Anyone who is a fan of vampires will be familiar with Let The Right
One In, Lindqvist’s chilling tale of a young girl who is not as she seems.
The masterful thriller was adapted into a highly acclaimed Swedish film, which has in turn undergone the obligatory Hollywood
remake. That novel was possibly the definitionof ‘dark’, yet the quality of the characters shone through and I was gripped from start to
finish. So I approached Harbour with a high level of anticipation and my expectations were met in some respects, not in others.
In terms of inventiveness, Lindqvist is not afraid to expect a certain amount of intelligence from his readers. Or at least, the ability
to pay attention. By inventing a whole new mythology, he asks readers to take a few sizeable leaps of faith and the jury is still out on whether he
has provided a soft landing. Starting with a compelling premise, he immediately captures the attention and presents a mystery which has readers’ minds working from the earliest pages.
When a young couple, Anders and Cecilia, take their daughter across the frozen harbour to visit an old lighthouse, the child inexplicably disappears into the barren landscape. Two years later, the grief-stricken couple have parted but Anders is unable to move on with his life. Battling a drink problem, he returns to the island of their torment and finds himself being slowly sucked into a terrifying mystery that tests the boundaries of human understanding.
Lindqvist regularly blends the magical into the mundane, something which achieves varying degrees of success. Although a bizarre sub-plot involving a retired magician and his intriguing pet is handled delicately, the book’s tone seems to veer from a low-key, creepy ghost story to a fully blown horror tale with
huge doses of fantasy thrown in. Personally, I preferred the quieter, dreadfilled
scenes that revealed mere glimpses of terror and I was slightly disappointed when
the story seemed to be grasping at epic solutions that didn’t really make sense. But I would always rather read novels that aim high and fall short, instead of those written to formula by authors who are afraid to explore new territory.
Whether or not you love Harbour will depend on your taste in supernatural
thrillers, but Lindqvist is definitely one of our most interesting contemporary
writers.
Showing posts with label john ajvide lindqvist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label john ajvide lindqvist. Show all posts
Friday, 12 November 2010
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
Review: Let The Right One In By John Ajvide Lindqvist
The screen adaptation of Lindqvist's vampire novel was widely hailed as a triumph. Indeed, some critics pronounced it to be among the best films of last year, which is no mean achievement for a horror film. Usually they are judged only against others in their genre and not taken seriously as stories, but Let The Right One In seemed to have overcome that obstacle.
I have not seen the film - I would quite like to, but I confess to being a little bit nervous about it. For although vampires do not scare me like ghosts do and I am not overly squeamish, I have heard that the film is pretty gruesome. Very intelligent and gripping, but gruesome nonetheless. And sometimes I find that non-stop wincing can really spoil my enjoyment of a movie.
But the book was recommended to me by a friend who knows my literary tastes pretty well, so I was curious to see if the source material was as captivating as the film is reported to be.
And the answer is - yes. I can't speak for the adaptation of course, but I can see how the novel could be converted into a thrilling and thought-provoking film. Because right from the first page, the characters leap out of the page and grab you by the throat, teeth bared and ready to bite.
The action centres on 13-year-old Oskar, a young boy who struggles to co-exist with his lonely mother and absentee father, while coping with bullying at school. Yet Oskar is not your typical victim. Even as he confesses to giving into the bullies' humiliating demands in the quest for a quiet life, he radiates a quiet dignity and sense of purpose which is way beyond his years.
Oskar's rather grey and pedestrian life in a Swedish suburb is turned upside down when he befriends Eli, the delicate little girl next door whose strange lifestyle soon raises his suspicions. With the innocence that only children can muster, he simply accepts Eli's stranger qualities and they form a touchingly powerful friendship.
But in the community around them, something is not right. In fact something is going very, very wrong and Oskar begins to realise that Eli might be at the epicentre of the storm.
Delicately balancing the drama of his high concept against the more mundane truths of human existence, the author creates a story that grips you from start to finish. Just as caught up in the mystery as Oskar, I was keen to find out what lay at the beating heart (or otherwise) of Eli and I was also intrigued by Lindqvist's refusal to paint any character in black and white. Though I was left feeling a little torn as to just how much freedom Eli deserved in the final reckoning.
I have not seen the film - I would quite like to, but I confess to being a little bit nervous about it. For although vampires do not scare me like ghosts do and I am not overly squeamish, I have heard that the film is pretty gruesome. Very intelligent and gripping, but gruesome nonetheless. And sometimes I find that non-stop wincing can really spoil my enjoyment of a movie.
But the book was recommended to me by a friend who knows my literary tastes pretty well, so I was curious to see if the source material was as captivating as the film is reported to be.
And the answer is - yes. I can't speak for the adaptation of course, but I can see how the novel could be converted into a thrilling and thought-provoking film. Because right from the first page, the characters leap out of the page and grab you by the throat, teeth bared and ready to bite.
The action centres on 13-year-old Oskar, a young boy who struggles to co-exist with his lonely mother and absentee father, while coping with bullying at school. Yet Oskar is not your typical victim. Even as he confesses to giving into the bullies' humiliating demands in the quest for a quiet life, he radiates a quiet dignity and sense of purpose which is way beyond his years.
Oskar's rather grey and pedestrian life in a Swedish suburb is turned upside down when he befriends Eli, the delicate little girl next door whose strange lifestyle soon raises his suspicions. With the innocence that only children can muster, he simply accepts Eli's stranger qualities and they form a touchingly powerful friendship.
But in the community around them, something is not right. In fact something is going very, very wrong and Oskar begins to realise that Eli might be at the epicentre of the storm.
Delicately balancing the drama of his high concept against the more mundane truths of human existence, the author creates a story that grips you from start to finish. Just as caught up in the mystery as Oskar, I was keen to find out what lay at the beating heart (or otherwise) of Eli and I was also intrigued by Lindqvist's refusal to paint any character in black and white. Though I was left feeling a little torn as to just how much freedom Eli deserved in the final reckoning.
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