Ghost Story
Sadly, disaster soon strikes, and C's untethered spectre which detaches from the lifeless body, rises from the mortician's table, and in a swift decision, decides to linger in this dimension to faithfully follow the grieving M back to the old house. As silent as a shadow and as invisible as the air, C's unappeasable phantom observes M's denial and depression gradually turn to acceptance and even hope, as time unravels, moving forward through the decades. In this earth, man struggles to leave his legacy behind. Is this the way to immortality? Written by Nick Riganas. The exploration of the enormity of life when a recently deceased ghost returns to his house to try and reconnect with his wife.
Made on a shoe string and in secret, it is a hypnotic observation of life and time after we die and it achieves to visually convey the psychological weight of certain death and that life will continue once we're gone. The people sitting next to me left the cinema about 20 minutes in because it is indeed a very slow moving film and I can understand why they left but that's the point of the film.
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Life is not a highlights reel, and this film achieves to show its enormity through legacy, love and loss. It is philosophical, psychological and extremely poetic. A wonderfully strange film. Start your free trial. Find showtimes, watch trailers, browse photos, track your Watchlist and rate your favorite movies and TV shows on your phone or tablet!
Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Full Cast and Crew. In this singular exploration of legacy, love, loss, and the enormity of existence, a recently deceased, white-sheeted ghost returns to his suburban home to try to reconnect with his bereft wife. Share this Rating Title: A Ghost Story 6. Use the HTML below.
You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Trailer With Director's Commentary. Learn more More Like This. The Killing of a Sacred Deer Bernson, Herb Caillouet, Bill Camp. The Florida Project Ain't Them Bodies Saints Please, bear with me. A good ghost story like Ghost Story is like that Spanish or Italian lover with the sensitive eyes and velvety voice, the one who drank wine from your navel and has nothing but time to devote to all manner of foreplay.
A bad ghost story is like a drunk high-school student pawing at you in the backseat of a Honda Civic, concerned only with the end-release. Because I meant to say crass and vaguely disturbing. Ghost Story takes its time reaching the climax, and this is a good thing.
However, there are parts that will give you the creeps; and there will be parts where your eyes will try to cheat by skipping ahead; and there is a chance, if you read this before bed and take a slug of Nyquill, you will have odd nightmares. What I liked about Ghost Story , other than the fact it was like a Spanish or Italian lover, is that it made a real attempt to stay grounded in reality.
Obviously, when you are dealing with ghosts, there is a paranormal or supernatural element involved. The more things tilt towards those elements, the less scared I become, for the simple fact that I can no longer relate to the world being described. To that end, Peter Straub makes an enormous effort to give his characters backgrounds and back-stories and meaningful traits. He grounds the most fantastical elements by devoting equal time to the human element. One of my favorite aspects of Ghost Story is its sense of place.
Straub spends a lot of time making the hamlet of Milburn into a character. You get to know its layout, its history, its local hangouts, and you meet dozens and dozens of its denizens. Indeed, you meet so many, you might want to keep a list this will come in handy when attempting to recall who is sleeping with who, and who just died. Ghost Story is horror with a literary bent. Sure, there are some lines of dialogue that land with all the grace of me dropping War and Peace on my toe.
For the most part, the level of the writing defies the primitiveness of its subject. At some point, the mysteries start to resolve themselves, the enemy takes shape, and our heroes must find a way to kill it. Eventually, there is a final battle between good and evil, human and not-human, and it is suitably over-the-top and gory, for those that expect that sort of thing, and when the dust settles all the puzzle pieces come together to form a whole.
It satisfies, I suppose, but is not nearly as interesting as the long, detailed, creepy road that led to that point. Oct 12, Kimberly rated it really liked it Shelves: Although GRs marks this as my second read, it's actually my third. I read this one as a teenager for the first time.
A Ghost Story - Wikipedia
One of Straub's best books, imho. Still, this is not one that promises instant gratification, or perfect closure. It's a multi-layerd novel, that leaves a lot to the imagination of the reader. Personally, I enjoy a bit of ambiguity in my horror--often what one can imagine is even more terrifying that what is put down on paper. A "classic" read in every sense of the word. Recommend Although GRs marks this as my second read, it's actually my third. Recommended to fans of horror, everywhere! View all 6 comments. Sep 27, Mike the Paladin rated it it was amazing Shelves: Not a Straub fan, but this is a good book.
One of the better "ghost stories" out there in spite of the fact that it's not exactly a story about a ghost per-se. This is actually one of the "scariest" books I've read so far as atmosphere and actual emotional scare goes.
The villains of the piece are while not exactly "new" used in a different way than you'll see elsewhere. It might be said that the book rests on the simple idea that one reaps what one sows One caveat, don't be put off by the opening scenes in this book some would be and some wouldn't. They could lead one to believe it's a totally different kind of book than it is I myself almost put it down getting the wrong impression from the way it opened.
If you like horror, I'd say try it. This is a genuinely scary book. The general idea behind this book is one that has been dealt with by many writers King among others, I mention him as he's worked with Straub. They regard us variously as food or amusement. These beings are the source of all the legends, vampires, werewolves The thing is that they like other humans who have come in contact with view spoiler [ the above mentioned beings our protagonists have been led into self-destructive, even evil acts.
However in this case things didn't actually go in the way the They our protagonists, the Chowder Society managed to "harm" or "hurt" the creature. THEY the "other beings" don't forget such things. What I didn't recall was how well the book does what it does.
Ghost Story
It's a long book and told from multiple points of view even changing from third person to first person yet never flags, never drops the interest. After I read this book I went right out and grabbed another Straub book This book made my "favorites" and I wanted to take a few seconds to recommend it Probably more I could say but why? Just read the book and cut out the middleman. View all 27 comments. Jan 26, Ken McKinley rated it it was amazing Shelves: Ghost Story was a ground-breaking classic written in that set the bar a mile high for any paranormal tale to come after it.
Straub's story isn't a quick read. It's a slow burn through multiple layers that weave in and out of the story. That doesn't mean it's a bad thing. On the contrary, I loved the eerie atmosphere he created along with such detailed characters that weren't flat and one-dimensional. I've read a few negative reviews on here and the common theme is that it was too much or th Ghost Story was a ground-breaking classic written in that set the bar a mile high for any paranormal tale to come after it.
I've read a few negative reviews on here and the common theme is that it was too much or they found it boring. I feel bad for these people that they have no patience and that their short attention spans won't let such a wonderful tale slowly unfold before their very eyes. For those of you that don't want fast food horror and enjoy savoring a creepy atmospheric tale, look no further.
When I say that this story is layered, I mean thick, rich multiple layers. It's set in the small, idyllic town of Milburn in rural New York. In , there is no mention of chain stores or houses that all look alike in Milburn. These are mom and pop run places and every home is as unique as the residents that live in them. A group of older gentlemen that call themselves the Chowder Society meet at a different member's home every month. The rules are that they wear evening clothes, don't drink too much, and rotate through the members on who was going to tell a story for that evening.
The meeting following the peculiar death of one of their members, to break the tension, a member asked "What's the worst thing you've ever done? Unfortunately, this also brought on the nightmares that would plague the members. You see, fifty years ago they were part of a terrible accident and a young girl died and now she wants her revenge. Straub creates such a realistic setting in Milburn that you'd swear he was from NY. Oddly enough, he grew up in Wisconsin. The atmosphere and character development is what makes Ghost Story so effective. The bitter cold of the winter blizzard.
The isolationism of being cut off from one another. The eerie dread that permeates through the story as you try to decipher what is real and what is imagination. So kick back in your recliner. Have a drink by your side and let Straub chill you to the bones with this tale. View all 5 comments. Feb 17, Steven Kent rated it it was amazing Shelves: I lived on horror novels when I was in college--and I acquired a good collection of my favorite horror novels in hardback. It begins with the frigid voices of old men swapping ghostly stories, then settles back and unwinds as the demons of these old men's stories co I lived on horror novels when I was in college--and I acquired a good collection of my favorite horror novels in hardback.
It begins with the frigid voices of old men swapping ghostly stories, then settles back and unwinds as the demons of these old men's stories come to possess the world of the present. This is a book that starts slow, wrapping itself around the reader. You, like the characters in the book, think that you can easily escape for the first hundred pages. But the narrative tightens and you soon learn that escape was always an illusion.
This is a book that combines the chill of the New York winter with the arthritic helplessness of old man nightmares. It plays shamelessly with reality. The devices Straub incorporated in this book are so subtle that they had to be corrupted or ignored entirely when a movie was made based on this book.
I have read this book several times now, and I firmly believe it is the The Brothers Karamazov of the horror book world. If you want to read some of the best writing that horror has to offer, read Ghost Story. View all 8 comments. I know that Ghost Story is just a little mass-market paperback but I don't care, I really enjoyed it.
It was brilliantly written, the characters were complex, the imagery was vibrant but not overwhelming and the story was creative and original. One of the best written stories I've ever come across! Boredom, thy name is Ghost Story. Jan 24, Bill rated it it was ok Shelves: First off, let me say that this is a very good story, and it had its scary moments.
But I think I have some sort of problem with Peter Straub's writing. I can't quite put my finger on it but at times it seems long winded and confusing. Where with Dan Simmons and Orson Scott Card their words just seem to effortlessly flow into my mind, I find there are times when I need to reread Straub's sentences. This doesn't happen a whole lot, mind you, but it got annoying when it did, and I was glad to fina First off, let me say that this is a very good story, and it had its scary moments. This doesn't happen a whole lot, mind you, but it got annoying when it did, and I was glad to finally finish it.
But hey, that's just me. I figure Straub simply doesn't "click" with me so I think it would be unfair for me to criticize this novel. I've read Shadowland it was OK and Mystery found the ending terribly unsatisfying and felt I should read this, his "best" work.
As far as the story goes, I was a little disappointed that there weren't more Chowder Society ghost stories within the main story, which I was expecting. I thought the characters were well drawn, though. If you like Peter Straub you will love this. Sep 20, Julie rated it it was amazing. A Classic horror story. I haven't read this book in many years and had forgotten a lot of it. I am glad I pulled it out again. They just don't write many like this one anymore. Still in South Carolina, he thought that a highway patrolman was following him: He thought he could see the state cop speaking into his radio; immediately he cut his speed by five miles an hour and changed lanes, but the police car would not pass.
He felt a deep trembling in his chest and abdomen: Then the questions would begin. It was about six in the afternoon, and the freeway was crowded: He had to think. He was simply being drawn on towards Charleston, pulled by the traffic through miles of flat scrubby country: He could not remember the number of the freeway he was on. In the rear view mirror, behind the long row of cars, behind the police car, an old truck sent out a tall column of black smoke through a chimney-like pipe beside the engine.
He feared the patrolman cruising up beside him and shouting: The patrolman swung out into the next lane and began to draw up toward him. Then they would put him in a cell and begin to beat him, working on him methodically with nightsticks, turning his skin purple. But none of that happened. He is an author I run hot and cold on. Ghost Story is hot. It is a book that I reread every few years, and I always seem to find bits where I think, 'Damn! I don't remember that. Straub's plotting and characters are intricate and exquisite.
His writing is descriptive. If, like me, you still make sure that your wardrobe door is firmly closed before you go to sleep at night, then this is a book that you will enjoy. Peter Straub was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on 2 March, , the first of three sons of a salesman and a nurse. The salesman wanted him to become an athlete, the nurse thought he would do well as either a doctor or a Lutheran minister, but all he wanted to do was to learn to read. When kindergarten turned out to be a stupefyingly banal disappointment devoted to cutting animal shapes out of heavy colored paper, he took matters into his own hands and taught himself to read by memorizing his comic books and reciting them over and over to other neighborhood children on the front steps until he could recognize the words.
This career as the John Buchan to the first grade was interrupted by a collision between himself and an automobile which resulted in a classic near-death experience, many broken bones, surgical operations, a year out of school, a lengthy tenure in a wheelchair, and certain emotional quirks.
Once back on his feet, he quickly acquired a severe stutter which plagued him into his twenties and now and then still puts in a nostalgic appearance, usually to the amusement of telephone operators and shop clerks. Because he had learned prematurely that the world was dangerous, he was jumpy, restless, hugely garrulous in spite of his stutter, physically uncomfortable and, at least until he began writing horror three decades later, prone to nightmares. Books took him out of himself, so he read even more than earlier, a youthful habit immeasurably valuable to any writer. And his storytelling, for in spite of everything he was still a sociable child with a lot of friends, took a turn toward the dark and the garish, toward the ghoulish and the violent.
As if scripted, the rest of life followed. He discovered Thomas Wolfe and Jack Kerouac, patron saints of wounded and self-conscious adolescence, and also, blessedly, jazz music, which spoke of utterance beyond any constraint: The alto saxophone player Paul Desmond, speaking in the voice of a witty and inspired angel, epitomized ideal expressiveness, Our boy still had no idea why inspired speech spoke best when it spoke in code, the simultaneous terror and ecstasy of his ancient trauma, as well as its lifelong so far, anyhow legacy of anger, being so deeply embedded in the self as to be imperceptible, Did he behave badly, now and then?
Did he wish to shock, annoy, disturb, and provoke? Did he also wish to excel, to keep panic and uncertainty at arm's length by good old main force effort? So here we have a pure but unsteady case of denial happily able to maintain itself through merciless effort. Booted along by invisible fears and horrors, this fellow was rewarded by wonderful grades and a vague sense of a mysterious but transcendent wholeness available through expression.
He thought actual writing was probably beyond him even though actual writing was probably what he was best at. I own my rather battered copy of Ghost Story by Peter Straub. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. Please refer to my Goodreads. This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday. View all 4 comments. May 04, Marc-Antoine rated it it was amazing Shelves: One of those rare books that will always stay with you.
Superb storytelling, wish every story was as memorable. A Heartbreak Hipster Review I hate it when this happens. You have a wonderful writer. You have what is allegedly his "magnum opus". You have a decent movie-adaptation, which, although weighted down with several flaws, boasts a storyline that is both original and creepy. But it all became apparent, fairly quickly, that this "supposed" masterpiece - Stephen King has labelled it this - was really nothing m A Heartbreak Hipster Review I hate it when this happens.
But it all became apparent, fairly quickly, that this "supposed" masterpiece - Stephen King has labelled it this - was really nothing more than an over-the-top, overlong, and overrated mess. Peter Straub's success, and writing career, has been overall quite muted. He has written several books, but only 'Ghost Story' and 'Koko' seem to have found any considerable audience. However, this novel has enjoyed a long-standing place in what both critics and general readers deem the most important in modern horror fiction. It is totally fair to say that this novel paved the roads for his excellent follow-up, 'Koko' And so I'll not be immature and rude, but fair and informative, as to why I didn't like this as much as I should have.
Firstly - and this is something that plagued 'Koo' as well - Peter Straub has a very slow way of unravelling this story. Now please understand that I have complete respect for that; I really admire and appreciate those authors like King, and Blatty, and Crichton, that unlike less talented writers like Brown and Child who're all pace, and no buildup , are comfortable with setting the cards out leisurely, providing us instead with some surprisingly interesting and well-formed characters.
Straub is nothing short of genius in his ability to flesh out his characters, doing so to the point where they actually feel like real, genuine people. But I didn't like them as much as I think he wanted me to. Ricky Hawthorne is fine - nothing unlikeable about that man - but that basically sums him up, I think. He's simply "the normal guy" On that level I related to Ricky very deeply.
Sears James is a little better. But he still amounts to little more than the impatient and irritable leader of the pack. Lewis Benedict was easily the most interesting. But he was also a womaniser, fucking different women on and off every week. He also sleeps with his Ricky's wife occasionally. I also couldn't stand Stella Hawthorne. I really thought she was a fucking bitch, and she did not deserve the reader's affections just because she suddenly decides to stop messing around with other men, and turns full cunt-mode on her current toyboy.
But that had soul , man!!! This felt just as dead and cold as the dreary Milburn setting. Even when the story reaches its more suspenseful stages - scenes such as Peter and Jim sneaking into Eva Galli's house - the pace is just way too drawn-out, resulting in the simple trespassing of a house being stretched into three damned chapters!!!
But let's put the infuriating slowness aside. Let's talk about what ruins this book even more. Frankly, it's the fact that when all the longwinded buildups finally do pay off, they all do the equivalent of a mentally-unstable cashier throwing hundreds and hundreds of notes at you, crying "Take it!! Similar to Stephen Nutcase when he missteps, Straub astonished me by straying so far from the taut, realistic horrors of 'Koko', into this ludicrous concept of time-defying shapeshifters that are granted the ability to reincarnate more times than that annoying 'Just Be Good To Me' song.
Don't you even think about it, Douchebags The fact that this novel's monsters weren't even ghosts - like the title suggests - was irritating. The fact that they come across so nonsensical and unscarily is quite a bit more offensive. With the exception of a few creepy moments - Sears's recount of his time as a young teacher being the most noteworthy - I never felt even slightly unnerved by what was happening in this book. The one time I actually literally screamed out in pure fright, was when reading whilst sitting back in the bath, relaxing after a hard day's work, when suddenly, the pole for the shower-curtain fell from above me, splashing water all over the floor.
Otherwise, it wasn't scary at all, and so does not even come close to being "the greatest horror novel ever written". The man who said that was, after all, the man who said that his version of 'The Shining' was scarier than Stanley Kubrick's. For 'Slow Children' indeed Maybe 'The Exorcist' was the greatest horror novel ever written. But not 'Ghost Story', for God's sake. And before I round this off, there is still one more thing I want to mention.
I understand that these things were not ghosts.
But they still bore certain similarities. Please don't interrupt me again. If I were to consider these "things" as ghosts, then I can still give nothing but straight criticism for how unbelievable they were. Ghosts that are limited by their ethereal status; ghosts that perhaps are not even aware that they are dead, are just spurred on by an unexplainable need to see vengeance for whatever deed has thrown them into such a cold, confusing disarray. But these assholes know exactly what they are.
And they are so confident with their executions that they often choose to mock and tease their targets, even though they fail almost every time they do try to do something proper. Some people have said that this book carries similar traits to the likes of Stephen King. I couldn't agree with them more. But on the whole, 'Ghost Story' really isn't a terrible book.
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I had just been expecting so much more, and so for its failure, I have to be more unforgiving than usual. It could have been awesome. Funnily, most people still think it is. I just have to say that I am not one of them, and my liking for Peter Straub has, sadly, been diminished somewhat. I will be sending him an apology letter - and a month's worth of free gym membership - in the morning.
Unless you found me intolerably pompous, then check out my other reviews here: Un sentito omaggio ai classici racconti gotici dell'orrore ed una originale rivisitazione delle storie di fantasmi, vampiri e lupi mannari: Dopo un prologo agghiacciante il ritmo del racconto cala vertiginosamente e sembra che l'autore proceda a vista, aggiungendo troppa carne al fuoco senza sapere come co Un sentito omaggio ai classici racconti gotici dell'orrore ed una originale rivisitazione delle storie di fantasmi, vampiri e lupi mannari: Un gran bel racconto d'atmosfera che mi ha fatto venire voglia di vedere il film del che ha ispirato.
View all 7 comments. Dec 18, Kealan Burke rated it it was amazing. One of my all-time favorite horror novels, and the one that made me an immediate fan of Peter Straub's work. Jan 22, Werner rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: Any fan of supernatural horror. Recommended to Werner by: It was a group read in the Supernatural Fiction Readers group. If I'd known how good this book was when it came out in , I wouldn't have waited 30 years to read it! But some of the descriptions of the premise that I'd read were somewhat misleading as to what's really going on in the book and that comment applies to the above description as well , and its bestseller status prejudiced me against it.
It's true that sales tend to measure hype, not quality --but sometimes, as here, the hype is amply justified. In its premise and its depiction of supernatural entities, it's original, even groundbreaking; but it also stands within the great tradition in its solid, accessible literary craftsmanship and its fundamentally moral orientation --a consciousness of the difference between good and evil, and the basic nature of the difference. The malevolent supernatural entities here are not demons in the Biblical sense and the book makes little reference to the Christian tradition at all, though it isn't incompatible with it, IMO ; but like demons, their principal weapon is temptation and deceit, and the principal weapon against them is an ability --which not all people have the wisdom and moral strength to do-- to resist and see through that.
And, as in the dark science fiction of H. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos or in Arthur Machen's "The Great God Pan," a face-to-face encounter with the reality of these entities can drive naive people, whose rosy view of the world has never imagined the possibility of ultimate evil, into suicidal madness; but Straub doesn't succumb to the existential pessimism of Lovecraft and Machen. The pacing here is excellent, Straub's prose is perfectly adapted to his subject matter, and his characterizations are superb.
Three of the important characters are elderly men and another is the wife of one of these; but Don Wanderley, who is arguably the main character, is a younger man, another major character is a teen, and a wide range of ages and social classes are represented in the well-drawn cast.
Straub brings his small-town upstate New York setting --especially the suffocating, claustrophobic cold of the area's winter blizzards--to such vivid life that I thought he might be a New York native actually he hails from Wisconsin. My only real criticism is that the prologue is off-putting at first, and its connection to the body of the story not immediately apparent. But the reader begins to see and understand the connection as the story unfolds, and then the prologue contributes to the novel's suspense, which absolutely crackles toward the end! I read mostly while exercising on a stationary bike, and time my sessions with an oven timer; but for much of the book, it was all I could do to quit when the timer sounded --and if my self-control, as measured on one personality test I took in a grad school class, didn't literally go off the chart, I probably couldn't have!
Another caveat is that the book practically cries out for a sequel not to provide any spoilers: There is some bad language here, including three f-words in pages and a certain amount of non-explicit illicit sex goes on; but the two characters who use the worst language are people no sane reader would feel any remote temptation to imitate in any respect, and Straub doesn't portray sexual sin as attractive --actually, more the reverse.
Readers who don't want scary reads or are bothered by a lot of violence should be warned, though, that the fear quotient here is quite high, and so is the body count; and a good deal of the violence, in itself, is grisly, though to his credit Straub's descriptions are usually restrained rather than graphic, and don't stress the gore.
Now this was an excellent book. It probably falls in the 4. It's close, I'll say that. But as good as this book is, it never really grabbed me the way I need to be for a book to get the coveted 5th star. That's no fault of the book, and it's one I could even see getting the bump to 5 in the future on a re-read. It's slowly paced, yet not painfully slow.
It's really not slow at all, but feels like it is because it takes a smooth journey.
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It does cover a lot of time, tyin Now this was an excellent book. It does cover a lot of time, tying the past with the present. It certainly does not feel like a book with inflated word count just for the sake of word count. Ghost Story is layered nicely. Several threads are wound together.
It wasn't scary to me so much, but it was definitely freaky and disturbing. My previous experience with Straub is pretty limited, having read The Talisman and Black House , both co-written with Stephen King, as well as a reading of Floating Dragon in my teen years. The first two I've read fairly recently, but I don't remember the other very well at all. But in this limited experience, I can say that I was reminded of Black House , which is one of my favorite novels. Straub has a storytelling talent for bringing evil to life and making it seem rather dark and, well, evil. The plot structure reminds me of two other Stephen King novels a little bit: