Rating: 
Summary: Well-written, touching, disturbing story. A haunting read!
Review: Okay, let me just start off by saying that I think I would actually give it 4 1/2 stars, but since we don't get that option, I chose 5. I thought it was better than just 4, but I wasn't certain I wanted to say a full 5, either, only because there were a couple of parts in the book that weren't very clear, and had me a little confused. I just purchased this book not even a week ago, and I am already done with it. I was utterly intrigued by the story when I read about it here online, and I just had to get it. I do not really know how to quite describe this book. As heartbreaking as it was (there were times when I didn't know if I wanted to continue with it because it was so sad), I really, really liked it. It's true that it is not what you would generally consider a ghost story; rather, it is a story told from the perspective of three teens who died a tragic death, way too early in their lives. You almost think of them as guardian angels more than you do as ghosts. I felt drawn to the book largely because of the premise- teens in a car accident, several of them don't survive it, and those who do are totally unable to over come their grief and suffering. I guess because I remember being that age (17; I'm now 31), and I can just imagine how horrible it would be for something like this to happen. I completely felt for the characters, and my heart just ached for them. The author's writing, particularly in the first chapter, is just so eloquent and touching, that it filled me with an overwhelming sense of sadness for the dead kids. Then, for the survivors, going about their lives never being able to rest from the memory of the tragedy. I think the best thing about the book, and what makes it unique as a so-called ghost novel, is that it is told strictly from the viewpoint of the three dead kids. Only one of them narrates, Marco, but the other two, Danielle and Toe, frequently intervene and add in their own comments and opinions about what's taking place. They even argue with each other about different things at various points, which really makes the story more interesting. There were just a couple parts that I didn't quite understand, such as when the
Rating: 
Summary: ...less about ghosts & goblins & more about guilt, regret
Review: Reviewed by Leslie Van Newkirk for Small Spiral Notebook
Although hailed in its press package as being "just in time for the Halloween season," Stewart O' Nan's novel, The Night Country is less about ghosts and goblins than it is about guilt, regret, and loss. But this doesn't mean it's not a suspenseful story. The Night Country has its fair share of spirits, bloodshed and eerie surprises, and like demons on mischief night, O' Nan's ghosts roam the suburban countryside, haunting the innocent and shedding light on unfortunate events.
In the case of The Night Country, the unfortunate event is the one-year anniversary of a deadly car accident which has killed three-fourths of its teenage cargo. High school student, Tim, the only survivor left physically unscathed, is putting the pieces back together from the tragedy. The other teenagers who died - Danielle, Marco (the main narrarator) and Toe - show up in the novel as spirits, hovering into view when Tim recalls the incident. Kyle, another survivor, is now brain-damaged and unaware of what has happened to him. Tim and Kyle are united by the bond of survival, although both are changed by what has taken place.
Brooks, the police officer who was first on the accident scene is haunted, not only by the senselessness of the tragedy, but also by his own secret about how the events had unfolded that night. Along with other minor characters - two hoodlums that plan their own prank for Halloween night and Kyle's depressed and defeated mother - these central figures are all on a race against time, and whether their goals are reliving the past or preventing the future, everyone gets a chance to examine their mistakes and possibly redeem themselves.
In addition to a narrative, O'Nan's latest offering is also a detailed sketch of small-town life. The Connecticut town of Avon is rendered by the author, warts and all, from the commercialized strip with its Dunkin' Donuts, Danielle's former place of work, to the music that the kids were listening to - Smashing Pumpkins - on the night of the accident. There is little sophistication to Avon, and it's equally less quaint, despite its ghosts. Avon is the epitome of sprawl and development, current hallmarks of the American experience.
Stewart O'Nan's style in The Night Country is reminiscent of Joyce Carol Oates in both its simplicity and its en pointe characterization of young adults in their suburban environment. Yet also like Oates, the writing occasionally veers into melodrama. But there are enough clever twists to hold off the soap operatic tenor. And due to its single minded focus of driving us onward to find out what Tim will do to remember tragedy he witnessed, the reader will tailgate Tim straight to the conclusion and won't be disappointed in the powerful ending.
Rating:
Summary: In the end, we are all alone
Review: Stewart O'Nan continues his exploration of the unknowable, uncontrollable, but inevitable effects of extraordinary events on ordinary, singular lives. The structure of the novel seems spare, but in reality, this is merely a measure of O'Nan's mastery of the language of prose: the story comes as close to poetry as it is possible to get without stepping over the line. It left me with a sense of Goethe's "Der Erlkonig" in both form and substance. This is a masterfully crafted work by an accomplished writer who simply deigns to take us readers along for the ride -- literally.
Rating:
Summary: Spooky.....
Review: Stewart O'Nan maintains suspense through the whole novel, involves us in the characters, and creates the perfect eerie atmosphere for his tale. Like ghostmaster Stephen King, O'Nan is really good at natural dialogue and tossing in everyday details that drop the reader right inside this story. It's a good book, one that will stick with you awhile.
Rating:
Summary: Spooky.....
Review: Stewart O'Nan maintains suspense through the whole novel, involves us in the characters, and creates the perfect eerie atmosphere for his tale. Like ghostmaster Stephen King, O'Nan is really good at natural dialogue and tossing in everyday details that drop the reader right inside this story. It's a good book, one that will stick with you awhile.
Rating:
Summary: GHOSTLY TALE
Review: Stewart O'Nan's THE NIGHT COUNTRY is a mesmerizing, provocative, and ultimately tragic little book. Despite its length, it packs a tremendous amount of characterization and emotional wallop than many books twice its length.
Halloween has never seemed more frightening and spooky than as conveyed in this brilliant story of the tragic deaths of three young people and the scars left on the two survivors: Tim, whose scars are deeply psychological and Kyle, whose brain damage is heartbreaking. As is Kyle's mother, Nancy, who tries so hard to recover from the devastating loss of what was once her son, and the spiraling downfall of her marriage to a man who can't share the grief.
The setting is ominous yet beautiful; even though we can tell fairly soon where this book is going, you are still entranced with it. Equally pitiable is Officer Brooks, whose involvement in the accident, haunts him as well.
A stunning novel, not a true horror book, but a ghost story with passion, sensability and humanity.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Rating:
Summary: O'nan is a master of the Suburban Gothic...
Review: The best horror novel of 2003. Yes, it's bleak, but it's about the death of three teenagers in a car crash. I can't believe people would give this thing a bad review because it's depressing. The author should be praised for doing his job. If you want crap like Dean Koontz, then by all means, pick up your books at Wal-Mart and read crap. If a book is too much for you, then stay away from it. Idiots.
What's really amazing is the amount of laughs O'nan squeezes out of us, and this while submerged in his dark universe (a place called "real life"--mighta heard of it; innocent kids die there). The dead teens seem to be the only ones having a good time, and their diolgoue isn't the stilted crap that most writers give us when taking on the "cool" persona of a teenager.
Anyone who has ever lived in a small town will relate to The Car Accident. Every town has one, and it's the same fear that slasher movies drive on. All those kids killed by Jason or Freddy or Madman Marz (an A-plus to everyone who gets that last reference) are standing in for thos empty seats in third-hour algebra and the missing faces at graduation. Same with the talk of murdered teens in the opening scene of "Jeepers Creepers." But O'nan doesn't soften the blow with distance. There's no monster in a hockey mask standing in for a tragic accident. He gives us the real thing, and tells us that ghosts are of our own devising. And deep down, it's something we've known all along.
O'Nan's love of the genre also comes through, with references ranging from Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol to "Return of the Living Dead." Refreshing to read, because too many "serious" horror novels are written by posers who wouldn't know William Castle from Paul Naschy. We've got the Neo-Gothic, the Southern Gothic, and what O'nan gives us, what I would call the Suburban Gothic--the place of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and "Ginger Snaps," of pumpkins on porches and kids dressed like skeletons. What Bradbury would call Halloween Country, and O'nan knows as Night Country. It's just usually not this real.
Rating:
Summary: Home is where your losses are...
Review: The Night Country begins with a seductive invitation: "Come then, come with us, out into the night... come stalk the dark back roads and stand outside the bright houses, calm as murderers in the yard, quiet as deer."It's Cabbage Night, the night before Hallowe'en in Avon, Connecticut, and you've just been invited to spend some quality time with Marco and Toe and Danielle, beginning on this cool autumn night that "smells of dust and coriander on the wind." "It's the best time of year up here," Marco tells us - "witch hunts and woodsmoke... a 'new' England... veined with black rivers and massacres." Marco and Danielle and Toe are three sweet, feisty, and very likeable teens, or at least they were until last Hallowe'en when, joyriding around the back roads, tired after working at their menial jobs, but happy just being together - "wanting the night to last forever" - they die in a horrific accident. Also in the car are Kyle, their bud-dealing Goth pal, and Tim, Danielle's sweet, introspective boyfriend. Part of Kyle survives the accident, but with brain damage so severe that his personality, his prickly rebelliousness, is deadened. "Imagine diving off a five story building and landing on your face," suggests Marco. "Now imagine getting better." Kyle's nose and cheeks and forehead are prostheses - "only his chin is the same, and his hands." Tim, Danielle's boyfriend, is the only one to survive the accident physically intact, but he's lost everything - all of the friendship and love that gave his life its meaning. Plagued by loss and survivor's guilt, he no longer feels any sense of belonging to - or in - the world. More than the dead, these living victims haunt Officer Brooks, the police officer who initiates the high speed chase that precipitates the accident, but it's the dead who mess with Brooksie's head, sitting, invisible, in his kitchen teasing his dogs to make them bark - egging him on to commit the unspeakable - "We've seen him hang up his gun in slow motion, deliberate as a horror flick, and only Toe's twisted enough to make the holster swing, a cheesy temptation." Toe's ghost is twitching for vindication and revenge - he was the one behind the wheel, seemingly responsible for his own death as well as his friends'. Danielle's ghost tries desperately to soothe Tim's appalling loneliness, and to fend off his desire to join her - "This must be how Dylan Klebold felt," Tim thinks on the heartbreaking anniversary of the accident - "knowing he was going to school the next day and never coming home." And Marco narrates it all for us with a kind of edgy detachment as the six characters are compelled to act out the final scenes of their intimately enmeshed lives and deaths. Loneliness and isolation stalk through the pages of The Night Country as Kyle's mom struggles with the pity she can't abide and the fear of being perceived as a monster if she tries to move beyond her grief to resume a normal life, and Officer Brooks struggles to atone for the one tragic mistake that he made too late in his career and his life to forgive himself. Tim is a pariah now - the kids at school see his dead friends as legends, and Tim as an anomaly - not a lucky survivor, but a victim, the other one who should have died. The book ends in a cataclysmic liebestodt of vindication and vengeance, remembrance and redemption, and in its final paragraph answers Marco's poignant question, "Where would we be if love ended at death?" The emotional impact of this book belies its brevity. As with much of what Mr. O'Nan writes, I had a good cry reading it - several of them, in fact. The weird part was, my box of tissues kept disappearing and then turning up someplace that I knew I hadn't left it. Toe, probably. He'd be twisted enough.
Rating:
Summary: Never Rest
Review: There exist many different kinds of horror. On one side, you have the more visceral and violent kind. On the other, you have the more quiet and emotional one. The Night Country, an amazingly affective novel, falls into this second category. Written with much soul and emotion, it's a nearly poetic treatise about the sadness of death and the sadness of life. The story takes place a year after a horrible car crash that left four teenagers dead, one badly injured and one unharmed. Now, a year later, the ghosts of the departed ones look at the world and the people who used to matter in their lives. It is now the eve of Halloween, the day when, one year ago, the accident happened. We follow these characters for twenty-four hours, until the very tragic end of the story. The story follows many different subplots that all merge into one. You have Brookes, the cop who was the first to arrive at the scene of the accident and who has been badly scarred by it ever since. You have Tim, the only one who survived unharmed and who hasn't been able to deal with the event. And you have Kyle, who survived the crash but who was left damaged in more ways than one, and his parents. As our narrator, the late Marco, tells us what happens to these characters, the other ghosts often argue with him or come in to tell us their brief version of things. O'Nan weaves his narrative in such a way that you never quite know where the book is taking you. Well, you know where it is trying to go although you wish it will never get there. The Night Country is a book that is all about death. There is very little joy to be found in this story. Instead, what you find is sadness. These characters are too badly scarred to ever be able to mend their lives back into what they used to be. Powerful, touching and incredibly affective, The Night Country is that rare horror novels that achieves greatness on many levels. You will not soon forget these characters, nore will you forget this powerful tale of mourning without hope. O'Nan has just found himself a new fan. I can't wait to read his other books!
Rating:
Summary: What a story!!!
Review: This was the first novel I have read by O'Nan and it was really great. Starting off is a little difficult trying to understand who the narrator is because it is in the first person, but he is dead as well as a few of his friends. Throughout the novel you hear both the main narrator and his friend's comments about what is going on in the lives of those they left a year ago when they died on Halloween night. They are now ghosts who are summoned to stand by those who are thinking about them. The tale was rather on the short side but never gets dull and really makes you feel for all of the characters. Their flaws really stand out and you really feel for all of them regardless of their past mistakes. I am not going to give it away but the ending was really something. It really explained what happened a year prior and is also unexpected. Get this book if you really want to read a great tale!
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