The Red Tree
3 journalers for this copy...
I've read a few of Kiernan's short stories, but I think this was the first of their novels that I've read. I will be keeping my eyes out for more!
This writing style may not appeal to everyone, with a thick mass of densely descriptive words leading to a sprawling pace, but I found it refreshing and engaging. A big part of it is how well it reflects the main narrating character. Sarah is an unlikely and fascinating protagonist. Her curse-laden, frustrated, prickly take on these supernatural events is belied by the glimpses a reader sees of her personality when she isn't throwing up a thorny wall between herself and the world at large. The reader is left to claw through Sarah's words, digging for concrete meaning in a wall of emotion, while recognizing that sometimes emotion and perception may be more real than the merely physical world. (In a funny way, I was reminded of similarities when reading Villette by Charlotte Bronte, which also features a heroine who presents an unflappable face to the world, while wrestling emotions that come out to the reader in a tirade of stormy inner dialogue.)
This writing style may not appeal to everyone, with a thick mass of densely descriptive words leading to a sprawling pace, but I found it refreshing and engaging. A big part of it is how well it reflects the main narrating character. Sarah is an unlikely and fascinating protagonist. Her curse-laden, frustrated, prickly take on these supernatural events is belied by the glimpses a reader sees of her personality when she isn't throwing up a thorny wall between herself and the world at large. The reader is left to claw through Sarah's words, digging for concrete meaning in a wall of emotion, while recognizing that sometimes emotion and perception may be more real than the merely physical world. (In a funny way, I was reminded of similarities when reading Villette by Charlotte Bronte, which also features a heroine who presents an unflappable face to the world, while wrestling emotions that come out to the reader in a tirade of stormy inner dialogue.)
Added to the Surprisingly Good Books Bookbox.
I'm claiming this one from the Surprisingly Good bookbox (bookbox journal here); I've enjoyed lots of Kiernan's work, and this one sounds good!
Later: I really enjoyed this. It ticked lots of my favorite-horror-style buttons, with influences that I recognized - some of them called out in the text by the protagonist, others mentioned in the acknowledgements - such as House of Leaves, Haunting of Hill House, and the marvelous short story "Sticks" from Karl Edward Wagner's In a Lonely Place. It also uses the found-document tale-within-a-tale structure to good effect. (I was especially fond of the editor's preface, putting yet another character on the scene - while finding reasons why they didn't attempt to explore that so-strange cellar!) Oh, and there was a very nice handling of the oft-overused "manuscript trailing away as the writer describes the approach of something horrible," which usually begs the question of why they were still writing as the great one-lobed burning eye appeared. But here there's a very logical reason, and I was pleased to see the inclusion - and subversion - of the trope.
I appreciated the setting, too; rural western Rhode Island, with references to actual places, many of which I've visited (or at least driven through). I think I'll refrain from hunting for the huge red oak or the improbably-vast cellar next time I'm in the area, though {wry grin}.
The prickly, prone-to-seizures-and-nightmares heroine isn't easy to get to like, but her situation's an intriguing one - she's retreated to a farmhouse near the vast red oak tree that inspires the title, as a way to try and recover from the recent suicide of her ex-girlfriend, and to attempt to get back to work on her writing. But she's much more intrigued by the battered old typewriter she finds, and then the unfinished manuscript of the previous tenant, who committed suicide at the red tree... yeah, fans of horror stories would be bolting for the horizon at this point, but apparently she's decided she can't or won't leave, and thus the story spins out.
There are lots of threads here, from her early encounter with what might be a ghost - or a fey, or a vision from another time via a wormhole (the book loves to suggest lots of possible explanations) to the strange coincidence of having an attractive painter move in to share the farmhouse while she's still mourning her attractive-painter ex. [The brittle relationship-dance between the two is a large part of the atmosphere of the book, adding perspective and, eventually, its own style of horror.]
I really loved the quiet horror of getting lost within shouting distance of home, of the increasingly bizarre cellar and the Lovecraftian tunnels and chambers to which it leads, the scenes at the tree itself, and the M. R. James-style revelations from delving into the old manuscript. And it all felt of a piece with the setting, which has plenty of real-world weirdness in its history.
Given the multi-layered unreliability of the narrator - which she calls out herself quite often - one could be excused for thinking that nothing in the story can be believed, but the structure suggests that certain aspects are true. Though if it will help the reader sleep at night to assume that the narrator imagined the whole thing, that could work too...
[There's a TV Tropes page on the book, with some entertaining tidbits.]
Later: I really enjoyed this. It ticked lots of my favorite-horror-style buttons, with influences that I recognized - some of them called out in the text by the protagonist, others mentioned in the acknowledgements - such as House of Leaves, Haunting of Hill House, and the marvelous short story "Sticks" from Karl Edward Wagner's In a Lonely Place. It also uses the found-document tale-within-a-tale structure to good effect. (I was especially fond of the editor's preface, putting yet another character on the scene - while finding reasons why they didn't attempt to explore that so-strange cellar!) Oh, and there was a very nice handling of the oft-overused "manuscript trailing away as the writer describes the approach of something horrible," which usually begs the question of why they were still writing as the great one-lobed burning eye appeared. But here there's a very logical reason, and I was pleased to see the inclusion - and subversion - of the trope.
I appreciated the setting, too; rural western Rhode Island, with references to actual places, many of which I've visited (or at least driven through). I think I'll refrain from hunting for the huge red oak or the improbably-vast cellar next time I'm in the area, though {wry grin}.
The prickly, prone-to-seizures-and-nightmares heroine isn't easy to get to like, but her situation's an intriguing one - she's retreated to a farmhouse near the vast red oak tree that inspires the title, as a way to try and recover from the recent suicide of her ex-girlfriend, and to attempt to get back to work on her writing. But she's much more intrigued by the battered old typewriter she finds, and then the unfinished manuscript of the previous tenant, who committed suicide at the red tree... yeah, fans of horror stories would be bolting for the horizon at this point, but apparently she's decided she can't or won't leave, and thus the story spins out.
There are lots of threads here, from her early encounter with what might be a ghost - or a fey, or a vision from another time via a wormhole (the book loves to suggest lots of possible explanations) to the strange coincidence of having an attractive painter move in to share the farmhouse while she's still mourning her attractive-painter ex. [The brittle relationship-dance between the two is a large part of the atmosphere of the book, adding perspective and, eventually, its own style of horror.]
I really loved the quiet horror of getting lost within shouting distance of home, of the increasingly bizarre cellar and the Lovecraftian tunnels and chambers to which it leads, the scenes at the tree itself, and the M. R. James-style revelations from delving into the old manuscript. And it all felt of a piece with the setting, which has plenty of real-world weirdness in its history.
Given the multi-layered unreliability of the narrator - which she calls out herself quite often - one could be excused for thinking that nothing in the story can be believed, but the structure suggests that certain aspects are true. Though if it will help the reader sleep at night to assume that the narrator imagined the whole thing, that could work too...
[There's a TV Tropes page on the book, with some entertaining tidbits.]
I'm adding this book to the Otherworldly bookbox, which will be on its way to its next stop shortly. Hope it travels safely, and that people enjoy the selection!
*** Released for the 2021 Great Backyard Bird Count challenge (see www.birdcount.org to join the count), for the "roc" in the publisher's logo on the spine. ***
*** Released for the 2021 Keep Them Moving challenge. ***
*** Released for the 2021 Great Backyard Bird Count challenge (see www.birdcount.org to join the count), for the "roc" in the publisher's logo on the spine. ***
*** Released for the 2021 Keep Them Moving challenge. ***
I picked this book out of emmejo's Otherworldly Bookbox (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Horror). Thanks for sharing!
