C.L. Causer's Blog, page 14
March 19, 2012
The Woman In Black - Review
The Woman In Black by Susan Hill
First Published - Oct 1983Page # - 200My Rating -
'Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is summoned to attended the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, the sole inhabitant of Eel Marsh House, unaware of the tragic secrets which lie hidden behind the shuttered windows. The house stands at the end of a causeway, wreathed in fog and mystery, but it is not until Arthur glimpses a wasted young woman, dressed all in black, at the funeral, that a creeping sense of unease begins to take hold, a feeling deepened by the reluctance of the locals to speak of the woman in black - and her terrible purpose.'
This book is all over the place at the moment. What with the new release of the Hammer Productions of 'The Woman in Black' starring Daniel Radcliffe, Vintage Hammer book publishing started a new push of the book, complete with a motion picture book cover. With the popularity of the film translating into the book world, I thought this might be worth buying. Thankfully, I didn't spend full price on the book.
*SPOILER* Set in an era I can only mildly believe is Victorian, we follow the solicitor, Arthur Kipps. At first we see Kipps as an elderly gentleman with his wife and step-children and step-grandchildren. After a night of ghost stories told by his step-children, Kipps uncomfortable with the topic leaves. We then delve into his past. The young Kipps, eager for more responsibilities takes a job in the north of England in a small town called Crythin Gifford. He has to attend the funeral of a recently deceased, Alice Drablow, and then search her home for paperwork to ease their job of breaking up her estate. While in town things start to happen and the towns people, once they hear his reason for being there, shut down and become tight lipped about the old spinster. Deciding to spend a couple of nights at Eel Marsh House, which is surrounded by seawater marshes and can only be reached while the tide is out, he and Spider (A dog from one of the towns people) hear noises. The noise turns out to be a rocking chair, moving by itself. And after a scene with the dog nearly drowning, the book quickly draws to a close. Explaining that the woman in black is actually a mother was forcibly encouraged to give up her son. The son and his nurse died by drowning in the salt marshes, and the woman in black took sick, dying slowly and painfully from a wasting disease. Once Kipps and his fiancee left the small town, they quickly got married and gave birth to their son. However after an appearance from the woman in black and a freak accident, Kipps watches as his sons is killed and his wife paralysed. She later died months later.
Review:The story is a standard ghost story that has been repeated since I was a child. Lore of a woman in black, or even white, is always a vengeful spirit. In this case, she in vengeful because of her lost son. Supposedly taken away by the woman who forced her to give up her son. When I first read it, I was impressed by the descriptive qualities of the novel. 'It was a yellow fog, a filthy, evil-smelling fog, a fog that choked and blinded, smeared and stained.' But after the first few chapters, you begin to be impatient for the action to begin. The hype around this book had raised my expectations, so I expected something among the lines other horror writers like M.R James. But with only a few appearances of the woman in black, a creaking rocking chair and a sound bite of a crashing horse and cart with a child's cry, the horror factor in this book is seriously lacking. The only part of this book I was anxious with, was the pages with the dog nearly drowning in the silt. And that's only because I love dogs. The ending, though neatly tied everything together, was expected and anti-climatic.
I gave this a two because even though it got tiresome after a while, the writer did have some impressive descriptive parts. But I would probably hold out for a better book.
First Published - Oct 1983Page # - 200My Rating -
'Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is summoned to attended the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, the sole inhabitant of Eel Marsh House, unaware of the tragic secrets which lie hidden behind the shuttered windows. The house stands at the end of a causeway, wreathed in fog and mystery, but it is not until Arthur glimpses a wasted young woman, dressed all in black, at the funeral, that a creeping sense of unease begins to take hold, a feeling deepened by the reluctance of the locals to speak of the woman in black - and her terrible purpose.'
This book is all over the place at the moment. What with the new release of the Hammer Productions of 'The Woman in Black' starring Daniel Radcliffe, Vintage Hammer book publishing started a new push of the book, complete with a motion picture book cover. With the popularity of the film translating into the book world, I thought this might be worth buying. Thankfully, I didn't spend full price on the book.
*SPOILER* Set in an era I can only mildly believe is Victorian, we follow the solicitor, Arthur Kipps. At first we see Kipps as an elderly gentleman with his wife and step-children and step-grandchildren. After a night of ghost stories told by his step-children, Kipps uncomfortable with the topic leaves. We then delve into his past. The young Kipps, eager for more responsibilities takes a job in the north of England in a small town called Crythin Gifford. He has to attend the funeral of a recently deceased, Alice Drablow, and then search her home for paperwork to ease their job of breaking up her estate. While in town things start to happen and the towns people, once they hear his reason for being there, shut down and become tight lipped about the old spinster. Deciding to spend a couple of nights at Eel Marsh House, which is surrounded by seawater marshes and can only be reached while the tide is out, he and Spider (A dog from one of the towns people) hear noises. The noise turns out to be a rocking chair, moving by itself. And after a scene with the dog nearly drowning, the book quickly draws to a close. Explaining that the woman in black is actually a mother was forcibly encouraged to give up her son. The son and his nurse died by drowning in the salt marshes, and the woman in black took sick, dying slowly and painfully from a wasting disease. Once Kipps and his fiancee left the small town, they quickly got married and gave birth to their son. However after an appearance from the woman in black and a freak accident, Kipps watches as his sons is killed and his wife paralysed. She later died months later.
Review:The story is a standard ghost story that has been repeated since I was a child. Lore of a woman in black, or even white, is always a vengeful spirit. In this case, she in vengeful because of her lost son. Supposedly taken away by the woman who forced her to give up her son. When I first read it, I was impressed by the descriptive qualities of the novel. 'It was a yellow fog, a filthy, evil-smelling fog, a fog that choked and blinded, smeared and stained.' But after the first few chapters, you begin to be impatient for the action to begin. The hype around this book had raised my expectations, so I expected something among the lines other horror writers like M.R James. But with only a few appearances of the woman in black, a creaking rocking chair and a sound bite of a crashing horse and cart with a child's cry, the horror factor in this book is seriously lacking. The only part of this book I was anxious with, was the pages with the dog nearly drowning in the silt. And that's only because I love dogs. The ending, though neatly tied everything together, was expected and anti-climatic.
I gave this a two because even though it got tiresome after a while, the writer did have some impressive descriptive parts. But I would probably hold out for a better book.
March 18, 2012
Faith Slightly Restored
I will happily retract the last post about my mother's next door neighbour. My mother went over again and they were apparently very civil to one another. Which is a far cry from what I saw a couple of years ago. Maybe all is not lost..... But doubtful :)
A Not-So-Happy Mother's Day
Today is Mother's Day. And not only did my sister and I send our mother some cards, but I spent over £40 on flowers and paid extra for them to be delivered on the Mother's Day morning. We kept it to ourselves as a surprise for our mum. But instead of leaving the flowers on the front step or even coming back later, they gave them to my mother's next door neighbour. In any other situation it would be okay. Except my mother's street is rough, and she has been having problems with that neighbour since she moved there. My mum tried to gets the flowers back this morning, but they are even ignoring her or they are genuinely not there. But either way, she hasn't received the flowers which I spent more money on than I wanted. Watch this space to see if she actually gets the flowers or not. My bet would be not. The neighbour's are a piece of work.
But for all the other mother's out there - Happy Mother's Day![image error]
(They're Lily's because thats my favorite flower)
And I hope your Mother's Day is better than my mother's day
But for all the other mother's out there - Happy Mother's Day![image error]
(They're Lily's because thats my favorite flower)
And I hope your Mother's Day is better than my mother's day
March 12, 2012
:)
As of 7.35am this morning my first book, 'Power Within', went on sale at Amazon Kindle. To be sure, today is a very good day for me. This is something I have been aiming towards for nearly a year now, and I'm glad it's finally here.
Power Within
Power Within
March 11, 2012
'In Review'
After finally getting back my edits for Power Within, I was able to finish the final draft and upload it to Amazon. Going through all the hoops and what-not it's now on my dashboard, or whatever it's called, and 'In Review'.
Which I think is just Amazon checking the book for malicious content. But hopefully the book will be for sale tomorrow!
Which I think is just Amazon checking the book for malicious content. But hopefully the book will be for sale tomorrow!
February 21, 2012
Package
I have been editing Power Within on and off for nearly 9 months. Unfortunatly I got to a point where I couldn't edit on screen anymore. So I ordered three paperback books.
I wasn't expecting my Nan, or anyone in my family to get excited. But they did. I don't think none of them knew how serious I was about writing books, until they saw the paper copy. So I left for uni in a very good mood. Even the weather was the best it has been in months.
So Me and my family are going to look through the paperback books for my last edite and hopefully get the book on Amazon in a couple of weeks. :)
I wasn't expecting my Nan, or anyone in my family to get excited. But they did. I don't think none of them knew how serious I was about writing books, until they saw the paper copy. So I left for uni in a very good mood. Even the weather was the best it has been in months.
So Me and my family are going to look through the paperback books for my last edite and hopefully get the book on Amazon in a couple of weeks. :)
February 17, 2012
'Power Within' Cover
I will be the first to admit, I'm no computer artist. Sure, I like to doodle and I can draw a mean castle being attacked by a fire breathing dragon (in my head I'm the improved Van Gogh) but when it comes to computer graphics, my attempts always come out...lacking. I see all this amazing photomanipulated images, so when I get inspired to start my book covers I go in with all these great expectations. Instead I finish with a bad headache and an image that my five year old cousin could create. The past three days I have done nothing but angrily pound at my dated version of Photoshop Elements 10, screaming "Why can't you look like the one's in the magazine!" I could be doing writing on the Willowhall Demon book or more edits on Power Within before it gets released in a couple of weeks, and I know should be doing University work, like my dissertation. But instead I'm on Photoshop trying, and failing, to get my cover to look anywhere near professional. So it's now 8.22 am. I've been sat in bed, trying yet again in photoshop. Instead of wasting anymore time in the program, I've finished this latest one and I've said enough. Whether it's the best I can create, I doubt it, but it's the last I'm going to do for Power Within, before I throw my macbook out of the window.
February 16, 2012
Great Birthday Present
As I said before, February is a popular birthday month in my family. Yesterday was mine. Along the gifts I got, which nearly all were books and book tokens, I finally received my ISBN numbers. Which means I can get my book printed and sent to Amazon kindle eBook store. Yay!
Yesterday afternoon my uncle Geoff took me, my sister and his two daughters, my cousins Morgan and Darcey, to Deeside Ice Rink. I love skating. But the skates you hire in the rinks absolutly kill my feet. Short of buying my own, the problem then would be that the closest rink in North Wales is about an hour away.
Video of my sister and cousin Morgan skating to me. Excuse my voice. My iphone picked up my talking, VERY loudly.
Yesterday afternoon my uncle Geoff took me, my sister and his two daughters, my cousins Morgan and Darcey, to Deeside Ice Rink. I love skating. But the skates you hire in the rinks absolutly kill my feet. Short of buying my own, the problem then would be that the closest rink in North Wales is about an hour away.
Video of my sister and cousin Morgan skating to me. Excuse my voice. My iphone picked up my talking, VERY loudly.
February 11, 2012
Emma's Birthday
February is a popular month in my family for birthdays (including my own). It was my sister's 21st today and because mine wasn't great, I wanted to make her day special. So I bought her a load of books and DVD's, Soap and Glory kit and perfume, the usual 21 gift's (the key, wineglass ect) nd my Nan bought her some really cool clothes.
But I also spent the night before making a cake. Decorating it in a way I knew she would love; Influenced by the Mexican Day of the Dead.
But I also spent the night before making a cake. Decorating it in a way I knew she would love; Influenced by the Mexican Day of the Dead.
February 4, 2012
Sophie's Birthday
It was my cousin Sophie's 10th birthday today. While her and her friends had a rented swimming pool time complete with dozens of play floats (much to the jealously of my sister and I), her parents, Emma (my sister) and I prepared the party room.
Here a video of her second birthday cake at my Nan's. The firework candle's were suprisingly effective. One of the thing I have been into making recently is cake pops.
This one was for Sophie's party. It took nearly 4hour's to create seven. There was no chance of making 15 in the time I had. Tastes great though. Below are some Christmas one's I did for my family's Christmas get together.
Here a video of her second birthday cake at my Nan's. The firework candle's were suprisingly effective. One of the thing I have been into making recently is cake pops.
This one was for Sophie's party. It took nearly 4hour's to create seven. There was no chance of making 15 in the time I had. Tastes great though. Below are some Christmas one's I did for my family's Christmas get together.
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