There's something odd about the new family down the street ... something wrong ... something that needs ... fixing.
Yeah, I'll tell you what's wrong. The fact that I have to write this review. I hate writing these reviews. You know, the ones that are followed with that ever-dreaded "I love you, but..." email. It's unfair, especially considering the beautiful packaging this tale comes in... But for you--the reader--I do this. Please acknowledge my suffering--and send caramel!
This is the story of a man who loses his job, his mind and his rationality. He drags his family down into Hell with him and they trade their fear of him for a shared paranoia. There. End of story. Thats right. There's nothing new here and there's no great revelation, twist, or even justification for using the overly abused themes of prejudice, fear of the unknown neighbor, and for lack of a better phrase, white trash mentality. The characters were completely forgettable. The best attempt was the teenage girl--the ambivalence she felt, torn between taking her father's words as truth and following her own heart, created the best [only] tension in the story. The worst was the father--whose sanity disintegrated without so much as a shadow of what was going on in his head, which would have helped solidify him immensely. There was far too much left unexplored, both story and character-wise, under the assumption that we all had something we could draw on from our own experiences.
That aside, Massie pulls off both atmosphere and pace no problem. The atmosphere is a bleakly drawn watercolor of lower middle class family stress, complete with running paint and thin spots. Pace is fed by your need to know what the hell is going on--but remember, she doesn't really tell us, so while the pace feeds off it, you never really get more than a taste or two and walk away with an empty stomach. Style, however, is nailed. As always, Massie knows how to use words and is quite easy to read. Her prose and conversation flow effortlessly across the pages.
White Noise Press is still putting out amazing product, and this one is absolutely beautiful. But in the end, it all boils down to the story and characters failing so miserably here, that they do a disservice to WNP by being in the lineup. If you've never read a WNP chap, do not start with this one, it's only a 2 and most of that is on the merits of binding and presentation, with a touch of author style mixed in. There's just nothing new to see here... Move along.
----------------
Brazen Bull, by Elizabeth Massie
Available Now
White Noise Press
Softcover Chapbooks
26 pages
$10.00 -- only 150 printed
Originally review by HorrorWench on Horror-Web.com
Yeah, I'll tell you what's wrong. The fact that I have to write this review. I hate writing these reviews. You know, the ones that are followed with that ever-dreaded "I love you, but..." email. It's unfair, especially considering the beautiful packaging this tale comes in... But for you--the reader--I do this. Please acknowledge my suffering--and send caramel!
This is the story of a man who loses his job, his mind and his rationality. He drags his family down into Hell with him and they trade their fear of him for a shared paranoia. There. End of story. Thats right. There's nothing new here and there's no great revelation, twist, or even justification for using the overly abused themes of prejudice, fear of the unknown neighbor, and for lack of a better phrase, white trash mentality. The characters were completely forgettable. The best attempt was the teenage girl--the ambivalence she felt, torn between taking her father's words as truth and following her own heart, created the best [only] tension in the story. The worst was the father--whose sanity disintegrated without so much as a shadow of what was going on in his head, which would have helped solidify him immensely. There was far too much left unexplored, both story and character-wise, under the assumption that we all had something we could draw on from our own experiences.
That aside, Massie pulls off both atmosphere and pace no problem. The atmosphere is a bleakly drawn watercolor of lower middle class family stress, complete with running paint and thin spots. Pace is fed by your need to know what the hell is going on--but remember, she doesn't really tell us, so while the pace feeds off it, you never really get more than a taste or two and walk away with an empty stomach. Style, however, is nailed. As always, Massie knows how to use words and is quite easy to read. Her prose and conversation flow effortlessly across the pages.
White Noise Press is still putting out amazing product, and this one is absolutely beautiful. But in the end, it all boils down to the story and characters failing so miserably here, that they do a disservice to WNP by being in the lineup. If you've never read a WNP chap, do not start with this one, it's only a 2 and most of that is on the merits of binding and presentation, with a touch of author style mixed in. There's just nothing new to see here... Move along.
----------------
Brazen Bull, by Elizabeth Massie
Available Now
White Noise Press
Softcover Chapbooks
26 pages
$10.00 -- only 150 printed
Originally review by HorrorWench on Horror-Web.com
