Ghost Story, despite its title, goes more in-depth with the array of characters in the novel than the actual ghosts. This approach was interesting to me given that my past couple posts about haunted houses focused more on the houses than the characters. This time around the novel is character-driven and populated with stories within stories. Ghost Story is not a quick read, but neither should it be. Straub's slower pace and structure are deliberate because the reader is meant to enter into this tale with caution. The characters are not all wicked people, but once they get involved with the ghosts and the manitou, even indirectly, they are still at risk to suffer unfortunate fates."What's the worst thing you've ever done?""I won't tell you that, but I'll tell you the worst thing that ever happened to me... the most dreadful thing..." -Peter Straub, Ghost Story
One aspect I really enjoyed about Ghost Story is the way Straub masterfully lulls the reader in by withholding information. If the reader wants to know what happened at Jaffrey's party, what the worst thing the Chowder Society ever did was, or why Don Wanderley has kidnapped a strange, young girl, then the reader has to keep reading and watch the mysteries come into light as more and more information is revealed. As readers we are drawn into the dark, enigmatic tales of ghosts and oddities being revealed the more we read. We question what characters we can trust and react when we find out about the vengeful, shapeshifting creature that proves to be more than a mere ghost.
Though the manitou is the main external opposition to the characters, the real ghosts live inside their heads and within their past, which is one of the reasons why this novel is so good. There are deeper questions here about dwelling on the past, if one can escape a terrible mistake or destroy every thing and one around him, what happens after death, and numerous societal thoughts and questions that can really make one go crazy if thought about for too long. Straub doesn't need to give us the over-the-top or in-your-face kind of horror here to illustrate the way terror lives inside our minds. There are always ghosts lingering under our skin, but sometimes they manifest and destroy us before we get the chance to destroy them.
“...nobody can protect anybody else from vileness. Or from pain. All you can do is not let it break you in half and keep on going until you get to the other side.”-Peter Straub, Ghost Story
Sara
I love how you say that Straub doesn't need to use over the top horror, that there is horror in everyday life. Something I really liked about this novel was that everyone seemed to just refuse to face bad things happening in their lives. These characters just ignore all of their problems until they literally come back to haunt them. It just seemed to have this huge overarching theme of repression and an inability to really face the terrible things they're done.
ReplyDeleteI went into this novel expecting literal ghosts, but I enjoyed that the ghosts stemmed from the past that haunts everyone. The ghosts are the sins of the characters themselves, no matter how nasty the manitou seem. I'm currently reading a new release urban fantasy novel dealing with the return of a soul to an ancient vampire and how all that guilt and sorrow effects the undead. It reminds me of Ghost Story, but wherein Straub's tale the manitou plays the role of judge, jury and executioner, in the more modern tale, the vampire's judge themselves. The parallels remain, however, and both stories are equally powerful in their presentation of such ghosts.
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