What do You think about Magic Terror (2002)?
Peter Straub is one of the best authors of all time, and this anthology is evidence enough to prove it. He writes circles around Stephen King, natch', but then again, one isn't reading King because of that man's fine style (with the exception of Misery), one reads King in order to wallow in a folksy story, pure campfire horror tale. Not so with Straub, whose depictions of twisted human psychology are so internally consistent that they make me suspect that (a) he's psychic and (b) he's been hanging around some terrible asylums or something. You believe every word these characters say.The opening vignette alone, "Ashputtle," is well worth the price of admission. I read it through in a single gulp, while waiting for my daughter to get out of dance class, and at first I was simply enjoying the bizarre voice Straub gives to his narrator, a totally compelling mixture of self-aggrandizement and guilty whining that he revisits in the excellent "Hunger: an Introduction." It wasn't until I finished, though, that the full meaning of the story really dawned on me. It's a classic bit of what TV Tropes calls "fridge horror," the moment after the movie or story, when you're at the refrigerator, making a sandwich, and you suddenly 'get' what actually happened. I had to race right back to the beginning of the story and read the whole thing through again, this time through the lens of that realization. Then I had to IMMEDIATELY check on my darling daughter, and I did not take my eyes off of her for the rest of the evening. I checked on her twenty times during the night. I almost could not drop her off at school the next day.That, folks, is some good writing.
—P. Aaron Potter
I've decided that I'm giving up on this one. Officially quitting. I've read three of the seven stories, and I can't say that I was impressed by any of them. The first story was just... weird. Like, "Let me think of as many weird things as possible and squeeze them into 18 pages with no connecting narrative and call it a story" weird. It was like a crazy dream that gives you an odd crawly feeling without knowing why. Creepy, yes. Story, no. OK I take that back... if you're adept at putting square pegs in round holes when reading, meaning if you can interpret your way through bunch of words and find a story, then there is one. But it's still not a GOOD one.The second story was... something, but not horror, not magic, but a weak espionage-like thriller with a predictable twist. Better than the first story, but not impressive. Third is a Vietnam story, and while it held my curiosity, I wasn't sure what the point was. *shrug*I read a page of the fourth story, and just... gave up. Other reviews seem to indicate that a reader who sticks with it would be rewarded at the end, but life is too short to waste time on something that I'm not enjoying. I gave this book three chances to grab me, and the most it did was lay a weak hand on my arm after about 3 weeks of trying. Not a great introduction to Peter Straub. I'd expected better, honestly.Moving on...
—Becky
Wow, it's not often you come across such an unsatisfying collection of stories from such a gifted author. A couple of them start out ok, but by the end I'd lost all interest, despite the quality of Straub's writing. From virtually every page this book screams out it's desire to be taken seriously as "literary" horror: "literary" in the sense that it's more work than fun to read. It does have its occasional enjoyable moments, but it is overall too self-aware and lacking in the seemingly effortless brilliance of Stephen King, who is perfectly happy to be continually underestimated by those elite snobs who think books that entertain are inherently stupid. Straub's writing style is actually remarkably similar to King's (one reason perhaps why they've collaborated well together in the past), and perhaps it's for that reason that Straub tries to be more experimental in his work. Still, I'll take a good story over intellectual masturbation any day.
—John
