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The Dead Will Drag the Living Down
Feb. 14th, 2010 07:19 pmEvery now and then, I pick up a book assuming that it won't hold my interest, that I'll just flick through it, start skimming as soon as I lose concentration, or put it down permanently as soon as I lose interest.
And then, to my surprise, I end up reading every word.
The latest of these is Joe Hill's Heart-Shaped Box.
Rocker Judas "Jude" Coyne has a collection of the bizarre and the ghastly - a witch's confession, serial killer art, a snuff film. So when he sees the online auction ad for a ghost, he can't resist. With a click on the "buy it now" button, it's his. He doesn't actually believe in life after death, but the story is too good; the auction too unusual. It must be his!
A few days later, he receives a black suit in a heart-shaped box. And that's when everything goes wrong for Jude and his girlfriend Georgia. A ghost really has come as part of the deal - a cadaverous man with black squiggles over his eyes, a confident smile, and a razor blade on a chain. This isn't just any ghost... this is a man who has promised beyond death to take his vengeance on Jude and anyone who would help him. His stepdaughter was one of the many women Jude loved and blew off, and when she could take it no more, she killed herself.
But Jude has been dealing some kinds of ghosts for a long, long time; his past is full of the ghosts of angry memory - his abusive family, his out of control bandmates, his many loves gone wrong. He hasn't let any of them stop him, and he's not going to let this one take him out either.
Hill lets Heart-Shaped Box do what it needs to tell the story. In some cases, this means dropping out of linear narrative; in others it means single-sentence chapters. It also means letting the ghost write what he pleases lalala dark, twisted threats lalala long streams of creepy consciousness with little punctuation that work lalala like Faulker quotes from the depths of hell lalala. (Or he sticks with single, cheerful sentences such as the constant refrain, "The dead will drag the living down.")
Hill's confidence is rewarded, because the emphasis and pacing are perfect - better than they would have been if he'd robbed the power of the words to stick with convention. Also, they serve to keep the reader guessing - as does the plot, which is far from straightforward.
Other conventions, however, are satisfyingly fulfilled. People into the music scene (or fond of wikipedia) will catch many musical references slipped easily in. Plus, there are lots of lovely horror tropes that slapped my "shiver" button hard, although again Hill doesn't go for cliches like splattered body parts or bleeding walls. (I am a sucker for TV and radio broadcasts gone wrong, and there are lots of those.)
The book garnered enough attention, and the description is so nicely visual that I'm not surprised to hear that Warner has optioned it for a movie. But until then - if you want a good, freaky read, you can't do much better than Heart-Shaped Box.
But do pick a day when you can read the whole thing in daylight.
And then, to my surprise, I end up reading every word.
The latest of these is Joe Hill's Heart-Shaped Box.
Rocker Judas "Jude" Coyne has a collection of the bizarre and the ghastly - a witch's confession, serial killer art, a snuff film. So when he sees the online auction ad for a ghost, he can't resist. With a click on the "buy it now" button, it's his. He doesn't actually believe in life after death, but the story is too good; the auction too unusual. It must be his!
A few days later, he receives a black suit in a heart-shaped box. And that's when everything goes wrong for Jude and his girlfriend Georgia. A ghost really has come as part of the deal - a cadaverous man with black squiggles over his eyes, a confident smile, and a razor blade on a chain. This isn't just any ghost... this is a man who has promised beyond death to take his vengeance on Jude and anyone who would help him. His stepdaughter was one of the many women Jude loved and blew off, and when she could take it no more, she killed herself.
But Jude has been dealing some kinds of ghosts for a long, long time; his past is full of the ghosts of angry memory - his abusive family, his out of control bandmates, his many loves gone wrong. He hasn't let any of them stop him, and he's not going to let this one take him out either.
Hill lets Heart-Shaped Box do what it needs to tell the story. In some cases, this means dropping out of linear narrative; in others it means single-sentence chapters. It also means letting the ghost write what he pleases lalala dark, twisted threats lalala long streams of creepy consciousness with little punctuation that work lalala like Faulker quotes from the depths of hell lalala. (Or he sticks with single, cheerful sentences such as the constant refrain, "The dead will drag the living down.")
Hill's confidence is rewarded, because the emphasis and pacing are perfect - better than they would have been if he'd robbed the power of the words to stick with convention. Also, they serve to keep the reader guessing - as does the plot, which is far from straightforward.
Other conventions, however, are satisfyingly fulfilled. People into the music scene (or fond of wikipedia) will catch many musical references slipped easily in. Plus, there are lots of lovely horror tropes that slapped my "shiver" button hard, although again Hill doesn't go for cliches like splattered body parts or bleeding walls. (I am a sucker for TV and radio broadcasts gone wrong, and there are lots of those.)
The book garnered enough attention, and the description is so nicely visual that I'm not surprised to hear that Warner has optioned it for a movie. But until then - if you want a good, freaky read, you can't do much better than Heart-Shaped Box.
But do pick a day when you can read the whole thing in daylight.
