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A review by ojtheviking
The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher
3.0
It's fun to sometimes fall into literary rabbit holes (much more fun than wormholes, anyway! ...see what I did there?), and see how things are connected. Firstly, I haven't read anything by T. Kingfisher previously, but have learned that this is the adult fiction pseudonym of children's author Ursula Vernon. Moreover, I learned that The Hollow Places is sort of a spiritual sequel, or maybe even a retelling of sorts, of the old novella The Willows by Algernon Blackwood, a story which Kingfisher herself discovered due to H. P. Lovecraft having claimed that it's the finest supernatural tale in English literature.
I looked up information about The Willows and some key elements from that story are certainly reused and morphed into modern horror in Kingfisher's novel. The idea of the mysterious willows themselves is of course the main part, but even the mention of strange occurrences by the River Danube, ominous shapes peeking through reality, the gong-like noise, and so on.
I was unaware of any of this when I started reading, and didn't discover it until I read the author's notes at the end. But it retrospectively added a whole new layer to my overall reading experience, which was already fairly positive. I have to repeat, although purist literature enthusiasts might cringe at this comparison, that if Blackwood's original story had been a movie rather than a novel, Kingfisher's novel would have been a solid remake, true enough to the source material for it to be familiar, but innovate enough to make it her own. (It makes me think of the 1951 movie The Thing from Another World and John Carpenter's 1982 remake The Thing) Of course, that's slightly an assumption as I've only checked out the summary of Blackwood's story and not actually read it yet; the summary simply gave away enough details for me to see the resemblances.
As for The Hollow Places itself, I found it to be an enjoyable read. The writing has its light, humorous moments, which had me chuckling a bit at times. Not exactly flat-out comedy sequences, just a funny way of describing some unusual scenarios and quirky personality traits, as well as witty dialogue every now and then. The descriptions of Beau the cat are unquestionably the observations only fellow cat lovers and owners can make.
I like the slightly realistic approach to stumbling upon another dimension. And I had ironically noted down the following before I knew that Kingfisher (aka Vernon) is ordinarily a children's author: In some children's novels, people just happen to discover a new world, and the adventure immediately starts. But here, there is all the confusion, the hesitation to believe, the "wtf?" of it all, as the two main characters have to mentally process everything that's suddenly happening. It's a more adult rationale, or I should say a struggle to rationalize something inexplicable. Because the overall vibe is like a smooth mix between The Twilight Zone, Lovecraft, and Narnia, and Kingfisher takes her time to allow the characters to be mind-blown, and frightened yet curious, once they find themselves in this predicament.
In that respect, it furthermore helps that the story takes its time to establish the unusual scenario before upping the creep factor. It helps build suspense, and at the same time it allows us to get more acquainted with the characters who find themselves in this situation, and that's always a foolproof way to make the reader care more when the characters are in danger.
The novel also slightly defies your expectations of this type of story, in the sense that the scenario is a bit more grounded in reality. The characters keep expecting all sorts of monsters, but one of the eeriest elements is how the other place seems strangely similar to our own reality in many ways (which is not to say that there aren't any creatures at all, mind you). But nevertheless, Kingfisher manages to introduce some terrifying ideas into the story, such as how your own thoughts can end up killing you. I mean, just imagine; if you're told NOT to think about something, how impossible is it to stop doing so?
There are some other sudden turns that defied my expectations too, such as the question of whether they'll ever find their way back, and when/how they'll do so, but I don't want to get much farther into spoiler territory than I already have. Let's just say that when those turns appear, Kingfisher still manages to add new layers to keep the suspense going in new directions. Because of this, there's never really a dull moment, and the writing is captivating from beginning to end.
Now I may just have to look up Blackwood's original novella at some point.
I looked up information about The Willows and some key elements from that story are certainly reused and morphed into modern horror in Kingfisher's novel. The idea of the mysterious willows themselves is of course the main part, but even the mention of strange occurrences by the River Danube, ominous shapes peeking through reality, the gong-like noise, and so on.
I was unaware of any of this when I started reading, and didn't discover it until I read the author's notes at the end. But it retrospectively added a whole new layer to my overall reading experience, which was already fairly positive. I have to repeat, although purist literature enthusiasts might cringe at this comparison, that if Blackwood's original story had been a movie rather than a novel, Kingfisher's novel would have been a solid remake, true enough to the source material for it to be familiar, but innovate enough to make it her own. (It makes me think of the 1951 movie The Thing from Another World and John Carpenter's 1982 remake The Thing) Of course, that's slightly an assumption as I've only checked out the summary of Blackwood's story and not actually read it yet; the summary simply gave away enough details for me to see the resemblances.
As for The Hollow Places itself, I found it to be an enjoyable read. The writing has its light, humorous moments, which had me chuckling a bit at times. Not exactly flat-out comedy sequences, just a funny way of describing some unusual scenarios and quirky personality traits, as well as witty dialogue every now and then. The descriptions of Beau the cat are unquestionably the observations only fellow cat lovers and owners can make.
I like the slightly realistic approach to stumbling upon another dimension. And I had ironically noted down the following before I knew that Kingfisher (aka Vernon) is ordinarily a children's author: In some children's novels, people just happen to discover a new world, and the adventure immediately starts. But here, there is all the confusion, the hesitation to believe, the "wtf?" of it all, as the two main characters have to mentally process everything that's suddenly happening. It's a more adult rationale, or I should say a struggle to rationalize something inexplicable. Because the overall vibe is like a smooth mix between The Twilight Zone, Lovecraft, and Narnia, and Kingfisher takes her time to allow the characters to be mind-blown, and frightened yet curious, once they find themselves in this predicament.
In that respect, it furthermore helps that the story takes its time to establish the unusual scenario before upping the creep factor. It helps build suspense, and at the same time it allows us to get more acquainted with the characters who find themselves in this situation, and that's always a foolproof way to make the reader care more when the characters are in danger.
The novel also slightly defies your expectations of this type of story, in the sense that the scenario is a bit more grounded in reality. The characters keep expecting all sorts of monsters, but one of the eeriest elements is how the other place seems strangely similar to our own reality in many ways (which is not to say that there aren't any creatures at all, mind you). But nevertheless, Kingfisher manages to introduce some terrifying ideas into the story, such as how your own thoughts can end up killing you. I mean, just imagine; if you're told NOT to think about something, how impossible is it to stop doing so?
There are some other sudden turns that defied my expectations too, such as the question of whether they'll ever find their way back, and when/how they'll do so, but I don't want to get much farther into spoiler territory than I already have. Let's just say that when those turns appear, Kingfisher still manages to add new layers to keep the suspense going in new directions. Because of this, there's never really a dull moment, and the writing is captivating from beginning to end.
Now I may just have to look up Blackwood's original novella at some point.