Horror Aficionados discussion
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Ghost Story
Group Reads
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October Group Read #1: GHOST STORY.
Lena wrote: "Here’s my casting so far:Frederick Hawthorn - Kurt Russell
Sears James - Rutger Hauer
Lewis Benedikt - Timothy Olyphant
John Jaffrey - Clint Eastwood"
Kurt Russell and Timothy Olyphant in the same movie? I'm coming to your house!
My imagination has a big budget.
I finished this the other day and cannot stop thinking about it. My favorite book of this year thus far.
I’m 24% in and if it wasn’t for reputation I think I would have DNF’d by now. There’s nothing wrong but it’s meandering.
I'm done..when are we to start discussing this little gem??
Arka wrote: "I'm done..when are we to start discussing this little gem??"Is this the same Arka who does some narration on YouTube...?
83 pages in and I don't know where this is heading.
I read this about 20 years ago and don't really recall much of it, but 53 pages in and my bewilderbeast is showing, so this time I'm using sticky notes......lots of sticky notes....
Lena wrote: "I’m 24% in and if it wasn’t for reputation I think I would have DNF’d by now. There’s nothing wrong but it’s meandering." VERY meandering.
Lena wrote: "I’m 24% in and if it wasn’t for reputation I think I would have DNF’d by now. There’s nothing wrong but it’s meandering."Yes. I am having trouble convincing myself to pick it up.
So true... 100 pages left and they seem to me like 1000. Liking the atmosphere but it's very meandering, author seems having almost no idea where he's going to while writing and I'm not caring much all about the characters. Prologue was very goid for me then storyline went downfall with a few short peaks of creepiness. Meh :/
I'm about 141 pages in and I am still baffled by this where the f**k is this going already?
Running alone in the woods the morning after a nightmare ? Nope. 
Finished. Luckly last 100 pages got better and better and loved the ending. 4 stars for me.
The end is good enough to make up for 350 meandering pages? I better trek along
I'm only 53 pages in, but I'm really struggling to read it. "Meandering" is the perfect word.
Jannicke wrote: "The end is good enough to make up for 350 meandering pages? I better trek along"Central part of the book was so slow and meandering that I almost DNF it, but I really loved the ending, the eerie atmosphere and how Straub connected everything in a brilliant way at last.
I'm nearly finished and I had to keep the tv on for a little bit at bedtime. The only other book that frightened me so was Salem's Lot.
Hit page 295 and it seems to be picking up pace. Still meandering like a blind old goat in a strange pasture, but starting to bring me back to it rather than dragging me back to it.
I'm on page 150 and not really sure if I'm gonna be able to push through it. I've always heard such good things about this one, but man is pushing through starting to feel a little like work.
I'm usually pretty resilient with books, and I stick it through until the end, but I don't know if I could hang on for 100 pages or more without some action. Still haven't started because I am re-reading Frankenstein.
I’ve fought my way to 52% and it has picked up speed. Admittedly at one point I had it playing at 2.5x but I’ve made it!
I'm on page 191, and I seem to be in the minority but I'm absolutely loving it. It's a real slow burn but that's why I like it so much. There's a real sense of dread firmly planted in the here-and-now. I feel like a lot of the horror I've read lately has relied on gore/shock value and not enough on character building and impending doom. Plus, we've all had that feeling when we know something's wrong, but we can't quite put our finger on it...Plus I'm LOVING the characters. They're not self-indulgent 30-somethings who are determined to fight the evil, they're a bunch of scared old men.
Except for Sears of course, he's a snarky old bugger!
It’s certainly building and you are right, they are not dislikable characters; something that has become too popular.
It's not that I hate it so far, I'm just feeling fairly ambivalent. In terms of the writing and characters, it does a fine job, and while I don't generally mind a slow burn it's feeling a bit too slow at the moment.
I'm finished! The ending was totally confusing though.
So I’m a little over half way and this is taking me way longer to read than I expected, on the one hand I generally really like the characters, especially the fact that the main central group are so much older than your standard horror novel protagonists, but on the other hand the pace is kind of slower than I expected. Furthermore, I feel like I’m not nearly as invested as In the main plot as I should be.
Starting late to the party but I'll catch up!!!!
Mod
There's no "late"--start whenever you can! :)
I am enjoying Re-reading this much more then first time. It's a slower story and the first time I was impatient for it to pick up. Now I'm more willing to enjoy the whole story knowing that it will pick up and have an amazing conclusion!
Finished it Saturday. Certainly ended better than the middle of the book lead me to feel it would end. It meandered a lot, but it wrapped up nicely, if not rather strangely. All-in-all I am glad I read it. I wonder, now, how the movie compares. The characters in the book don't look to me to match the ones in the 1981 movie and I am guessing it will be a big let down.
JB wrote: "Finished it Saturday. Certainly ended better than the middle of the book lead to feel it would end. It meander a lot, but it wrapped up nicely, if not rather strangely. All-in-all I am glad I read ..."I haven't seen the film yet but related to what you wrote about the characters, the only thing I know about it is that (view spoiler). I put that under a spoiler even though it's not about the plot, just to be careful.
Rachel wrote: "Spoiler Info"That is interesting. That alters part of the fundamental support of the how it ended. Sounds as though I have not missed much having never seen it. The only worse than a movie not handling a story well, is changing it all together.
32% into the audiobook. This narrator is not great and so far it is SLOW. Still interested to see how it plays out and like 15 friends gave it 5 Stars so I must see this through to the end. But honestly as of right now I don’t see me rushing back to any of Straub’s other work anytime soon.
FINALLY got my copy in the mail today. Finished the prologue and already liking how he writes. I’m prepared for the slowness everyone speaks of so I won’t let that cloud my judgement.
I agree this is definitely a slow burn, no different than Jackson or Blackwood though. No mistake this is literary horror. (100 pages in)
Pg 395 'Sentimental Journey' Even though I've read this before I CAN NOT remember anything that happens, but it's really picked up the pace. I googled Manitou and, according to Wiki (which I know is not always 'accurate') in one of the native North American languages (view spoiler)
I’m enjoying all the character development but still trying to figure out how to tie it all in? How ALL the different off shoot stories and happenings will merge? It is a struggle to keep up but I know it will all be worth it. Every time I try to put it down for awhile, I pick it up again, right away it seems, and rip thru 10 more pages. I love books like this!
I can't. I just can't. I'm planning to read it in between other books and hope it picks up, but I simply cannot make myself read this book past page 53 that I've been on forever!
done reading...anybody up for some discussion? a phenomenal work in the field of Gothic horror.
Melanie wrote: "Arka wrote: "I'm done..when are we to start discussing this little gem??"Is this the same Arka who does some narration on YouTube...?"
Nope..i do have a youtube channel though..i'm a musician and an aspiring filmmaker. You can check out my channel (johnny liono)
Chelly, your points are valid but I don't think Michael Aronovitz could have said it any better. "Good, developed horror takes its time. If one tries to do horror quickly or formulaicly for the sake of joining a trend or with scattering of tiny two-to-three sentence paragraphs where characters tell each other all the backstory and then run down a dark hallway screaming, we get comedy, and unless you are into wacky bizarro stuff, that is the death to a horror writer. One doesnt speed up to see a car accident."
Anna wrote: "I'm finished! The ending was totally confusing though."well I believe the climax could be better but it was good nonetheless. What did u find confusing?
Zach wrote: "Chelly, your points are valid but I don't think Michael Aronovitz could have said it any better. "Good, developed horror takes its time. If one tries to do horror quickly or formulaicly for the sak..."While true, it's quite possible to take too long to develop a story. It's a fine balance between 'story building' and 'losing the audience from boredom', and I feel Ghost Story teeters on the edge of that line.
Overall I enjoyed Ghost Story, unfortunately the ending left me a little cold. Personally it just feels like such a long time for events to tie themselves together and become interesting, just to fizzle away far too quickly.
I agree Tim.I just finished I gave it 3.5 Stars. Here is my spoiler free review.
Read my 3-star review of Ghost Story by Peter Straub
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Frederick Hawthorn - Kurt Russell
Sears James - Rutger Hauer
Lewis Benedikt - Timothy Olyphant
John Jaffrey - Clint Eastwood