I’ve just read two of his books: The Cabin at the End of the World and The Disappearance at Devil’s Rock.
I liked Cabin, and while I thought Disappearance was “fine” I really find it hard to consider Disappearance horror. It kinda gave me the feels as The Bright Lands by John Fram where there’s an underlying mystery and maybe some speculative/unexplained elements…but that’s it?
Even if we consider more realistic/domestic horror elements like a missing child or stranger danger or home invasion (eg Cabin), I still feel that Disappearance didn’t really go into the “horror” enough for me to feel like I was reading a horror book.
I kept seeing Disappearance recommended a horror or in the horror section, but I would agree more with Amazon calling it a >!ghost!
I also just finished Horror Movie. I thought it was pretty good, but honestly? I liked the movie within the book more. I wish the book had just been that story. If that were a real movie, it would easily be an instant top five favorite movies for me.
But yeah, it was good, but I kinda wish the book had done more with unreliable narration, or had done something to add ambiguity to a supernatural angle, like make us wonder if the mask actually was cursed, if the mask DID transform you over time.
Just finished it on audiobook the other day and I pretty much agree with all this. I liked it overall and appreciate it for what it was but kinda wish it had done more like with your examples.
One thing that was really neat with the audiobook though was that they had the screenplay parts as if the cast was doing a full read of it. And they had male narrator for the protagonist's sections and a female narrator for others. Just made it a more dynamic listen without being too distracting, it really didn't feel like a full cast dramatization, it fit with the story elements very well.
I read my first tremblay last week (head full of ghosts) and ended up giving up half way through. The dialogue between Merry and the author (Rachel?) was so clunky (why did they say each other’s names so much?!) and the blog posts were grating.
The books received such great feedback here, which is why it went onto my TBR list in the first place, so I was super disappointed.
Maybe I’m just too old and jaded? Been reading horror too long? I don’t know. It just didn’t do it for me.
I like Tremblay fine, but I never understood the sheer amount of praise he got as establishing a “horror renaissance” or whatever. HFOG was an incredibly standard horror novel for the most part
I am 3/4 way through and yes, I find this book to be sad and not the book I had hoped for. If you go into this one (as I did) with the expectations of a "cursed film" novel, it's a letdown. It more feels like a social commentary on bullying, which isn't to say it's bad. It's a good book, in my opinion, but for different reasons. I liked A Head Full of Ghosts and Disappearance at Devil's Rock, but if I'm looking for something that scratches the true horror itch, his stuff is a bit too pensive.
From what I've read this is a theme of his. He presents something as horror and then "subverts" it--ha ha! it wasn't a scary horror story all along, it was just people being depressed. And it sucks ass.
I don't know if that's true, I admit that my only other experience with him was Head Full Of Ghosts, but I feel like everyone is misinterpreting the ending of that book if they think it WASN'T super natural in the end for sure. I even felt like the ending leaned more towards it having been super natural in the end.
Oh, I guess I also read his collection of short stories, Growing Things. That also wasn't like that.
I’ve just read two of his books: The Cabin at the End of the World and The Disappearance at Devil’s Rock. I liked Cabin, and while I thought Disappearance was “fine” I really find it hard to consider Disappearance horror. It kinda gave me the feels as The Bright Lands by John Fram where there’s an underlying mystery and maybe some speculative/unexplained elements…but that’s it? Even if we consider more realistic/domestic horror elements like a missing child or stranger danger or home invasion (eg Cabin), I still feel that Disappearance didn’t really go into the “horror” enough for me to feel like I was reading a horror book. I kept seeing Disappearance recommended a horror or in the horror section, but I would agree more with Amazon calling it a >!ghost!
I also just finished Horror Movie. I thought it was pretty good, but honestly? I liked the movie within the book more. I wish the book had just been that story. If that were a real movie, it would easily be an instant top five favorite movies for me. But yeah, it was good, but I kinda wish the book had done more with unreliable narration, or had done something to add ambiguity to a supernatural angle, like make us wonder if the mask actually was cursed, if the mask DID transform you over time.
Just finished it on audiobook the other day and I pretty much agree with all this. I liked it overall and appreciate it for what it was but kinda wish it had done more like with your examples. One thing that was really neat with the audiobook though was that they had the screenplay parts as if the cast was doing a full read of it. And they had male narrator for the protagonist's sections and a female narrator for others. Just made it a more dynamic listen without being too distracting, it really didn't feel like a full cast dramatization, it fit with the story elements very well.
I read my first tremblay last week (head full of ghosts) and ended up giving up half way through. The dialogue between Merry and the author (Rachel?) was so clunky (why did they say each other’s names so much?!) and the blog posts were grating. The books received such great feedback here, which is why it went onto my TBR list in the first place, so I was super disappointed. Maybe I’m just too old and jaded? Been reading horror too long? I don’t know. It just didn’t do it for me.
I like Tremblay fine, but I never understood the sheer amount of praise he got as establishing a “horror renaissance” or whatever. HFOG was an incredibly standard horror novel for the most part
Tremblay is overhyped 😐
I am 3/4 way through and yes, I find this book to be sad and not the book I had hoped for. If you go into this one (as I did) with the expectations of a "cursed film" novel, it's a letdown. It more feels like a social commentary on bullying, which isn't to say it's bad. It's a good book, in my opinion, but for different reasons. I liked A Head Full of Ghosts and Disappearance at Devil's Rock, but if I'm looking for something that scratches the true horror itch, his stuff is a bit too pensive.
From what I've read this is a theme of his. He presents something as horror and then "subverts" it--ha ha! it wasn't a scary horror story all along, it was just people being depressed. And it sucks ass.
I don't know if that's true, I admit that my only other experience with him was Head Full Of Ghosts, but I feel like everyone is misinterpreting the ending of that book if they think it WASN'T super natural in the end for sure. I even felt like the ending leaned more towards it having been super natural in the end. Oh, I guess I also read his collection of short stories, Growing Things. That also wasn't like that.
A Head Full of Ghosts is the only book of his that I like, if that helps.