The Torturer's Apprentice
Registered by 
GoryDetails
of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 12/27/2018
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
GoryDetails of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 12/27/2018 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
I got this hardcover from the charity-sale bin at Hannaford's. It's a collection of stories with a variety of tones and settings, and I enjoyed it very much. Favorites include:
"The Vulgar Soul", about a modern-day man whose unusual skin condition turns into full-blown stigmata, leading to increasing changes in his life as people begin to assume he has the ability to bless them. The story-arc feels low-key despite the drastic effects on the man - and on how his life changes again when the "gift" disappears.
"My Slave" is a chilling tale from the viewpoint of a man who discusses the economical advantages of slave-holding even as he struggles to learn how to handle the slave he's just purchased. [It isn't clear whether the story's set during the pre-Civil-War days in the US or if it's meant to be an alternate-history tale set later on, but either way the detached tone, the self-justification against all logic, is really hard to take.]
"Rose" is a harrowing short-short tale of a man who, on the death of his wife, finds an album in her possession showing a series of age-progression images of their long-lost child, something he did not know she was maintaining. The story's so very short that it's astonishing how much character, back-story, and emotion it conveys.
"Plague of Toads" is set in a South American town at an indeterminate time, where a man juggles his affair with the tempting Lola with his newly-discovered fascination with long-lost documents telling the history of the town - and describing a historical plague that he thinks mirrors the current plague of toads that's threatening the city. The odd tone and mysterious elements suggest that something supernatural may be involved - or, perhaps, our narrator is not reliable... Either way it's a fascinating tale.
"The Open Curtain" reminded me of Shirley Jackson's domestic horror stories - a man comes home a bit early and sees his family around the dinner table through the open curtains, and finds himself noticing things about them that hadn't occurred to him before. When he goes in, he seems able to be a better husband and father than he's ever been - but he feels that reality is off just a bit...
The title story has a roughly 16th century setting where the ebbing of interest in mass witch-hunts and Inquisitions leaves a lot of professional torturers out of work, turning to a wandering life as itinerant torturers. One of those takes an apprentice, a likely lad who does well in his work - until a young woman tries to seduce him and, when he rejects her, accuses him of assaulting her. He's put to the question - and his master is the one who must torture him... The story kept taking turns I didn't expect, and while it's rather heart-breaking, it's very effective.
"And Never Come Up" has a tale-within-a-tale structure, centered on a character recalling when, as a boy, he and his father went fishing in the swamps and got stranded. The details of having to huddle under cover all night to keep the mosquitos off - while fretting lest larger perils approach from the water - were all too believable, and the overall story structure took the tale into another dimension.
And there's more - very good collection!
"The Vulgar Soul", about a modern-day man whose unusual skin condition turns into full-blown stigmata, leading to increasing changes in his life as people begin to assume he has the ability to bless them. The story-arc feels low-key despite the drastic effects on the man - and on how his life changes again when the "gift" disappears.
"My Slave" is a chilling tale from the viewpoint of a man who discusses the economical advantages of slave-holding even as he struggles to learn how to handle the slave he's just purchased. [It isn't clear whether the story's set during the pre-Civil-War days in the US or if it's meant to be an alternate-history tale set later on, but either way the detached tone, the self-justification against all logic, is really hard to take.]
"Rose" is a harrowing short-short tale of a man who, on the death of his wife, finds an album in her possession showing a series of age-progression images of their long-lost child, something he did not know she was maintaining. The story's so very short that it's astonishing how much character, back-story, and emotion it conveys.
"Plague of Toads" is set in a South American town at an indeterminate time, where a man juggles his affair with the tempting Lola with his newly-discovered fascination with long-lost documents telling the history of the town - and describing a historical plague that he thinks mirrors the current plague of toads that's threatening the city. The odd tone and mysterious elements suggest that something supernatural may be involved - or, perhaps, our narrator is not reliable... Either way it's a fascinating tale.
"The Open Curtain" reminded me of Shirley Jackson's domestic horror stories - a man comes home a bit early and sees his family around the dinner table through the open curtains, and finds himself noticing things about them that hadn't occurred to him before. When he goes in, he seems able to be a better husband and father than he's ever been - but he feels that reality is off just a bit...
The title story has a roughly 16th century setting where the ebbing of interest in mass witch-hunts and Inquisitions leaves a lot of professional torturers out of work, turning to a wandering life as itinerant torturers. One of those takes an apprentice, a likely lad who does well in his work - until a young woman tries to seduce him and, when he rejects her, accuses him of assaulting her. He's put to the question - and his master is the one who must torture him... The story kept taking turns I didn't expect, and while it's rather heart-breaking, it's very effective.
"And Never Come Up" has a tale-within-a-tale structure, centered on a character recalling when, as a boy, he and his father went fishing in the swamps and got stranded. The details of having to huddle under cover all night to keep the mosquitos off - while fretting lest larger perils approach from the water - were all too believable, and the overall story structure took the tale into another dimension.
And there's more - very good collection!
Journal Entry 2 by GoryDetails at Little Free Library, Hartshorn Mill Rd in Amherst, New Hampshire USA on Monday, November 30, 2020
GoryDetails at Little Free Library, Hartshorn Mill Rd in Amherst, New Hampshire USA on Monday, November 30, 2020
Released 3 yrs ago (11/30/2020 UTC) at Little Free Library, Hartshorn Mill Rd in Amherst, New Hampshire USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Guidelines for safely visiting and stocking Little Free Libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic, from the LFL site here.I left this book in the Little Free Library on this rainy, foggy day; hope someone enjoys it!
[See other recent releases in NH here.]
*** Released for the 2020 The The challenge. ***
