false 3979 18 "O terrible wife of Siva / Your tongue is drinking the blood, / O dark Mother! O unclad Mother." It is remarkable that prior to writing this first novel, Dan Simmons had spent only two and a half days in Calcutta, a city "too wicked to be suffered," his narrator says. Fortunately back in print after several years during which it was hard to obtain, this rich, bizarre novel practically reeks with atmosphere. The story concerns an American poet who travels with his Indian wife and their baby to Calcutta to pick up an epic poem cycle about the goddess Kali. The Bengali poet who wrote the poem cycle has disappeared under mysterious circumstances.<p>Horror critic Edward Bryant calls <I>Song of Kali</I> "an exactingly constructed, brutal, and uncompromising study of the degree to which an evil place may permeate and steep all that makes us human" and writes that it embodies "the stance of a psychologically violent novel about a violent society as a defensible and indisputably moral work of art." <I>Song of Kali</I> won a World Fantasy Award. <I>--Fiona Webster</I> 1623747 1985 Song of Kali (Fantasy Masterworks) total:657|5:116|4:217|3:218|2:80|1:26| 657 2288 903 54 5 2 false false Sun Nov 09 12:46:05 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 09 13:24:14 -0800 2008
The problem with reviewing it is that it is hard to comment without 'spoiling'. To appreciate it you have to cast your mind back to the period when, and the places where, it was formed in...more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Aug 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Nov 01 09:23:21 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 01 09:24:38 -0800 2009
Robert Luczak é jornalista e viaja até Calcutá, com a mulher e a filha, para recuperar um manuscrito de um poeta indiano, cujo desaparecimento est...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Apr 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 29 14:19:24 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 29 14:25:02 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 10 21:54:19 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 10 21:56:13 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 1 false true Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 11 10:48:13 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 14 21:06:29 -0700 2007
UPDATE: It did kind of suck, but only because I hate dead baby stories.]]> 3 0 false true Thu Jul 31 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 02 08:57:47 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 02 08:58:51 -0700 2008 Custou-me imenso a ler, estive para desistir diversas vezes, mas parecia que quanto mais "negra" e assustadora se tornava a história mais o livro me "agarrava".
As descrições sobre o Culto de Kali são de uma monstruosidad...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Dec 04 22:17:35 -0800 2007 Tue Dec 04 22:17:35 -0800 2007
Not really sure it's supernatural horror or fantasy if you go strictly by the plot, but it absolutely fulfills all the expectations of a devoted genre reader.
...more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 25 15:19:01 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 01 13:35:26 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1999 Thu Nov 15 08:54:36 -0800 2007 Thu Nov 15 08:58:43 -0800 2007
Here's a portion of a review by Wayne MacLaurin:

Song of Kali recounts the horrifying events of an American publisher, Robert Luczak, sent to India to pick up a manuscript. The manuscript is supposed to be the latest work of a famo...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jan 18 11:04:38 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 18 11:11:14 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 07 06:44:25 -0700 2008 Fri Feb 27 07:23:29 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Aug 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 13 14:39:16 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 15 07:22:22 -0700 2008
I enjoyed the book but didn't find it to be scary. I agree it was very intense and at times creepy, but not scary.

My favorite parts had to be the telling of the resurection story and when Robert first met Das.

The section of Victoria's kidnapping wa...more...]]> 4 0 true false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Tue Jun 02 15:22:56 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 02 15:22:56 -0700 2009 I knew NONE of this when I read the book.
A very strange story, and very scary/creepy at times. Terrible ending....I mean, very good ending, just a terrible event involving a baby.]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jun 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 14 20:34:48 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 14 20:35:47 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Jun 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 11 13:47:04 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 18 12:00:07 -0700 2009
Poet goes to Calcutta (which is supposed to be this miasma-infested hellhole) to look for some other poet, and gets creeped out along the way by some bizarre cults that deal with the goddess Kali.]]> 2 0 false false Tue Jun 16 20:18:59 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 17 21:28:35 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Oct 31 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 30 08:48:35 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 30 08:49:58 -0700 2009 3 0 true false Fri Jun 13 20:49:49 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 15 07:48:04 -0700 2008 This book is absolutely horrific and probably the scariest book I've ever read (which actually sounds worse than it is because I don't read horror). Brilliantly written, creepy and difficult, and even thinking about while wr...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Mar 07 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 08 03:07:49 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 08 03:08:58 -0700 2009 It's one hell of a book. understated horror and beautifully done.]]> 2 0 false false Wed Jun 18 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 11 07:28:13 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 18 19:34:07 -0700 2008 I did finish the book. Can not say I really enjoyed it. However, there was enough creepy horror to keep me going to the next page. It's probably closer to 2.25 stars than 2.

The introduction to the story painted Calcutta in such an ugly
light. How can someone just make a b...more...]]>