The Harrowing
by Alexandra Sokoloff (Goodreads author!)published
August 22nd 2006
(first published 2007)
by St. Martin's Press
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binding
Hardcover and paperback, 256 pages
isbn
0312357486
(isbn13: 9780312357481)
description
Baird College’s Mendenhall echoes with the footsteps of the last home-bound students heading off for Thanksgiving break, and Robin Stone swears ...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 96)
The Harrowing is Alexandra Sokoloff’s first novel and it is an awesome start. Within the first pages the eerie atmosphere of Mendenhall is set. Mendenhall is an old Victorian mansion which was converted years ago to a dorm on the campus of Baird College. Not far from the dorm on the campus is a long forgotten clearing where there is a marble bench with 5 names carved into it.
It is the day before Thanksgiving and everyone is leaving for home and the long holiday weekend. Robin is not ...more
It is the day before Thanksgiving and everyone is leaving for home and the long holiday weekend. Robin is not ...more
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Read in January, 2008
A simple ghost story stretched rather too long and with a bit too much emo for my tastes. Robin is a college student with angst—do you hear me? ANGST—who stays in her dorm over Thanksgiving instead of going home to her crazy (and ANGST-causing!) mom. She meets four other outcast-types, and then they all accidentally raise an evil spirit. As one does.
The first few séance-y scenes are the best in the book; Robin’s emo, which makes the first section drag, is finally sidelined, and thereâ...more
The first few séance-y scenes are the best in the book; Robin’s emo, which makes the first section drag, is finally sidelined, and thereâ...more
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Read in November, 2007
Ever since Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House scared the living hell out of me at age 11 (even if I didn't completely understand it all at the time), I've enjoyed stories that involve supernatural nasties. I love gloomy old houses, spooky woods, creaking noises at night, and all those things that hint at the existence of unseen entities lurking at the edge of the real world. Something about ghosties and ghoulies can still hit a few vital nerves that the most awful of real-world horrors...more
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Read in March, 2008
I rate this three stars. It is cliched but a well executed cliches. It's one difference is that it draws on the Kabbalah rather than Catholic mythos for its inspiration, although the ending is pure western esotericism.
It would make a good TV movie for Lifetime like The Initiation of Sarah. It may have even been originally written as script and then novelized. It is structured like a feature film, just longer (300 instead of 120 pages), but I was able to spot the plot points and th...more
It would make a good TV movie for Lifetime like The Initiation of Sarah. It may have even been originally written as script and then novelized. It is structured like a feature film, just longer (300 instead of 120 pages), but I was able to spot the plot points and th...more
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"The Harrowing is a basic haunting tale, but Sokoloff’s dreamed up an origin tale that draws from a source I haven’t really seen utilized before. I was impressed with her fresh take on a familiar template, and pleased that she managed to scare me."
http://superfastreader.com/the...
http://superfastreader.com/the...
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Read in April, 2008
Having now finished the book, I still find it a little broadly written. Having your teen stereotypes read Jungian archetype theory is almost painfully meta, and having them fill in their back stories in 25 words or less while stoned is a cheap way to explore characters in a novel. But it is a good movie trick, and in fact the book reads less like a novel and more like a screenplay that has been filled in.
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Read in November, 2007
recommended to Ed by:
Zacharyrecommends it for: thrillseekers, fans of horror movies starring Dawson's Creek actors
Maybe my aesthetic standards have been shredded by viewing far too many formulaic genre films involving a Breakfast-Club-like collection of young characters involved in otherworldly situations. Or maybe this is just a damn good book. But, whatever the case, I truly enjoyed reading this story of Ouija-gone-mad, and it kept me riveted all the way through.
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Read in February, 2008
I don't know about you, but I loved The Breakfast Club when it first came out (1985, I think). And so, apparently, did author Alexandra Sokoloff. The Harrowing turns the iconic John Hughes movie into a ghost story. Fair warning: You'll have the song "Don't You Forget About Me" by the Simple Minds in your brain the entire time.
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Read in October, 2007
So scary you'll definitely sleep with the lights on. Alexandra takes the familiar ghost story setting and sets it a nearly abandoned dorm at the heart of a major winter storm. The climax is riveting.
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horror,
young-adults
Great horror book! The suspense is steadily to the climax! Even though the premice is classic : a bunch of teenagers playing with a oui-ja board, the author managed to add a nice twist to it.
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Not much of a ghost story really. I am sorry that I wasted my time.
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Read in August, 2008
Fun little ghost story. Not long--but packs quite a punch!
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loved-books
Can't wait until The Price comes out!!!!
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