Amazon.com Straub's recent series of books, while excellent, have been dense and rather cerebral as horror books go. This one, while employing many of the same devices about family secrets and mysteries half-buried in the past, has an action storyline with a viscerally satisfying villain and a strong female protagonist. The premise is that the history of a famous fantasy novel not only concerns some eccentric authors, but collides with a wily killer on a rampage. The settings--in seedy motel rooms, New England houses, a bizarre private club and an over-the-hill literary retreat--are especially fun. From Publishers Weekly Continuing his shift away from occult horror toward terrors inspired by the ragged social fabric of American life, Straub (The Throat) turns in another violent yet richly nuanced thriller. As in much of his work (Mystery; Koko), the past impinges on the present through secrets kept, then revealed. Here, the secrets are both familial and literary. Four women in upscale Westerholm, Conn., have disappeared from blood-spattered bedrooms. Meanwhile, Westerholm resident Nora Chancel, who's newly menopausal, broods about a stalking wolf while her husband, publisher Davey Chancel, a decade her junior, obsesses about the novel trilogy (begun in 1939) written by Chancel House's most popular writer, Hugo Driver. When yet another woman disappears, Nora learns that Davey once had an affair with her. Then the woman shows up, only to accuse Nora of kidnapping and torturing her, leading to Nora's arrest. But also at the police station is Dick Dart, scion of an old local family, who is being questioned about the killings. Dart steals a cop's gun, grabs Nora as his hostage and, he believes, potential future accomplice?and the woman's real agony begins. Dart, a serial killer who has always loved "cutting things up. Loved it," rapes Nora and takes her on a grisly spree of terror. In time, Nora manages to escape, but in a surprising yet, with hindsight, seemingly inevitable turn of events, she again finds herself in mortal danger. Dart is a memorable villain, funny, bold and charming (and as difficult to kill as Rasputin). Nora proves his equal, however, gutsy and clever, and as the two clash, the secrets that Straub intimates early on reveal themselves. These secrets manifest neither easily nor predictably, however, for, as is said of characters in a Driver novel, Straub's own characters are "colorful and involved, full of danger, heroism and betrayal"?as is this supple, exciting book. Major ad/promo. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. See all Editorial Reviews
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说实话,这本书的阅读体验更像是一场漫长而艰苦的攀登,而非一次轻松的散步。它的篇幅很长,信息密度极高,初读时会感到有些喘不过气来。但一旦你适应了作者那种略显冷峻、客观到近乎无情的叙事腔调,你会发现其中蕴含着巨大的能量。这本书成功地将个人命运的渺小与历史进程的宏大无缝地交织在一起。我印象最深的是作者对“记忆”这个主题的处理,它如何被篡改、被遗忘、又如何在关键时刻以扭曲的形式浮现,这部分的处理极具震撼力。它没有提供任何简单的答案或安慰,甚至在结尾处也留下了一个巨大的、令人不安的问号。这让我更加佩服作者的勇气,敢于触碰如此复杂和禁忌的主题,并以如此高超的文学技巧去驾驭它。这本书对我的触动是深远的,它不是那种读完就丢在一边的消遣品,而是会沉淀在你思维深处,时常跳出来提醒你这个世界运转的复杂与残酷。
评分这本书简直是近些年来我读过的最令人震撼的作品之一。它的叙事结构复杂得像一座迷宫,作者巧妙地在时间线上穿梭,将过去、现在和那些模糊不清的未来片段无缝衔接起来。你必须全神贯注,否则很容易迷失在那些层层叠叠的隐喻和错综的人物关系中。我尤其欣赏作者处理道德困境的方式,书中的角色没有绝对的好坏之分,每个人都在时代的洪流中做出艰难的抉择,那种挣扎和自我怀疑被刻画得入木三分,让人读完之后久久不能平静。那种氛围的营造,简直是大师级的,你仿佛能闻到纸张上散发出的旧时代气息,感受到历史的重量压在肩上。它不仅仅是一个故事,更像是一次对人性和社会结构的深刻解剖,读完后感觉自己的认知都被拓宽了不少。我推荐给所有喜欢深度阅读、享受思考过程的读者,但请做好准备,这不是一本轻松的读物,它会挑战你的耐心和理解力。
评分老实说,一开始拿到这本书的时候,我有点被它的厚度和密集的排版吓到了,心想这下得啃好一阵子了。但奇妙的是,一旦你沉浸进去,时间感就完全消失了。它的语言风格非常独特,带着一种古典的、近乎诗歌般的韵律,但内核却探讨着极其现代和尖锐的问题。我注意到作者在描写场景时,对细节的把握达到了令人发指的程度,无论是阴暗的地下室,还是灯火辉煌的沙龙,那种环境的质感呼之欲出。书中穿插的那些旁白和注释,虽然在某些时刻显得有些突兀,但细想之下,它们恰恰构成了理解整个宏大叙事不可或缺的碎片。这本书的节奏控制得非常高明,它知道何时应该加速,何时又需要慢下来,让你品味那些潜藏在对话之下的暗流涌动。我得承认,有好几次我需要停下来,合上书本,只是为了整理一下刚刚读到的信息量,它需要你投入全部心神,但回报是巨大的。
评分我通常不太追捧那些被过度吹捧的作品,但这次我必须承认,这本书配得上所有的赞誉。它最吸引我的地方在于其哲学层面的探讨。作者毫不留情地撕开了社会光鲜亮丽的外表,直面那些被我们习惯性忽略的权力结构和意识形态的操控。书中的对话充满了张力,那些看似随意的交谈背后,往往隐藏着致命的博弈和深远的算计。阅读过程中,我感觉自己就像一个秘密特工,在不同的派系之间穿梭,试图拼凑出真相的全貌。它的结构非常大胆,经常使用非线性的叙事手法,这种手法处理不好就容易显得矫揉造作,但在这里,它完美地服务于主题的复杂性——即“真相”本身就是多维且难以捕捉的。这本书绝对不是那种可以“听着有声书”就能理解的类型,它要求你用眼睛去追踪每一个细微的标记,用大脑去构建每一个逻辑链条。
评分这本书的魅力在于它的“沉浸感”和“陌生感”的完美结合。作者似乎创造了一个既熟悉又完全陌生的世界观,让你在阅读过程中不断产生“我好像在哪里见过类似的情境,但又完全不是这样”的奇妙体验。我发现自己时不时地会停下来,查阅一些历史背景或者专业术语,因为作者对某些领域的知识储备之深厚,让人不得不去验证其真实性——当然,很多都是作者虚构的框架,但这更显出其构建世界的功力。人物的心理侧写极其细腻,特别是那些边缘人物,他们的动机和挣扎被描绘得如此真实,以至于你会在他们身上看到自己或身边人的影子,尽管他们的处境远比我们戏剧化得多。我发现自己读得很慢,不是因为读不懂,而是因为不想错过任何一个精妙的措辞,生怕漏掉了作者埋下的某个伏笔。这绝对是一部值得反复阅读,每次都会有新发现的文学巨著。
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