Peter Straub
first published in 1979
★★★
Synopsis
For four aging men in the terror-stricken town of Milburn, New York, an act inadvertently carried out in their youth has come back to haunt them. Now they are about to learn what happens to those who believe they can bury the past.
I loved the story and think it was really well developed, so it’s not a surprise that the renowned author Stephen King considers this book a classic among the horror stories. Although I really enjoyed the book, I found myself criticising some parts of it, and that’s the explanation for my rating. I’m conscious I’ve read the translation in Portuguese, and it changes a lot the reading experience though. Besides that, this edition presents some revising issues – I love this Brazilian publisher, Darkside, and think their covers are all amazing, the quality is outstanding, the book pages are really well designed, but I’m always annoyed by mistakes that could be avoided with a good revision.
I found it so interesting to read a horror book which depicts old people (about 70 years old) as the main characters. It was not something I expected and it came as a positive surprise. However, while reading the book I was bothered by the lack of charisma in the characters. I couldn’t sympathise with any of them, so I was not so impacted by what happened to them.
Regarding the narrative structure, I loved how Straub built it. The story has a third person narrator, but the author plays switching from a point of view to another, which reminded me of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The narrative is built in flashes, dictating the reading speed, and the author masters it well. When approaching the clímax, the narrative flashes become shorter, quickening the action, drawing the reader to the story and arousing curiosity. From this point on, I couldn’t stop reading the book!
This book is definitely a horror classic, and despite of a few negative points, Straub knows how to use writing techniques in order to create the perfect atmosphere. It gave me goosebumps and sometimes I would even startle during the day. I look forward to reading more books by him!
Manitou
*** this section contains spoilers ***
In the middle of the book we are presented to the myth of manitou. Stella Hawthorne asks what it is, but the author only gives a simple and poor explanation. This caught my attention and I guessed it could be relevant to the story. That was confirmed some pages later, when Gregory says they can be called manitous.
I believe Straub wanted to give us a hint about the evil beings he created for this book, and that’s why he wouldn’t give the whole definition of the myth. He left the idea in the air, and the if readers are paying attention, they would get it. So, according to Jacques Marquette, quoted in the Illinois State Museum website, “each [person] has his own god, which they call their Manitou. This is a serpent, a bird, or other similar thing, of which they have dreamed while sleeping, and in which they place all their confidence for the success of their war, their fishing, and their hunting.” The link between the evil beings and the manitou becomes really clear here.
Both of them are entities that appear for somebody in their dreams, and are closely related to this person. “I am you”, a frequent sentence in the book. Straub’s beings play with their victims in their dreams and imaginations, and it is in this instance that they can be defeated. And the beings can’t be easily killed: they change into animals to escape.
I loved how Straub used a myth from the Native American folklore in his book, not relying only upon the more “famous” creatures, as vampires and werewolves (although they are mentioned too).
Thoughts of One's Own 