Others have mentioned wanting to rank this on two scales and I agree. Atmosphere wise this was fascinating and held my attention throughout. But as a story I think it didn't quite work out, I was disappointed when it all ended. I'm a fan of ambiguous endings but this one didn't fit right. Still overall I'm glad I read it, if even just for the atmosphere, the dark humor and the side stories told within. Glister scared me witless, and devoured me. I expected no ending would/could finish the story, and there is no way the book could put all the pieces away. The pieces are mystery, horror, coming-of-age, and environmental genres of writing. The parts are entirely absorbed by, or left buried in, the Scottish industrial landscape and the Glister - a mysterious hidden room, within hidden rooms, part of an ancient chemical plant. The spellbounding emptiness - felt from the first word - remains, even after looking back in the text for clues. Burnside captures how boys feel as they are exploring a lackluster world, growing up with hellacious boredom, pressured by friends, hanging out in wreckage, witnessing horrible cover-ups, dealing with teachers of all kinds, and explaining all this in the only way teenagers can. The narrator delineates how the world is formed, how it unforms, and how it presents beauty and tragic ugliness. Seeping.
What do You think about Glister (2009)?
Strong sense of foreboding with many literary references. Similiar pacing and style to Lovely Bones.
—Pariscmays
Haunting language, good story, but overly didactic ending.
—scottnnicki
this one also bored me. don't know why. didn't finish it
—pokemon
Could not finish it and I never do that. Boring!
—bunty
