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Welcome

I started this blog in 2013 to share my reflections on reading, writing and psychology, along with my journey to become a published novelist.​  I soon graduated to about twenty book reviews a month and a weekly 99-word story. Ten years later, I've transferred my writing / publication updates to my new website but will continue here with occasional reviews and flash fiction pieces, and maybe the odd personal post.

ANNE GOODWIN'S WRITING NEWS

Three spooky reads for Halloween

19/10/2017

6 Comments

 
If you like to be scared, Halloween is the time for it, and if you like to be scared by a book, any of these might do. The first two are about houses haunted by their history are described as Gothic horror. The third seems to be going that way, but then veers off into a different kind of disturbance which, for me, provided the richer read.

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Two Dark Tales: The Niche & Jack Squat by Charles Lambert

Aardvark Press is publishing these two Gothic novellas, from the author of The Children’s Home, on the theme of be careful what you wish for in flip-book design, leaving the reader to choose which to read first. I plumped for The Niche, about an eleven-year-old boy discovering supernatural means of wreaking revenge on the bullies at his new school, but I much preferred Jack Squat in which the adult characters have more complex motivations. Read on for a summary.
 
Gordon’s unemployment, and subsequent financial problems, is causing friction in his relationship with his partner, Omar, and rendering life in the countryside south of Rome less than idyllic. When an English friend asks if they can assist Dutchman Cees in finding and purchasing a quirky-but-traditional home in the area, for a fee, it seems the answer to their problems. Who cares if the property they identify comes with a history and one of the four brothers who own it is reluctant to sell? Cees loves it and is soon camping in the grounds awaiting renovation. But his former partner back in the UK is getting worried about is increasingly crazy communications. The couple agree to drive out there to check up on him, but only when they can spare the time from another dodgy real-estate project. Have the pair been economical with the truth, and will they be free to take the money and begin a new life in France, or will they have their comeuppance?

Broken River by J Robert Lennon

Eleanor has persuaded her husband, Karl, away from the distractions of Brooklyn to spend a year in house by a forest near the small town of Broken River. She a successful novelist, he a less successful sculptor, they can make out it’s for the sake of their art, but Eleanor hopes to put a stop to Karl’s philandering and thereby save their marriage. But it doesn’t look hopeful: Karl is more childish than their twelve-year-old daughter Irina, and then there’s the legacy of the house.
The house they’ve chosen has stood empty for over a decade after a brutal double murder. Like many unresolved crimes, this has become the focus for internet speculation, irresistible to a precocious preteen with a lively imagination. Unwittingly, an image Irina posts on the site brings the killers back to the area, spelling danger for the family and their new friends.

The novel opens with the original murders, but I’m afraid I abandoned that chapter after the second “if an observer …”. This Observer is a ghostly presence that, unnecessarily my opinion, peppers the later narrative, but is less of an irritant once you’re sucked into the characters and plot. That tricksy narrative device aside, J Robert Lennon’s eighth novel is a page-turning thriller about a couple who never should have got together in the first place, and certainly should never have had a child. Thanks to Serpent’s Tail for my review copy.

Universal Harvester by John Darnielle

After the death of his mother five or six years ago, when he was sixteen, Jeremy is playing safe with his job in a video hire shop (it’s the 1990s) in smalltown Iowa where he was born. When customers begin complaining about some odd footage cutting through the films they’ve hired, he decides to take a look. You know how something glimpsed from the corner of your eye can be more disturbing than the full story? The snippets on the tapes are a bit like that, dark and poorly focused, but strangely compelling. Soon he makes out a canvas hood, yellow twine and the fields and barns of the local landscape. With occasional interjections from a mysterious first-person narrator paralleling for the reader Jeremy’s experience of the tape, the scene seems set for a tale of modern Gothic.
 
But the focus shifts from Jeremy, his father and colleagues at the store, to a whole new set of characters. Newly married with a small child, and psychologically adrift, Irene joins a religious cult with a disregard for personal hygiene. Soon she’s abandoned her family without warning or explanation. Her daughter, Lisa, spends the rest of her life trying to find her. Jeremy, with a mother-shaped absence of his own, is responsive to her distorted cry for help.
 
Thus a horror story morphs into a meditation on yearning and loss. We do discover how and why the videos were doctored, but it’s not quite as spooky as we are led to expect. Does that make for a less satisfying read? I thought so, as I closed my copy, courtesy of publishers, Scribe). Not a patch on John Darnielle’s debut,
Wolf in White Van, which (albeit after a shaky start) I loved. And yet. As soon as I finished reading, I began pondering my response to the significant losses in my own life and, from there, back into my current WIP from a slightly different angle. Originally entitled (slightly ironically) Closure, it’s about loss of mothers and mother-figures, but I might not have been sufficiently sympathetic to my character, Henry, who – like Lisa in Universal Harvester – still holds out hope of a return after decades of separation.
 
On further reflection, then, John Darnielle’s second novel is an intelligent and honest account of the impact of childhood loss and a refreshing antidote to the sugar-coated “closures” a less courageous writer might inflict upon his readers. The theme emerges not only through the narrative arcs of his characters but also in the parallel process of the reader’s experience of not all expectations being met. That he achieves the latter without undue frustration is testament to his literary prowess.

Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
6 Comments
Charli Mills
20/10/2017 05:37:23 am

Tales of terror in time for all hallow's eve! I like both the historical aspect and psychological tensions of scary stories, but I'm not into being scared on purpose. Universal Harvester might be of interest though!

Reply
Annecdotist
20/10/2017 04:26:05 pm

I did think the “upstate New York” setting might put you off Broken River, Charli. Another American, although I think he favours the midwest, John Darnielle is an extremely original writer, well worth a try.

Reply
Susan link
20/10/2017 12:19:19 pm

I absolutely agree with you about J Robert Lennon's The Observer. Mercifully, its appearances were few and far between but I never managed to fathom the point of it.

Reply
Annecdotist
20/10/2017 04:29:07 pm

Glad to know it’s not just me being curmudgeonly! But, really, if I had picked this up in a bookshop I would’ve put it straight back down again. Since the observer isn’t the narrator, I had to wonder just who is observing the observer?

Reply
Norah Colvin link
15/11/2017 11:06:31 am

Better late than never, Anne.
I'm not into either the supernatural or being scared. I think reading The Exorcist when I was pregnant may have been the last straw. I agree with Charli though, your afterthoughts about Universal Harvester make it sound interesting. I always enjoy the psychological aspect. I'll be interested to know how reading this book may influence the development of your own novel.

Reply
Annecdotist
16/11/2017 09:10:52 am

Aargh, The Exorcist when you were pregnant and sounds pretty scary. It was one film I walked out of which was rather embarrassing at the time.
I’ll have to see when I read through my WIP whether I’ve been sufficiently sympathetic to my character. Things aren’t looking so good for him on the piece I’m working on right now.

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