Review of Audrey's Door by Sarah Langan
Mar. 23rd, 2010 03:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kestrell_Audrey's Door_ by Sarah Langan (Harper, 2009)
I know lots of people in horror reviewing have lots of positive things to say about Sarah Langan's writing, and this newest novel in particular http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2010/02/audreys_door_by.shtml
. Technically, her work is top-notch, even superb.
Personally, however, I find it incredibly hard work to get through her novels. Actually, _Audrey's Door_ is the first novel by Langan which I have finished. I started reading _The Missing_ when it came out, but the storyline seemed identical to a dozen others which I had read before, and I'm not a big fan of the "toxic waste turns humans into disgusting monsters" plot to begin with. Yes, it read just like a Stephen King story, but I've read a few Stephen King stories, so what's new?
But I was determined to finish _Audrey's Door_ and find out what I had missed that first time.
There is some nice work done in the story. As I say, technically, the writing is very good, exceptional even. And I really liked the literary references, not just the hoity-toity references to John Donne's "Death Be Not Proud," which turns out to have a lot of horror potential (the secret is to reference the less well-known lines such as "for whom the bell tolls" and "No man is an island").
There is also the homage to such horror classics as Shirley Jackson's _The Haunting of Hill House_ and Ira Levin's _Rosemary's Baby_ (although really, the movie is more memorable, possibly entirely due to the old witch played by the dark-humored Ruth Gordon opposite the childish madonna of Mia Farrow, and it's probably the images of the hag versus the waif which most vividly flicker in and out through _Audrey's Door_).
I love the secret history of the evil house which is inserted at intervals throughout the novel. I enjoyed the hip references to a number of recent horror books written by Langan's compadres: _Dust of Wonderland_ by Lee Thomas, _Chasing the Dragon_ by Nick Kaufman, and _A Twisted Ladder_ by Rhodie Hawk (you can read my review of this last book here http://kestrell.livejournal.com/560874.html ).
Ultimately, however, this book represented a lot of hard work and telling myself I was tough enough to keep going. The big hurdle for me in getting through this book was the same issue I had with the only other Sarah Langan book I have ever tried to read, namely, the female protagonists are such doormats that it is really difficult for me to stick with them for the length of an entire novel. Not only are they doormats, but they are self-aware doormats, which just makes maintaining patience with them more difficult. They *know* when they are making self-destructive choices, they *know* what they should do instead, and they do the stupid thing anyway. Not once or twice, but multiple times in each chapter. It goes way beyond the usual horror protagonists who is often compelled by dire circumstances to choose the lesser of two evils since, trust me, that's one of the dynamics which I really like about horror (remember "Fortune is a blind bitch and someone just shot her guide dog" http://kestrell.livejournal.com/495023.html ?).
In horror, there is often a fine line between sentient doormat and final girl. The line is that the final girl *does* something, even when it looks like all of her options have been taken away. That hanger in the eye--that's a final girl move. Feeling sorry for yourself is okay, especially if it is accompanied by a witty line or two. But there comes a time to stop the self-pity, strap on your sensible shoes, and *move*. Audrey, the protagonist of _Audrey's Door_, comes to this decision at about page three hundred, and she doesn't really pull it off until the final pages, when a male comes to her rescue. And it's only at this point that Audrey stops feeling sorry for herself long enough to gain a moment of personal insight. That is at about page four hundred.
Okay, I confess, I skipped from about page 353 to page 397 because I just couldn't take any more; do you still respect me?
I know lots of people in horror reviewing have lots of positive things to say about Sarah Langan's writing, and this newest novel in particular http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2010/02/audreys_door_by.shtml
. Technically, her work is top-notch, even superb.
Personally, however, I find it incredibly hard work to get through her novels. Actually, _Audrey's Door_ is the first novel by Langan which I have finished. I started reading _The Missing_ when it came out, but the storyline seemed identical to a dozen others which I had read before, and I'm not a big fan of the "toxic waste turns humans into disgusting monsters" plot to begin with. Yes, it read just like a Stephen King story, but I've read a few Stephen King stories, so what's new?
But I was determined to finish _Audrey's Door_ and find out what I had missed that first time.
There is some nice work done in the story. As I say, technically, the writing is very good, exceptional even. And I really liked the literary references, not just the hoity-toity references to John Donne's "Death Be Not Proud," which turns out to have a lot of horror potential (the secret is to reference the less well-known lines such as "for whom the bell tolls" and "No man is an island").
There is also the homage to such horror classics as Shirley Jackson's _The Haunting of Hill House_ and Ira Levin's _Rosemary's Baby_ (although really, the movie is more memorable, possibly entirely due to the old witch played by the dark-humored Ruth Gordon opposite the childish madonna of Mia Farrow, and it's probably the images of the hag versus the waif which most vividly flicker in and out through _Audrey's Door_).
I love the secret history of the evil house which is inserted at intervals throughout the novel. I enjoyed the hip references to a number of recent horror books written by Langan's compadres: _Dust of Wonderland_ by Lee Thomas, _Chasing the Dragon_ by Nick Kaufman, and _A Twisted Ladder_ by Rhodie Hawk (you can read my review of this last book here http://kestrell.livejournal.com/560874.html ).
Ultimately, however, this book represented a lot of hard work and telling myself I was tough enough to keep going. The big hurdle for me in getting through this book was the same issue I had with the only other Sarah Langan book I have ever tried to read, namely, the female protagonists are such doormats that it is really difficult for me to stick with them for the length of an entire novel. Not only are they doormats, but they are self-aware doormats, which just makes maintaining patience with them more difficult. They *know* when they are making self-destructive choices, they *know* what they should do instead, and they do the stupid thing anyway. Not once or twice, but multiple times in each chapter. It goes way beyond the usual horror protagonists who is often compelled by dire circumstances to choose the lesser of two evils since, trust me, that's one of the dynamics which I really like about horror (remember "Fortune is a blind bitch and someone just shot her guide dog" http://kestrell.livejournal.com/495023.html ?).
In horror, there is often a fine line between sentient doormat and final girl. The line is that the final girl *does* something, even when it looks like all of her options have been taken away. That hanger in the eye--that's a final girl move. Feeling sorry for yourself is okay, especially if it is accompanied by a witty line or two. But there comes a time to stop the self-pity, strap on your sensible shoes, and *move*. Audrey, the protagonist of _Audrey's Door_, comes to this decision at about page three hundred, and she doesn't really pull it off until the final pages, when a male comes to her rescue. And it's only at this point that Audrey stops feeling sorry for herself long enough to gain a moment of personal insight. That is at about page four hundred.
Okay, I confess, I skipped from about page 353 to page 397 because I just couldn't take any more; do you still respect me?
