Ghost Story by Straub
I was expecting to shit post this novel. However, at about the 60% mark, though, I have to say it kept me. Getting there was rough, but when I got there, I was good. I want to say, I think Scott is out for me and endings. Book two on this list that the end was absolute genius. I mean, the actual ending, not the epilogue that is, could have lived without that. Had the prologue been chapter one and the actual end, the end, it would be gold.
I have a tough time seeing this as an actual ghost story. I feel like this belongs more to the monster subgenre. That is not because of the mentions of vampires or werewolves, but because the characters were dealing with what was a shapeshifter. This story reminded me a lot of King's It. Considering it was published before King's novel, I am sure there is some inspiration King took from it. He even gave it a glowing review in his craftwork, Danse Macabre. I don't know if I consider a shapeshifter haunting more than a monster. That and the first half of the novel seem to be my only significant qualms collected. When we think about hauntings, we thing ghosts and demons. Shapeshifters seem more on the supernatural creature side like vampires and werewolves. I could be totally off, and they could go with the witches. I never know where we should put witches when it comes to subgenres.
As far as characters go, Don was the best one by far. There was no part that involved Don that I felt bored reading. His narration view of the prologue was so intriguing. The story was never dull when we followed him (the prologue ties back around to the epilogue well). He even kept me in the epilogue despite not wanting to actually read it. A lot of the characters I hated. I hated the spike of infidelity and unfaithfulness. I guess we don't really think about this when it comes to much older characters compared to younger ones and sexual affairs, so kudos to Straub, I guess? The members of The Chowder Society really felt like nothing more than placeholders to me. John's death was by far the best one in the novel.
That all being said, I picked out a few quotes that really stuck with me from this work.
"After all, as a novelist wasn't I too kind of a liar? My profession consisted of inventing things, and of surrounding them with enough detail to make them believable;" (Straub 211). What a quote this is, especially for a horror writer. I feel we rely heavily on creating these crazy scenarios and have to make them real to really tick the fear. I really hated realism, but I love to take things and unimaginably spin them and make them FEEL real. The more I grow as a writer through reading and other writers, I learn the significant distinctions between my two main genres (horror and bizarro). Thanks to Scott and Mike, I have grown so beyond the I merely want to disturb you, and I don't care if you believe it. In horror, we have to have a realism to set the fear that needs to be achieved through the page. ANYWAYS, do I think this novel did that itself? Not per se. This novel, unfortunately, did not leave me feeling like a shapeshifter would be interested in me. Then again, I have never attempted to murder one in disguise. If you have, then you may be wondering or feeling uneasy. ;)
"I wonder when you so-called creative people are going to realize you can't get away with murder" (Straub 224). Ah, but we can sheriff, but we can. Clearly, so many people got away with murder here. It was not just the Chowder Society and their accidental killing of this strange supernatural creature, but all the minions of the beast itself. Now, shapeshifters either duplicate the disguise or destroy the one that exists and replaces it, in most lore. Obviously, it could not be pursued and legally held accountable, but when we think about it, did John save all his patients? Did Sears and Hawthorne win all their cases? I guess that is where they symbolism falls in. While creatives have that free range to make it all up, real people do ruin/end the lives of other real people OUTSIDE of actually murdering them.
Speaking of sentimental messages, on page 504, Don and Peter are conversing. Don tells Peter about an old friend of his who used to spend time in the library. She had a friend, her roommate, who tried to protect her from vileness. He says no one can really protect you. You have to get through it without letting it break you until you get to the other side. If I may get personal yet again, I really loved this because of my endless battle with getting my meds correct last year. There wasn't anyone to protect me from my delusions and hallucinations. I had to get through them on my own until I got medicine that worked for my paranoid schizophrenia.
When I was early on in the book, I was reading reviews about how this was one of the greatest novels in Horror. I doubted it. It was taking me forever and a half to get through the first portion of the story, but I am happy I did. It is a great book. Do I think it belongs under a haunting category? No. But, I do think it deserves the excellent reputation it has.
The book was much better for me once we hot the 60% mark, I agree. I was much more interested in the monster/shapeshifter plot than I was the vague stories from all the different characters at the start. I haven't read/seen IT, but I do like that in Ghost Story we get shapeshifters that make their own appearances rather than taking on the form of someone they have killed. It's an interesting premise, having them invade the minds of people and use their memories and loved ones to plant thoughts in their head (like that humans are lesser than shapeshifters). It was an interesting take on a mythological creature I am semi familiar with.
ReplyDeleteI also adored the quote, "After all, as a novelist wasn't I too kind of a liar? My profession consisted of inventing things, and of surrounding them with enough detail to make them believable;" (Straub 211). It stuck with me and that would be something I would print out and put at the beginning of a notebook to keep me inspired during writing.
P.S. I totally agree that the end was amazing and the epilogue was unnecessary. If I had been Straub's editor, I would have said cut the prologue and epilogue and leave the book on a cliffhanger with Greggory and Fenny dead but Eva Galli still out there hunting.
DeleteAlexis, the quote by Don that you picked out was one I loved, too! I want to take that one and frame it next to where I sit and write.
DeleteI liked the prologue because it kept me wanting to find out the details about Don's journey with that girl in his car. First, it was, "who is she? Don seemed like a good guy. Why did he kidnap someone?" Then, once I realized she was an A.M. "junior," it was, "How did he get her in there? And why was he was tempted to knife her, but never did?" The epilogue, on the other hand, seemed problematic. I felt that it devolved into goofiness with Dr. Rabbitfoot. (I was not too fond of Dr. Rabbitfoot.)
Since you mentioned it, I want to share how much I empathize with your struggle with hallucinations and getting your meds right. My son had schizoaffective disorder with hallucinations and thought disorder symptoms. I'm glad that you came through that battle. There should be a medal or an awards show for people who have had that success.
Back to the book. I loved it too. You say, "In horror, we have to have a realism to set the fear that needs to be achieved through the page." I love that sentence. It's so true. Since so much of this novel took place outside our own time and the parts that were present-day involved characters whose lives don't mirror the lives of everyday people of the 2020s, I agree with your assessment that Straub's work didn't have that reality/horror contrast. That's okay. As you say, it wasn't a ghost story but belonged more in the monster sub-genre. I think the "Ghost" in Ghost Story was the individual self-haunting of each man in the Chowder Society by their guilt and shame.
Yes, I estimate the book started clicking for me 2/3 of the way through, so somewhere between the 60-70% mark. What kills me is that wasting the first 2/3 was totally unnecessary. In my opinion, there are multiple options for reorganization and restructure so that the entire narrative could have been pleasurable. I'm normally a huge fan of the story-within-a-story technique, but I also felt the Chowder Society stories fell flat. You are a much more generous and forgiving reader than I am. After wasting so much narrative, there's next to nothin an author can do to salvage my good opinion.
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