Wednesday, April 15, 2009
20th Century Ghosts
So, I don't know if anyone else has been disappointed with this book, but I was really expecting something different. To me, I thought with the title, it would be scary ghost stories; instead a lot of them didn't scare me at all. Like Pop Art, unless I was missing something, an inflatable person is not scary, just really strange. And the story I had to read, Last Breath, wasn't very exhilarating either. I don't know. I really loved Best New Horror, it was probably my favorite, just because it was scariest. I think the title of the book should have been different. But, I guess my say so really doesn't matter..haha.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I don't believe Joe Hill wrote the book with the intention of giving you nightmares...his writing certainly is not in-your-face horror like the Saw series or any traditional "scary" form of media that involves blood, guts, decapitated bodies, and pretty girls with notorious murders standing behind them with 10 inch butcher knives....
ReplyDeleteAs Chris Golden says in the introduction: "Modern horror is not often subtle. Most of those who practice the art of the unsettling far too often go for the jugular, forgetting that the best predators are stealthy...Not all of the stories in 20th Century Ghosts are horror stories, by the way. Some are wistfully supernatural, some are darkly disturbing mainstream fiction, and one lacks any trace of nastiness and is actually quite sweet"
Perhaps it is that whole concept again that I mentioned about the fantasy elements we read: this horror is not the cliche version of horror we would have originally defined, I think. Rather, it challenges us again to accept horror for different elements than we may have been accustomed to, such as psychological horror.
I was not disappointed with this book at all. Overall, I think this might have been one of my favorite books from this class. Joe Hill's stories in this collection aren't just one dimensional. He uses everyday ideas and taints them a little or looks at relationships and exposes them. His talent as I have seen from this book is more flexible to different stories. Each of his stories held its own in this book. Each story left an impression on me and none disappointed.
ReplyDeleteWhile a majority of the stories in Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghost were not horrifying or even terrifying, I do feel overall Hill has achieved his goal in writing horror stories. I think the reason why a person might consider many of Hill's stories not-so-scary might be because the expectation for a typical horror genre in any form of media is too extreme. Like Natalie said, bordering on "traditional" versions of scary/horror, this usually involves some gore and disturbing images. I like Hill because his take on horror is very subtle, but he shows that he is a chameleon when it comes to his horror writing capabilities. He can do disturbing and/or gory, as showcased in Best New Horror. In my opinion, the best type of horror is the unexpected type, the kind that sneaks up on you without you even realize it. To anticipate for the unknown but not even realizing my anticipation, that's the kind of horror that has me gripping on the edge of my seat.
ReplyDelete