Ordinary Horror

Rating:
Summary: Don't bother.
Review: Having read rave reviews of this debut novel, I was eager to dig in. What a disappointment. I'm embarrassed to say I read the entire thing simply hoping to see if something interesting would happen or if the vague imagery would actually take me somewhere. I am a huge fan of Shirley Jackson and Raymond Carver - two authors to whom Searcy is compared - and the comparison is an insult. Searcy's blurry mess of suburban snapshots is horrifying only in the sense of how unsatisfying and pointless it is.

Rating:
Summary: Lots of problems, but still creepy.....
Review: Having read through all of the reviews, I can't really argue with them because they are correct: the book is hard to read, nothing is explained and you are left frustrated as a reader. Still, there is something very creepy about this book. If you can imagine Stephen King being re-written by Proust you might get some idea of what it's like to read this unusual novel. I would say that it is more of an experimental work of literature that borrows heavily from horror fiction. A mood of dread and fear is constantly being created. You get the feeling that something terrible is going to happen at any moment. Strange surreal David Lynch-like moments occur throughout the book that are very creepy and evocative. Unfortunately, the author has chosen not explain anything (at least anything that most people can understand) and not to edit the book, which leave a great deal of thorny prose to wade through. "Ordinary Horror" could have been a great horror novel if the author had been more generous to the reader. As it is, you are left feeling unsatisfied. Triffid fans in particular would be outraged.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful literary horror
Review: The wildly divergent reviews of this author's work make one thing very clear: This is high quality writing which doesn't leave anybody unaffected. Literary horror is a very different beast than "regular" horror writing. This book isn't meant to be a fast-paced thriller in the Stephen King tradition. It isn't meant to be read at a breakneck pace. Readers who come to it expecting that will likely be disappointed (thus the negative reviews), but those who read with open minds will find new levels of horror and lovely, provocative writing.

This book is evocative, elegant, contemplative, and does a wonderful job of pointing out the menacing aspects of mundane suburban life--the things most people don't notice, but which suddenly take on scary aspects when viewed more closely.

What do we really know about our world? Are we sure about that? One small misstep, taken for innocent reasons, might just set off a chain of slowly building, innocuous-seeming events which lead to eventual destruction. Once that chain of events takes hold, how long will it take for others to notice? This isn't a horror story to wash over us while we sit idle. It's one with which we must engage and participate.

Give this book a chance. Stretch your own thinking, and you'll be rewarded.