SYNOPSIS:
Growing up in 1980s Niagara Falls - a seedy but magical, slightly haunted place - Jake Baker spends most of his time with his uncle Calvin, a kind but eccentric enthusiast of occult artifacts and conspiracy theories. The summer Jake turns twelve, he befriends a pair of siblings new to town, and so Calvin decides to initiate them all into the "Saturday Night Ghost Club." But as the summer goes on, what begins as a seemingly light-hearted project may ultimately uncover more than any of its members had imagined. First, I'd like to apologize for going so long between reviews. The world is a dumpster fire (everybody please donate to RAICES thank youuuu) and it sent me into a depressive spiral where even the idea of picking up a new book felt like an insurmountable hassle. But I'm back, I think, and I can't imagine a better book to have brought me out of that slump. This book is so far the only one I've ever seen that gave me the exact same feeling at the end as "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?" That's the highest compliment I know how to give. I knew from the opening pages that I want to buy a million copies and just pass it out to everyone like candy. Now sometimes books can open like that and disappoint you by the end, but SNGC started at "you are getting my Highest Goddamn Praise" and kept that up all the way to the end. Craig Davidson easily makes my buy-everything-they-write list with this one. Reactions/lines: ((spoilers below)) -- "And that, Jake, is why owning a pet is a big responsibility." Of course he explains that through the alligators-in-the-sewer legend. I love Uncle Calvin. (also, I need that bracelet he's wearing) -- No really I love Calvin and his method of dealing with the closet monster is fantastic. -- 'The city of my birth is only a few hours down the highway if traffic holds steady, and a part of me will always belong there.' -- "Congratulations on solving the big case, Sherlock." I would die for you -- I would *live* at the Occultorium. -- omfg the snakes in fast food restaurant ball pits -- "If it works-- it doesn't always-- it will open your dreaming channels. Galvanize your subconscious circuitry and invite your grandmother to make contact. You would dream her into existence again, just for a little while, to say a proper good-bye." I love the way he is with kids. No condescension or awkwardness. -- SPIRIT PHONE. -- 'We broke into the funeral home at eight o'clock the following night.' thatescalatedquickly.gif -- "The guiding part of her, the part you loved and that loved you...it's already gone. It's part of the atmosphere now, like the steam rising off a bath. So yes, she can see those trees. She can see the monkeys in the Brazilian rainforest or the rocks on the moon if she wants." ... "All that's left now is the ceremony. Doesn't really matter if she's in a coffin or a canoe or a fire. The ceremony is about respect for the dead and a sense of ending for the living. Every story needs its conclusion, yes?" ...I want an Uncle C. -- "Okay dad," I said dutifully, because that's what kids said when adults got weird.' Heh -- 'The girl was eight years old when her file landed on my desk.' Ohhhhhh I don't want to read this section do I -- "And this monkey's paw? Morocco. This All-Seeing Eye? Romania." Dove tapped the side of her nose. "And if they happened to have come from a warehouse in Taiwan I guess the tourists wouldn't know the diff, huh?" "Between you, me, and the doorknob?" my uncle said. "No, they wouldn't." I love everybody in this bar; nothing bad is allowed to happen to any of them. *eyes rest of book warily* -- "Dove, baby, did you take your..." Huh. Wonder what she takes. Antidepressants, antianxiety? Not sure how prevalent things like that were in the 80s. -- "Your father trusts my movie choices again?" he asked hopefully.' oh my god Uncle C what did you do -- "Welcome to the Screaming Tunnel, boys." We were standing before Cataract City's most haunted spot. My folks had forbidden me from going there-- a common decree of all the adults in my town. Why scare the daylights out of yourself? went the conventional adult thinking.' have they *met* teenagers -- "Let's get a fire going," my uncle said. "And I'll tell you a story." I'm having Midnight Society flashbacks here and it's *great*. -- "Now the legend is, if you go into the tunnel and strike a match on the stroke of midnight, you'll see the girl standing right in front of you, watching you. Then the match will go out, even if there's not a hint of breeze. Then...it's just you and her in the dark together." no that's fine i wasn't planning on sleeping this week -- 'I wanted nothing to do with her eternal misery-- it seemed invasive and cruel to even seek sight of her, no different from going to prison to gawp at a wrongly convicted man.' I love this perspective. So much of the time you have the points of view of people who are 1) so intensely curious they never stop to think about it this way, 2) so skeptical they think there's no chance of ghosts being real, or 3) determined to prove the existence of life after death whatever the cost. -- 'Now, all these years later, I choose to remember that as only another dream.' No freaking wonder. -- 'The girl had found them-- two pulsing blips of familiar, loving light-- within the dimming corridors of her brain.' See I read gorgeous bittersweet lines like that and I just *know* this book is going to shatter my heart into a million irreparable pieces in the end. -- "It was night, they say." "They who?" Dove asked. "They who first told the story, those whose names are lost to the mists of time." My uncle grinned. "Good enough?" "If they say so, Calvin." The sass. <3 -- "...she may be a preta. What are known as hungry ghosts. I've heard them described as humanoid, but with shriveled, mummified skin, spindly limbs, long thin necks-- almost giraffe-like. Giant bellies and small, sucked-in mouths. Hungry ghosts are born when a person dies wanting something, be it love or hope or sanity. That's why they have slender necks and gigantic bellies. Pretas have enormous appetites but lack the ability to satisfy them." what exactly does craig davidson have against my ability to get a good night's sleep -- Ohhhh Dove please be safe sweetie -- 'the gnawing fear of possibility' is one of the best descriptions for that awful aspect of parenting I've read -- 'She rebuffed the bass player's invitation to head back to his place.' She is *fourteen* I will KILL you unnamed bass player. -- "Light them up," the man said, gesturing again at the fireworks. "Or is there some other game you'd rather play?" I WILL KILL YOU TOO don't test me you leave my adopted children alone -- god DAMN Dove I adore you so much -- 'I never told my parents what happened that night. Now I wonder: How often does that occur? A boy comes within an ace of death or disappearance, then returns home and goes to sleep and his parents never suspect a thing.' Been there. -- I really have to talk some more about the scene at the junkyard because it's so, so well done-- I *know* that creep who came after them. I've met several incarnations of him throughout my life (all when I was under 18) and I had to put the book down and pace around for a few minutes because it was so horrifyingly familiar. That hollow-chested realization that nobody's coming to rescue you, that you have to think of something and *fast*... threw me right back in time. -- 'It was only much later that I understood. Unable to stop the momentum, Lex treated what was happening as an unavoidable collision: if he steered into the crash with Calvin, maybe they would both be flung harmlessly aside. And if things were predestined for ruin, well, at least my uncle would hit terminal velocity with an old friend at his side. Lex was wrong in almost all of this, but I could sympathize: my job has shown me that is what people do when those they care for are suffering.' What is coming what is he foreshadowing here oh god I cannot handle thiiiiiiis -- 'My uncle had once warned me that a pack of wolves roamed outside the city limits... It's the strangest thing, he'd told me. You will only hear the howling on nights when the moon is full. Must be a coincidence, hmmm?' I know this is all about to go tits-up somehow but I genuinely love this guy so much. -- Gently, Lex said, "We're right there with you, Cal. Isn't that right, boys?" oh god this was Calvin's house he's about to talk about what happened to his wife and I am not ready -- 'Can you imagine it? You open your front door and invite death inside.' Excuse me I have to go build a panic room -- Jake's wife has not been named...is it Dove? -- The Goonies mention yessssssss -- Kick the little prick's ass, Jake. -- Ah, I see where Percy-the-creep gets it from. -- "Honestly, my dear, I find myself struggling to care." Cecilia = parenting goals. -- 'You will love that comet, but part of that love-- a percentage impossible to calibrate-- is tied to your inability to understand it. How can that comet burn as it does, pursue the trajectory it does? It confuses you, because the comet disguises itself as a human girl. But make no mistake, the girl contains fire to evaporate oceans, light to blind minor gods.' **makes sacrifices to aforementioned gods to someday write something this good** -- Fortean Times! -- OH GOD no no no I'd guessed about the house but Not This -- 'My uncle's mind had settled on this act of erasure as a coping mechanism. In the short term at least, why not allow him some peace?' ;_______; -- The epilogue is spot-on perfect and that. last. line. Waterworks.
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SYNOPSIS:
Once, Osgood and Frost were the up-and-coming stars of the burgeoning paranormal investigation TV show craze before a hoax put an end to their friendship, partnership, and television careers. Now, over a decade later, Prudence Osgood is a barely-functioning alcoholic ghosthunter for hire. Her yearning for mystery and adventure is reignited when she receives a cryptic, untraceable email. She can't resist embarking on an investigation that tugs threads winding through a sinister series of disappearances, her former partner's family, and a night twenty years ago when a semi blew a yellow light and nearly killed her. This book has so many things that I love-- ghosthunters, snarky humor, liminal spaces-- but the main standout to me are the characters, especially Osgood. She's so broken and trying so hard and I loved going on this journey with her. (Also, I cannot overstate how lovely it is to have a queer lead in a horror novel.) I can't wait to spend more time with this crew. Quotes/reactions: ((spoilers below)) -- 'How had she allowed her alcohol supply to dwindle to zilch? Oh, yes, money is required to procure alcohol.' Hey look it's me but with Ben & Jerry's. -- ...I want to go to Mary's. -- 'her place of safety where she could come and drink and not be terribly concerned about roving bands of toxic masculinity' *snerk* -- 'Before he left, he made a big production of showing her how to lock and unlock the knob lock and deadbolt.' Zack is the Sarcasm Friend and I love him -- "Yes, Osgood," said Zack. "It's terrific that the girl you took home was old enough to not put you in legal jeopardy." I agree with the sarcasm here. ((also, this is the only part of the book that initially made me a bit uncomfortable. Because while twenty is, yes, a legal adult, the age gap there made me twitchy, especially after Osgood spent much of the book trying to ghost her. It did help that the author made sure there wasn't a blatant power imbalance between them, and that Osgood finally reached a place where she could communicate with Nora honestly)) -- "I don't want to be a fraud." Os. :( -- "Maybe another time." "Maybe." Awww, Nora. -- I was NOT expecting that illustration AHHHHHHH -- "He might decry her drinking and most of the decisions she made while she did so, but he knew why she did it." <3 -- Chronic back pain is no joke (my husband lives with it). I just want to give Os a very careful hug and universal health care. Also, Zack is a sweetheart and such a good friend. -- "Whoa, fucking Angelfire?" *dead* -- The multitude of missing posters is horrifying. -- holy shit Os you should not be driving *at all* -- "Smug isn't a good look, Zack." "Neither is strung out and sleep deprived, but I still love you." These two. -- "We've cut out our eyes now we can see" AUGH -- "Tell me, is Osgood still a drunk?" "Yes?" "Are you?" "I don't drink." "How on Earth do you stand her, then?" ohhhh shit -- 'She'd forgotten the cardinal rule, hadn't she? Always make sure *all* the sex toys are put away before company comes.' pfffffft -- "C'mon," said Audrey, standing and reaching out her hands. "Let the broken help the broken." Osgood reluctantly took those hands and shakily stood.' I love them so muuuuch -- some kind of creepy subliminal messaging on the record? -- 'hipster yeti' I'm dead. That guy needed a slap or three -- poor Nora -- 'U seemed so excited about the [ghost emoji]!' An unrelated ghost, or something that could help with the case? What do you bet Os could've figured something out a lot sooner if she hadn't been so hell-bent on ghosting (ha) this poor girl? -- Do NOT go out with her, April, not until she gets her shit together. -- "It's almost a shame to open this. MIB and all." "Men in black?" asked Osgood. "Mint in box," said Zack with dismay. "Seriously, men in black?" It's okay, Os, that's where my mind went, too. -- This entire book is an indictment of the American health care/mental health system. -- "Because without the love it would've hurt less." my heart -- Oh my god these illustrations stop that (also, most horrifying nightmare ever. I cannot deal with the eye-mutilation stuff. NGH.) -- 'with a hellhound on my trail' and a band that was ridiculously successful even after a lead singer's death from an unknown cause? Are we doing a Robert Johnson deal-with-the-devil plotline?? -- "No. By a blues musician in the 30s. Robert Johnson." YESSSS -- 'She heard a pop and wondered if someone had dropped something.' oh NO -- AGAIN WITH THE EYES -- "I think I dropped my phone in Kansas." <3 -- "I seek an audience with the Lord of the Hinterlands." Audrey you badass/dumbass. -- "Sometimes knowing isn't better." Poor Caroline. And god, Audrey, how is she going to be able to live with this?? -- (all things serve the Beam) NICE -- "At least I won't be naked when I die." Prudence ilu -- 'She laughs, and the laugh draws the jawline downward, mouth opening far too broadly.' -- "I'm bored," she says, and points toward the Skylark. "So I'm going to get in that car and run you right the fuck over." LOVE ETERNAL. -- "You are able to sidestep between worlds, as I can." iiiiiiiiinteresting -- And Caroline there yelling him down, too, YES -- "Have you no mercy, child?" "None." That's my girl!!!! -- "Fuck your end." Audrey, HOLY SHIT, just when I thought I couldn't love you more -- I'm glad you guys are alive and okay and all now FIND ZACK tearful hugging later -- 'To promise never to take him for granted again. To treat him the way she always should have.' There you go. <3 -- "Did I say that out loud?" asked Osgood. "You did." *cackle* -- Yay, Nora!! And actual healthy communication, I'm so proud. -- ...HEY WAIT WTF -- so the second book is coming out tomorrow, yes? |
A WORLD WITH A BLUER SUNMy reviews are set up a little like live-tweets: I write down lines I like/impressions as I read, and then transcribe. Reviews will contain spoilers, but I'll give a warning before they start. Archives
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