Tag Archives: Gothic

Another Faust by Daniel and Dina Nayeri

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Synopsis:
Five teenagers at an elite Manhattan private school game the system–because they’ve sold their souls to the devil.

Review:
When I picked up Another Faust, my expectations were low. I figured it was going to be yet another first in a series capitalizing on Gossip Girls and Twilight. Don’t get me wrong–I figured I would like it–but I didn’t expect anything more than light entertainment.

So I was thrilled to realize that Another Faust was a spiritual and literary heir to the Gothic tradition I so adore. Shades of Shirley Jackson, a little Stephen King, and quite a lot of imagination mark this debut novel from brother and sister team Daniel and Dina Nayeri.

The five Faust teens, all fifteen years old, have enrolled in an elite Manhattan boarding school. Three of them use supernatural gifts to get ahead. Victoria reads minds so that she can take down her academic competition. Belle uses her beauty to compel those around her to do her bidding. Valentin goes back in time to redo moments and events to his advantage. Meanwhile Belle’s twin Bice hides in frozen moments, preferring isolation over competition, and Christian tries to quell his desire for athletic prowess because he fears losing his humanity. Tended by governess Madame Vileroy, the five Faust teens hurtle towards a reckoning that they can’t anticipate.

I was so impressed by Another Faust. The story is wholly original, the characters riveting, and the plot imaginative. I loved all the horror and supernatural elements. It’s a book that could’ve been written just for me, because it’s exactly what I like. I know I’ll reread it numerous times. It’s smart and riveting and deep. Good stuff!

The Unseen by Alexandra Sokoloff

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Synopsis:
Reeling from a betrayal by her fiance, a psychologist finds herself fascinated by Duke University’s research into the paranormal from the early 20th century, and decides to replicate one such experiment that ended in tragedy and closed down the department for good.

Review:
I’m so glad Superfast Toddler took a loooooong nap today because I don’t think I could’ve taken another night trying to read The Unseen in a dark bedroom with only a tiny booklight. I finished in the bright June sunshine and I’m still creeped out.

Duke University really did have a department dedicated to investigating the paranormal, though the Folger Experiment of Sokoloff’s book is fictional. Laurel, the main character, starts delving into the recently released files from the experiments, and when she draws a connection between the the closing of the department, the death of its head, and her Duke alumna uncle’s catatonia, she devises an experiment that will take place in a so-called haunted house.

Sokoloff is unquestionably influenced by Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, though her story is a true original. I was thoroughly sucked in by her storytelling and characterizations. I love a good ghost story, and The Unseen is top notch.

The Glass of Time by Michael Cox

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Synopsis:
Upon arriving at Evenwood as a lady’s maid, young Esperanza Gorst discovers that she is in the center of a plot to topple her mistress.

Review:
The Glass of Time is Michael Cox’s follow up to The Meaning of Night, continuing his Wilkie Collins-esque tale of intrigue and revenge with a Bronte-inspired suspense melodrama. I devoured it like a madwoman in an attic.

Raised a lady in France, Miss Gorst is an unlikely choice for a lady’s maid. Her breeding and manners make it clear that her fortunes ought to be much loftier. But her gentility is what appeals most to Lady Tansor, nee Emily Carteret, the woman beloved of Edward Glyver, ill-fated protagonist of The Meaning of Night. Still mourning the love of her life, Lady Tansor presides over Evenwood with a hauteur that repels Esperanza even has her generosity beguiles her. Esperanza knows only that she has been sent to Evenwood to perform a Great Task, but her guardian, Madame De L’Orme will not say more for now.

Readers of The Meaning of Night will quickly guess Esperanza’s true identity, and savvy readers will quickly discern the secret that tortures Lady Tansor. Yet this in no way diminishes the pleasures to be found in The Glass of Time. Cox revels in putting his characters through their emotional paces, savoring every nuance of attraction and offense between the various players. I enjoyed The Glass of Time tremendously and look forward to Cox’s next book.**

**I wrote this before receiving the sad news that Michael Cox passed away at the age of 60. I can’t help but think of the wonderful books that must have died with him. What a loss.

Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake

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Synopsis:
Titus Groan, the 77th Earl of Gormenghast, heir to a decidedly odd fortune, is born amidst violence and intrigue of a most peculiar time.

Review:
I was captivated by the prose in Titus Groan, the first book in Mervyn Peake’s decidedly unique Gormenghast trilogy. Peake was also an illustrator, and his writing is exceptionally visual in the way that he describes his characters. He comes up with the most idiosyncratic quirks I’ve ever encountered, for characters named things like Prunesquallor and Sourdust and Steerpike. He also writes quite cinematically, directing the reader’s eye around the action with a firm, controlling hand.

In terms of the story, it’s one in which hardly anything happens at the same time a million things are going on. The plot is alternately slow-paced and electrifying, moving from odd, ornery descriptive passages into violent duels and murderous intrigue. There isn’t a quest or a romance or a bildungsroman anywhere in sight, though the characters have ambitions a-plenty. One of the articles published with the trilogy suggested it be considered a fairy tale, and that makes the most sense to me. Titus Groan exists outside of any genre I can think of.

Vague enough for you? The truth is, as much as I admired Peake’s prose, I never clicked with the larger narrative. There wasn’t anything for me to latch onto emotionally, and while I can appreciate its literary significance, I can’t say that I loved it. I’ve always been more Tolstoy than Joyce, if that makes sense.

I’m aware that I’ve added nothing of substance to the discourse on Gormenghast, but my toddler has been tantruming all day and I’ve just had it.

Blue Bloods and Masquerade by Melissa De La Cruz

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I recently reviewed Revelations, Book 3 in Melissa De La Cruz’s Blue Bloods trilogy. I finally got a chance to check out books 1 and 2 in the series and would recommend them to anyone who wishes Gossip Girl had vampires. There’s scads of name-dropping and swanky NYC night clubs along with a really well thought out mythology that goes back to Puritan New England.

I’m glad I got a chance to check these books out!

The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox

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Synopsis:
Robbed of his fortune by a rival from his school days, Edward Glyver seeks vengeance and restoration under an assumed name.

Review:
The Meaning of Night is a cunningly plotted piece of faux-Victoriana, conjuring up Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins with a soupcon of sex that doesn’t feel anachronistic at all.

Edward Glyver’s nesting-doll tale gives every character a chance to tell his or her own life story, and Cox makes each one fascinating in its own right. Despite the near-constant digressions, Cox never lets us forget that Edward is on a deadly mission, and keeps up the suspense throughout. The story opens with Edward’s murder of an innocent man but it’s not long before I came into full sympathy with his plight, despite my disdain for his wicked act.

Cox captures the Victorian tone perfectly, and I took a lot of pleasure in all the traces I found of books I love. It could be that The Meaning of Night is a little too insider-y to be enjoyed without a background in its influences, but the story is airtight and quite satisfying.

Shelter Me by Alex McAulay

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Synopsis:
Sent to a convent on the Welsh Coast during the Blitz, a teenage girl finds herself on the run and afraid for her life–from the scarred, terrifying Mother Superior.

Review:
I am hoping that Alex McAulay is planning a follow-up to Shelter Me, because while he wrapped up the plot quite well, I certainly did not feel I was done with Maggie’s story. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll just say that where she winds up at the end is just as tantalizing as anything that comes before.

It’s not for nothing that Maggie keeps herself occupied on her long train ride from London to Wales with a copy of Daphne DuMaurier’s Rebecca. The headmistress of the Gothic’s influences are all over Shelter Me, though the plot has more in common with the lesser know and twice as scary Jamaica Inn. Storm-lashed rocky coast–check. Smugglers–check. Beseiged pseudo-orphan–check. Subbing Wales for DuMaurier’s Cornwall, McAulay hits all the genre’s notes extremely well and even manages to conjure up a believable female protagonist.

I really like when YA authors step outside of the dominant modes of realism or popcorn serials. Like Laurie Halse Anderson in Chains, McAulay writes historical fiction that feels fresh and urgent, and is likely to inspire readers to want to learn more about the time period. He’s not after goals as lofty as Anderson is, but he’s done his homework and brings the Blitz to life. I’m very glad that I got to check this one out and looking forward to discussing it with other readers.

Button, Button by Richard Matheson

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Synopsis:
A collection of short stories by a preeminent contributor to “The Twilight Zone.”

Review:
Button, Button is an uneven bit of business, purporting to highlight the very best of Richard Matheson’s “Uncanny Stories.” Some are good, one is spectacular, but others have not aged well.

First, the good:

“Button, Button” exhibits a flawless “Twilight Zone” concept and execution. Apparently a Cameron Diaz movie based on it is coming soon. Seems like a bad idea to me. The genius of the story demands a smallness not readily translatable to the big screen.

“Dying Room Only” is a quick and dirty thriller with great atmosphere, but a weak ending.

“A Flourish of Strumpets” seems more suited to the talents of Shirley Jackson, with its priggish couple assailed by a gang of prostitutes with the tenacity of door-to-door Jehovah’s Witnesses. Jackson would’ve mined the story’s full Gothic potential. Matheson keeps it clean but I wanted more quirk.

“Pattern for Survival” is a funny little tale about a most successful author. It took me a few reads to get the joke, which is quite subtle but highly rewarding.

The not-so-good:

“Creeping Terror” takes an amusingly sociological look at the spread of Los Angeles. It’s written like a research paper, a gimmick that doesn’t do it for me.

The outstanding:

“Girl of My Dreams” is a noir version of a gothic premise: a young woman who can see how people may die, and her blackmailing boyfriend have a disagreement over a mark. I loved the tone he maintains throughout. This is the one I’d most like to see as a movie.

“Mute” is quite different than the other stories, lacking either a gimmick or a stylized tone. It’s the story of a young man who can’t talk, and the people who are trying to usher him into the world of language. Ferocious and mysterious, this is the story that most sucked me in.

The Sister by Poppy Adams

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Synopsis:
When elderly Ginny’s sister returns home for the first time since she was a girl, old memories surface that threaten Ginny’s carefully ordered existence.

Review:
I’m incredibly thankful for the Queens Library for getting The Sister to me so quickly–I can’t remember the last time I read a book so recently published. The review in the New York Times made me think that it’d satisfy my aching desire for more books like Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale. Gothic intrigue. Family secrets. Opaque narration. Superfast love.

Of course, obtaining a book and actually reading it are two different things these days. We’ve dubbed 8-month-old Superfast Baby “The Path of Destruction,” which makes me wonder how I’m actually writing this blog post. Oh, right–because she’s eating the book, which she pulled off the dining room table onto the floor.

Book rescued. The Path of Destruction slept for both halves of our round-trip subway ride from Queens to Brooklyn and I got to read the whole darn thing in one day. Such a simple pleasure, taken for granted in my childless leisure. I’d forgotten what it treat it is to read a book cover to cover in a day, and The Sister was the perfect book to bring it all back.

The narrative is not quite as twisty as those crafted by my beloved Barbara Vine, but there was more than enough psychological complexity to make up for the lack of plot twists. For the record, I think that plot twists are way overrated and way overused these days–I’m so tired of trying to telegraph the surprise ending. Gothic does not necessarily mean misdirection. Sometimes the creepiest tales are also the most straightforward.

Huh? (Booking through Thursday)

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What’s your favorite book that nobody else has heard of? You know, not Little Women or Huckleberry Finn, not the latest best-seller . . . whether they’ve read them or not, everybody “knows” those books. I’m talking about the best book that, when you tell people that you love it, they go, “Huh? Never heard of it?”

A Candle in Her Room by Ruth Arthur tells the story of several generations of a family haunted by a charismatic and evil doll. It scared me silly as a kid, so of course I read it over and over and over. A large part of the appeal was that the book takes place in England, maybe in Cornwall or Dover, some place with cliffs at any rate, and the characters were named Briony, Dilys, and Dido–all wonderfully exotic to American me.

Not sure whether I’ll introduce it to Bea, or let her discover it on her own… I do have a copy for her. I don’t believe in sheltering children from books, but it’s different when it’s your own child.