<잘린 머리처럼 불길한 것>으로 국내 독자들에게 강한 인상을 남긴 미쓰다 신조의 추리소설. 소설 속 내용과 마찬가지로 실제 미쓰다 신조의 첫 장편 데뷔작이다(소설에서도 주인공 미쓰다 신조는 그가 쓰는 연재소설이 첫 장편이라고 소개한다). 유령의 집 같은 서양식 저택에서 사는 '미쓰다 신조'가 겪은 기묘한 체험을 담은 작품이다.
작가 미쓰다 신조는 '미쓰다 신조'란 이름을 주인공으로 내세우는 '작가' 시리즈와 방랑 환상소설가 도조 겐야를 화자로 한 '도조 겐야' 시리즈를 집필한다. <잘린 머리처럼 불길한 것>이 '도조 겐야' 시리즈에 속하는 작품이라면 <기관, 호러작가가 사는 집>은 '작가' 시리즈에 속한다. 이 '작가' 시리즈는 메타적인 구조에 환상괴기담을 섞는 경향이 강하다.
주인공 미쓰다 신조는 서양식 저택에서 유명 동인지에 실을 연재 호러소설 '모두 꺼리는 집'을 집필한다. '모두 꺼리는 집'의 무대는 그가 사는 서양식 저택이다. 즉 소설 속 무대와 현실의 무대가 같은데, 그곳에선 네 건의 무시무시한 일가족 참살사건이 발생했던 전력이 있다. 그가 쓰는 소설이 동인지에 한 회 한 회 연재될 때마다 현실에서도 소설 속 사건과 비슷한 일이 벌어지는데…접기
To make a long story short, I love everything with Dario Arengeto's and Edogawa Rampo's references in it; and this book: House of Burial: The Residence of the Horror Novelist reads like a dream-comes-true to me.
PS: I'm not sure if House of Burial is the right translation, judging from the Chinese meaning of '忌館', the title can well be 'House of Death' or 'House of Taboo' or 'The Forbidden House', so...take your pick!
Had I said this before? I love Dario Argento's movies.
I love these guys' works so damn much, and seemingly Shinzo Mitsuda feels just the same. HAHAHA. (PS: according to the footnote in one of Chinese translation of Mr. Mitsuda's books, it's a known fact that Mr. Mitsuda is a huge Argento fan.)
Outline of the story: Looking for inspiration for his next book, novelist Shinzo Mitsuda discovered an empty two-stories British cottage at the outskirt of Tokyo, which he thought would be the perfect location of his next horror/suspense novel. After renting and moving into the cottage, Mitsuda found out the cottage is known to his neighbors by the unusual nick name 'The Doll House' and most of them believed the building was haunted. As Mitsuda started writing his new novel, strange things began to happen within and around the cottage...
If you love haunted house tale, suspense and endings with nice twists, then you will love this book.
This book works with a story-within-story format, and the characters' experience in the haunted house becomes increasingly frightening as the story progresses. The ending is pretty shocking as well...however, parts of the plot twists aren't explained so logically and clearly, that's a bit of a disappointment.
So, to sum up: Nice Opening + Strong and Intensive Development + Not As Strong Ending = a Four Stars Horror/Suspense Novel.
I have read five of Mitsuda's books before. Sorry to say this one is quite disappointing.
The plots goes between "Shinzo Mitsuda" life in the doll house and a story based on the doll house by the author. This story within story setting is quite refreshing. At first, it captured my attention and I could not put it down. After reading one third, the plots between the "real life" and the "story" were merged into one. It was getting too hard to follow and too fragmented. Also, the author kept listing all other detective stories references throughout the book. Too much and killed the "scary" atmosphere the author was trying so hard to build. I skipped them whenever I saw those references (not again).
Don't want to spoil the story too much. If you have other books on hand, go ahead and give this one a miss.