetic power and a "bad eye" which is actually his "good eye". You'll see.
One day, an unfortunate incident on the family farm starts a vicious chain of events. It's quite literally an unfathomable nightmare. I read this entire book gripping the edges. I could feel my eyes widening in shock and awe. I had no idea how Malerman was able to induce so much fear from a story about an evil pig, but he managed it alright! When I read Chapter 27 last night before bed, I was pretty unnerved. Does your reader brain ever get fixated on one scary sentence and you find that your eyes will pour over the words again and again? It's almost like the scarier the sentence, the more infatuated I am with it.
There were some very disturbing images Malerman described with precise details. They sorta stuck in my head as I turned out the light. I love those creepy book feelings that linger long after you've set the book down!
I do have a couple of nagging, little details I need to highlight though because they are worth mentioning and for the sake of other readers, I must tell you:
I have this pet peeve with invented slang words and phrases. Similar to "Hell's Heaven" or "Pig Shit!" in UNBURY CAROL, Malerman uses some funky words and phrases that stand out:
"Jebus" "Pukin" and "nuckin futz" (I've heard this one before. It's letter swapping fuckin' nuts).
But they weren't used as often in the dialog as they were in UNBURY. So nothing to get too excited about but it's one of those things where you're either going to get bugged by it or you're not and they kind of bug me.
A literary device that Malerman uses that's very unique to him is these "stream of consciousness" style inner monologues that I love! Some readers may encounter them and have difficulty with them because they're so different, but I really love the way the characters talk to themselves in their brain and weird thoughts pop in and out--it feels like how our real brains work with all these thought segments overlapping and interrupting each other.
Really cool.
Lastly, the end was a little weird for me. I'm not entirely sure if I missed something or not but I loved all the chaos and craziness in the last handful of chapters. This one was really compelling, scary, and original.
Highly recommend.