GHOST STORY

The book’s opening hooked me right away. It started out with a man and a little girl traveling somewhere. The reader figures out quickly something isn’t quite right, as he ties the little girl up to him when they sleep. It was extremely creepy and intriguing. LOVED THE BEGINNING! I shot through the pages early on, but unfortunately readers don’t find out what that situation was until the end of the book. And the book was long!

There’s a reason the book is regarded as one of the best horror novels of our time. Straub, like Steven King, has a way with creating interesting characters, and making the mundane interesting. He is a master at creating suspense, settings, and portraying sensory details in a very natural way. At times, I found myself getting lost with many of the characters’ backstories and inner monologues, however, having said that, I felt the pacing was off. That’s the only problem I had with this book, and for me, it was a big problem.

I don’t know if I would have finished the book had it not been an assigned reading, even though much of it was amazing. (I know that’s contradictory) But, I believe today’s audience, in the day of microwaves, supersonic jets, quick and dirty political debates….wait, those things were around in the late 70s’ too, anyways, people today, to include myself, are looking for a quicker pace. Ghost Story’s pacing was like me playing a game of golf. Most of my time spent on the course is slow going, and almost miserable, but every so often I hit a thrilling shot, which for a while re-motivates me, but not enough to play more than once every two years.  

After the awesome opening, the story transitions to five older men who belong to a group called the Chowder Society. Basically these old coots tell scary stories and drink alcohol, it actually sounds kind of fun. But, this is where the story really slows down. Each man in the Chowder Society has their own story and come to find out they are all interrelated, all being haunted by the same complex, supernatural being which they had met when they were much younger. The concept was perfect and well played out, but like I said, there were just too many parts that lagged while getting to the climax.

The book’s suspense was the highlight for me. During certain scenes, I couldn’t stop turning the pages, and it had me wishing for more. Several situations stand out in my mind. For example, the scenes with Peter and his hooligan friend were fantastic, especially when they broke into the strange woman’s home. The “werewolf” at the bottom of the stairs was extremely gripping and I gotta say when he slammed the jerk-off’s head into the wall I wasn’t too upset, however I was terrified for Peter.

I know I have quite the following with this blog, so I don’t want to reveal any spoilers here, so I’ll end with some final thoughts: I enjoyed the small town setting and how the residents started to unravel as the supernatural being began to envelope the people. People started to lose their decorum and go back to their primal roots. It was as if once the snow melted (and I loved the isolation factor) civilization would have found the town in ruins, and people behaving worse than a Belasco dinner party.

Overall, I’d give the book an A for substance, but a C for pacing. The final grade: B