The Ruins in Around the World in 80 Books

Mar 25, 2010 Steve rated it it was amazing

Shelves: horror-and-dark-fiction, fiction

While reading Scott Smith's new novel, "The Ruins," a discerning reader will probably pick up on any number of influences. Novels and short stories, such as "Heart of Darkness," "Lord of the Flies," and "The Willows," come instantly to mind, but also other media offerings, such as the movies "Cabin Fever," and, wildly, "Little Shop of Horrors." Still, it's unfair to suggest that "The Ruins" is a cut and paste effort pulling in all these (real and imagined) influences. No, Smith has fashioned his While reading Scott Smith's new novel, "The Ruins," a discerning reader will probably pick up on any number of influences. Novels and short stories, such as "Heart of Darkness," "Lord of the Flies," and "The Willows," come instantly to mind, but also other media offerings, such as the movies "Cabin Fever," and, wildly, "Little Shop of Horrors." Still, it's unfair to suggest that "The Ruins" is a cut and paste effort pulling in all these (real and imagined) influences. No, Smith has fashioned his own horror show, relentless and hopeless as Sartre's "No Exit." The strength of the story lies with Smith's ability to create characters, make you feel what they feel through distinctive points of view, whether that be hope, fear, anger, or pain (and there's lots of that). Stacy, Amy, Jeff, Eric, Mathias, and "Pablo" are people, by novel's end, I found I cared about a great deal, because Smith invested each of them with a recognizable humanity (however fragile) that we all can identify with, and which makes their inevitable fate all the more terrible. Beyond the heat and death on the hilltop ruins, the universe is a cold place indeed. Our mortality is a tiny flame at best, easily snuffed out by an implacable Nature. In such a place, such a world, Smith seems to be saying, we have only ourselves - for comfort or whatever. So make your choices wisely, since you will live and die with them.

Beyond fine character development however, is Smith's superb descriptive writing, which effectively establishes mood (dread), through the scene by scene layering of details. A bus ride, a Mayan village, silent natives, barking dogs, the impenetrable wall of an unknown language in a foreign country, a hilltop with blood red flowers, the sound of a cell-phone down in the dark, it all adds up. And the landscape in "The Ruins" is indeed a player in the story. Who can forget Conrad's description of the jungle as Marlowe headed down river? In "The Ruins," you will again encounter all that green, all that heat, and all that suggestion of rot. For outside of the tourist zone of Cancun, dread is something you can breathe, and death is beyond the air-conditioned bus doors. And that's a paper thin margin at best, even for vacationing Americans who are beautiful and young and filled with hope for the future. To tell you more would be to cheat you of the story. How readers respond to such bleakness will probably be all over the map, but that has more to do with reader expectations than writer performance. Objectively, this is a well crafted horror story for adults. And it works.
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Jan 28, 2018 Kimberly rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, books-i-own, books-to-film, 2018-books-read

I love horror movies and I love horror novels. I love the feeling of reading and getting the heebie jeebies. Love it. So, after having The Ruins on my bookshelf since 2010. I have moved twice since I bought this, lived in three different homes but never read it until last week.

Maybe my reluctance to read it was due to the fact that I still haven't seen the movie, or maybe it was a feeling that this book just wasn't going to live up to the hype that kept it neatly sitting on my shelf waiting to I love horror movies and I love horror novels. I love the feeling of reading and getting the heebie jeebies. Love it. So, after having The Ruins on my bookshelf since 2010. I have moved twice since I bought this, lived in three different homes but never read it until last week.

Maybe my reluctance to read it was due to the fact that I still haven't seen the movie, or maybe it was a feeling that this book just wasn't going to live up to the hype that kept it neatly sitting on my shelf waiting to be read.

When I started reading it, I had picked it up on a whim looking for a fast and easy scary read. Unfortunately, while I found it to be a fast and easy read it wasn't scary and wasn't very well written. I didn't care for how the story was told in alternating points of view (which I usually love) but found the way the author chose to switch between characters rather too quickly.

The characters weren't the greatest. They were a group of young twenty somethings that were vacationing in Mexico and decided to help a stranger find his brother in the jungle, among some Mayan ruins. We all know that these things never end well, but I was hoping to be at least slightly sympathetic to at least one character. This wasn't to be the case however, and I found them all to be very one dimensional, whiny, annoying and downright unlikable. For me, it seemed as though the author tried to make them to intellectual, too young, too sympathetic that it went the other way for me. They were all very childish and I didn't mind when some met their ends.

Now, I knew that I probably wasn't going to be reading an amazing book with great characters but I at least wanted to be scared. Unfortunately, this book was boring. There was absolutely nothing scary, spooky or remotely fear inducing in the entire book. The whole being trapped in Mayan ruins wasn't even part of the actual story other than, they arrived at the ruins. They were there for a couple days, some folks died. Seriously, the ruins were never even a main focal point of the story. Even the entity that haunted the ruins for lack of a better term wasn't even written well. It was just simply preposterous that the thing killing everyone was just so poorly written, that it was laughable. It just made no sense to me and I found it ridiculous.

I really did try to like The Ruins, I really did. I wanted to enjoy it but it was honestly one of the most boring books I've ever read. Yes, I was able to read it in one sitting but that's because I had nothing else to do and it was just so easy and bland the pages slipped by. It felt like the author took a bunch of outtakes from previous works and through so much at the wall hoping things would stick, and in the end this didn't work for me at all. The poor characterization, forced dialogue and awkward internal monologues from the character amid an underused plot and basically useless setting wound up in this being a dud for me. That being said though I do want to watch the movie just to see how it compares.

If you're looking for a fun horror novel, this isn't one I would recommend. ...more

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Oct 27, 2007 Sera rated it it was ok

Shelves: own, horror

Scott Smith let me down again. Another solid read with a horrible ending (remember his other novel, A Simple Plan?). I don't think that I will read another work by this author again. ...more

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Apr 09, 2008 Jayme Pendergraft rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2008

Just watched the movie this weekend, and in this case, it was actually much better than the book. The characters were less awkward, the timing was much better, and it was overall a more enjoyable experience than this piece of writing.

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Oct 21, 2021 Ann rated it liked it

This is the type of contained location, characters are getting picked off one by one type of horror that makes for fast reading, even when I shouldn't be reading it while eating. I'm glad I gave this a try since I didn't finish the movie. ...more

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