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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 06-2008
Posted From: 86.29.170.223
Posted on Thursday, April 23, 2009 - 04:26 pm:   

Has anyone read THE VODI (1959) by the author of 'Room At the Top'? I have had an old Penguin edition for years but never read it. It looks to be Horror. I need to know whether to pack it for a trip.
The only review I can find is this one:
http://www.newleftreview.org/?view=1354
headed 'NELLY AND THE BITCH GODDESS'.
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Stephen Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 145.229.156.40
Posted on Thursday, April 23, 2009 - 05:37 pm:   

Sounds fascinating! Never heard of the book before and will keep an eye out for it now. Wikipedia states: The novel appears to have been unsuccessful on publication and is rarely reprinted. The novelist M. John Harrison names The Vodi as one of his favourite books of all time, defining its genre as "kitchen sink gothic".
Thanks for bringing this one to my attention.
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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 06-2008
Posted From: 86.29.170.223
Posted on Thursday, April 23, 2009 - 06:01 pm:   

Thanks, I didn't know it was mentioned on Wikipedia!

This is the cover of my book:

vodi
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 82.20.31.211
Posted on Thursday, April 23, 2009 - 06:03 pm:   

I used to love Braine's work and do own The Vodi. Never read it, tho.
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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 06-2008
Posted From: 86.29.170.223
Posted on Thursday, April 23, 2009 - 06:03 pm:   

Thanks, I didn't know it was mentioned on Wikipedia!

This is the cover of my book:

vodi
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Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.176.105.47
Posted on Thursday, April 23, 2009 - 06:07 pm:   

looks quite cool
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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 06-2008
Posted From: 86.29.170.223
Posted on Thursday, April 23, 2009 - 06:12 pm:   

And here it is in M John Harrison's Top Ten:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2004/nov/17/bestbooks.sportandleisure
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 79.187.206.46
Posted on Friday, April 24, 2009 - 05:18 pm:   

If M John Harrison likes it, then it must be good. The man has impeccable taste.
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 79.187.206.46
Posted on Friday, April 24, 2009 - 05:21 pm:   

Look closely at the list and you'll see Mr Harrison has listed Scott Bradfield, who if I'm not mistaken appeared between the covers of Mammoth Book of Werewolves with the landlord and other luminaries; his short story in that collection I personally believe to be one of the truly original great werewolf stories ever.
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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 06-2008
Posted From: 86.29.165.43
Posted on Thursday, April 30, 2009 - 04:25 pm:   

I've started reading this book on holiday - and it is one AMAZING novel!! Why is it so unknown?
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Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.176.105.47
Posted on Thursday, April 30, 2009 - 04:33 pm:   

Because no one's heard of it.
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Stephen Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.4.20.22
Posted on Friday, May 01, 2009 - 06:37 pm:   

No doubt because the author was associated with 'kitchen sink realism' and dark psychological fantasy - as this sounds to be - jarred with his established readers and critics of the time.
Hence the book would have been seen as a 'failed experiment' or 'artistic misstep' and consigned to oblivion. Happens all the time when artists try to break the mould...
I must get my hands on a copy!
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Stephen Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 145.229.156.40
Posted on Tuesday, May 05, 2009 - 12:26 pm:   

Synchronicity strike again!! I found the same 1962 copy of this book in great condition over the weekend in an Oxfam shop when I wasn't even specifically looking for it - and it only cost a quid.
I believe in following "the signs" so will make a point of reading this having finished 'The Claw', which should be in the next day or two.
Of the six Ramsey Campbell novels I've read to date it's the 'least good' but still grippingly intense throughout - how does he do it?
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Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.37.199.45
Posted on Tuesday, May 05, 2009 - 01:26 pm:   

THE CLAW is more pulpish than any other RC novel, and of course first appeared under a pseudonym. It does contain the best line of sarky dialogue anywhere in his work. And there's some great low-key humour. It's a minor work by his standards though.
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 82.20.31.211
Posted on Tuesday, May 05, 2009 - 01:43 pm:   

The Claw is quite harrowing in places, in my opinion.
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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 06-2008
Posted From: 86.29.167.242
Posted on Tuesday, May 05, 2009 - 02:49 pm:   

Beware of the Void that is the Vodi...
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Stephen Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 145.229.156.40
Posted on Tuesday, May 05, 2009 - 04:00 pm:   

Any book that has my hands shaking while I'm reading it gets my commendation - and 'The Claw' has certainly done that!
Specifically when Ramsey tells the tale from the little girl Anne's point of view. If this is a weak novel of his I shudder to think what lies in store for me...
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Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.37.199.45
Posted on Tuesday, May 05, 2009 - 04:12 pm:   

Minor rather than weak, I would say: what it does, it does very well. But witch-doctors and haunted claws are relatively limited premises. (A coffin is still more limited premises, of course, but that's not our concern just yet.)
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 75.4.229.111
Posted on Tuesday, May 05, 2009 - 04:43 pm:   

An urn makes a coffin look like a castle.

THE CLAW is a superior novel to me - it's unrelentingly unsettling, to give it a British-ish description. In the realm of what makes for good films from existing materials, this one I feel is superior - it has a film pacing/terror to it. It's never dull, though sometimes sears like a headache with its pounding dread. How come no one's made it into a film?
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Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.8.175.44
Posted on Tuesday, May 05, 2009 - 07:38 pm:   

I thought The Claw was a bit patchy. Still good but it felt more pieced together than most of his books. it didn't feel like a coherent whole. I never could put my finger on why it felt like that to me though.
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 82.20.31.211
Posted on Tuesday, May 05, 2009 - 08:18 pm:   

Read R's afterword and see why.
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Gcw (Gcw)
Username: Gcw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.151.125.173
Posted on Tuesday, May 05, 2009 - 09:01 pm:   

I loved The Claw when I read it way back when...Oft forgotten but a good one I reckon, set in Mundesley which is in my neck of the woods and I distinctly remember how harrowing parts of it were, particularly the young girls' dilemma as her parents are 'taken over' (a scenario Ramsey has often used very effectively).

As for John Braine, I have read both 'Room' & 'Life' At The Top, copies of which I am proud to have on the shelf.

gcw
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 75.5.14.9
Posted on Tuesday, May 05, 2009 - 11:21 pm:   

Read R's afterword and see why.

Afterword?!... I don't got no afterword....
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Stephen Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.4.20.22
Posted on Wednesday, June 03, 2009 - 03:30 am:   

Finished this recently and been meaning to say what a great book it is... profound even!
I'm in danger of falling in love with 1950s realist fiction as a result. What makes this novel so special though is the playing around with elements of the fantastic to get us right inside the mind of the deeply flawed yet completely human and ultimately sympathetic "hero" - who lies recovering from TB in strict quarantine and begins to bemoan his fate as somehow the result of a demon (called Nelly) he and his best mate had summoned from their subconscious as innocent children.
There really is too much deep Freudian stuff to go into here but the kitchen sink attention to humdrum working class detail and the vivid realisation of the psychologically damaged individuals who plow their way through it reminded me in no small measure of early Ramsey Campbell. The fact (by happy and checkable synchronicity) that the very next book I started was 'Obsession' beginning at the same time as this equally wonderfully detailed novel only served to accentuate the point for me. Did any of that make any sense at all...? (Very drunk here)
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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 06-2008
Posted From: 217.43.30.36
Posted on Wednesday, June 03, 2009 - 06:07 pm:   

Agree completely.
The Vodi Rules, OK?
(Not drunk)

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