August 2018 - Group Read #1 - The Ruins

[Bill]

The winner for our August group read is The Ruins by Scott Smith.



Have fun. Please use spoiler tags.

Happy Reading!

[Richard]

Awesome! One of my favorite horror novels! It the hands of a lesser writer it could've easily been terrible, but it's great. So relentless.

[Rachel]

Great book, hope you all who are reading it for the first time love it :)

[Kirsten]

I loved this book! It is one of 2 horror books that scared me the most!! I looked at the vines on our apricot tree with new respect.

[Anne (w/ an E)]

I recently moved and when I put my (many!) books on the shelves, I left this one within reach, in hopes that it would be the winner. 👍🏻

[Kirsten]

Good plan, Anne!

[Kimberly]

I may join in this one, since I've read Summer of Night at least four times already. :) (That's not a bad thing ;) ).

[M.E.]

Yay! I love this book and this gives me an excuse to interrupt my TBR list and read it again.

Has anyone read this book and Clark Ashton Smith's short story The Seed from the Sepulchre? It seems like The Ruins could have been inspired by the short story. It could almost be a sequel.

To anyone who hasn't read both: the short story contains a spoiler for the novel.

[Marie Helene]

@ M.E. thank you!

I will re-read the The Seed from the Sepulchre while waiting for my paper version of the Ruins to arrive.

Very strange but Amazon does not seem to offer the Kindle version of the Ruins for its European customers.

I read the Seed from the Sepulchre long long time ago in an horror anthology book. The story was really good and scary, but I had forgotten the title and the author's name.

As far as I remember, I agree with you: The Ruins could be a sequel to The Seed from the Sepulchre.

[Laura]

A great novel with real creepy atmosphere. I hope you all enjoy!!

[Alan]

Great book and perfect summer reading. And I already read it so I don't have to interrupt my current reading to participate. :D

[Anne (w/ an E)]

M.E. wrote: "Yay! I love this book and this gives me an excuse to interrupt my TBR list and read it again.

Has anyone read this book and Clark Ashton Smith's short story [book:The Seed from the Sepulchre|36360..."

Thanks for the warning about the spoiler - I'll be sure to read the short story AFTER.

[Kim]

I have read this awesome book. My skin still crawls thinking about it. Your gonna love it!

[Anne (w/ an E)]

Kimberly wrote: "I have read this awesome book. My skin still crawls thinking about it. Your gonna love it!"

I have heard lots of good things about this book. I am so glad I found a copy at the second-hand book store.

[Opal]

I've never read this book before, and I can't wait to get started! I just ordered it off Amazon, so I hope it arrives soon. Everyone says how creepy it is, so I am super excited.

[M.E.]

Just in case anyone else is interested...

The location described in the book is actually pretty plausible in the real world. There is even a dirt road that runs off of the main road they would have taken from Cobá (where they travelled to by bus) and at the other end there is a tiny farming town that could almost be the Mayan village in the story.

I enjoy looking up story locations because, when they're real or surrounded by real places, it adds depth to the story for me. For those curious about the geography but not already familiar with the area:

The Ruins in the Yucatán peninsula are here:


A closer view with Cancún, Cobá and the ruins:

[Melanie]

visit ancient ruins near Coba

My bucket list is rapidly diminishing.

[Marie Helene]

Melanie wrote: " visit ancient ruins near Coba

My bucket list is rapidly diminishing."

🤣

[Rachel]

M.E. wrote: "Just in case anyone else is interested...

The location described in the book is actually pretty plausible in the real world. There is even a dirt road that runs off of the main road they would hav..."

Thanks for this info!!! That's so awesome!

[Ami]

Can’t wait! This has been on my TBR list since it came out!!

[Kim]

LOL @ Melanie!

[L. Smashing]

Just started this last night.

I saw the movie years ago. So I'm familiar with the plot, but everyone always has amazing things to say about this book, so I'm giving it a shot.

I'm excited.

[Kirsten]

I remember not being able to put it down!

[Jamie]

Although I really liked this book, I'm going to say this is one of those cases when I enjoyed the movie more than the book. I think because it was shorter, not as repetitive, and at least some of the movie characters were likable.

That being said the book is fantastic and I hope you all enjoy it as I did!

[M.E.]

Melanie wrote: "My bucket list is rapidly diminishing."

LOL, but now you know what to keep an eye out for so it’s safe. :-)

[Mike]

Picking up my held copy at the library tomorrow! May finish reading Aickman's Heirs before I start reading it, though.

[Marie Helene]

Still waiting for my copy to arrive...

[Marie Helene]

And then, one hour later, checking my letterbox, the book had just arrived in a jiffy enveloppe!
There's magic in Horror Aficionados :-)

[L. Smashing]

I'm about 40% through, and at this point.

The first 25% got me really interested, but I'm a little bored now because it's a lot of introspection and a lot of internal freaking out.

[Becko]

Requested my copy from library, just a waiting game now.

[M.E.]

Laura wrote: "I'm about 40% through, and at this point.

The first 25% got me really interested, but I'm a little bored now because it's a lot of introspection and a lot of internal freaking out."

I'm at 38% and I agree, it has slowed a bit but, having read the book before, I think it's fun seeing the characters miss what's going on around them. They're not being stupid or anything. A reasonable person just wouldn't realize it based on what they know or have seen so far. I'm getting antsy just thinking about it.

It's been a while since the last time I read the book but, if I remember correctly, it picks up again soon.

[Alan]

Smith may have spent some time on introspection and such early, but he really developed the characters, and all of that was important to the storyline later in the book.

Personally, I would have to consider this in my all-time top 20, if not top 10 horror books. The tension just builds and builds, the creepiness oozes from the pages, the anticipation of what happens next and the dread of what is going to happen just flows throughout the story. I'm really sorry Smith still only has two novels to date, as they were both terrific and were both made into one equally good and one better movie.

[Marie Helene]

I appreciate the time Smith spends on developing his characters. I dislike books with flat characters: as a reader I always feel 'robbed' when this happens. Fortunately not the case with Jeff, Amy, Eric, Stacy and Mathias.

[Nancy]

I started rewinds this evening.

[Anne (w/ an E)]

Let me guess, Nancy. You don't look at the keys OR the page when you type...(unless there is a book called "Rewinds" that you started this evening?) ;D

[Nancy]

Nope. Autocorrect surprise. How do you think we came to calling the library Larry?

[Nancy]

I started reading tonight. It’s a fast read. I am already at page 109.

[Anne (w/ an E)]

Larry was just about the time I joined the group, I think.

[Anne (w/ an E)]

That was on AW, wasn't it?

[Nancy]

Yep

[aPriL does feral sometimes]

I liked the book. There was a movie too. I saw it first on Syfy, but I noticed Youtube has it, but maybe behind a subscriber paywall.

https://youtu.be/cyglpQU5sJ0

[L. Smashing]

aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "I liked the book. There was a movie too. I saw it first on Syfy, but I noticed Youtube has it, but maybe behind a subscriber paywall.

https://youtu.be/cyglpQU5sJ0"

Wow. I just finished the book, so I watched the trailer and just in the trailer they changed a lot for the movie....

[Marie Helene]

What is your opinion? The Mayan villagers, they do not speak Spanish or they do not want to speak Spanish? Don't you think they should know a few words of Spanish?

[Kirsten]

Marie-Helene wrote: "What is your opinion? The Mayan villagers, they do not speak Spanish or they do not want to speak Spanish? Don't you think they should know a few words of Spanish?"

They should know a few words unless they're completely isolated.

[Marie Helene]

Yes, and I think it adds to the creepiness of the situation

[M.E.]

Kirsten wrote: "Marie-Helene wrote: "What is your opinion? The Mayan villagers, they do not speak Spanish or they do not want to speak Spanish? Don't you think they should know a few words of Spanish?"

They certainly would have picked up "no" as in:
Point at the hill.
Yell, "No!"
Wave both hands away from the hill..

It seems like they could have mimed more effectively as well. For example point at the hill, point at the cringo, make a throat cutting action. That might be interpreted as a threat rather than a warning, but would have come closer to the message they were trying to convey.

I chalked the poor communication up to maybe panic on the Mayan's part and left it at that. They clearly did try to warn everyone away from the hill initially though. I didn't come away from it thinking they were being deceptive by not speaking Spanish or English.

[Marie Helene]

I agree with you, there was panic on the Mayan side.
They did not expect the young gringos to be looking for the path, and to find the path.

[Nancy]

I finished. (view spoiler)[I thought it was ok. I knew how it was going end. I didn’t feel the tension or get the heebie jeebies or cringe or anything while reading. (hide spoiler)]

[Anne (w/ an E)]

I started this tonight.

[Melanie]

M.E. wrote: "Kirsten wrote: "Marie-Helene wrote: "What is your opinion? The Mayan villagers, they do not speak Spanish or they do not want to speak Spanish? Don't you think they should know a few words of Spani..."

I don't know, as a stupid white person who only speaks English and who's traveled extensively through Asia, India and Mexico, I have learned the hard way that gestures are very much culturally relative. Perhaps the tourists should have made more of an effort to learn the local lingo?