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480th out of 637 books
—
635 voters
Mrs. God
by
Peter Straub (Goodreads Author),
Kevin Spacey
Another chilling story from the Houses Without Doors collection. Presented with the research opportunity of a lifetime, a college professor leaves his pregnant wife in the States and heads for a British country estate. But nothing is as it appears, and soon the professor finds himself in a frightening situation.
Audio Cassette, Abridged, 3 pages
Published
November 1st 1991
by Simon & Schuster Audio
(first published January 1st 1990)
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595)
Feb 25, 2012
karen
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
real-people-fake-stories
ugh - i don't know what this book is thinking.
it isn't so bad as to be unendurable, but it definitely is the kind of thing where you can see elements of it that make sense, but the overall effect is just not working.
i mean, i guess so. it is better than what i could make.
but when you are going up against:
you're pretty much screwed. and i don't know yet what the horror novel equivalent is to my little fashion gargoyle mondo, but someday my horror prince will come.
i read this one because it prom...more
it isn't so bad as to be unendurable, but it definitely is the kind of thing where you can see elements of it that make sense, but the overall effect is just not working.
i mean, i guess so. it is better than what i could make.
but when you are going up against:
you're pretty much screwed. and i don't know yet what the horror novel equivalent is to my little fashion gargoyle mondo, but someday my horror prince will come.
i read this one because it prom...more
Originally released in 1990 as a limited edition novella and then in 1991 as part of Straub's HOUSES WITHOUT DOORS collection, MRS. GOD is now available as a trade hardcover from Pegasus Crime. WHY Pegasus Crime? I haven't the slightest idea...and unless you are a DIE HARD Straub fan, you'll have no idea why they felt the necessity to re-re-release this downbeat tale. In fact, I AM a die hard Straub fan and couldn't tell you...
THAT said, MRS. GOD is an interesting if unclear tale dealing with Am...more
THAT said, MRS. GOD is an interesting if unclear tale dealing with Am...more
4 likes · like · see review
Mar 11, 2013
Kathryn
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2013,
sci-fi-fantasy-book-club
This strange little horror book is our selection this month for our Sci-Fi Fantasy Book Club, which meets tomorrow night (March 12, 2013). We should have an interesting meeting, because while I did enjoy this book, I cannot say that I understood everything that went on in the story.
Professor William Standish is an English professor at a Midwestern college in the 1980s. He hears of the coveted Esswood Fellowship; the estate of Esswood House in Lincolnshire, ancestral home of the Seneschal family,...more
Professor William Standish is an English professor at a Midwestern college in the 1980s. He hears of the coveted Esswood Fellowship; the estate of Esswood House in Lincolnshire, ancestral home of the Seneschal family,...more
Mar 19, 2013
Elizabeth (Miss Eliza)
rated it
1 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
mystery
Esswood House is the dream of all literary types. Housing rare manuscripts from some of the literary elite. Henry James, T.S. Eliot, Ford Madox Ford are just some of the luminaries that not only stayed in the house, but left work to the great library. Yet, for researchers, there is a road block to this holy grail. Unlike many country estates in England, this house and it's contents aren't part of The National Trust or even open to the public. Oh no, the Seneschal family not only still reside wit...more
i like a ghost story. with shades of some of the best ever written (the haunting of hill house comes to mind, as well as stephen king's the shining), mrs. god paints a vaguely terrifying scene in the english countryside. almost immediately the reader questions exactly what standish is agreeing to when he travels to england to study in a famed library, supposedly overflowing with rare and wonderful literary finds. the trip from the airport to the castle is lovecraftian, with strange characters to...more
The home and estate of the Seneschal family, Esswood House, has hosted literary heavyweights for over a century. D.H. Lawrence and T.S. Eliot were proud to be Esswood Fellows. There has been, however, a dark secret in the estate’s past. The Seneschal children were often not well. American professor William Standish receives the honor to become a fellow with the opportunity to study the works of Isobel Standish, a distant relative. William Standish dreams things, sees and hears things. Then comes...more
Mrs. God
By Peter Straub
Publisher: Pegasus Crime
Published In: New York, New York
Date: 1990
Pgs: 185
Summary:
On a lonely estate home in England, the Seneschal family, historic patrons of the literary arts, one-time hosts of D.H. Lawrence, T.S. Elliot, Ford Madox Ford, and Henry James among others, a new honoree has been invited. Invitations to Esswood House come and are rescinded regularly. This one comes to a distant relative of a previous darling of Esswood, Isobel Standish. It couldn’t have come...more
By Peter Straub
Publisher: Pegasus Crime
Published In: New York, New York
Date: 1990
Pgs: 185
Summary:
On a lonely estate home in England, the Seneschal family, historic patrons of the literary arts, one-time hosts of D.H. Lawrence, T.S. Elliot, Ford Madox Ford, and Henry James among others, a new honoree has been invited. Invitations to Esswood House come and are rescinded regularly. This one comes to a distant relative of a previous darling of Esswood, Isobel Standish. It couldn’t have come...more
While the novel's set up sounded very promising, I was disappointed in the tale itself. Academic gets invited to an exclusive English estate due to some research on a poet that is realted to him. He hopes his access to her private papers, journals, and other writing stored there will help him write the academic work his institution Zenith has been pushing him to produce. The Old "Publish or Perish".
In previous times, the estate had played host to literary heavyweights like T.S. Eliot, etc who al...more
In previous times, the estate had played host to literary heavyweights like T.S. Eliot, etc who al...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
1 like · like · see review
May 27, 2012
Susan Mcgarvey
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Shirley Jackson fans
I need time to think about this novella and possibly reread it. Too slow of an opening for me, but I had faith in Straub and was not disappointed once the MC reached his destination, the refined and subtly eerie English estate known as Esswood House. No doubt a high-bred cousin to Shirley Jackson's deranged Hill House, Esswood House reveals itself in stages as an intoxicating beauty with an illustrious literary past; a host of mazes and memories to trick the mind; a ghastly, ghostly maw that gor...more
I like to listen to audiobooks in the car and I usually think, "Not every book gets made into an audiobook. If the publisher thinks this is good enough to BE an audiobook, I can give it a go." Unfortunately, I think the publishers made a mistake here. After 4 CDs, I still didn't know what in the heck was going on, but I kept going to the end because I only had one more disc to go (what the heck?). Whew, I was glad when it was over! It was sweet relief to be done with the book, but I still have a...more
Brilliant, just brilliant. Mr. Straub sets up the information, and if you make the connections, appreciating the associations, you will get it. The writing was brilliant; the descriptions rich yet not overly wordy. I love the subtlety, and how Mr. Straub shows rather than tells. There was so much horror with so little gore. This story was far more frightening, and effective invoking horror compared to splatter punk or hackneyed horror attempts. Mr. Straub-BRILLIANT. This is one of my favorite bo...more
I'm disappointed; I didn't realize when I got this from the library that it's actually a reprint of a novella from Houses Without Doors, and I've actually read it twice before. I always forget that this story starts out amazingly strong, but gets confusing and frustrating and eventually leaves the reader going "huh?"
I THINK I understood it a lot better this time through. Straub has a real fondness for unreliable narrators, and Standish is a prime example. In this case, though, Straub takes thing...more
I THINK I understood it a lot better this time through. Straub has a real fondness for unreliable narrators, and Standish is a prime example. In this case, though, Straub takes thing...more
1 like · like · see review
I really enjoyed this short novel (185 pages) by Peter Straub. For those who don't know, Straub is a fiction author whose horror novels tend to be literary in style, making the reader do a good chunk of the work in order to get a satisfying read. Mrs. God is such a satisfying read. Straub's masterful haunted house story resonates deep in the reader's soul long after the last page has been consumed.
I'm generally not a horror type reader but in the past I have read some very good Peter Straub books. This however, is not one of them. Since it only had 173 pages I read the whole thing but it actually was terrible. I can't remember reading a book that was so bad since I read a Baldacci Christmas story. Straub should be ashamed of himself. YUCK. It gets a 0 on my 10 scale.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Jul 03, 2012
Merredith
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
1-or-2-stars,
horror
This is a..ghost story? vampire story? story about a crazy man? i really have no idea. Here is a horror novella by peter straub and a man goes to a house and then um. i have no idea what i read. it read like an old fashioned back in time horror story, only those usually make sense. i don't know what to make of this one. from other people's reviews, they were just as confused. at least the writing style flows..
Blah blah blah this thing looks like a fetus, oh hey I see that rock over there and reflect on whether it does or does not look like my wife engaging in coitus with a friend of mine.
That thing looks kind of bloody and resembles an aborted fetus again.
Hey, you know that poem I'm reading? It might be about my wife cuckolding me. Or maybe it's about fetuses.
That thing looks kind of bloody and resembles an aborted fetus again.
Hey, you know that poem I'm reading? It might be about my wife cuckolding me. Or maybe it's about fetuses.
This is a novella from Houses Without Doors, which I read, but even after reading it all the way through, I find that I can't remember it. It's not horrible; I've read worse -- Dark Matters immediately springs to mind -- yet Mrs. God is extremely disappointing. I know Straub has it in him to write good books; this is just not one.
I really enjoyed reading this book, but it's hard to say why. I read it in one day because it was hard to put down, but the story wasn't that great. I think it's a mediocre story with some interesting concepts, but masterfully written in such a way that it captured my mind anyway. So, I'm averaging 3 and 5 stars to give it a four.
I really liked the writing of this book, and the pace was wonderful with everything piling up at the end. However, I'm still a little confused about everything that happened. I guess I'm just not smart enough, but I wanted everything spelled out for me so I was sure I was understanding everything I was reading.
Peter Straub once wrote the introduction to a collection of Robert Aickman stories and noted that no writer, however much he enjoyed Aickman, should ever attempt to write a story in his style. In this short novel Straub broke his own rule and, in doing so, proved that rule. In the beginning the book has a fairly decent mood to it. However, the climax is extremely grotesque and over-baked. A nasty, repulsive piece of work.
Reminded me of The Woman in Black only slightly more confusing and gruesome.
An ambitious young man travels to work at an old English estate yadda yadda the supernatural ensues.
An ambitious young man travels to work at an old English estate yadda yadda the supernatural ensues.
This book starts out a bit boring, Then gets you interested but does not really resolve itself. Is is a ghost story? Is it a Vampire story? Is it just other people messing with the main character? is the main character crazy? Is it ALL of the above? You just never find out.
Save yourself the disappointment. This is not a new book as I had thought; it's a recycled short story and a terrible one at that. I like Straub's work but I could not wait to finish this. And I don't mean that in a good way. Completely black and joyless effort.
i can see die-hard straub fans appreciating this. like anything straub, there are nice classical horror elements, but nothing quite seems to fit together. maybe there isn't as much to say about it as i was hoping. still, done is done.
Definitely not what I expected...I love a good ghost story, and this wasn't a good one. It had some good elements, but it wasn't scary, suspenseful, or mysterious for me. Now I know why it was on the clearance shelf!
I really wanted to like this ghost story. The premise is great: haunted house in England with an impressive literary heritage and a creepy, family with a deep, dark secret. Ooooh...not so much. Color me disappointed.
This the 2nd Straub book I have read in the past week - the 1st being The Dark Matter - they were both horrible! My god I wished Mrs. God would just end - the entire book can be summed up with WTF!?
I normally like Peter Straub, but this time....well, let's just say that I would have a better understanding of alien speak that I did of this book. The book, to me, was an absolute mess. If anyone can explain it to me, I am certainly willing to hear it.
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Peter Straub was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on 2 March, 1943, the first of three sons of a salesman and a nurse. The salesman wanted him to become an athlete, the nurse thought he would do well as either a doctor or a Lutheran minister, but all he wanted to do was to learn to read.
When kindergarten turned out to be a stupefyingly banal disappointment devoted to cutting animal shapes out of heavy...more
More about Peter Straub...
When kindergarten turned out to be a stupefyingly banal disappointment devoted to cutting animal shapes out of heavy...more
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“He did not recognize himself either. He was a totally new being, bald, covered with grease and blood, pink and blue eyed: he was his own baby...He was a great fat chuckling baby, and he shat and peed in his filthy trousers and kept driving.”
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