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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A creepy love story to give you goosebumps.,
By
This review is from: The little girl who lives down the lane (Hardcover)
Although the film adaptation is fine (Jodie Foster was perfect for the part) it does not come close to the haunting power of this chilling novel. Thirteen year old Rynn lives at the end of the lane with her recluse father, or does she? Mrs. Hallet, her landlord, is getting suspicious of Rynn and her lifestyle just as her child molesting son (who is far older and creepier in the novel than in the film) is begins harrassing the little girl as well. Complicating matters further is Rynn's growing attraction to the equally curious Sheriff's son Mario.Laird Koenig masterfully weaves these plot threads togehter into an icy spider web that Rynn may or may not get herself free of. Watching it all come together (and apart) creates one of the truly great cult classic novels of the seventies. Required reading for psychological thriller fans and those with a taste for gothic imagery. Highly recommended.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
13 year old Rynn vies to survive on her own...can/does she?,
By
This review is from: The little girl who lives down the lane (Hardcover)
Yes, Jodie Foster starred in the 1976 movie. But the book by Laird Koenig is really worth a look.
Rynn, 13-year-old daughter of an english poet, is instructed by her departing father to SURVIVE. That shouldn't be hard on a civilized New England island very like Nantucket, especially if you have a three-year lease paid in full and a semi-inexhaustable supply of cash in a safe deposit box...should it?
Frank Hallet, a filthy rich blue-blooded pedophile doesn't help Rynn's chances. Neither do a couple of bodies under a trap door in the parlor.
But believe me, you will cheer for the witty Rynn as you turn each page of this efficiently crafted little page-turner.
The writing is spot-on, and the ending is so wonderfully surprising and subtle as to invoke thoughts of Henry James and The Turn of the Screw.
Read it by the fire, in one sitting, preferably on a rainy October evening. I bought my copy (a fine, well-preserved, pretty little black hardback) for 25 cents at a book sale. Even if Amazon can't match that deal, the book is pure enjoyment.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Chilling and Effective,
By
This review is from: The little girl who lives down the lane (Hardcover)
Koenig's novel, written in the mid 70's, still manages to create a menacing atmosphere with its omninous beginning: "She stood at the window on this last night of October and looked out on the world shivering on the edge of winter." I sat down to read this book after having read it years earlier and found myself drawn in by this quiet but frightening story. Koenig's storytelling capacity propels the novel forward, introducing the female protagonist who gives herself a birthday party, coincidentally on Halloween. As the rest of the novel unfolds, it is easy to find oneself sympathetic to the adolescent, Rynn Jacobs, who must fend off xenophobic villagers who threaten her carefully assumed solitude. Koenig's narrative style is easy to read but also remains with one after the book closes largely because the descriptions are precise enough that one is not overwhelmed by them but instead, drawn in by the simple language which is a convenient disguise for a clever, albeit horrific story. I plan to re-read this book again, perhaps on Halloween, or in the midwinter, after reading Christie's novella, "Three Blind Mice", and the first few chapters of PD James' Shroud for a Nightingale. Instructors who teach writing might find the first few chapters of this novel helpful (as an example) for setting "the scene".
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