Maplecroft, the first in The Borden Dispatches by Cherie Priest is a re-imagining of Lizzie Borden's life. Is there anyone who hasn't heard the tale of Lizzie Borden? Although she was acquitted of the murders, most people believed she was guilty.
Lizzie Borden took an axAnd gave her mother forty whacks.When she saw what she had done,She gave her father forty-one.
However, what if Lizzie did commit the murders, but there was a good reason? What if Lizzie had to continue watching --and trying to contain--an evil that threatened to overtake the entire town of Fall River...and maybe much more? Therein lies the tale that Priest develops. The book fits into the horror genre and does, as several reviewers mention, have a Lovecraftian aura about it.
What I liked:
-the style of writing which mimics an older style yet allows a more current application
-the use of diary entries, various personal accounts of developing situations, and personal correspondence. These elements give insight into several characters.
-the concept of Lizzie, not as a murderess, but an unexpected hero. After all, she was
acquitted of the murders, and the premise of the novel is that Lizzie's life is devoted to
battling monsters.
What bothered me:
-If the author was going to alter history so drastically, I would have been happier if she had
simply taken the basic idea and created her own characters. Spoiler: The inclusion of
Nance bothered me. The two didn't meet until 1904, and Nance lived a long life. I could
not let the these facts go, so all the Nance scenes interrupted ability to believe.
-The "evil" that threatens the town is--well, amorphous, pun intended. It is never satisfactorily explained in origin or purpose, and even has some contradictory elements.
-The book is too long and the suspense suffers because portions drag.
-Inspector Wolf held such possibilities and was neglected to the point that it was hardly
worth including him.
-the conclusion, or lack, thereof.
R.I.P. Challenge
Library copy.
Horror. 2014. 435 pages.
I have not had much success so far in discovering a good book for the R.I.P. Challenge. I've started three that were billed as Gothic Mysteries, but they turned out to be simplistic romances. What I want is something like Wilkie Collins or the Bronte novels--something dense and a little out-of-time or something really frightening with a Gothic atmosphere.
What I don't want is a romance or a cozy or a suspenseful mystery (I read plenty of suspenseful mysteries :p). I want ghosts or mediums and seances or haunted manor houses or a good Dracula pastiche. While I don't want a cozy, I'm not opposed to a humorous take on any of the above. Library here I come....
I did find this, however, on the History Girls blog, an article by Katherine Clements about Top Withins, the inspiration for Wuthering Heights! Very interesting!
It is time for Carl's annual R.I.P. Challenge, and I'm going to be creating a list of possible books to read.
One of the scariest books I ever read was Peter Straub's Ghost Story. That was decades ago, and I'm considering a reread, but don't want to be disappointed.
In the first few R.I.P. challenges, I reread several books by Wilkie Collins and was delighted to find that I loved The Woman in White as much, if not more, than the first time. I enjoyed The Moonstone, but love The Woman in White.
One year for the challenge, I read Sax Rohmer's The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu--and a few others by Rohmer. These stories are a hoot!
For the 2007 challenge, I read Renfield: Slave of Dracula by Barbara Hambly. Wow--was it worth it! The original Dracula by Stoker and many pastiches have always called to me. Hambly's James Asher series is also very good if you like vampires.
In 2011, I made a list of some of the books I'd since 2006 for Carl's challenge, and I might want to reread one or two. I should make a list of the books I've read since 2011.
The first few years of the challenges, I tried to read or reread classics in the genre, as well as more contemporary works like The Thirteenth Tale. I really like a Gothic element to my R.I.P. reads. :)
My thanks to Carl for the encouragement to read the spooky, ghostly, eerie, and mysterious!
And once again, a wonderful image for the challenge. This one is by Abigail Larson.
And so it begins...
