I wasn't expecting to enjoy this book so much! This "lost horror novel" is written in two parts that each have a slightly different tone and genre. PaI wasn't expecting to enjoy this book so much! This "lost horror novel" is written in two parts that each have a slightly different tone and genre. Part One focuses on spouse-murder and its resulting paranoia, in the style of Patricia Highsmith. Part Two is the creature-feature that brings out the worms. Sometimes the tone is Gothic, sometimes darkly humorous, sometimes strictly horror. It's a fast read and thoroughly entertaining....more
I was disappointed by this collection as I feel it's not Matheson's strongest material. Even he admits in the afterword of some stories that they're wI was disappointed by this collection as I feel it's not Matheson's strongest material. Even he admits in the afterword of some stories that they're weak. That being said, "weak" Matheson stories are still better than most authors' efforts. But I only enjoyed two or three of these....more
The quotes and reviews on the cover of my 1973 copy make this book out to be the most terrifying thing you'll ever read. I feel sorry for people in 19The quotes and reviews on the cover of my 1973 copy make this book out to be the most terrifying thing you'll ever read. I feel sorry for people in 1973 if this is what passed for horror before Stephen King came along. Burnt Offerings is in fact a slow burn that fizzles out, and barely qualifies as suspenseful. It's a cliched story by now: happy family moves into a stunningly cheap house and they become possessed by the malevolent spirits within. I haven't read enough from the pre-1970s era to know if "haunted house possesses a new family" was a trope at the time or if it became a trope later. But there's nothing noteworthy or memorable here....more
I picked this book up at a library sale because of my interest in anthropology. I liked it up until I decided to do a deep-dive into the author's backI picked this book up at a library sale because of my interest in anthropology. I liked it up until I decided to do a deep-dive into the author's background. My deep dive proved shallow, as I discovered that her account of a spontaneous year living with the Yanomami of northern Brazil likely never actually happened. Born Regine Thal, she did study anthropology but then gave up her doctoral studies to become a cult follower of Carlos Casteneda. She changed her name, obscured her background, and published this supposedly true account that has been panned in anthropological journals and is almost certainly fictional.
How convenient that she burned all her field notes and gave away her camera to an Indian who deliberately exposed the film - yet she remembered everything about that year in precise detail. How convenient that she had no pressing matters, no obligations, and literally no responsibilities anywhere, so that she could give up her current field work and trek into the jungle on a whim and be gone for an entire year with no outside contact. How convenient that she was "immune" to mosquitoes and snakebite, never got her period the entire time, and apart from a brief fever never experienced any illness or physical discomfort. How convenient that her only pair of underwear lasted an entire year in the jungle intact despite her not wearing any pants.
She claimed to have struggled to learned the tribe's language and dismissed herself as not being fluent. But all conversations rendered in the text (in proper English syntax and grammar) are deep, advanced, occasionally philosophical, rich in vocabulary as well as poetry and song. She relates conversations that would be impossible for anyone not fluent in a language. She immediately made friends with everyone and had a deep sister-wife connection with several women in the tribe. She had no enemies apart from the men in another tribe who wanted to kidnap her for the novelty of having a white woman. She thought this was funny. She giggled way too much throughout the entire book, even at the thought of rape. And yes, she was raped - by a shaman, and she enjoyed it.
Despite those disappointments, it's actually written well, very lyrical, and the descriptions of the village were so precise that when I saw photos of a Yanomamo shabono they were exactly what I'd pictured in my head when reading. But it shouldn't be regarded as anything but fiction that was patched together from other researchers' field studies and publications. ...more
Another book that was falsely marketed as a horror novel, this is about a mentally disturbed teenage girl (Danielle) who can't cope with her mother's Another book that was falsely marketed as a horror novel, this is about a mentally disturbed teenage girl (Danielle) who can't cope with her mother's suicide so she disassociates and hallucinates that she's a fish. Her father's an ichthyologist who runs a fish farm and has aquariums all over the house, so it doesn't come out of nowhere. Frankly, it would have been more psychologically interesting if her dad sold insurance or something, so that her fish hallucinations would have no clear origin. Later she has nightmares that she's part of a violent Amazonian tribe from her mother's native home in Brazil. At first I thought the nightmares were leading somewhere, and that there would be a suspenseful denouement, but no. There's no clear connection at all about why she's hallucinating about being part of the Yanomamo tribe, especially when we learn at the end that mom's ethnic heritage is actually from Spain???
Both Danielle and her therapist are afraid that her father murdered her mother, but it turns out they're wrong; mom committed suicide for unknown reasons. And once Danielle learns this, she's magically better, I guess?
This book is also way more sexual than I was expecting. Danielle's new therapist and her father instantly are attracted to each other and WAY too much of the book is devoted to their sex scenes. Like the latter half of the book becomes some romance novel, it's really boring. Danielle's hallucinations of being a fish also involve sex. I get it, she's a teenager going through puberty and trauma and has no physical outlet, but it's weird. ...more
So! Many! Exclamation points! This book was clearly written to be turned into a movie, and though I haven't seen the movie, I assume it's just as campSo! Many! Exclamation points! This book was clearly written to be turned into a movie, and though I haven't seen the movie, I assume it's just as campy as the book. Overall good for the creature-feature action-thriller genre, minus points for the stupid romance thrown in at the end. Also the end was a complete mess, but most of the book was a page-turner....more
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