Note: I usually burn through a book within a couple of days. This one took me nearly 3 months, in fits and starts, between other reading. It just wasn't a good fit.-----------------------------Candles Burning was completed by Tabitha King (wife of Stephen King, and a good writer in her own right), from a partial manuscript by Michael McDowell (author of a number of other mystery/Gothic/horror novels, and the screenwriter for Beetlejuice.) In some ways it reminds me of both Pat Conroy's The Prince of Tides and Rebecca Wells' Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, not only because it's set in the South in the 1950s, but also because of the dysfunctional relationships between generations and between the parents of the main character - one of those mismatched marriages, as far as the social standing of their respective families, and even though they treat each other like crap, there's also still a major flame going on between them.The story is told from the viewpoint of Calley, daughter of the aforementioned mismatched parents. Her social-climbing mother, Roberta Ann Carroll, marries the one member of the Dakin family who has prospered, but quickly recognizes that his money does not automatically ensure the cultured living she aspires to. Roberta's own mother, Deirdre, AKA "Mamadee", has inculcated in her a disdain for commonness - in part, we discover, to distance herself from her circus-performer parents. When Calley is seven years old, her father Joe Cane Dakin is kidnapped and murdered horribly, and from there spirals a long series of odd occurrences that are only ever obliquely explained. (While I appreciate not having every subtlety explained to me, it's irritating to have hints dropped [like the suggestions throughout the first half of the book that there's something odd about Calley that is obvious to others] that are not clarified at all. I realize that children take everyday things for granted and that, since the narrative is in her voice, perhaps she wouldn't think to describe what it is about her that causes people to stare, but it doesn't seem to be germane to how the story unfolds to hide it. I hate being teased with promises of resolution, only to get to the end and have only a half-assed explanation.)In the wake of Joe Cane Dakin's murder comes a cascade of disaster: Calley and her (dreadful, greedy, self-absorbed) mother are stripped of her father's money and turned out of their home, and the upbringing of Calley's older brother Ford is appropriated by Mamadee, Calley's vainglorious and calculating grandmother. Calley and Roberta end up in a boarding house on the Gulf of Mexico, where they spend the next 10 years, during which Calley will be used by various ghosts from her past as a conduit to speak to the living... I've just realized there really isn't any way to adequately explain this book. If you don't mind a great deal of ambiguity, it's an interesting read. Don't expect a horror story, though.
I wanted more ghosts. That's the truth, plain and simple. Perhaps it's a seasonal thing. If scary stories are too intense for you, you shouldn't have to worry. This is more atmosphere and character than spooky.In any event, this was a satisfying, albeit uneven, read. I don't know where McDowell left off and King picked it up, but the tone of the book is inconsistent. Calliope (and what a great name, no?) suffers abuse at damn near everyone's hands (maybe not so much the ghosts) . . . more psychological & deprivational than physical, but abuse none the less. It could be that my lack of enthusiasm for reading of a young girl being abused diminished my enjoyment of the book. There is a fine mystery surrounding Calliope's family and that family's circle of friends (living and dead; present and absent) and Calliope herself is amazingly strong and smart. In fact, Calliope is very present, well fleshed-out as a character, as is her mothers. Others are more ephemeral, harder to get hold of; they contribute sustantially to the story, none the less. So, while this was certainly not my favorite story involving/including the unexplained/supernatural, I did enjoy it. And I believe I'm going to hunt up more from McDowell.
What do You think about Candles Burning (2006)?
After reading an article about the Stephen King family recently, which made clear husband and children's complete respect for and admiration of wife Tabitha's talent for writing, I decided to find something of hers to read. I had only ever read one of her novels, One on One, and liked it, but her books way back when -- before Amazon and my discovery of the independent bookstore as a resource -- were hard to find and I never read another until now. This one caught my eye -- she didn't start this book, but she finished it, after the original author died and his notes came to her. We won't know what he had in mind, but I can't imagine him being unhappy with the way this turned out. Tabitha King is indeed a wonderful writer, and this Southern Gothic horror story proves it. There is horror of the supernatural variety here, but also the best kind of all -- the horror of our cruelty to one another, to those we should be caring for. Well done.
—Kristina Harper
It was ok, but that's not really descriptive. There was a lot of suspense, and I really wanted to know the secret of this book. So, I read and read and read, and I didn't want to put it down, but I got to the last 30 pages or so and realized that I had no idea what the point of this book was. In fact, I still don't really know. The mystery was solved, but by that point, I didn't really care. It wasn't a surprise. There was no major "Aha!" moment that blew my mind, which I was really coming to expect. Maybe this book was meant to be extremely subtle, but if it was, then it went right over my head. I'm ok with that, if that was the case, but I have a feeling it wasn't. Anyway, that is why this book rated as low as it did. I'm more likely to say I like a book than it's ok, but I just couldn't get that far with this one.
—Stacia Ahlfeld
I love the way they built up the characters and nice twist at the end. I totally loved reading this book and sad that I've finished it, because it was a good story. I almost put it down at the beginning, because there's a really gory detailed murder. I enjoy scary and I can handle some gory details, but this was more than I cared to read, I'm not going to spoil it for other readers with more details. I will say that I'm so glad I kept reading through to the end. That was the only part of the book that I didn't care for, but I'm squeamish and pull covers over my head during scary movies, but watch them anyway ;)...lol
—Christina
