| Author | Message | ||
     Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 |
So last night I finished reading Creatures of the Pool. As usual, I found this a genuinely extraordinary reading experience. The novel continues Ramsey's rich vein of form, and is both fascinating and disturbing. The tone of the piece is very strange - a sort of heady mix of near-comedy and pitch-black terror. It made me feel very uncomfortable in parts, to the point that I was actually unnerved when I put the book down. The story is told in a unique way, with the plot being revealed via the narrator as he either discovers or tells other people stories from Liverpool's past. The city creeps in between the lines; it's all about what's almost said rather than what is stated in the carefully constructed prose. Corner of the eye. Back of the neck. Lost in the shadows. everything is partially glimpsed; even the protagonist struggles to believe what he thinks he's experiencing. The last few chapters, in the tunnels under Liverpool, are staggeringingly effective, and again i was genuinely unsettled. Once scene in particular, at the bottom of a ledge, was bloody terrifying. I honestly believe that Ramsey's last three full-on horror novels are masterpieces. I can't wait for the next. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 |
Has nobody else read this yet? I'm itching to hear some comments. | ||
| Richard_gavin (Richard_gavin) Username: Richard_gavin Registered: 03-2008 |
I'm stoked to read this one, Zed, but have to wait until March. That's when the North American edition from Leisure hits the shelves. | ||
| Almills (Almills) Username: Almills Registered: 05-2010 |
I'm surprised more people haven't commented yet! I loved it-- I think the 1st person style has improved since Grin, and included all my favorite Campbell qualities-- a pervading dread, offset by witty, bizarre & frightfully mad humor-- plenty of suspense w/ horrifyingly suggestive terror... the novel's events & plot takes some new heights of extremity, decaying into a very well-made, surreal, scary nightmare. Mirroring the story, we're treated with great, macabre, Liverpool history (as the protagonist's a tour guide specializing in the scary & supernatural)... I also enjoyed the intensely specific construction of the plot-- (sometimes I find Campbell's books exciting from their unpredictability/surprises, the "it can go anywhere" feeling-- if we aren't spoiled from reading the plot summary) but Creatures of the Pool has a very gripping, clearly focused trajectory-- where we're certain of the protagonist's objective (which some could find limiting-- though there's plenty of surprises to entertain us--- one criticism of Grin for me was its somewhat spastic arc/storyline-- (where sure it was fun to see a man descend to madness, but I didn't always "know where it was going") In Creatures you know- and we also descend into madness-- so the effect's a Campbell fan's cake. Yet, I'm appalled by some of the (USA) Amazon reviews-- I'm afraid to even check them again, finding my fellow American's reception of Campbell's prose outrageously misunderstood & under-appreciated. Sadly, I think most American reader's rhetoric, sentence structure, education & wit is all outmatched by UK audiences & artists. In short, I disagree with most of the negative reviews, especially those fools citing "nothing happened." But I'm more disturbed by American reader's lack of comprehension or taste-- living among these people's far scarier than most horror media. But maybe it's just my fringe tastes, and my Anglophilia. **SPOILERS-- for those who've read-- I especially loved the father character-- a voice reminiscently dogmatic & paranoid, reminiscent of the iconic Horridge from Face that Must Die-- so my only disappointment was his early disappearance (though the strange police duo inherited the 'comically bizarre & scary' character quite well... And how creepy was the girlfriend's implicit allegiance to the amphibian monsters, constantly suggested throughout with her first bath-tub introduction? Or how it's implied that us as humans are descendent/related to the monsters-- the surreality & nightmarishness of the last half was great, the darkness of the tunnels & the ambiguously supernatural events made it eerily like the narrative's unreliably psychotic & hallucinatory... Well. Anyway, who else's read this? | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 |
Not me, but I want to! | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 |
Late to the party as I sometimes am, I have just read CREATURES OF THE POOL, finishing it in just less than 24 hours at 2am this morning. It's a marvellous, textured, scary read. I'm with Gary McMahon all the way with this - it was unnervingly terrifying and laugh out loud funny by turns (my favourite kind of horror fiction). It reminded me in a very slight way of Gene Wolfe's THE FIFTH HEAD OF CERBERUS, where the real story is actually hidden within the narratives you get to read. CREATURES is nowhere near as impenetrable, though, and the backstory of the froggy monsters (& Kate will tell you I LOVE froggy monsters) was told very skilfully. So if there are any RCMBrs out there who haven't read this yet - don't make the same mistake I did. CREATURES OF THE POOL is a bloody good horror novel, and has leapt (or rather hopped) into the top three of my list of Favourite Ramsey PS Novels (where's Stevie?). | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 |
Creatures' is wonderful. It exists as an unabridged audiobook at Audible - I might have to get a copy of that. I wish more of Ramsey's novels were recorded. His prose would make for a rich experience if read by a pro. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 |
The intellectual and cultural level of Amazon 'reviewers' is closely similar to that of a not overly bright slug with a hangover after spending the previous night getting drunk on fermented apple peel and losing the pub quiz to an Eristalis larva or rat-tailed maggot, and the jukebox played Westlife all night because the slug was selecting his favourite records. Publishers tell us that Amazon reviews have more impact on sales than reviews in major newspapers or journals. This reflects the extent to which the internet has destroyed everything, and also the domination of the publishing industry by not overly bright slugs with iPhones. I have some catching up to do Ramsey-wise, as my reading has slowed whereas his writing has not. I'll share some thoughts soon when I've read Creatures. |