Customer Reviews

The Ghost Writer

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(50)
3 star:		(27)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I bought "The Ghost Writer" after reading several glowing reviews in my local newspaper and online. I'm a sucker for gothic ghostie stories, and was hoping this would be worth the hardcover price.

AND IT WAS...almost. Actually, I've never had this kind of reaction to a book before. This is my first Amazon review, and I'm writing it because this book elicited enough of a passionate, if completely confused, reaction in me. So maybe that does make it worth the price.

From the first few pages, I absolutely could not put this book down. I abandoned chores, evening television and my signifcant other in pursuit of discovering the next plot revelation and how everything would tie together. Others have relayed the details of the plot, so I won't go into them here. But I found all the characters to be completely attention-worthy; at least in within the gothic genre (okay, this isn't "Atonement" or "Madame Bovary"). The "stories within the story", that is, the ghost stories written by Gerard's grandmother, Viola, are also quite wonderful. They are able to stand alone as compelling and enchanting short gothic stories.

I was turning pages as fast as I could.

And then I got to the last chapter. I read it once. Then twice. Then I went back and read the two previous chapters. I didn't get it. Sometimes, when you have been lucky enough to find a real page turner, you may be reading a little too fast and miss important stuff. That's what I assumed happened to me. I put the book down and went back to it the next day, rereading the last quarter. I was still baffled. I reread the last quarter again. What happened? What did those last few mumbled remarks by The Character In The Last Chapter mean? Did they indicate insanity? Were they revelations? If so, how were The Character In The Last Chapter's actions carried out in the past? How did The Character In The Last Chapter obtain The Important Item In The Attic? (List of more detailed, plot-revealing questions continues offline) So... I did some online research and discovered others had this same reaction. I felt a little better...sort of.

I would LOVE to go into more detail, but that would force me to basically make this review a whole bunch of evil SPOILERS. And that's just not fair. Let me just say that the ending leaves much to be desired (unless I've just suddenly suffered serious brain dysfunction and can no longer analyze plot like I used to). BUT...I suspect this would be a FANTASTIC book club book. Everybody would have their own theories, and there would be a lot of arguing and screaming and wailing, and isn't that what a good book club is all about?

This is an astounding book. It is multi-layered and moody. It is terrific fun.

The story is about a young man named Gerard, born in Australia to a very strange mother who tells the young boy stories of her childhood. When Gerard discovers a strange photo of a beautiful woman hidden in her drawer, his mother becomes horrified, and stops her stories, and the boy is left to wonder about her past and why she is so reluctant to share it with him.

This novel is full of intrique and deception, and we are told some truly frightening ghost stories written by his great-grandmother, Viola.

Okay, here is the thing....when I first read this book, I was confused as to the ending, like so many reviewers here. So I read it again, and I figured it out. This story does makes sense, the author doesn't cheat, and there are answers to most of the big questions. It is a brilliant story filled with twists and full of irony and chilling retribution.

Each ghost story has a relevance to the book, and the overall tone and use of layering and deception is stunning. This book will stay with you for a long time.

This is my favorite book this year, and I am going to recommend it to everyone. Read it carefully, and if you are still confused, read it again. I promise you it will be worth it, and you will agree with me that this is a brilliant, complex novel deserving of a big audience.

In his debut novel, John Harwood creates an eerily psychological horror story with a nod (and a wave) to Victorian literature. As the novel begins in Australia, young Gerard discovers hidden away in his mother's possessions a strange photograph and a book. His mother swoops down on him with fury, snatching the belongings from him and hiding them away where Gerard cannot find them, refusing to tell him of her past. Soon thereafter, he begins a secret correspondence with a crippled English girl named Alice, and her letters rescue him emotionally from the bleak surroundings in his Australian home. As he matures, he falls in love with Alice, who won't let him see her for fear he'll feel sorry for her. As he learns that the book his mother has hidden away contained a ghost story written by his grandmother Viola, which Harwood presents in full, Gerard confides even more deeply in Alice. Viola's lengthy - and thoroughly creepy - stories seem like separate entities until Gerard discovers some disturbing connections. Upon his mother's death, he sets out to England to finally meet up with his almost-healed Alice and to settle family matters. What he doesn't count on, however, is that nothing, not even his own senses, can be trusted. Even if the reader solves much of the mystery before it is revealed, the ending has all the force it should, thanks to Harwood's highly visual description and talent with suspense.

Harwood does a marvelous job of embedding the mannered ghost stories within Gerard's story, and the stories-within-a-story works exceptionally well in his hands. The tales are so throat-grabbing by themselves that I forgot at times that they were but segments of the whole. The effect is truly eerie as details from them begin to surface in Gerard's plot. Because the author's debt to Henry James' THE TURN OF THE SCREW is obvious well before he makes reference to it, I wished he had just let the style and the allusions to speak for themselves instead of pointing them out. His acknowledgment of Dickens' GREAT EXPECTATIONS is even less successful. I overlooked these lapses simply because I could not willingly put this novel aside.

This is not Stephen King-type horror but something more elegant and literary. This moody, stylish debut will capture your imagination for hours at a time. Especially if you like creepiness, you'll love this tale of multiple hauntings and mystery.

"The Ghost Writer" by John Harwood is a return to the old fashioned supernatural stories of the romantic period. The plot is complex - but essentially deals on two parallel planes: the secret past of the main character's mother, and the relationship between the main character and a penpal that he falls in love with. More detailed information on the plot is available above and I will not rehash it here. This book is spellbinding as the main character ends up looking for clues into his family history in the old family house in England that has sat closed up for 50 years. A main element in the plot are a series of ghost stories written by his grandmother around the turn of the century. Several of the stories are included in the novel and hold clues to the past the main character seeks. These stories are well written and have a good period feel to them. They stand on their own outside the novel. The writing in this novel is superb - and creepy. I ended up reading this novel in one sitting because I could simply no put it down. The only complaint is that the ending is a little abstract. Read the last chapter very carefully - especially the last few pages - if you want to figure out what happened. If you want my take on what happened I will put it here - If you dont want to know STOP READING HERE. SPOILER: Here is my take on the ending (which may be wrong - but it is my opinion!). The woman in the room is Anne, Abigail and Alice all in one person. She wanted revenge on Filly so she started writing the letters to Gerald to manipulate him into never finding true love. since hers was stolen from her. When she says - "I saw no light and thought I was safe" she is referring to the floroscope. Because it would only come on when Filly's light was on, she would know when it was safe to sleep in her own bed and not get contaminated with the x-rays. But the light bulb in Filly's lamp was broken so when she saw the dark under the door she assumed the lamp was off - and it was safe for her to sleep. During the night she was exposed to the x-rays and, along with the subsequent medical treatments that she refers to - become the lovely lady she is at the end of the novel. I assume that she runs into the fire and dies at the end of the novel.

THE GHOST WRITER is probably one of the creepiest, most thought-provoking books I've ever read. The story centers around Gerard Freeman, an Australian librarian who lives with his mother -- a clingy, obsessive woman afraid above all that Gerard will leave her. His only real friend is a pen-friend, Alice Jessell, an English woman with an injury which confines her to a wheelchair. Though the two have never met, they have been corresponding since they were 13 and eventually fall in love.

Gerard is intensely curious about his mother's past in England at a country manor called Staplefield, where she lived with her grandmother Viola, who raised her. Gerard finds a photo of a strange woman and a Victorian ghost story written by V.H., who turns out to be Viola.

Gerard eventually makes his way to England, where he begins to unravel his mother's past, meanwhile discovering more ghost stories written by his great-grandmother which oddly seem to intertwine with the lives of her descedants.

John Harwood does a masterful job creating suspense in the manner of Henry James' THE TURN OF THE SCREW, to which he alludes in the name of Gerard's penfriend -- "Where, my pet, is Miss Jessel?" Viola's Victorian ghost stories are interwoven with the plot in a rather impressive plot construction; it would have been all too easy in the hands of a less-gifted writer, for the plot to go astray when the ghost stories "interrupt" the action of the novel. As it is, they hardly seem like interruptions, and indeed, they are so good that they might stand on their own. "The Gift of Flight" was terrifying and reminded me a Twilight Zone episode I once saw called "The Living Doll." You've probably seen it... "My name is Talky Tina... and I'm going to kill you." *Shivers*

This isn't Stephen King. This is much, much better. If you liked the Victorian creepiness of THE TURN OF THE SCREW, GREAT EXPECTATIONS (also alluded to in THE GHOST WRITER), or even A.S. Byatt's POSSESSION, which was both very different and very similar in subject matter (which I know makes no sense), then you'll enjoy this book. Gerard's mother's home in England reminded me of the house in THE OTHERS. Once you pick this book up, you may find it hard to put down. The ending is a bit confusing. I had to read it twice, and I still think what I think happened is very much open to interpretation. Then again, the best scary stories are like that.

It was hard to decide on a star rating for this book. I read almost all of it in one day, engrossed by, enchanted with, and envious of Harwood's talent. *This*, I marveled, is his debut novel? And so I eschewed all the day's tasks in favor of sitting on the deck and reading, reading, reading. And then, with about eight pages left to go, it all went south. When I read the last sentence, I actually turned the page, hoping for something more, not because I was sorry to see the story end (I'm often sad to say goodbye to characters), but because I thought there must be, on those blank end pages, the "real" ending. But no, there was nothing. And I stood up, set the book down and said, "What the hell just happened?!" So much of it is so good that I want to give it five stars, but the ending seemed so tacked-on -- or maybe just silly -- that I was tempted to knock my rating down to three. Instead, I split the difference. But now I'm torn, torn between telling people to read it so they can explain to me what I might have missed or telling them not to read it, because the ending is so unsatisfying. I feel a bit gypped.

So like everyone else, I picked up this book because I enjoy a good victorian ghost story. And on that front this book surely didn't disappoint. I found myself on a 90 degree day sitting on my front porch with goosebumps, a response that books rarely elicit from me. Later that night when reading the descriptions of the ancient house with decaying curtins and threadbare carpets, the dark corners in my bedroom seemed much more menacing, and the whole world around me took on the feeling of decay.

So I ended up reading until much later than I should have and paid for it the next morning by being totally brain-dead at work.

When I got home I rushed to read the last chapter to see how it all ended...

To say I was somewhat disappointed would not be an overstatement, and the ending definitely confused me. It almost seems as if there was another chapter left off of the end where all the questions are answered and the plot lines are properly wrapped up. But all we readers are left with are 4 blank pages in the very back.

What happens to our main character? What does he do now? How does he live after surviving such an experience? What about all of those other loose ends and unanswered questions?

If you love a good ghost story and you thrill to the feeling of the hairs on your neck standing on end, then go for it. But don't expect all of your questions to be answered, and don't expect a 'normal' story book ending where everything is resoved and we all go home with our questions answered.

I still recommend the book on the great story that occupies 98% of it's pages. It's that last 2% that we don't get at the end that keeps this book from being a truly great volume. If you're sure that the last 2% of confusion won't taint the memory of the first 98%, then you won't be disappointed.

If only I had looked at his picture, I would have realized this was a real GHOST STORY! John Harwood's photo has that eerie quality given to the ghost genre. John Harwood is the author of
"The Ghost Story". A book like no other.

Gerard Freeman grows up in a small town in Australia. He and his parents live an almost silent life. No television, radio only in rare instances, books, yes. Father and mother have separate bedrooms, are very polite to each other but nothing of love, passion is shown. Phyllis Freeman protects her son, Gerard from everything it seems. He must be home right after school, she worries incessantly about him. The only reprieve in this desolate life are the stories told by Phyllis of her life in the English countryside, Staplefield and of her grandmother, Viola. But these stories stop once Gerard has the audacity to look in his mother's locked cupboard and finds a photograph. His mother finds him with this photo and beats him. Gerard implores his mother to continue telling stories of England but she refuses.

Gerard has a lonely life at school and only the sudden appearance of a letter addressed to him brightens his life. He is introduced to Alice, a lonely disabled young woman from England who is looking for a pen pal. They write letters to each other for years and fall in love; Alice will not allow Gerard to see her, ever, until she can walk again. Writing to Alice is against Gerard's mother's wishes, but he continues he must- he cannot stop.

At a time after his father?s death Gerard has saved enough money to visit England, again against his mother's wishes. He wants to see Alice but alas he cannot find her and returns home from London broken man. He continues he college life, working in the library.

And, then his mother dies and while cleaning to sell the house he finds a journal that his hidden and reveals a story that intrigues him, It must be about Staplefiield and his mother and her family. He places an ad in the London Times and asks for any information about Phyllis Freeman and her sister, Alice. He is rewarded. Mrs. Hamish responds with a story of the family and Gerard once more is off to England.

This is a novel of many stories; the maze of one family running into another is frustrating. The tales are well told, however, enough to keep your interest. What is really happening? Who are all of these people? How did this come to be? We must ask the author, John Harwood. An eerily spellbinding book that I picked up because of a recommendation. Well worth the read! The ending is better than a Hitchcock, oh, yes, the ending is so much better... prisrob

Comparisons between this novel and AS Byatt's Posession are inevitable, so let's get that out of the way. Byatt's past and present storylines are equally compelling, but her replications of period poetry are yawn-inducing; Harwood's replications of period ghost stories, combined with the narrator's mysterious family history, are the reason to read this novel. The present-day narrator (Gerard) is little more than a plot device to excavate the stories and his family's past, and his dull personality and poorly-handled storyline almost made me put the book down. But then I hit the first ghost story and couldn't stop reading. My recommendation is to think of the various layers of this novel like a chocolate cake with a thin raspberry filling; the raspberry filling is the present-day story, included just to hold together and emphasize the flavor of the rich, thick, dark layers of history.

The ghost stories embedded in the book are truly creepy for three reasons. First, the supernatural occurences in them are framed in such a way that you can never be sure if they're hallucinations or dreams of the characters. Second, as you accumulate several of the tales over the course of the book, you see where the similarities are between them, which starts to illuminate Gerard's family's past. Finally, many of the stories take place in locations similar to ones Gerard passes through, making it seem the writer has been watching him from her life a hundred years before. All of these elements build on each other until the suspense of the final hundred pages, which is wickedly intense.

Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed with the ending. Without giving anything away, I can tell you that while some elements of it were surprising, in the ghost story tradition it wasn't all that original. More importantly, it's wackily implausible. It's enjoyable enough while you're reading it, but don't try to apply any kind of realistic logic to figuring it out (even though the story seems to want that) or you'll end up frustrated.

With its Anglo pretensions, and its homage to the novels of Henry James and Charles Dickens, The Ghost Writer is perhaps one of the most imaginitive and intricate mysteries of the year. Part ghost story and part coming-of-age novel, Tasmanian author John Harwood embeds his first novel with stories of nineteenth century gothic horror, while at the same time, setting the narrative in the later half of the twentieth century. The result is a self-reflective, totally absorbing, and unadulteratingly ghostly Victorian melodrama where the action is given a zappy, modern, and contemporary spin.

Harwood introduces the reader to a world of mysterious, trance-like paintings - the ghost shapes of vanished pictures that almost speak to the viewer. Deserted, overgrown, and rambling English estates also appear throughout, where floorboards pop and crackle, and where drawing rooms suffer in ghostly near-darkness. Deathly apparitions lurk in dark corners of libraries, and thick mist is constantly shrouding the characters. From early on in the novel, the reader is well advised not to take anything at face value, because nothing is as it seems in this ghostly world of gothic mystery and suspense.

The narrative centers on the young, bookish Gerard Freeman, who is growing up in Mawson, a fictional town in South Australia. He lives in a suburban house with Phyllis, his secretive, neurotic British-born mother and his detached father who seeks solace from his dysfunctional marriage in a toy train set. Imaginative and impressionable from an early age, the young Gerard stumbles across a photograph of an astonishingly beautiful woman in the dress of a former time, and later, an eerie short story in the form of a manuscript.

Phyllis has a violent response to his first discovery, and Gerard senses that she's hiding something about her mysterious past, a past that involved a grand English country estate called Staplefield, where Phyllis lived with his great grandmother Viola Hatherley. Gerard's imagination begins to work overtime and Staplefield becomes suffused with depths and subtleties of colour unknown in Mawson. His mother's unexplained stories leave him with an acute visual sense of the place and he senses that herein lies a clue to her unsolved past. Meanwhile, when Gerard is thirteen and a half, he begins a pen-friendship with an English girl named Alice Jessel. Despite his mother's wishes to the contrary, Gerard corresponds constantly with the strangely elusive Alice. Finally, Alice confides to Gerald that she was crippled in an accident several years ago.

As he grows older, Gerard begins to become obsessed with wanting to be with the paraplegic Alice and decides he must travel to England to meet her. Alice demurs at this, saying she does not wish him to see her as a cripple, but Gerard disregards Alice's wishes and fanatically saves his money for the trip. But in London, he is unable to meet her and she becomes strangely unavailable, neglecting to answer his letters or e-mails.

Harwood's poetic love of language shows in this engagingly beautiful and puzzle-like novel. And his clean, mellifluous style no doubt reflects the depth and gorgeousness of Victorian literature. An integral part of the novel is the hidden treasure of short stories written by Viola that Gerard discovers throughout the narrative. As the suspense builds, Gerald must become a type of literary detective as he uncovers the threads of a terrible incident involving a long-ago love triangle, a calculatingly horrific murder, and some hidden antique radiation instruments. Mike Leonard November 04.