Handling the Undead
Registered by 
GoryDetails
of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 7/28/2013
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
GoryDetails of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 7/28/2013 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
I got this good-condition trade paperback from the bargain rack at Barnes and Noble. [I loved the book when I first read it, and was glad to find another release copy. I also enjoyed Lindqvist's creepy, disturbing child-vampire novel Let The Right One In (aka Let Me In).]
In Handling the Undead, the recently dead in one small town suddenly return to life - of a sort, leading to a variety of reactions from their loved ones and from the officials...
This isn't the typical zombie-apocalypse story, and while it does have some very chilling moments, they're of the very personal, emotional kind rather than the screaming-mob kind (which, for me, made it all that much more terrifying/heart-wrenching).
The story introduces several sets of main characters in Stockholm, as the area is undergoing a heat wave - along with mysterious malfunctions in electronic gadgets and splitting headaches in many of the people. And one man, visiting a grave in the local cemetery, sees a very strange thing indeed - but has no idea what it might mean.
And then it happens: recently-dead individuals start getting up from the funeral-home tables or the hospital autopsy-room slabs and trying to get home. They don't seem violent, more vague and confused, with the most recently dead having the highest function. What's causing it remains a mystery, and the first question is, what to do with the returnees. And then another question: are these the only bodies that have reanimated, or is it happening in the graveyards too?
The personal stories approach this situation from different angles. There's someone who lost a loved one in an accident minutes before the phenomenon kicked in; for that family it's as if the accident victim was miraculously spared rather than reanimated - until they see the injuries. Another family lost someone after a long illness, and were so burned out by the long period of caring for him that they're really not that happy to see him back again. And then there's the family that lost a child some six weeks ago...
Much of the story is about the "what would you do" questions; loved ones thought lost have returned, but are they still themselves, however damaged? And in any case, what's to be done with them? What's causing this, and will it spread?
The government steps in, religious movements vie for credit for what's called a miracle by some, and individuals take steps to handle their returnees in their own way...
I've read so many horror stories over the years that I'm inured to some of the most horrifying scenes, but there were bits in this book that had me cringing emotionally, aching in sympathy, and sometimes whimpering in fear. And sniffling a bit now and then, too. [There were a few chuckles among the emotion - some of the situations approach farce, a nice relief from the more gut-wrenching ones.]
My only quibble with the story as its resolution, which wasn't as satisfying as I'd hoped. It had the advantage of being ambiguous (despite the certainty of some of the characters as to what happened - a different certainty for each of them!), but I wanted something with more punch. Still, the book as a whole involved me very deeply, and is one I won't forget.
[I also enjoyed an unabridged audiobook version of the story, read by Steven Pacey.]
In Handling the Undead, the recently dead in one small town suddenly return to life - of a sort, leading to a variety of reactions from their loved ones and from the officials...
This isn't the typical zombie-apocalypse story, and while it does have some very chilling moments, they're of the very personal, emotional kind rather than the screaming-mob kind (which, for me, made it all that much more terrifying/heart-wrenching).
The story introduces several sets of main characters in Stockholm, as the area is undergoing a heat wave - along with mysterious malfunctions in electronic gadgets and splitting headaches in many of the people. And one man, visiting a grave in the local cemetery, sees a very strange thing indeed - but has no idea what it might mean.
And then it happens: recently-dead individuals start getting up from the funeral-home tables or the hospital autopsy-room slabs and trying to get home. They don't seem violent, more vague and confused, with the most recently dead having the highest function. What's causing it remains a mystery, and the first question is, what to do with the returnees. And then another question: are these the only bodies that have reanimated, or is it happening in the graveyards too?
The personal stories approach this situation from different angles. There's someone who lost a loved one in an accident minutes before the phenomenon kicked in; for that family it's as if the accident victim was miraculously spared rather than reanimated - until they see the injuries. Another family lost someone after a long illness, and were so burned out by the long period of caring for him that they're really not that happy to see him back again. And then there's the family that lost a child some six weeks ago...
Much of the story is about the "what would you do" questions; loved ones thought lost have returned, but are they still themselves, however damaged? And in any case, what's to be done with them? What's causing this, and will it spread?
The government steps in, religious movements vie for credit for what's called a miracle by some, and individuals take steps to handle their returnees in their own way...
I've read so many horror stories over the years that I'm inured to some of the most horrifying scenes, but there were bits in this book that had me cringing emotionally, aching in sympathy, and sometimes whimpering in fear. And sniffling a bit now and then, too. [There were a few chuckles among the emotion - some of the situations approach farce, a nice relief from the more gut-wrenching ones.]
My only quibble with the story as its resolution, which wasn't as satisfying as I'd hoped. It had the advantage of being ambiguous (despite the certainty of some of the characters as to what happened - a different certainty for each of them!), but I wanted something with more punch. Still, the book as a whole involved me very deeply, and is one I won't forget.
[I also enjoyed an unabridged audiobook version of the story, read by Steven Pacey.]
Journal Entry 2 by GoryDetails at Bearskin Neck in Rockport, Massachusetts USA on Wednesday, October 2, 2013
GoryDetails at Bearskin Neck in Rockport, Massachusetts USA on Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Released 10 yrs ago (10/2/2013 UTC) at Bearskin Neck in Rockport, Massachusetts USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
I plan to leave this book on a bench or window ledge somewhere along Bearskin Neck at around 12:30 or so; hope the finder enjoys it!*** Released as part of the 2013 You're Such an Animal release challenge, for the embedded "ling" in the title. ***
*** Released as part of the 2013 TICK TOCK release challenge, for the embedded "dead" in the title. ***
*** Released as part of the 2013 Halloween Spooktacular release challenge, for "undead". ***
