So this was a tough review to do, probably because I had mixed feelings about it. On one hand I was intrigued and curious on the other I was completely and utterly creeped out. I heard once that if after you finish a book if it doesn't leave you with a reaction, any reaction, then it didn't do it's service. So if that is true, then in this case I did have all sorts of reactions, not all so good but they were reactions just the same.
This is a post-apocalyptic near future, where a world war has occurred and nerve gas unleashed. This part of the story to me personally was minimal in comparison to the interaction of our two main characters. We get a 1st account detail from our protagonist Ann. Having lost all her family, she's left alone, going a year now, in their country farm where the nerve gas has not reached its air, a little far fetched but it is fiction so I'm not going to scrutinize that. Just when she has accepted her lot in life, Ann, receives a visitor. Writing in her journal this is how the book begins:
" I am afraid. Someone is coming. That is, I think someone is coming, though I am not sure, and I pray that I am wrong."
That's when things get creepy. This mysterious man is perhaps a dream come true for Ann or her worse nightmare. She doesn't appear to the stranger right away, she watches him up in a cave where she's hiding. . Despite being a country girl she's not easily trusting. As the book progresses we become quite aware of how naive she is. The question through out the book is, whether or not Ann is in danger of this stranger, called Mr. Loomis. The ending is not an obvious one and I appreciated Mr. O'Brien making sure of that.
Ultimately I was right in the middle with this one. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. It was just strange. If you like books with an ending that you don't see coming, then, this just might the book for you. If you've read it I would love to hear your opinion on it. I f you decide to read it, please come back here and share what you thought.
2 comments:
I read this book as a teen and remember finding it utterly fascinating as well as scary!
I too lived in a small town.
There is one road leading into and out. When leaving Springville, where I lived at the time of reading this book, the Hwy kinda dumps down into a small valley. I have had many many dreams about this book, as I was "Ann" yet still myself in these dreams. I am standing at the top of the hill the Hwy sits on and looking out to the small valley and knowing just beyond, the gas was in the air! And there is the "house"; where I know a "Mr. Loomis" has taken as his!
Very colourful, very creepy and yet utterly fascinated by those dreams!
I have just placed a hold at the library for it and I am kinda excited, but know that I was about 13 when I first read it!
Thanks for you for your take on it!
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