Burnt Offerings

Rating:
Summary: Feeling "Burnt" by lame paranormal thriller
Review: Annoyingly dumb story about a family who rents a suspiciously inexpensive mansion for the summer. They don't even start to move in till page 101, prior to which they've spent 100 pages talking about moving in, complaining about city life and digressing into irrelevant '70s horniness. After they finally settle in, the wife spends all her time cleaning and the husband and son sit around being boring. As Count Floyd would exclaim unconvincingly, "It's so scary it'll...knock the socks...right off of your feet." ~~~~ SPOILER AHEAD: ~~~~ Why does the house need to suck the souls of its inhabitants to restore itself to pristine condition? The renters are cleaning it anyway as part of the agreement. It seems like one call to Molly Maids could save everyone a lot of trouble and eternal damnation.

Rating:
Summary: Classic horror novel.
Review: Ben and Marian Rolfe are anxious to get out of the city. They've had it with noisy neighbors, traffic, and the heat. Along with their young boy, they search for an old house to spend the summer in the country. They find what appears to be an absolute dreamhouse, at an amazing price. So what if the owners seem like they're absolute crackers? And the old woman who will stay in the upstairs room won't be a burden, will she? Naaahhhh. So the knuckleheaded family settles into this creepy mansion and find themselves prey to some dark force that permeates the house. And hell hath no fury like the crazy old broad in the upstairs room...This is a classic from the old school of horror. Stephen King cited it as an influence on his masterwork THE SHINING and I could see several similarities. And like that classic, this is a kind of slo-motion slide into madness that really creeps into your psyche while you read it. Highly recommended for horror fans who want to appreciate the old school stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Enthralling
Review: Burnt offerings was the book to read when I was a kid and I just got around to it (20 odd years later) and what a treat. Don't look for the fast-paced blood and guts of today's fare ... Marasco deliberately paces the misadventures of a city family taking possession of a country house for the summer ... or is it the other way around? Finding out may be the funnest thing you do with a book. As the house comes more alive, your knuckles should grow sufficiently white. Real page turner.

Rating:
Summary: Leisurely stroll to nightmare ending
Review: Burnt offerings was the book to read when I was a kid and I just got around to it (20 odd years later) and what a treat. Don't look for the fast-paced blood and guts of today's fare ... Marasco deliberately paces the misadventures of a city family taking possession of a country house for the summer ... or is it the other way around? Finding out may be the funnest thing you do with a book. As the house comes more alive, your knuckles should grow sufficiently white. Real page turner.

Rating:
Summary: A GREAT, SCARY, FIRST NOVEL
Review: For all those folks who have at times felt that their home and possessions owned them, rather than the other way around; for those folks who love a good haunted house/possession tale; and even for those readers who simply enjoy a well-told thriller of a pageturner, Robert Marasco's 1973 novel "Burnt Offerings" will be a real find. This was Marasco's first novel in a sadly unprolific career; he came out with only two more titles--"Child's Play," a drama, in 1970, and "Parlor Games," a Gothic-style mystery, in 1979--before succumbing to lung cancer in 1998, at the age of 62. A real loss, if "Burnt Offerings" is any indication of the man's skills. In this work, we meet Ben and Marian Rolfe, a nice, ordinary couple from Queens, who, with 8-year-old son David and elderly Aunt Elizabeth in tow, rent an aging mansion on Long Island's North Fork. This property is let for the unbelievably low price of $900 for the entire summer, with one proviso: The renters' mother will remain in her room for the duration, but will stay out of sight and quite low maintenance. Marasco then begins to gently turn the screws, and before long, but insidiously, horrible things start to transpire. Marian becomes obsessed with keeping house, while her hair quickly grays; Ben starts to physically abuse his son uncontrollably and to suffer morbid hallucinations; and Elizabeth, once spry, starts to age at an alarming rate. It soon becomes obvious to the reader that the house is leeching the life out of its occupants, while in the process of revivifying itself. And that is just the start of this amazing story.
Marasco writes extremely well; it is hard for me to believe that this was his first novel. Yes, he is sometimes guilty of the faults of a beginning writer, such as an occasional bit of fuzzy writing and some instances of poor grammar and punctuation (granted, those latter are more the fault of Marasco's editor). But what he excels at is beautifully rendered, realistic dialogue; I've seldom read better. His descriptions of Queens are also dead on the money (I should know; I live there); one can tell that Marasco was a native New Yorker. Perhaps I should also mention here that this book was chosen by no less a luminary than Stephen King for inclusion in Jones and Newman's excellent overview volume "Horror: 100 Best Books." It is easy to see the influence that "Burnt Offerings" had on King's similarly themed "The Shining," which came out four years later. But "The Shining" has always struck me as an excellent exercise in suspense, rather than being really scary (that bathtub scene excepted, natch), whereas "Burnt Offerings" has more scenes guaranteed to send shivers coursing down the spine. Every time Marian goes into mother's sitting room, and looks at the eerie photos on the table, and at that strangely carved door, and listens to the weird hum coming from mother's bedroom...well, it just keeps getting freakier and freakier. Although perhaps not as chilling as Shirley Jackson's classic "The Haunting of Hill House" (but then again, how many books are?), "Burnt Offerings" can even hold its own in that august company. The folks in Richard Matheson's "Hell House" go through no greater horrors than the Rolfes do, either. The Rolfes are a sweet couple, and the reader roots for them, and hopes that they come through their ordeals okay. But with the creeping, living forces of the Allardyce mansion ranged against them, the odds are certainly not in their favor! Anyway, let me just say that I more than highly recommend this book to all amazon.com readers.

Rating:
Summary: Better than the movie by a nose
Review: I first saw the Burnt Offerings movie back in '77 or whenever it came out. It was scary, and good, but the end left a lot of questions. I found the book second-hand one day and decided to read it; hoping to find more answers than the movie gave. Marasco's description and narrative are good and it is a scary book. The movie only deviates from the book right at the very end; with the same basic ending. While the book answered a little more than the movie, I'm the still the kind of guy that likes to know the detailed explanation behind the mystery. It's not complete in this story, which is why it isn't 5 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Didn't really like it
Review: I know this is considered one of the horror classics. It has been hailed as great by most that have read it. I found it slow and subtle. Just wasn't really what I was looking for. The house was certainly haunted, however the haunting did not seem particualarly frightening. It is considered good by many, so don't skip this one on my account. Just my opinion.

Rating:
Summary: Enthralling
Review: Im surprised Amazon says this book is not currently available. Perhaps you can find a copy in a library or used book store , or it will be published again. In any event , I really enjoyed this book ( and the movie starring Karen Black ). I saw the movie first and thought it was exceptional. I read the book years later and was pleasantly surprised. It moves at a casual, yet steady pace and builds exponentially in its growing sense of horror. A very well written and interesting novel, especially considering it was the author's first. I strongly recommend it. Check out the movie also but don't miss the book.

Rating:
Summary: Seminal Horror Classic
Review: In his book on the horror genre, "Danse Macabre", Stephen King graciously acknowledges this masterpiece as a precursor to his own "The Shining." Both books are about an Evil Place that devours a family. Marasco's classic because is quieter, more insidious, and ultimately more frightening on a deeper level. We only get glimpses of what is really happening: even the title is an unexplained allusion, although its meaning becomes horrifyingly more clear as the novel progresses. Shirley Jackson came close to this with "The Haunting of Hill House." I am also remined of the numberless victims throughout history of forces beyond their control--people who were destroyed in wars and purges without ever understading why. Perhaps that is Marasco and King's real subject. My favorite detail: the eyeglasses found in the pool, with the hole in the lens as if punctured by a sharp instrument. Chilling, indeed.

Rating:
Summary: Pre-King Horror Treasure
Review: Stephen King likes this tale, and it definitely influenced his book The Shining.

The book has a long, homey prelude to the upcoming terrors, and then as soon as the family moves into their dream version of a summer-home, Marasco quickly, and rather bluntly, shifts gears. Stephen King is a better master at seamless transitions from harmony to mounting creepiness, but then you have to work your way through more pages.

I can't rate this book as high as some do,because I think it becomes too obvious too soon regarding what is really going on, and how the house is specifically affecting its visitors. But--it's definitely chilling at the best sequences...down at the pool, up in the sitting room, etc. Another problem is that the Aunt and the child seem, as characters, mere ciphers--packed along to participate in a few key scenes that do more to show what's happening to the husband and wife.

A solid horror novel from the early, pre-King seventies.