I actually enjoyed both of the books we read for this week. I'll admit, I did enjoy "Heart-shaped Box" more, but I still liked the other.
I really enjoyed Joe Hill's writing style. He's my first glimpse into the King family, so I can't really compare him to his dad past the few pages I've read of "Under the Dome." One difference though seems to be that Joe Hill can appreciate a happy ending, or at least one that doesn't require the death of every character. This book definitely creeped me out. One of the things that scares me the most in horror movies is when a character turns around and sees someone who wasn't there before. I think an interesting thing that hasn't been mentioned yet but was about other stories such as "The Little Stranger" is the age difference between the characters. I know this culture Hill describes is different from mine, but it still bothered me. I can't imagine dating someone who is my grandparent's age. I'm curious though if this age difference bothered anyone less than the one in "The Little Stranger." Hill seemed to point it out more than Waters did.
Unlike others who have already posted, I actually enjoyed "The Shadow Year." I thought it was an easy read and super creepy. I actually had a difficult time reading this when I was by myself because I would expect someone to be outside my window. I agree with whoever it was who said this book was creepy because the scary things were real, like the serial killer and the creeper. I'll admit, there were some large holes in the book. I felt like Ford began certain plot points and just didn't finish them, i.e. the ghost. The ghost seemed like he should have been a more important character, but he didn't show up until halfway through the book and then just disappears. Also, the ice cream man didn't seem to make sense. He was there at the beginning, mentioned in the middle and then there at the end. I assume there's some deeper meaning to his character, though I'm not aware of it.
Also, could someone please explain what happens in the last sentence of "The Shadow Year"? I have no clue and it's bothered me since I read it.
On another note, I'm 200 pages into "Under the Dome" and am thoroughly enjoying it.
2 comments:
Even after class, I find the last sentence of The Shadow Year too unsettling. I feel that what is being searched for should be more obvious, but I find myself having to make stretches just to say that it's loss of innocence or youth or something. I think that there was a much better way to end this book, and in the ending I would have not liked that obvious clarification that Ray was dead. I mean, duh! We're not stupid, Mr. Ford.
Seems like a lot of people felt like Shadow Year was creepy, but I just didn't get that feeling. I think that the meandering style of the writing simply wasn't to my taste. I felt that overall tone was lacking, which to my mind subverted the overall creepiness of the book.
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