Around Halloween my eye was caught by a small book with a pretty interesting cover. The cover itself doesn’t have incredibly fantastic art or anything on it, like what caught my eye with Patricia McKillips books and the fantastic art that graces many of her covers. Instead it was the gothic and victorian style of pencil art that I saw that really drew me in. I’m not talking about that Burtonesque style of gothic imagery that seems to be the norm these days, with the striped stockings or all black or the piercings or all the makeup. I’m talking real gothic art, that’s more about the atmosphere than some sort of fabricated aesthetic front, which is about all modern gothic is.
It’s a small hardcover, but it unfortunately has a price tag that doesn’t seem to scale down from larger hardcovers. It’s cheaper, yes, but not significantly so. Still, after reading the synopsis and thumbing through it a bit, I was taken in by the book easily, so I bought it then and there. If you’re not the type who really cares if your books are hardcover or paperback, then picking up the paperback or just borrowing it from a library would be the best option. It’s not really expensive, but it’s still more than half the price of books 6 to 10 times its size.
Story
This story is really a short story given its own book. The roughly 100 pages could have been condensed significantly with a more standard sized font and book size. Still, I kind of liked that it got its own release because the cover art and imagery on the inside of the covers really lends itself well to the book. The 100 pages are roughly divided in to two parts; the first half is more of a history and a setup, and the second half consists of the events that make up the story itself. Normally having half a book consist of development for the second half would bother me, but it’s not really a big deal for a short story like this that is easily read in under an hour.
As I mentioned in the intro, the imagery and atmosphere set by this book is really somewhat similar to the likes of Lovecraft and Poe. I would even venture to say that there’s some Mary Shelley influence in the story as well, particularly with the setting, being in a What this story most resembles, however, are the spooky campfire stories we’ve all grown up with and are familiar with to some degree. It’s not a horror novel, so there’s no real violence or gore or similar elements that horror relies on. If I would describe it as anything, I would have to say it’s just eerie, like an episode of X-Files or Supernatural or something. It’s even kid friendly, provided the younger audience it is being read to will react well to such a dark story and dark imagery. It may not be scary or violent or gory, but it’s still a dark tale like many of those spooky campfire tales, and if you have youngsters who don’t take well to that, then you may want to stick with the fairy tales.
For what the story is though, I really liked it. You just never get stories like those urban legends and ghost stories that are told in dark rooms or around campfires anymore. It seems everything now has to be heavily developed and that all stories have to have ups and downs and twists and turns. Sometimes I really think that short stories that are interesting and to the point are lost, but this one proves that they’re still out there, but sometimes hard to find. What really made it work, aside from the atmosphere, was the user of a first person narrative. I don’t know what it is, but dark and eerie stories like this always benefit from a first person perspective. I think it might be that since such stories rely on the emotional impact of certain events, getting that impact first hand from the characters own words goes a long ways. I actually generally prefer a third person perspective, but there are instances like these where first person definitely serves the story better.
My only real gripe is the somewhat ambiguous ending. Such an ending does suit a story of this nature, so it is actually pretty forgivable. As a whole though, I just like the stories I’ve read to be wrapped up, so I always get a sense of disappointment when that is not the case. Haunting and dark stories rarely get that kind of treatment though, simply because they wouldn’t be as haunting if they did.
Characters
There’s not much really to say here. The characters are not heavily developed because this story is so short. Sure, half the book developed the characters and the setting, but that’s still only half a short book with large font and a smaller than average physical size. When you account for that, that’s really not all that much space to develop the characters. Still though, it’s not like they’re nameless faces, and they had some personality to them.
The protagonist, and voice of the story, is a young girl named Iris. The story starts from her childhood and ends in her teen years, or rather the primary part does. The last few paragraphs go on a bit about her life after the story, so it is clear the narrator is speaking at a point in time that is at least several years in to her adulthood. She is a sort of attention starved girl, who has latched on to her kind older brother, who is really the only one in her family that really seems to care about her. She’s a pretty typical young girl from a somewhat well off family of those days, she’s just been given some rather unfair circumstances to go along with her privilege.
Then there are her old siblings, Harvey and Spence. They are twins, but as different as night and day. Harvey is kind and gentle and caring, and all around good person. Spence is, on the other hand, the general opposite of Harvey. Spence is a pretty minor part of the story though, and only really serves as a motivator or a spark that drives a plot twist; he is otherwise a very minor portion of the story. Harvey is the important one, as the one who Iris’ world pretty much revolves around. The relationship between the two is pretty much the heart of the story, and the driving force behind much of what happens.
Other minor characters in the book are Iris’ mother, who is bed ridden for much of the story. Her governess, Edyth, is also a major component, particularly the isolation and anger Iris feels as a result of how she treats her. Old Marsh is the gardener on the grounds, and the source of many of the legends and stories we hear about the island where the story takes place, and the tombs by the property. While Marsh himself isn’t a major character, it’s from his mouth that we come to know a lot of what we learn, and his stories provide much of the inspiration for Iris’ actions in the book. Then there’s Iris’ father, who isn’t really ever actually seen, though his absence has a lot to do with the role Harvey plays in Iris’ life.
Writing
Clegg is apparently a known name in this genre, but I’ve never read his work. I say ‘this genre’, because I don’t really want to call it a horror book, since I believe that would be an injustice to stories of this nature. I tend to view horror as a mass of violence and gore, or at least monsters and evil or something like that. This book is dark, and it is creepy and eerie, but it just isn’t a horror novel as it lacks all the things that I tend to think of. Maybe it’s a sub-genre, I don’t know, but I’d be happy if anyone could maybe define this books genre for me. In some respects his writing actually felt like an old fashioned fairy tale, only with a dark side to it, almost like Lovecraft meets the Grimms.
Anyways, Clegg is known for his dark and sometimes twisted stories, but since I don’t generally read horror I have never read his work. He has a great style though, as one would have to to have his works be so reminiscent of greats like Poe and Lovecraft and Shelley. His style actually reads as though it were from the era the story takes place in, rather than a modern voice telling an age old story. It’s easy to imagine Iris’ voice telling this tale as you read it, which can be difficult with first person stories like this. It speaks highly of Mr.Cleggs talent though.
He also manages to tell a pretty interesting and engrossing story that doesn’t feel rushed, but is still told in a small 100 page book. Douglas Clegg managed to maintain a good balance of character development, story development, and story progression. When you have only 100 pages to tell a story like this, I can only imagine it can’t be easy to develop it and tell it at a good pace, while still maintaining the impact of the events and the conclusion. I’m happy to say that Mr.Clegg did a fine job of it, and I may have to look in to some of his other works when I finally knock my to-read pile down a bit.
Illustrations
This is what first drew me in to this book. The illustrations in the book are great pencil drawings that are reminiscent of a mix of old fairy tale drawings and the cover art often seen on Lovecrafts books. The art has that great old fashioned look, with a definite edge of creepiness too it. This suits the writing amazingly well, since Clegg uses a sort of old fashioned feel to the narrative with a dark side to it, as I mentioned above. The artist, Glenn Chadbourne, uses a art style that perfectly suits the writing style in every way. I’ve seen illustrations that work well with the literature and even seem to fit in nicely, but rarely have I seen illustrations so perfectly meshed with the written words they’re drawn to accompany.
Still, the art could easily stand up on its own, which is an obvious sentiment from me since I’ve already admitted that it was the art that first drew me to the book in the first place. There’s just something about the style used here that gives it such an eerie beauty, the same way that ruins of a building or even something like a barn have a sort of beauty to them. I’ve always liked old fashioned pre-20th century etchings and pencil art, and that’s really what Mr.Chadbournes illustrations are reminiscent of. While they could easily stand well on their own, they really bring a lot to the book when paired with the text. Cleggs writings and Chadbournes art really are a perfect match, much as Tenniel’s art works so well with Carroll’s writing in his books. In fact, I would even say there are some stylistic similarities between Chadbourne and Tenniel.
If anyone is interested, you can see a colored desktop illustration from the books website here.
Closing Comments
I’d say that if you like stories like this, give the book a look. It’s a short book, so you could easily enjoy it in a sitting at the library if you wished, or just pick up a copy. It’s about $15 in hardcover, though I’m sure Amazon has it priced lower if you don’t mind waiting for shipping. A nice part about a book this short is that it has a higher reread value due to the short nature. Honestly, I may consider this a standard read for Halloween at this point. On top of that, it serves as a sort of artbook due to the scattered artwork in it as well. So honestly, the book is a pretty good value, especially if you find it for a lower price than what the publisher recommends. Otherwise, you could always wait for the paperback; it’s not out yet, but I’m sure the wait won’t be too long.
If you’re interested, but not convinced, the book also has a site of its own that I might recommend looking in to. It contains an excerpt, artwork, reviews, a synopsis, and even a short little trailer and flash game. Nothing truly groundbreaking, but enough to convince someone on the edge whether they do or do not wish to buy the book. All in all though, it really comes down to what kind of literature you like. If you’re the type that enjoyed those campfire ghost stories or legends like Bloody Mary, or like the works of Lovecraft or Poe, I’d say at least look this one up at your local library and give it a read, I’m confident you won’t regret it.
© 2009, Keonyn. All rights reserved.
Tags: Douglas Clegg, Glenn Chadbourne, Perseus Books Group, Vanguard Press
