Customer Reviews

The Abyss

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I picked this book up solely because of the endorsement by Stephen King on the cover ("I loved this book. The Abyss is very close to being great.") By the time I had finished, I wished I had ignored Mr. King. I found the book not enjoyable in the least.

The story's premise is interesting enough, if not exactly original. A group of coal miners deep under the Tennessee ground in one of the country's deepest mines begins to experience strange phenomena. As they dig deeper, they uncover artifacts that seem to have no business so far underground: strange looking thorns, odd rock formations. Some of the men notice a smell of sulfur; others see things moving in the shadows from the corners of their eyes.

On the surface, the town of Bethel begins to undergo weird changes as well. Red liquid that looks and smells suspiciously like blood flows from the city faucets. Animals begin acting strange, even hostile. Things start to fall apart for no apparent reason and decay more rapidly than they should. And people start to change too, in subtle ways at first, but then more and more blatantly.

When a hermitlike old woman who has lived in Bethel longer than most recalls that similar things happened a long time ago when the mine was new, a small band of citizens wonders what foreign forces are affecting their lives. And by the time the horrifying answer becomes unquestionably clear, it's too late to do anything but run.

The biggest problem with the book is the over-the-top writing. Mr. Cunningham tries to hard to construct sentences in as poetic a form as possible, resulting in a mishmash of flowery prose that describes too much and says too little. Characters present another problem, as not one is likeable. The protagonists drink to excess, are promiscuous, curse, and constantly demean each other--and this is before the mine's evil influence begins to have its way with the town. The town itself, with its shambling buildings and depressed residents, presents a dreary picture of what hell might actually be like long before the more stereotypical fiery variety is unleashed from the deep pit outside of town.

Loose threads and meaningless subplots abound, and many scenes are confusing. The author strove so much for descriptive writing that he at times seems to have forgotten to tell the reader what's going on. The story has no apparent climax, and the ending, while not exactly predictable, is far from satisfying.

The depictions of hopeless sexual promiscuity and vulgar language alone are enough to render this book unreadable. When these are combined with poor writing and an underdeveloped story, the book becomes first tiresome and eventually dreary. While some might argue that the depression I underwent while reading parts of this book constitute an authorial triumph, I found the entire reading experience to be unremarkable at best and downright wearying most of the time. Stephen King's opinion notwithstanding, I would not recommend this book to anyone.

Don't make the same mistake that I did and read this book at night. I have read many, many horror novels and this may be the scariest one ever. Years later, I still get chills when I think about some of the scenes in this book!

Few books are as haunting as this one. A chilling foray into the what if genre that never lets go. The slight shallowness of the characters leads the reader to care greatly for them and to feel their pain, their sadness, their terror. If you wish to read one of the darkest portrayals of Armageddon (and perhaps the quickest) I suggest seeking this book out. Hopefully it's out of print status will change.

This book could have been a good horror story. The story line was good actually. But by the time I got thru all the vulgarness and [...],I was totally disgusted. I am not a prude by any means,but when I finished this book I threw it in the trash. And then ending was a huge letdown as well.It leave you thinking "What the heck is that all about?" Sorry I couldn't give it less than 1 star.

This book is appauling. I love horror books but this one is written in such an amateurish way that I am sure that Mr Cunningham must return either to his previous job as an art expert or take up a new proffession as an extra on the next Flintstones movie. Truly a waste of time.