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waxpaperboat 's review for:
A Head Full of Ghosts
by Paul Tremblay
I picked up A Head Full of Ghosts because my sister recommended it. My sister is more of a horror enthusiast than I am. But, I have dabbled in genre fiction enough to be familiar with the more famous stories and authors.
This novel does a lot of alluding to famous horror movies and books. I like that about it. I appreciate fiction that has respect for what came before it. However, this novel is clearly written for die-hard horror fans, and even admits in an early chapter that if you aren’t a die-hard fan you totally won’t get it. Tremblay doesn’t explain any of his many references until refers to The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Tremblay assumes his audience is well versed in low-brow horror fictions but completely ignorant of any horror with literary merit. As he explained in detail why he chose to make the wallpaper yellow I cringed, don’t talk down to your audience, this isn’t journalism.
The story is about a family with two daughters. The younger daughter is naive and likes people to tell her stories and the older daughter is schizophrenic… or maybe we should call a priest. The story is interlaced with blog posts about a reality TV show about the family. So, there are a couple of layers to the novel, that’s always cool.
Generally when a novel talks about blogs or reality tv or computers or even cell phones I lose interest. I like my art to be timeless. But, I can set aside that prejudice and appreciate this for what it is.
The story is derivative. It’s been done a million times. The inter-chapters discuss how derivative the plot is, but just because a novel draws attention to the fact that it’s derivative doesn’t make it not derivative.
It is a quick,easy read. At 286 pages there isn’t any reason not to read it.
It deserves a better rating than I'm giving it.
This novel does a lot of alluding to famous horror movies and books. I like that about it. I appreciate fiction that has respect for what came before it. However, this novel is clearly written for die-hard horror fans, and even admits in an early chapter that if you aren’t a die-hard fan you totally won’t get it. Tremblay doesn’t explain any of his many references until refers to The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Tremblay assumes his audience is well versed in low-brow horror fictions but completely ignorant of any horror with literary merit. As he explained in detail why he chose to make the wallpaper yellow I cringed, don’t talk down to your audience, this isn’t journalism.
The story is about a family with two daughters. The younger daughter is naive and likes people to tell her stories and the older daughter is schizophrenic… or maybe we should call a priest. The story is interlaced with blog posts about a reality TV show about the family. So, there are a couple of layers to the novel, that’s always cool.
Generally when a novel talks about blogs or reality tv or computers or even cell phones I lose interest. I like my art to be timeless. But, I can set aside that prejudice and appreciate this for what it is.
The story is derivative. It’s been done a million times. The inter-chapters discuss how derivative the plot is, but just because a novel draws attention to the fact that it’s derivative doesn’t make it not derivative.
It is a quick,easy read. At 286 pages there isn’t any reason not to read it.
It deserves a better rating than I'm giving it.