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moonstrucksue 's review for:
The Girl from the Well
by Rin Chupeco
We are the fates that people fear to become. We are what happens to good persons and to bad persons and to everyone in between. Murdered deads live in storms without season, in time without flux. We do not go because people do not let us go.
I frankly haven’t heard of this book before, or I genuinely just don’t remember it, until, I read an article about it the other month. Read it here.
I usually shy away from anything horror related, mainly because I’m a complete wuss. Even though, I’ve seen handful of popular Japanese and Filipino thriller films before. Rest assured, I watched them through my fingers or with a pillow barricading half my face. You don’t make a girl with a wild imagination watch gory movies. You just don’t. It usually do not end well for the spirits and I.
Inspired by the well-known Japanese ghost story “Bancho Sarayashiki”, The Girl from the Well follows the story of Okiku. A dead girl who died in the well, three hundred years ago. A vengeful ghost who haunts predatory men.
Then she saw the boy with a peculiar tattoos, Tarquin. Okiku could not help but to find herself, unexpectedly drawn to him and his world and to the darkness that follows him around. She formed an attachment and protectiveness to him. Soon after, Tark have to confront the shadow that follows him. They have to go in Japan. There, Okiku would be force to revisit her own demons.
The Girl from the Well is not what I expected it to be and that is obviously not a bad thing. I was highly anticipating, I will pee my pants, but instead I scored a flowery and lyrical narration. While horror might not be my cup of tea, these things is totally are. It is lovely and delicious. Describing this book as such, totally say so much about my character.
Okiku, the narrator of the book have a penchant for counting things. I am ferociously captivated by that. I love seeing characters with little quirks and habits seamlessly woven to the plot. Aside from that, she is an engaging story teller.
“Men, right? Bastards, no matter the time or place.”
She is vindictive, have a thirst to make offenders pay for their inhuman transgression.
I release her soul outside the Stained Shirt Man’s apartment. By then she is nothing more than a glowing ball of fire cradled against my withered form. I close my eyes, trying to absorb every bit of warmth I can take from her—to bring out and remember during other colder nights—before lifting my hands to the sky. Unbidden, she rises up, floating briefly above me as if granting benediction, before she continues to soar higher and higher like an autumn balloon, until she becomes another speck of cloud, another trick of the light.
Fire,
fly.
But she also have a heart. She loves freeing all those children, who are bound to their killers so they can move on from their next life.
Meet Tarquin, the half Japanese main character of the story. All his life, he’s been haunted of things, he can’t control, his strange tattoos he always try to cover up. The scandals that surrounded him from his previous schools. The history of her mother, the fact that she attempted to strangled him countless of times. The old lady who follows him around.
I’ve always struggled connecting with male characters. I supposed, most cases it’s the way how they are written. But unlike his YA counterparts, I couldn’t connect with, Tarquin resonates with me. He deals with his problem. He is open-minded, to things that are unknown. He could also be funny and adorable.
Just the other day, I found a salon that specializes in giving girls crooked teeth. And this is considered adorable, if, uh, Japanese girls who look like vampires needing braces are supposed to turn men on. Also, there's a holistic care spa specializing in dogs. I think in my next life I'd like to come back as some rich Japanese lady's labradoodle and enjoy all these spoils. Kinda ironic that most hot spring resorts allow for dogs, but not for people with tattoos. So I guess in this current Japanese social hierarchy, we've got Japanese > pets > me.
Plot wise, its apparent Chupeco did a fine research. The Japanese culture is much embedded to the story. There is explanation, for those who are unfamiliar with certain phrases. It is well written. I love how she writes her words. While I couldn’t vouch for the Japanese representation. I could guarantee, The Girl from the Well is a remarkable debut.
I’m so excited to read more of Rin Chupeco’s books. It’s always nice to see, a fellow Filipino doing an admirable work.
Review also posted at Hollywood News Source.