SYNOPSIS: Tananarive Due, a winner of the American Book Award and an Essence and Los Angeles Times bestselling author, brings you her debut short fiction collection! The title novella, Ghost Summer, won a Kindred Award from the Carl Brandon Society (originally published in The Ancestors). This collection includes Patient Zero, The Lake, The Knowing, Herd Immunity, and many other stories.
This book is such an amazing, perfect way to kick off Women in Horror Month. My favorites are the ones set in Gracetown, but none of the stories left me with a 'meh' reaction. ((special mention to Free Jim's Mine, because I started that one, had to get the kids to bed, and then woke up the next morning having somehow sprained my wrist. Couldn't write notes on it, but I *had* to finish it anyway and then read it aloud to anyone who'd hold still long enough)) There's a theme running throughout so many of the stories of children forced to grow up before their time, sometimes to the point of parenting the adults in their lives. The kids in these stories, god; I love all of them. Quotes/Lines (spoilers below!) THE LAKE -- Abbie is very much striking me as the 'too much money and too little sense' type. Who drops $150,000 on a house on a whim?? -- 'But there would be boys at the school, strong and tireless boys, who could help her mend what needed fixing. In her experience, there were always willing boys.' UM. This is setting off creeper-bells. -- 'In retrospect, she was foolish. But in all fairness, how could she have known?' There's just a subtle skin-prickling wariness to the tone of this story that I love. -- 'No rows of desks would mar her classroom' *how do you do, fellow kids gif* -- Dismissing the girls immediately and being way too studious of the boys. The way she's thinking about Derek-- he is sixteen. He's a kid. Hire a goddamn contractor like the rest of us lady -- oh no he's fifteen even worse -- "But you know, Derek, it's easy for people to get the wrong idea if you say you're going to a teacher's house..." His face was bright red now. "Oh, I wouldn't say nothing. I mean...anything." RED ALERT HELL NO I HAVE READ 'GIFT OF FEAR' THIS IS GOING NOWHERE GOOD this kid better make it through okay i stg -- "It's all right if you don't have trunks," she said. "My back yard is private, and there's no harm in friends taking a swim." Where's a gator when you need one -- 'That was what she and Mary Kay had always believed. Anyone who thought differently was just being politically correct. In ancient times, or in other cultures, a boy Jack's age would already have a wife, a child of his own.' The hell is wrong with you?? Is your friend Mary Kay Letourneau? -- HOLY SHIT IT IS -- oh god this ending. GAH. **full-body shudder** SUMMER -- 'Grandmother had passed three summers ago after a stroke in her garden, and now that she was gone, Danielle had a thousand and one questions for her. The lost questions hurt the most.' My grandma passed from Alzheimer's last year, and the truth in this. -- 'Danielle wasn't sure if she was patient and wise, or if she was a tragedy unfolding slowly, one hot summer day at a time.' This LINE. -- 'The baby's legs banged against the crib railings, but Danielle knew her wailing was only for show. Lola was thirteen months old and a liar already.' ...okay, you absolutely need some help before you do something unforgivable. That is PPD rearing its ugly head. -- So her husband suspects she might have it, but she's determined she's too strong for such a thing to affect her. That's such a common, awful trap. -- "Only a fool would buy one of those plots." I love connected short stories. -- *thank you* for calling Odetta. Also hooray for horrifying mental imagery that will never go away, I have never been more glad that my kids are past infancy -- "I bet there's some folks who see it as a blessing in disguise, even if they'd never say so." I had PPD, and I would have. Ohhh, this is gonna unsettle me for *days*. Just picture me holding the book at arm's length as I keep reading. GHOST SUMMER -- 'Later, Davie would wonder why he hadn't realized right then that something was very, very wrong. Had known, maybe, but hadn't wanted to.' Poor kiddo. -- 'Not 'Mommy', he reminded himself. He was twelve years old now. He was going to middle school in the fall, and he'd heard enough nightmarish stories about middle school to know that if any of the other kids heard him call his mother Mommy, he'd come home with a bloody nose every day.' He's not wrong. Middle school = hell on earth -- 'Watching, Davie remembered that Dad hadn't always been a grown man. He'd been a little boy once, just like him, and he looked like a boy again, clinging to his mother in a way he always warned Davie not to cling to Mommy. Mom.' I'm fascinated by whatever ghosts he's looking forward to seeing, of course, but even without the supernatural elements, the human narrative here, this little boy navigating his way to adulthood, is just captivating. -- 'Ignorance was the only mercy he could still do for them.' Bless his little heart he's trying so hard and needs a hug -- 'Neema wasn't just a ghost hunter-- Neema, it turned out, was a kamikaze.' I love this kid too. -- 'She knows, Davie realized. She wants to know if I know too.' *sound of my heart shattering into a million pieces* -- 'But he lay that shotgun on his shoulder and walked away. That's the part everyone forgets.' I'm gonna cry -- 'The secret weighed heavier with each passing moment. But the Timmons boys carried it. They were stronger than anyone could have imagined.' Babies what happened to you oh god -- 'If the three boys weren't hurting, they wouldn't be trying so hard to be heard. But Neema didn't need to have that spelled out. Like all ghosts, they just wanted their story known.' <3 -- "This one time Davie. I need you to grow up very fucking fast." THIS IS NOT GOOD FOR MY HEART RATE -- 'Combined, their feet sounded like an army, and Davie hoped they were.' FREE JIM'S MINE -- so this was where I sprained my wrist and took no notes but just know this story absolutely kicked my ass and it's amazing THE KNOWING -- 'I guess she fells like she'll be all right if she just runs away from it, as if you could run away from your own head.' What a situation. :( -- "Mama, it ain't you. Knowing ain't the same as deciding. TV Guide don't decide what's on TV." This kid is amazing. -- "Telling to hurt somebody is the worst thing a person can do. Even the devil couldn't do nothing worse." ... 'I don't think she can help it. I was only six when she did it to me' Oh look all my sympathy for the mom just evaporated -- 'When you grow up around someone like Mama and you hear about it all the time, you know everybody has a turn, and you just try and find something interesting every day to make you glad it hasn't happened yet.' Ohhh, hon. That's so mature and a position you never should've been put in. I wish you could've stayed with Rosa. LIKE DAUGHTER -- 'So, yes, I understood why Neecy needed looking after. No one else was doing it.' This entire situation is infuriating and heartbreaking. -- 'Neither of them had learned, after two divorces, that people can't be applied to wounds like gauze.' DAMN. AFTERMOON -- werewolf story ahhhhhhhh -- "How did you know about me?" "The music. If you didn't have the genes, all you'd hear was Muzak." Worldbuilding adoration ahoy. (also the doctor's sense of humor is perfect) TRIAL DAY -- 'Bernadette never said these things aloud like an evil stepmother in a fairy tale, but she didn't have to. Letitia knew words were only part of who people were, and usually the least important part.' *fills out adoption papers for yet another fictional child* -- No wonder he shrank in her eyes. Also, the sheer toxicity of her father's relationship... -- "This is one o' them times you got a choice, Letitia. You can do what you want and hope things don't turn out wrong, or you can do what you know will make things right." 1) that is a hell of a line 2) I had a cat named Midnight so I'm just gonna skim from this point on thanks -- OH thank goodness -- 'The sound of that purring engine as it drove away was as sweet as the memory of Daddy's laughter with Brother on the porch that night.' my goddamn HEART help PATIENT ZERO -- 'But Veronica told me the NFL people had a meeting and decided not to have football anymore' This story is going to hit SO hard right now isn't it -- 'I've been staring at my Dan Marino picture all day, and I think the handwriting on the autograph looks like Dr. Ben's. But I'm afraid to ask anyone about that.' Ohhhh kid. -- "People are giving it to each other. They don't usually know they're sick for two weeks, and by then they've passed it to a lot of other people." ...so when was this written again -- Just the little hints of how *badly* things are falling apart outside, brrrrrrr -- 'She said it was the security code for my door. She said she wanted to give the code to me because my buzzer wasn't working, and I might need to leave my room if she overslept and nobody came to bring me food.' This amazing woman, trying to give him comfort and normalcy as best she can. DANGER WORD -- ZOMBIES!! ((normally not my thing, but at this point I would buy a copy of a restaurant menu if Tananarive Due wrote it so I am curious)) -- 'He'd done what he had to do to save the boy, then shut the memories away where they couldn't sneak into his dreams. Then drank enough to make the dreams blurry.' I love you so much sir -- 'Daddy, she'd called him. She hadn't called him that in years.' Oh okay so this is going to be a multiple-tissues story -- His love and practicality with this kid even when he knows the worst is coming I *cannot*. Also going to pick up the two YA zombie novels she mentions in the afterword; neverending TBR list! REMOVAL ORDER -- oh NO not fleas visible like that. We had a regular at the donut shop and you could see the fleas crawling on his white socks when he came up to the counter. -- My grandma was fortunate to never get bedsores, but all the rest of this, having to move her and her screaming in pain and just not understanding why any of it was happening... worst memories. -- 'A gunshot exploded inside the house.' Yeah, I thought that was what he was going to do. Jesus. HERD IMMUNITY -- 'He left a trail of candy wrappers. Chocolate bars mostly, always the minis.' My apocalypse counterpart. -- "People who were careful," he said.' Yeahhh, because everyone else who got sick just wasn't as dedicated to their safety as you are. Jackass. -- Taking the stuffed elephant from the fair, bless -- Ohhhh, I don't want to know what's inside the Rescue Center please do not open the door thanks. -- 'Make sure everyone in your party takes a full cup. Parents, watch your children drink before drinking yourself.' oh god no -- 'Kyle slept on as Nayima pressed her lips to his.' WHAT the HELL. He SAID he wanted you to stay back. No still means no in the middle of the apocalypse, lady-- and what if he actually did get lucky instead of being naturally immune? Slim chance, but not for you to decide. -- 'By dawn, Nayima awoke to the sound of his retching. ... Nausea came first. Nausea came fast.' oh christ, this was told in such a sweet way, trying to find connection in a destroyed world, but really you stalked and murdered a man. Go to hell. -- 'The man didn't turn to look at her as she stood over him and picked through his things.' Go to hell *faster*. Also, I like how he's back to being 'the man' instead of Kyle or someone you absolutely 'can't' live without now that you ignored his explicit wishes and killed him. CARRIERS -- 'Naymia's sleep had turned restless as she aged' Oh, so happy to see you got to have a long life, asshole -- 'She fired once into the dark and hoped she'd hit him. Fucking cats.' I remember you being so happy to see Tango after your grandmother was killed. Is that part of you entirely gone, after everything you went through and everything you *did*? -- ...she named one of her pet cats Tango. I am feeling things against my will here -- 'Of course he did. Toys and gadgets. That was Raul.' Yeah, god forbid the guy like the read, or remember his family and happier times and want to talk about them. Just awful. -- 'She jacked a shell into the chamber. "You could've shot me before I did all that work," Raul said.' Pffffft. -- "She doesn't have one," he said. "What?" "Nobody bothered to name her. In the records, she's called Specimen 120."' noooo, poor baby -- 'Makeup had yet to make a comeback, except the enhanced red lips favored by both men and women. Full of life.' I love this little worldbuilding snippet. -- 'the anecdote about her extracted tooth violated guidelines' Oh, well, we obviously can't have THAT. I wouldn't go anywhere near that place either. -- 'dear Jesus, this angel had Gram's nose and plump, cheerful cheeks' **cries** SENORA SUERTE -- You seem pleasant. Eesh. -- I love the story of how this piece came about. VANISHINGS -- 'A mother should see it first, not last.' So much denial and pain, all through this story.
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SYNOPSIS:
Someone, or something, is haunting the ship. Between mysterious disappearances and sudden deaths, the guests of the Titanic have found themselves suspended in an eerie, unsettling twilight zone from the moment they set sail. Several of them, including maid Annie Hebley, guest Mark Fletcher, and millionaires Madeleine Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim, are convinced there's something sinister--almost otherworldy--afoot. But before they can locate the source of the danger, as the world knows, disaster strikes. Years later, Annie, having survived that fateful night, has attempted to put her life back together. Working as a nurse on the sixth voyage of the Titanic's sister ship, the Britannic, newly refitted as a hospital ship, she happens across an unconscious Mark, now a soldier fighting in World War I. At first, Annie is thrilled and relieved to learn that he too survived the sinking, but soon, Mark's presence awakens deep-buried feelings and secrets, forcing her to reckon with the demons of her past--as they both discover that the terror may not yet be over. Brilliantly combining the supernatural with the height of historical disaster, The Deep is an exploration of love and destiny, desire and innocence, and, above all, a quest to understand how our choices can lead us inexorably toward our doom. It's not often I find a book that's catered 110% to me: historical horror? Check. Romance? Check. Queer characters? Check. THE TITANIC? Check. ((I played Mrs. Widener in a college production of the musical, and this post will forever be one of my favorite things. I LOVE THE RMS CARPATHIA SO MUCH)) Add in that it's written by the same person who wrote one of my favorite historical horror novels ever, The Hunger? Cue me checking the website every day to see if preorders were available yet. It's a beautiful, heartbreaking read, and I loved every minute of it (even when I was mock-yelling at Alma Katsu on Twitter because WHYYYYYYY) This is also one of those books that I can't wait to reread, so that I can spot little hints and foreshadowings and then cry even more. Quotes/Lines: ((spoilers below!)) -- 'Someone once told her that the stars were merely sewing pins, holding the black sky up so that it did not come down on the world and suffocate it.' -- 'She is our only daughter and, despite her frailty, her weaknesses, despite anything she may have done, we love her dearly.' I trust you about as far as I can throw you, Mr. Hebbley. -- 'I shall never forget the last time I saw you, jumping into those dark, icy waters. We thought you had lost your mind, made senseless by the terrible shock of it all. But only you had seen the baby tumble into the water. Only you knew that there wasn't a moment to waste. Annie Hebbley is the bravest girl I have ever known, I thought that night.' Annie. <3 And then to never see the baby again, oh man. No wonder she's hidden herself away. -- 'What they say in the newspapers is true: this is surely the war to end all wars, for we could never surpass its horrors.' *cries* -- Violet Jessop!!!! *Titanic history nerd freakout* -- 'Gotten used to being surrounded, once again, by strange voices and smells and sights, even if she still felt them like a film of cobweb against her skin.' -- "You're coming to us with no nursing experience, Miss Hebbley. In just a few days' time, we'll be in a war zone taking on fresh patients. You have a lot to learn and there's not a moment to spare." Man. :( -- 'Her most important job, Annie quickly sees, is to listen when they want to talk. ... It's nice to be on the other side for a change, the one helping instead of the one being helped.' Sweetheart. <3 -- 'He's not as young as many of the infantrymen, maybe in his early thirties.' Owwwwwwwww. -- 'This is all her fault. Was there something she'd missed when she'd been talking to him before? She can't help but feel she should have known he was about to try to take his life. Should have felt it, sensed the will to live slipping away from him like a visceral loss, like a change in air pressure.' *gives Annie all the hugs and cookies* -- "So, tell me, how was your first day?" Not great timing there, Charlie. -- I *love* time skips in novels, going back and forth in a certain character's life. One of these days I've got to try my hand at it. -- 'The Catholics on staff had been warned to keep their religious insignia out of sight for the duration of the voyage.' Huh. That's something that had never occurred to me. -- Aw, bless, Annie loves this ship so much. -- 'The baby felt comfortable--almost familiar--in Annie's arms, even though she had little experience with infants, having been the baby of the family herself.' ...I'm going to be sobbing uncontrollably by the end of this book, aren't I -- I'm getting the feeling that Dai and Les have something going on, or at least Dai wishes they did? I may just be wishful thinking because hiiiiiiiii constant grabbyhands at representation. -- 'Waves like blue wolves. He could see their white fangs. Were the wolves singing? No, there was a woman who controlled the wolves, a witch of the depths, and it was her song. ... The rail was there and no one was looking and the metal felt cold in his hand when he began to climb.' How does she write something so gorgeous and so creepy at the same time I AM COMPOSED ENTIRELY OF ENVY -- "Look, I know. I heard it, too. It's all right. You're safe now." Dai, you have now moved into my Favorite Character space (Annie is a veryvery close second; she just started getting a little creepy as soon as Mark came into the picture so I'm waiting to see how that turns out) -- "That's enough, Teddy. You should know better than to speak out of turn." *prepares laser eyes* -- Oh yes, such an unconscionable oversight to have only two thousand bottles of wine on board for a week's trip. *boots Lady Duff-Gordon into third class and moves Dai and Les into her quarters* -- 'The other advantage to cocaine is that it is not thought to be addictive, as is laudanum. Better to err on the side of caution.' Oh nooooo, please be okay, Caroline. -- Lillian? **curious** -- 'Sometimes it made her want to cry, this playacting. As if she could still be protected. As if the sickness and hte horror hadn't touched them both.' I deeply need to give Caroline a hug. -- Ondine, that's a beautiful name. And something sea-related, if I'm remembering right. -- 'And then there was the baby. No matter how much help she received, she couldn't avoid the fact that motherhood simply wore her out.' Yep. Hugs. -- 'Caroline had been drawn to her (Lillian) immediately, had envied the intensity of her and of Mark's passion for her. Had wanted--no, needed--to be part of that in some small way.' Are we actually heading for an OT3 (however tragic) in a historical novel that I'm not writing because I will just cry tears of happiness forever. -- Ohhhhh noooo, Teddy! (and man, I keep forgetting that Madeleine Astor was only 18) -- 'Besides, Eliza and this Anne Hebbley looked nothing alike. And yet there was something about the stewardess that unsettled him. Made him feel sad and...guilty. Terribly guilty. A guilt he was unable to escape. He thought he'd made his peace with that. Had served three months at Coldbath Prison for what was, he insisted to this day, an honest miscalculation.' What kind of 'honest miscalculation' did you have with a 13-year old?! Keeping an eye on you, Stead. -- 'She'd rather wait on patients than pernickety rich passengers.' Some things change, but retail remains constant. (that guy going on and on about quail or duck eggs, chicken only if absolutely no other option? I was so proud of her for not whapping him on the head with her tray) -- I need to look up dubheasa. (and I love Annie comforting the poor man who was having a panic attack) -- 'And this time, he belongs to no one else. He is alone. He is hers.' Uh, Annie, sweetie, the creepiness is coming back by the truckload. -- 'It was as though the sea were conspiring in this funeral for the dead boy by conjuring up the fog to hide him from prying eyes. Cossetting him in the softest blanket of cloud for his last journey.' -- 'Rather than comfort her, she watched as his bearded face grew red with fury, the kind that always seemed to be boiling just below the surface of his skin. ... That was the last family picnic with Auntie Riona and Granny Aisling, and Annie wasn't allowed to visit her grandmother ever again.' I knew Annie's dad was a dick. -- 'Mrs. Astor came unaccompanied to our meeting, insisted on coming without her husband. (Note: no evidence of husband's permission. Follow up with him separately?) UGHHHH. Also, Example #381340329 of why when people start talking about 'being born in the wrong decade' I side-eye. -- 'She'd wanted to be there, but John Jacob--Jack, as he liked to be called--had put his foot down. 'You're emotional enough about it...the last thing we need is for you to faint and a servant's funeral.' Time to get the Baseball Bat of Justice ready. -- "It's not like he was your child," Jack said under his breath. And swing -- I really hope the 'g*psy curse' thing doesn't play more of a role than this. Occultism was the big fad, yeah, but... -- "I know you feel bad about Teddy," Jack said. "I quite adore seeing your sensitive side. But you must try to put it out of your mind. All t his melancholy can't be good for the baby." She rolled her eyes. As if he knew what was best for the baby.' Attagirl!! -- 'How he'd gone undercover to purchase a 'hired' girl--a girl of only thirteen, no less--and taken her to a boardinghouse for the night, all in the name of 'research'. His goal had been to expose the ease with which the sex trade was conducted right under everyone's noses, right there in civilized England.' UM. -- 'The kind of people who would call for his public execution if they ever found out the desire he harbored in secret" I KNEW IT. Dai <3 -- 'He made you want whole, impossible worlds. As if wanting Les Williams wasn't impossible enough.' MY HEART -- 'The tale (girl who wore the ribbon around her neck) had always chilled Annie- its taunting nature, the embedded warning, and yet she could never decide what its warning meant. Was it that girls were fragile--fragile as a simple-knotted bow--and must be protected at all costs? Or was it that the only way they may prove their story true was to die for it?' Well damned if that's not a throatpunch of a line -- 'The factory where Lillian spent all her daylight hours burned to the ground, killing nearly every one of the women she worked with.' I understood that reference (couldn't have been the Triangle Shirtwaist, wrong location, but I wonder if this was based on it. Either that or there was a similar incident there because Let The Corporations Regulate Themselves never freaking works) -- 'No, please God. You've just reunited us. Don't take him away from me now. I've been a good girl. It's time for my reward.' Were you by any chance named after Annie Wilkes? STOP. -- 'There was a coldness in Caroline's voice. She had become a different person-- not the vivacious, chatty one who'd boarded the ship two days ago.' Well, given the potential PPD and the definite use of cocaine... -- 'She was fine. Perfectly fine. That left only one alternative.' Annie, whatever you are thinking, quit thinking it. -- 'Maddie's attention was riveted on the pale wraith in the gray uniform making her way through the crowd. That searching empty face with hungry eyes was like something in a mausoleum frieze.' ...that is a disturbing-as-hell mental image and I love how eerie this is. -- 'Even when he hated a con, it still felt good in the moment, to be in it with Les. To be on the same side.' <3 <3 <3 -- "I've barely been married a year and I can't say I recommend it." a) I can understand, given that your wife is on drugs without ever intending to be, but b) he is a stranger; quit complaining about your wife to a stranger. -- "Why don't you have a reflection? Don't you think that's odd?" Does she really not, or is Maddie so paranoid and panicky that she's imagining it? I love the "what's the actual truth" aspect so much but when I actually get the answer it's probably going to break me. -- 'Surely he wouldn't ask for a change (of nurse) if he knew he'd be losing her.' ...what did you do? -- Also quit with anything else but telling him that his kid is alive -- Oh Caroline, honey. She's trying so hard and just doesn't know what her 'medicine' is doing. -- 'The silver watch had been so beautiful, so touching--exactly what he would like to be able to give Dai one day, when he won his first big match in America, perhaps--that he couldn't help but lift it.' Awwwwwwwwwww ((I know, yes, don't steal, but awwwwwww)) -- 'To marry for love sounded incredibly wild and rebellious. She wasn't entirely sure she approved--she'd made her bed, hadn't she?--but it was fun watching someone else try.' I officially adore you, Maddie. -- "Yes, poor little boy. But he was just a servant," Mabel blurted. Cone of shame time, Mabel. -- The fact that Annie reminds Stead of Eliza and Mark of Lillian... -- Dai and Les are breaking my heart they're both trying to protect and help each other in completely opposite ways and please let them have the time to sort this out -- "Who are you conning, Les? Am I just another mark?" sweetie -- 'She's gone and gotten herself pregnant.' Now that's a neat trick... -- 'While he slept, she gently strapped his arms down to the bed so that he could not protest or push her away.' Okay, so there's going too far, going WAY too far, and then wherever the heck you're at right now. -- Oh thank goodness, at least she told him about Ondine surviving. -- 'I dove into the water after her. I helped save the baby.' Did Caroline drown naturally, or did she have help? Because...yeah. -- 'It was more powder than she was supposed to take in one dose, but she gulped it down anyway. A little more now and then, what difference did it make?' :( -- "I'm going to try to patch things up with Caroline. We're going to America to start a new life together--and I'm going to give it a proper go." *cries* -- "You can't pin this on Dai. He was trying to get me to do the right thing. He's a good man. Too good to be friends with the likes of me." These two had BETTER make it I stg -- Annie dammit they told you to stay out -- 'If I were married to Mark, this would be room. My things. My baby. My life.' Yeah. She's gonna kill Caroline. -- 'Caroline had been making Ondine sick. On purpose.' God I want to go into this book and protect Caroline from Annie so bad I know what's coming and noooooo -- "But half the seats are empty." "And we need a couple of your men to row." She wanted to tell him to save his breath; she knew what was needed and would make sure that it got done. Nothing mattered except that she survived. Honor didn't matter, nor chivalry. The story would be written by the survivors, in any case. Stories always were.' I...there are not sufficient words for how intensely I dislike you -- 'Dai would be looking for him for all the good it would do; no one was going to give him the key and even that great sweet lummox would not be able to tear that metal door off its hinges.' YES HE WILL DAMMIT -- MADELEINE omfg I love you so muuuuuuuuch -- "Me, I'm on one of those lifeboats if I have to dress in me grandmother's Sunday best." Understandable. (the reason why I'm pissed at Lady Duff-Gordon and not Les is because of course you'd want to save your own life or the lives of your loved ones. But she made sure that a lifeboat went down half-full. Do your best to get a spot, absolutely, but don't kill dozens (hundreds? I have to look up how many those boats held) to do it. -- "It's going to be hard, but you're going to be fine. I can't see all of the future, but I can see that. You have to be tough for your baby and your husband. They're both depending on you. Now, get into this lifeboat." I love you Les please live -- 'He felt a jostle beside him and there was Dai.' AHHHH <3 -- "Never doubt that I chose you." HEY WAIT NO HELP ;__________; -- 'She turned away, resigned to taking her seat, when a miracle occurred.' Terry Pratchett's quote from Interesting Times comes to mind here: "Whatever happens, they say afterwards, it must have been fate. People are always a little confused about this, as they are in the case of miracles. When someone is saved from certain death by a strange concatenation of circumstances, they say that's a miracle. But of course if someone is killed by a freak chain of events--the oil spilled just there, the safety fence broken just there--that must also be a miracle. Just because it's not nice doesn't mean it's not miraculous." -- "Hang on to Ondine, Mrs. Fletcher, and I'll keep you afloat." She would save them both. No matter what Caroline had done, it didn't mean she deserved to die.' Ohhhh thank goodness. At least poor Caroline's last memory isn't going to be Annie killing her and making off with the baby. -- "The mother is a lost cause. That's damned irresponsible of her. They could all drown." I don't see you jumping in to help, jackass. -- "Hold onto the side," another woman said. "You shall be safe enough." Again, I don't see you volunteering to take turns. -- 'Caroline--sweet Caroline. She says she will help me. Help us. She has asked Mark and me both to move into her home. I will have better care there. And though it is unusual--crazy, even--I am tempted to accept. ... We are both in love with each other and in love with her. It is a wonderful thing.' I'm gonna go live in an alternate universe where everybody lived and they raised Ondine together in an adorable triad thanks -- OMFG THIS JUST GOT WILD -- 'Ever since Ondine had arrived. ... He'd always loved the dark, complex winding of her thoughts, but now they seemed always to tremble at the edge of an abyss.' The idea of trying to make it through PPD before it was acknowledged... -- 'Only then would he tell Lillian about his plan. He didn't want to get her hopes up, not when she had been so black of late.' TWIST THE KNIFE WHY DON'T YOU -- This BOOK. I'm just floored. Also, I think this may have replaced Turn of the Screw for my favorite "unreliable narrator" story and that's a damn hard thing to do. SYNOPSIS:
Ghosts have always walked there. Now they’re not alone… In the depths of Edinburgh, an evil presence is released. Hannah and her colleagues are tour guides who lead their visitors along the spooky, derelict Henderson Close, thrilling them with tales of spectres and murder. For Hannah it is her dream job, but not for long. Who is the mysterious figure that disappears around a corner? What is happening in the old print shop? And who is the little girl with no face? The legends of Henderson Close are becoming all too real. The Auld De’il is out – and even the spirits are afraid. This is an odd review to write, because for about 80% of it I loved and adored it and it was an easy five-star rating: ghosts! Unique, incredibly detailed setting! Accidental time travel! Reincarnation! And then came the graphic rape/murder of two prostitutes (who were naturally never mentioned again, because what purpose do sex workers serve in a horror narrative but props in a Jack-the-Ripper homage?) and the entire thing kinda fell apart for me from there. And the reveal for the main whodunnit had some implications I didn't care for. That said, I will absolutely read Cavendish again- the idea behind the novel is fantastic and I loved her descriptive writing. Endings are hard to stick, especially with as many mysteries as she had going by the end. ((I did look up a couple of short documentaries on The Real Mary King's Close after finishing the book. Instant claustrophobia. Brrrrrr)) Quotes/Lines: ((spoilers below!)) -- 'They couldn't understand why she did this. Helping those too feckless, in their eyes, to help themselves.' I love you, ma'am. Also you need better friends. -- 'On cue, a corner of the room lit up gloomily to reveal a lifelike waxwork of a sickly looking woman, her face frozen in an agony of childbirth. She wore a filthy greying shift streaked with 'blood' and lay on one side, on the straw mattress Hannah had just described. The light shut off.' I don't know. A history tour of the Close sounds fascinating but something like that...there's a line between "times were dangerous and shouldn't be romanticized" and sensationalism. -- 'Mairead rummaged in the side pocket of her dress. "Damn. I've left my keys down there." Don't go alone! -- "I'll get changed and pop down for them. Won't take a sec." Dammit, Mairead, I liked you -- "This isn't funny. No one is supposed to be down here. Show yourself. This instant." "I don't think you'd like that." .......nope -- "Come on, Beth, you're making a spectacle of yourself." "Sir, I'm sure if your wife doesn't want to come down here, she doesn't have to. She can always wait for you upstairs." "No," he retorted. "I paid good money for these tickets." Now why didn't the ghost eat him? So fickle, I swear. -- "We've had a request from a group of paranormal investigators based in Leith. They want to do an all night vigil." This will end well -- OOOOOH, reincarnation? -- Ailsa is pissing me off, with the 'I'm worried, too, perhaps more since I've known the missing girl longer' and 'if she saw something (which Mairead told her she had; it's not like she'd made a huge habit of this before). -- "The little girl in the mist. She has no face." Yep, that'd be the rest of my life spent on a wide-open beach in Hawaii. No more claustrophobic alleyways, ever -- "Alone," Scott said. "It wants you to come alone." "No chance!" Atta girl, Hannah. You'd know how to survive a horror movie. -- 'Sorry about the letter, but I thought it was best this way. It must be a huge shock for you and this way we can avoid a scene and maintain our dignity.' You mean this way you won't have to face direct repercussions, you ass. (admitting to years of cheating and then breaking up with her in a letter? If the book had ended with Hannah tying you to a stake in the Close for the ghosts, I don't think I'd have blamed her) -- YAY using 'Romany' instead of the slur -- I'm thinking something is up with Ailsa (I mean, aside from her generally being a jerk) -- I am well and truly baffled by wtf is going on here. -- At least Mairead remembers things like involuntary committals to asylums and what medicine was generally like back then. -- I love Miss Carmichael offering to repair and clean Isobel's doll. ((well, technically, I'm sure her servant/maid is going to do most of the actual work, but still)) -- So Robbie does go with her! But he wasn't mentioned at the beginning flashback. Ohhh, what happens to the poor kid? Please don't tell me his parents made that horribly hard decision to let him leave home so early to get a better education only for him to have an accident in the supposedly-safer New Town. -- Yeah I'm just gonna skim over the rape/murders, thanks. Also, where the hell are their ghosts? They have just as much motivation to get rid of this creep as Miss Carmichael does, if not more (at least most of her killers were caught; I doubt their murders were much investigated at all). If we're going to veer toward Jack the Ripper style killings of sex workers mixed with the supernatural, can I for once please get the ghosts of his victims teaming up to kick his ass? -- 'Only the pressure of their hands on hers told Hannah the others were still there.' *waiting for the 'whose hand was I holding' Haunting of Hill House reference* -- Yep. <3 -- "I vote we go to the pub, sink a couple and try and come up with some sort of plan." I like the way you think, George. -- The psychics here have both been super helpful. "Oh noooo, this is bad! You are in such trouble. Can't help though, bye!" "...thanks?" -- I love that Murdoch Maclean is starting to get used to weirdly-dressed strangers popping into his shop. -- "You'll be safe there. As long as you take your medication and attend your appointments." I swear if this turns into some 'it's all in your head' nonsense... -- 'but even he couldn't be in two places at once'. You are currently fighting a murderous demon and traveling back and forth in time from an old newspaper shop. -- seriously what is up with Ailsa -- "Ye'll pass on our thanks to Miss Carmichael and ye'll tell her we'll manage fine from now on. Say goodbye to yer ma now. Ye'll no' be seeing her again." ... "Yer faither's right, Robbie. Ye're not one of us now." Oh, kiddo. :( (well, not exactly a kid anymore, given that he's in university, but that'd still be rough) -- 'Damn Miss Carmichael and her do-gooding ways! Damn Kirsten! Damn them both to hell!' Are...are we really going in this direction? -- We are. -- 'Finally, her mind cleared and she had her answers. All the ones that mattered anyhow.' CARE TO CLUE ME IN? Because-- *deep breath* What was Ailsa; cult member or possessed all along or killed and taken over sometime during the book? What was the random reference to Mairead needing to 'take her medication'? Why was Mairead's mother there and her house lived in for some people and then boarded up and empty for others? Why those brutal sexual violence scenes from Bain's pov if he's just a red herring? (not that I much care to read stuff like that anyway, but it seems especially unnecessary when that's the only role the women played in the narrative) What was going on with Isobel? Why did they have to stay in the pentagram? I wouldn't think they can protect the lines and keep the spirit contained from inside the thing. -- The one thing that is plain and clear is that Robbie had Miss Carmichael killed, and I honestly can't stand that ending, because he was an adult. Told to stay away by his parents because he didn't belong in Old Town anymore, but also rejected by the girl he liked because he didn't come from wealth? Yeah, that's tough, but there are lots of Fish Out Of Water narratives without the subject murdering people. Miss Carmichael, our main pov to the past, being murdered by someone she tried to help just comes across as an endorsement of the quote at the beginning-- that if she'd just stayed where she 'belonged' and left Robbie in Old Town, she'd still be alive. And I'm sure that's not what was intended. This book has a bunch of 4 and 5 star reviews; it's obviously not what most other people took from the text. This might just be a 'me' thing, which is partly while I'll be giving Cavendish another shot. SYNOPSIS: The Himalayas, 1935. Kangchenjunga. The sacred mountain. Biggest killer of them all. Five Englishmen set out to conquer it. But courage can only take them so far. And the higher they climb, the darker it gets.
I was recommended this one in a thread where people were asking about winter horror. I'm a sucker for isolation/survival themed horror, so, trifecta. ;) This one reminded me a bit of Saturday Night Ghost Club-- completely different settings and themes, but very character-driven and the ghost story is something deeply tied to those characters. It's a slow-burn horror story, which I love (though for a while the scariest thing about it was all the racism. There was an author's note at the back about it--given that it's set in the 30s, with a bunch of white climbers who're dependent on their Sherpas but not wanting to admit it, the racism is accurate but still makes for a rough read at times). Not that some climbers treat the Sherpas any better now... Quotes/Lines: ((spoilers below!)) -- Me, reading the intro: 'this Sir Edward is a douche'. Next page- 'Edward Lyell is a pompous windbag'. Thank you for the agreement, other character. -- 'She guards Charles Tennant like a dragon'. No wonder, with people reacting with 'perhaps I shall be the one to persuade him to break his famous silence!' If he wants to talk he will; don't hassle the poor guy. -- "What problem could there possibly be," he rasps, "on the most dangerous mountain in the world? Know the Himalayas, do you? Climbed here before?" "No, sir. First time in India." "Good God in Heaven." Same. O___o -- "What were you doing, blundering in on Captain Tennant? And why the hell didn't you fetch me?" ...I do not like you -- 'A couple of years ago, someone came upon Irvine's ice-axe on Everest's northwest ridge, and Kits sulked for weeks. Why wasn't he the one to find it and get the glory?' I am sure this mature, well-adjusted person will be a wonderful companion when shit hits the fan. -- "I hear there's a rather jolly bazaar. Have you been?" Kits snorts. "Usual native rubbish." Heeeeeere, yeti yeti yeti -- 'and is the only one of us who's done any climbing in the Himalaya'. You are all going to die. -- 'Charles Tennant didn't think we could do this. I want to prove him wrong.' Do not let your brother's dumbassery rub off on you. -- "it's the coolies' wretched superstitions" If the people who live around here are freaked out by what you're planning to do, might want to listen? Esp. since a guy you admire seems to agree? -- 'He gave me a cool look. "I do know these people, Dr. Pearce. The coolie is half child, half devil, and an inveterate liar. You'd do well to remember that." I do hope the yeti is hungry today -- They only carry what they need for the day while each of their workers carries at least eighty pounds. 'God knows what it's doing to their cervical vertebrae'? Are you going to pay for their medical visits or pay them enough to prevent them from having to do this again and again if they don't want to? -- 'I slipped the man twenty rupees-- that's about three weeks' pay--' You at least tried, and so may live. -- 'I'm worried about the coolies, most of whom are still barefoot.' They are WHAT -- "Time to call a half and issue those boots," I tell McLellan. "Not till Nepal," he pants. DIE FIRST. -- 'while Cotterell, who's prone to rheumatism, crossed on the back of his servant: a six-foot Englishman atop a small, staggering Sherpa.' I've read about this in other mountaineering books and I'll never get over how gross it can be. To save someone's life, yes, absolutely, but just as a "well, this is too hard for me"? And then some of these guys dare to be all "Look, we conquered the mountain!" and don't take the time to thank the people who not only made it possible for them to get to the top, but are likely the reason they didn't die trying. -- I like that he added some small stones to the cairn and added one to replace the one his asshole brother took. -- ''Like seen music', some climber once said.' <3 -- Oh no. McLellan got hurt. *plays tiny violin* -- If anything happens to the dog I riot -- 'and there was a glitter in his close-set eyes that made me wonder if his feelings for Kits mightn't run deeper than friendship'. *Potential Queer Character Radar engaged* -- 'What matters is the fellows I'm with, and the knowledge that if I have a near thing, I can count on them--as they can count on me.' As much as I want to thwap most of this group, I do love the camaraderie. -- 'Kits is miffed because Garrard's near thing has brought me into the fold. He'd rather keep me on the outside of the cosy little coterie he's found with Garrard and Cotterell. It makes me wonder what he said about me before I joined them in Darjeeling.' :( -- ...asthma cigarettes? -- 'Besides, I like these people, and they could do with a good doctor. ... I came across lots of inflamed eyes and chest infections, and I did what I could with those supplies I could spare, but there's so much more I could do. When all this is over, why shouldn't I stay on in India, or Nepal or Sikkim?' <3 -- 'The first surprise is that I can't stand Lyell.' It shows you have good sense. -- 'When I was a boy, the avalanche was my favorite part of the story, but reading Lyell now, I find it nauseating. He makes it sound as if he and Tennant managed the rescue practically single-handed: digging their comrades from the snow, raising a cairn on the knoll for Freemantle and Knight, bearing the injured Stratton and Yates back over the Yalung. There's scarcely a line about the two hundred coolies who did the actual work. Or the four coolies who'd also lost their lives in the avalanche.' -- "He (Ward) had it with him. So there's every chance that the body's down there, too! Now d'you see? We've got to go back and find it!" While you're at it how about you walk out into the woods at night after saying 'I'll be right back'? -- "For you, Doctor Sahib. For the climb." I'm astohished. It's the white ribbon-like scarf he wears around his neck, the one with the prayers.' That's so nice of him. I love the friendship they're building. -- "But why does it haunt? ... And why is it angry?" My guess would be that his death wasn't quite the 'oh oops and now we can't retrieve the body' that Lyell said. I'm guessing someone killed him, or that he didn't die in that fall: could've been saved but Lyell didn't help him. Seems like the kind of thing that creep would do. -- Yaaaay the dog has left to a lower camp. -- 'Isn't it strange that we laugh at the Sherpas for putting their faith in amulets, when we're really exactly the same, except that with us it's a whole rabbit's foot, or a crucifix?' <3 -- 'The truth about Arthur Ward.' CALLED IT -- 'That was when I realised. We all knew. We knew that Ward was alive up there, and yet none of us spoke out. Perhaps we felt that it was easier to keep quiet, to let nature take its course.' No WONDER he's haunting everybody Jesus H. Christ -- 'The expedition leader had taken matters out of our hands.' ...yeah. Lyell might be (okay, is) the worst, but you guys don't exactly come out smelling like roses either. -- 'I've assumed it must have a reason-- to right some wrong, or be avenged-- and that once I knew why, I can fix it, and this will all be over. But how can you right this wrong?' -- 'The others had collected what they could find, but it wasn't enough to fill a coffin. Only a small packing crate. Or maybe a rucksack.' Oh god. -- It's really a testament to Paver's writing in the last section here that I was legitimately sad about the death of a character who had to that point been nothing but an asshole. I have a book hangover. I just want to rewind and read this again for the first time, because MAN. Absolutely amazing piece of work.
Going in, all I knew about the Donner party was gleaned from pop culture references and horrible jokes. Now I'm going to read everything I can get my hands on (first up: Desperate Passage, which the author referenced as research). Some notes I took as I read: "Several unexpected items lay discarded in the snow: a pocket prayer book, a ribbon bookmark fluttering in the breeze. A scattering of teeth." Me: 😲 (this is gonna be gooood) "Women were always forced to smile. Tamsen had mastered it so well it sometimes frightened her." NICE line -- I have been reading about Mary Graves for two pages and I am in love. Same for you, Elitha "She'd known plenty of women like Harriet over the years, women who looked as if their faces had been slowly compressed between the pages of a Bible, all pinched and narrow." I AM EQUAL PARTS IMPRESSED AND JEALOUS OF YOUR DESCRIPTIONS MS. KATSU -- maybe it's because it's Valentine's Day but Elitha's initial thoughts about Thomas have me all twitterpated. Awww, kids. .....this isn't gonna end well is it -- LYDIA. *heart shatters* -- Okay Keseberg needs eaten, yesterday if not sooner. *hides Lovina and Nancy* -- *scribbles Elitha x Thomas 4Ever in Trapper Keeper* -- I am also good with Breen and Dolan getting torn apart by rabid honey badgers -- That. Last. Line. All in all, this book is stellar: heartbreaking without being maudlin, and beautifully humanizing. |
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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