I don't know, and regarding Anson's book from a fictional point of view, it doesn't matter much to me. I'm here to talk about this book as a work of fiction, and put the "true story" stuff on the backburner because this a finely written work. Anson has a knack for keeping readers hooked from beginning to end. The terror escalates higher and higher throughout the whole work, and even the ending, which seemed a bit abrupt, worked well for this piece because even though the Lutz family scrambled away from the house for their very lives at the end, the terror followed them.
After all, Father Nuncio does tell us that, "places and things are never possessed. Only people." Does that mean the haunting possessed a member of the Lutz family and hung on since the strange happenings follow them even after leaving the house? If so, I'd like to think the little girl, Missy, may be the one channeling the hauntings. She is the least affected by the terrors and even befriends the red-eye "angel" pig Jodie that spoke to her.
There are so many theories that can be thought of for this work. Again, this is all from the viewpoint that I am viewing The Amityville Horror purely as a work of fiction. A rather good one too. The details included, from oozing walls to the overpowering stench of excrement, the strange behavior of Harry the dog, and the strange figure the family sees, all come together to provide a truly creepy tale. I also give Anson's writing style credit (minus the use of exclamation points every time something strange happened -- that drove me loony), but Anson's set-up for the transitions to go back and forth between the different points of view is done smoothly and kept me hooked.
So controversy about what's real or not aside, the novel as a work of fiction is a brilliant one.
Happy Hauntings,
Sara
Oh no! Our first disagreement on a book! This book drove me up the fucking wall.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do like this idea you have of the demon/ghost attaching itself to Missy. It makes sense because she's the only one who didn't have a really negative experience and it makes it more sinister to me, to think that it's trying to slowly lure her away.