Tag: Scary

Emily St. John Mandel – Station Eleven | Review

Title: Station Eleven

Author: Emily St. John Mandel

Type: Fiction

Page Count: 340

Rating: 4.25/5

I’d heard a lot of good things about this book going into it, and then it was picked out for me by a friend who I asked to pick out a random number to coincide with a book on my wish list. This is what she picked out for me.

It’s also a beautiful little book as well, and so my expectations were pretty high going into it. I’m happy to say that it didn’t disappoint me, too. It’s beautifully written and does a great job of examining a bunch of different themes and subject matters and asking the reader some questions.

But for me, though, what I was most impressed with was the depiction of a world in which a super flu has taken out most of the population. It was extremely well done, and it was also pretty unsettling considering what’s going on in the world at the moment. I mean, there was even a scene in which one of the characters started panic buying and ended up stocking up a trolley entirely with toilet paper.

So I mean, I’m not sure if it’s the best book for you to read if you’re looking for a little bit of a distraction from what’s going on in  the world around us, but if you just want something that’s genuinely well-written and a pleasure to read, you’re going to struggle to find something better than this. Having now finished it, I can say that it lives up to all of the hype.

Would I recommend this one? Hell yeah I would, even during these troubled times when you might not really feel like engaging with this sort of subject matter. It’s not far off being a masterpiece and definitely a top contender for my top books of the quarter, even though it’s only just begun. It’s just a little bit scary how realistic it all was, you know? Bit nuts.

Learn more about Station Eleven.


Peter Benchley – Jaws | Review

Title: Jaws

Author: Peter Benchley

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 288

Rating 3.5/5

 

 

I’m not exactly a super fan of Jaws and so while I’ve seen the movie, I don’t particularly remember it. I have it on good authority, though, that the book and the movie are totally different, and I can imagine that. Certainly none of it felt familiar while I was reading it.

Unfortunately it took me a while to get into the book and so I ended up reading it as my bedtime book. I also thought there were a few problems with the way that Benchley wrote about women which carried through not just in the words and actions of the characters but in the actual narrative voice itself.

But once you get past that and you settle yourself in for the fact that this is more of a small town drama than a Hollywood blockbuster, it’s pretty easy to get drawn into the story and the subsequent hunt for the shark. Sure, the ending was a little bit of an anti-climax, but that almost didn’t matter. That wasn’t really what the book is all about.

I think what Benchley did well here is similar to what Stephen King does well. Both authors are able to tap into the inherent fears we have as human beings and to write stories that tap directly into them. Although in all honesty, I wouldn’t say that Jaws is particularly scary. Suspenseful, but not scary. But if you like the movie and you’re a fan of suspenseful novels, it’s got to at least be worth checking out. Make of that what you will! As for me, it’s time to read something else.

 

 

Click here to buy Jaws.