I have been wanting to read this book
for ages, especially since the film came out. I haven't seen the
film yet, much preferring to read the book first if I can. Most of
the time I can manage it too.
First though I had to get past
imagining the main character as he appears in the film. In fact, I
have a friend who has been unable to read it as his version has
Daniel Radcliffe in it!
Unfortunately I've only ever seen him
as Harry Potter and I really didn't want to see this character like
that so I had to put it out of my mind. It wasn't too difficult as I
got into the plot though.
To begin with it was slow going, I was
only getting enough time to read a few pages at once, which makes for
a very disjointed following of the story. When this happens I
struggle to remember what happened previously and the story loses its
magic. Does anyone else get that? Last night though I read most of
the book in one sitting, I was so engrossed in what was happening.
It's a short book really, only 200 pages, so it didn't take too long
to finish.
I really loved it. It had plenty of
scary, disturbing moments, rather than the disappointing odd one or
two that you can sometimes get in a supposedly excellent ghost story.
Each moment just added to the creepiness set by what had happened
before. It really did make me shiver. I'd be interested to see the
film now, partly to see how Mr Radcliffe fairs in a very different
role but also to see if they capture the creepiness effectively.
I read this late into the night just
before I went to sleep and found that I was listening for odd noises
in the house before dropping off. The hamster downstairs gave me a
fright until I realised what it was!
Rating: 5/5
I watched the movie and it was rather scary. I wasn't aware that it was first a book. Thanks for sharing!
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