During October Hillingdon Libraries staff were set the challenge to read a horror novel… Oh, the horror! As part of our Literary Challenge 2017, they reviewed some horror hits. Happy Halloween!
We read and review fiction books on a set time every month, for you.
1. The Small Hand by Susan Hill
A supernatural chilling tale that is ideal for this spooky time of year. I can’t think of anything more creepy than feeling a small child’s hand take yours with no child visible. The story takes place in a derelict old house in the country. The author’s description of the current state of this early 1900’s derelict house is vivid, but when she described the house in its original magnificence, my imagination was filled with the visions I was reading about. I won’t go into the story line, that would spoil it, but this story has a modern classic feel about it. It’s good and atmospheric – just like a creepy tale should be.
4 out of 5 stars. Barbara – Ickenham Library
2. Carrie by Stephen King
I haven’t read many, if any, horror books so I thought that I should choose something by the master of the genre, Stephen King. ‘Carrie’ was his first published novel, written in 1973 and set in the (then) future, 1979. I nearly abandoned this book after the first few pages as I found the opening quite distasteful but I persevered and found it a fast read. Carrie is telekinetic; she can move objects with her mind. After being humiliated at the school prom she uses her powers to cause terror and destruction on a massive scale. I didn’t find this book chilling or scary (as the blurb had promised me). I think that if I had read it when it was first published I would have found it quite horrifying but unfortunately there have been some terrible real events in schools since that time and I can understand why ‘Carrie’ is one of the most commonly banned books in US schools.
2 out of 5 stars. Carol – Northwood Library
3. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
“Whatever walked there, walked alone.” These words end the superlative first paragraph of this haunted house story, and set the tone of dread and isolation. An investigator invites three young people to join him to live at Hill House in order to observe paranormal happenings. What follows are classic tropes of the genre – unexplained noises, writing on the wall, malevolent voices in the air – but Shirley Jackson is an unparalleled creator of terrifying atmosphere, so instead of being hokey or risible, what happens at Hill House really does fill you with horror. The remoteness and strangeness of the house is claustrophobic, and much of what transpires remains unexplained. Like all of Jackson’s best work, you’ll be left with a delicious, uneasy feeling that you’ll never entirely shake.
4 out of 5 stars. Darren – Uxbridge Library
Have you read any of these books? Do you enjoy scary fiction? You can borrow all these books from our catalogue. Thanks for reading!
Having met the author at the Girls on Tour Afternoon Tea at Haste Hill Golf Club as part of Culture Bite, I was excited to read this book and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. It’s a great story of what goes on behind closed doors, an ever-fascinating topic and in this book, one with all sorts of twists and turns and mistaken identities, all told with a light touch while covering some pretty deep issues.
There are sections of this book which are so visual, characterful or action-packed that when I remember them back to myself it’s like I’m watching a film. There are also moments when this book feels in good need of an edit, and perhaps turning it into a film would pick out the very best plots, characters and images. I don’t believe the book is always better than the film (‘Lord of the Rings’, ‘The Man Who Fell to Earth’, ‘Don’t Look Now’ to name a few) and as much as I enjoyed ‘The Goldfinch’ as a novel, I can imagine loving it as a film!
Tove Jansson set ‘The Summer Book’ on the last inhabited island before the open sea in the Finnish archipelago. A wild and unspoiled landscape, a home away from civilization, where a grandmother and her granddaughter live alone. Their daily life follows the rhythm of the holidays: occasional visits, storms, little adventures. This charming book possesses an ironic and light touch, touching on the complexity of living and the cruel impartiality of nature and time. Jansson’s happy childhood emanates from her writing: she conveys the delicate balance between security and risk, the thirst for knowledge, typical of children. Also, the need for loneliness and independence. At the same time, the need for affection. Sofia is a little girl who begins to face life, and her grandmother an older woman who has lived it deeply. They have a lot to learn from each another. I would love to see this book made into a film, a Finnish island as a set and a good script should be enough. And can I have Vanessa Redgrave alongside some talented child actress?
It may seem strange to re-read a crime novel as, surely, one knows ‘who did it’, but this series by Susan Hill featuring DCI Simon Serrailler is definitely worth revisiting. These books are so much more than crime novels; one gets completely absorbed in the Serrailler family. Although the crime in each book is complete in each book the family story continues throughout the series, so not only are you turning the pages to find out how the crime is solved, but you can’t wait to read the next book to find out what is happening in the family and see how the characters develop. This book is actually the fourth in the series and, whilst I would recommend starting with the first, in my opinion this is one of the most gripping. Serrailler must stop the serial killer who is targeting women in the cathedral town of Lafferton, at the same time dealing with tragedy in his own family. Susan Hill does not flinch from making bad things happen to good people. You will want to read the next book!
Not only have I read this twice, I’ve read it about seven times. I seem to exist in two states – ‘just finished The Crimson Petal and the White’ or ‘ready to re-read The Crimson Petal and the White’. It’s over 800 pages, and details the rise of Sugar, a Victorian prostitute living in London who aspires to a better, more comfortable way to exist. It’s often reviewed as the novel Dickens could not have published (it won’t spare your blushes) but it’s also a postmodern take on the Victorian novel. Told in the first person, with a narrator who leads you in then abandons you, it’s absolutely compelling. Despite all the pungent sex, it’s fair to consider this a feminist novel as Sugar takes on the patriarchy and seems to succeed. There’s a great host of supporting characters and enough plots to fill another 3 books. I love it. (And if you want to know more about some of the stories and characters, Michel Faber has written a book of short stories that fill in some gaps.)
‘The Hours’ is the only novel I have read three times. I am sure I read some collections of short stories as a teenager many times, but this is the only full length novel that I have read more than twice. And I will probably read it again. Michael Cunningham wrote a story so dense and rich and filled with complex characters and their lives that, since the first reading, I thought it somehow mirrors the complexity of real life. It also includes an amount of indelible paragraphs, and this is part of its charm. The author famously wanted to write a book based on ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ by Virginia Woolf. Within this frame, the lives of three women mirror each other across space and time. One of them is Woolf herself. All in a moment of crisis, all linked by a pattern of cross references and correlations. I think of ‘Cloud Atlas’ by David Mitchell as a sort of expanded ‘The Hours’… The moments which mirror ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ are so many that they almost force you to read Virginia Woolf’s novel again, or in parallel, which is a good thing in itself. I loved the Hollywood film made out of this novel, which features Meryl Streep, mentioned in the first chapter. ‘The Hours’ also won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. What can I add? Please borrow it from your local library and read it, possibly twice.