Max Lieberman
There was a lot I enjoyed about this metafictional horror story about a pair of sisters who both write novels, and end up entangled with a demon who... also writes novels.
It's a nasty-spirited romp with a fair bit of gore, some colorful characters, and moments where I genuinely asked myself "what the fuck is going on?" It ends on a series of solid twists, with both comedy and tragedy running hot and cold.
Vandelly's prose can veer a bit purple, and she is one of those authors who insist on using any possible verb to avoid simply writing "she said." There are a few slow patches, when we are perhaps too alone with the protagonist and her verbose anxiety.
My only real disappointment with the book is the fault of my own expectations. When my friend described the, well, premise, I assumed there would be something Lovecraftian going on. Something in the vein of House of Leaves, but with an eldritch monstrosity of a book instead of a house; or akin to In the Mouth of Madness, but on the page instead of the screen. Sadly for me, that's not the tone. I'm not sure how it's possible to write a recursive story about an evil book, featuring body horror and a priest named "Father Madness," without a heavy dose of Lovecraft, Cronenberg, or Carpenter, but this is that book.
It's a good book nonetheless.
There was a lot I enjoyed about this metafictional horror story about a pair of sisters who both write novels, and end up entangled with a demon who... also writes novels.
It's a nasty-spirited romp with a fair bit of gore, some colorful characters, and moments where I genuinely asked myself "what the fuck is going on?" It ends on a series of solid twists, with both comedy and tragedy running hot and cold.
Vandelly's prose can veer a bit purple, and she is one of those authors who insist on using any possible verb to avoid simply writing "she said." There are a few slow patches, when we are perhaps too alone with the protagonist and her verbose anxiety.
My only real disappointment with the book is the fault of my own expectations. When my friend described the, well, premise, I assumed there would be something Lovecraftian going on. Something in the vein of House of Leaves, but with an eldritch monstrosity of a book instead of a house; or akin to In the Mouth of Madness, but on the page instead of the screen. Sadly for me, that's not the tone. I'm not sure how it's possible to write a recursive story about an evil book, featuring body horror and a priest named "Father Madness," without a heavy dose of Lovecraft, Cronenberg, or Carpenter, but this is that book.
It's a good book nonetheless.