Sydney Reads and Reads: Spooky Season
Hello! I'd like to say up front that I know it is wild to be posting my reads from September and October of 2020 in January of 2021. But it's doing my mental health a lot of good to complete this post, rather than let it go, and to have these reviews out there. I hope you enjoy!
My first read of Spooky Season 2020 was Ninth House, by Leigh Bardugo, which follows Galaxy "Alex" Stern, an unlikely Yale freshman with a dark past, tasked with monitoring the activities of Yale's eight secret ocult societies. When a girl is murdered on campus, Alex is forced to manage the societies on her own and contront the traumas of her past, all while balancing a full course load.
Bardugo's structure for the novel takes us back in forth in time, as well as perspective, which took a while to hook me, but once I was hooked I could not put this book down.
The world-building Bardugo does at Yale reminded me of the first time I read Harry Potter, discovering a hidden magic world that existed right under my nose. I especially loved reading the lists of real-world people, everyone from Bob Woodward to Jodi Foster, rumored to be alumi of the societies.
Why Alex has to have suffered every imaginable kind of abuse for us to empathize and relate to her, I'm not sure, but Leigh Bardugo and Ninth House are surely not alone in this trope. Keeping triggers for drug and sexual abuse in mind, I would whole heartedly reccomend this book!
When I was in London in 2017 I saw a stage version of The Woman in Black, by Susan Hill, which was seriously the scariest theatre experience I have had in my life. Spooky moors, check! Creepy mansion, check! Ghostly widow, CHECK!
The story follows Arthur Kipps, who is sent out to gather the papers and settle the estate of Mrs. Alice Drablow, of the remote Eel Marsch House, and things soon take a turn toward the haunted. If you're a fan of the Brontes this story is for you. Even having seen the play, the last moments left me in shock.
No one could accuse Come Closer, by Sara Gram, of being well written or engaging. However, the plot, which centers around a woman slowly succumbing to possession by a daemon she invites in her sleep kept me thinking. In fact, I was dreaming about the book a few days after finishing it and I spent the rest of the night in a sweaty half-sleep saying the Our Father. Seriously.
Another sinister quick read I went through this season was A Head Full of Ghosts, by Paul Tremblay. In it, we meet the Barrett family as their teenage daughter Marjorie quickly descends into madness. Leaving everyone puzzled and afraid, especially her 8-year-old sister Merry. Of course, the catholic church gets involved, bringing with them a production company whom the family agrees to let film them for their reality show, The Possession. And we're off to the races!
What really gripped me about A Head Full of Ghosts, was the sinister sister relationship. The tricks and slights of hand Marjorie would play on Merry, viewed by us through her 8-year-old eyes were at times ghoulish. The split time frame of present-day Merry reflecting back on her childhood experiences really kept the plot moving. Though, it's the final twist of this book that will have me recommending it for Halloweens to come. It left my jaw on the floor. I'd like to give a huge shout out to Jason Purdy for sending this title my way! Thank you, Jason!
I passed an afternoon in October, reading Akata Witch, by Nnedi Okorafor, the story of Sunny, a young girl with albinism born in New York City, now living in Aba, Nigeria. Sunny is out of place, in more ways than one, but finds belonging when she discovers she is one of the Leopard People, and capable of extraordinary power.
At times I felt a lot like I was reading an African Harry Potter, but with a female lead. There's an ordinary girl discovering she has unknown powers, powers that grant her entry into a world even more fantastic than her dreams. There's even a plot point centered around a soccer game ala quidditch. There's nothing I can point out that I specifically disliked about the book, but there wasn't anything making me jump to recommend it either.
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| Believe it or not, I sat my book down on my island not even realizing the knife was there until I came back to get it later. 😳 |
One of the first things I knew after I made my move to Colorado was that I'd be doing a re-read of Stephen King's The Shining, in October. Then, come late September, I received my itinerary for my Ventures By Liv trip, only to find I was going to Estes Park and attending a show at The Stanley Hotel! As if that wasn't enough, Olivia included a new copy of The Shining with my travel materials.
What I love about King's original text is the detail. Getting a deeper look into Jack Torrence's battle with alcoholism, how deeply he wants to make a fresh start for his family, and his slow descent into madness brought on by The Overlook. Wendy's inner strength, and her conflicting desires to stay with the man she loves but also do what's best for her and Danny. The way Danny fights to sort through the static of the hotel and keep his family together. It's all so much richer in King's text than in Kubrick's film, though enjoyment of one does not negate enjoyment of the other.
Tituba's story begins as a child, when at the age of seven she whitnesses her mother being hanged for daring to fight back when a plantation owner tries to rape her. From then on, Tituba was raised as a free woman by the wise and wonderful, Mama Yaya, who taught her all her secrets of healing and magic.
Tituba's downfall begins when she falls for a slave, John Indian, and agrees to become enslaved herself in order to be with him, When their owner dies, they're sold to a Puritan minister and taken to the Massechusets Bay colony where fear of Satan and Tutuba's healing skills ultimately lead to her conviction as a witch.
The horror here, if it wasn't obvious by the plot summary, is in a free, fully empowered woman giving herself up first to a man, and then to slavery. Not only does Tituba become a slave in the literal sense, but in the figurative sense, as the fears and cultural differences of the Puritans and their faith draw Tituba's bonds ever tighter; dimishing her talents and her voice until they are nothing.
It's all too easy to forget from my place of privilege, that often times the horrors of real life far outstrip those of any Stephen King novel. But I won't soon be forgetting the horrors of I, Tituba, or how it's changed my perspective of history.
I picked up Catherine House, by Elisabeth Thomas, after listening to a books episode of the Code Switch podcast. The Goodreads summary of Catherine House begins, "Catherine House is a school of higher learning like no other," and they are right! You're secluded on a campus deep in the woods for three years. During which time you're encouraged to expand your mind, devote yourself to your studies, and have little to no communication with the outside world. All while your room, board, everything is paid for, all in the hopes of joining Catherine's elite alumni including artists, authors, Supreme Court justices, and Presidents.
For Ines, Catherine is the only home she's ever had. But she struggles to give herself over to the process, and though she tries, curiosity gets the better of her leading to a shocking discovery that puts everything in jeopardy.
I'm still not sure how I feel about Catherine House. I'd expected it to be a high intensity, sinister thriller. But what I found was a slow building, obervational, personal journey for Ines. A world where everything seems just a little bit off, but no one seems to realize but our narrator, who's not sure if it's Catherine or herself that's the problem. So much about this book reminded me of The Giver, including the payoff at the end. If you like slow but steady world building, then Catherine House is for you.
Though these reviews are later than I'd intended them to be, I've heard from more than one person recently that thrillers have become their comfort read throughout COVID and everything else that's happening with the world right now. So if that's you, I hope you'll find somthing new and exciting to read from this post! - xo Sydney
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