Customer Reviews

THE MAN IN THE PICTURE - a Ghost Story

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Susan Hill's latest novella recalls the famous Edwardian ghost stories of M. R. James and the Benson brothers as much as her famous previous short novel THE WOMAN IN BLACK recalled the Victorian ghost stories of Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Henry James and John Meade Falkner. We have here many of the more familiar tropes of M. R. James's ghost stories--tales within tales, multiple narrators, bachelor antiquarians in rooms at Oxbridge, and a woman possessed by a burning revenge--and in terms of atmosphere Hill is pretty faultless. But the novella leaves too much unclear in its telling. Although you want a certain amount of mystery preserved at the end of a ghost story, there's just too much muddled at the end of this to really get the effects Hill strives for--so while most of the story is quite a page turner, the final narrative section leaves you a bit unsatisfied.

This is a well-written (until the end) little trifle, but that's all it is. I like the style, but it isn't nearly as scary as the jacket would have you believe. In fact, I read it in a thunderstorm last night -- yes, it's a very quick read -- and, upon finishing it, went down to my dark, stone basement to do the laundry. I agree with the other reviewers: It plays like that old TV episode with Roddy MacDowell and the changing picture (Was that on Dark Shadows?), but the TV version was far scarier. Still, a quick, fun read.

What a great little book. Not at all "frightening" the way the jacket misleads, but it's a little creepy - in the way a Twilight Zone show would be. Original !

I enjoyed this novella, but I really wish that the idea had been expanded upon... it just seemed like there could have been so much more to this story. It did seem like a very classic type of ghost story - the sort to be further condensed and shared at sleepovers and camp fires. All in all, it was intriguing and enjoyable. I would definitely read something else by this author. Her writing really had a sort of timeless quality to it and the premise was interesting.

"I brought all of the new pictures with me. I was in my London rooms too infrequently to leave anything of much value or interest there. I placed the rest with ease but wherever I put the Venetian picture it looked wrong. I have never had such trouble hanging a painting. And about one thing I was adamant. I did not want it in the room where I slept. I did not even take it into the bedroom...in the end I left the painting propped up there, against the bookcase. And I could not stop looking at it. Every time I came back into these rooms, it drew me. I spent more time looking at it - no, into it - than I did with pictures of far greater beauty and merit. I seemed to need it, to spend far too much time looking into every corner, every single face." p. 20)

The painting in question is one of a Venetian carnival scene with gondolas bobbing in the oil-dark water, a lit up palazzi and a crowd of costumed revelers in black capes, tri-corn hats and those creepy, long beaked masks. Anyone who gazes at it for a length of time seems to come under its malevolent power. People appear and disappear on the canvas and bad things happen in real life to those under its spell. Or is it the other way around?

I wanted to love this book. And there were many things I liked about it. It was short enough to read in an evening. The small size was perfect for slipping into a purse. The cover image, a detail from an Alessandro Longhi painting, appealed to the artist in me. It had the right settings; a professor's apartment at Cambridge, a widowed Countess's lavish estate, a London auction house and, of course, Venice. It had the right characters. But it also had a couple of plot holes and some loose threads that were never tied up in a satisfactory way.

The first person narrative from each of the characters is effective, except that the most interesting characters are the ones you spend the least time with. And, oddly, though their stories are compelling, you have little sympathy for them. The Countess marries another woman's fiancee and seems bewildered at the resulting vitriol directed toward her. The professor bequeaths a painting oozing with bad karma to a good friend. A honeymooning couple becomes separated and can't find their way back to each other though they are both alive, in the same city and assisted by the police in their searches. A young woman falls over the brink of insanity (to the point where her family hires a priest to exorcise her), yet continues to attend and interact at various social functions.

Despite the dark hallways, cabinets filled with creepy curiosities, and multiple descriptions of terrified expressions on the faces of several characters, the story just wasn't scary. Oh well, the subtitle said "A Ghost Story". I guess I was hoping for more.

Or maybe it's that, after recently rereading Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask of Amontillado and the depiction of the sociopathic Montresor walling up Fortunado, brick by brick, row by row is so chilling little else comes close. Unfair comparison, I know. But what scares me about Poe is the detachment with which his narrators commit their acts - I'm thinking not only about Amontillado, but the Tell-Tale Heart. They are so rational in their explanations, so lacking in empathy.

And that is truly terrifying.

The Man in the Picture is a small book. As in, it's only 142 pages, and its trim size is smaller than most. It's really more of a short story than a novella. As such, it only took me about an hour to finish.

The story revolves around an 18th century painting, of a scene at Carnevale in Venice, and the deep, dark secrets hidden within. The Man in the Picture has four narrators. One is Oliver, a medieval scholar. The second is his old professor at Cambridge, Dr. Parmitter. The third is the Countess, and the fourth is Oliver's fiancé, Anne. This is a tale of revenge and obsession, and it works to a certain extent. However, the story is so short that there's very little room for character development. The story and the method of telling the story aren't very original--Hill has used it several times in her ghost stories (The Woman in Black: A Ghost Storycomes to mind). And you could see the ending coming from a mile away. Still, I enjoyed the premise of this little ghost story, and I definitely recommend reading it on a cold autumn day.

The Man in the Picture reminds me of other English ghost stories by Charles Dickens, M. R. James and L. P. Hartley, for example. The story revolves around a painting of a Venetian carnival scene from the 18th century. The painting has a strange power over those who own it - it possesses them. The story of the painting is related by an elder Cambridge professor Theo Parmitter to one of his former students named Oliver. Gradually, a story of betrayal and revenge unfolds to which Oliver is a simple witness, or is he.

Susan Hill writes very well but I found the story did not build in suspense and lacked the creepiness of a good story of M.R. James. The central figure behind the "curse" of the painting did not quite come to life for me. I did enjoy how the story unfolded with Dr. Parmitter, in his very comfortable rooms at Cambridge, relating his experiences with the painting. The overall story reminded me of something that might have been written for the "Night Gallery" television series that Rod Serling hosted. It is well written but the story is somewhat predictable and lacking in surprise.

The classic horror story images are here. Educated aristocratic narrators, a castle, a cold and boring dinner with an elderly heir along with the elements of aristocratic life: servants, Cambridge University, art appreciation and travel to Italy.

I generally feel that a lot of contemporary fiction would improve through a tighter text. It's unusual for me to say this, but here is one of the few works that could improve with a more expansive text.

The author has a good plot, but we really don't know the characters. They feel dread, fear and emotionally cringe at malevolent eyes, but the text doesn't have the reader feel what they feel. To empathize with the characters, you have to know them better. To do this the reader needs more introduction, more description... more text.

A re-write with more character development would certainly improve the plot.

It's not always easy to write a convincing ghost story in this day and age, when science is so adept at explaining much of what appears to be paranormal. But Susan Hill is one modern writer who can tell a very spooky tale and make you feel pleasantly enthralled. Her novel The Woman in Black was not only a successful book but has had phenomenal success as a play in London. The Man in the Picture is another successful attempt by Susan Hill to bring a shudder and a ghostly chill to her readers.

The story involves an old painting that depicts a rowdy, slightly sinister carnival along the Grand Canal in Venice. Nothing odd about that, except the picture seems capable of subtly changing each time it is viewed, with new characters seemingly trapped and terrified within it. There seems to be no explanation; or if there is, it is a horrible and malevolent one, involving a spurned lover and her century's old curse.

The Man in the Picture is a quick read, but the story lingers afterwards. Read it on a dark night with the wind rattling the windows!

I have always enjoyed Susan Hill's ghost stories. She never strikes me as having a strong voice of her own as a writer, but she is superb at emulating others. In the case of her ghost/horror stories, she puts the reader firmly down in the tradition of the Victorian and Edwardian tales, and with a firm nod to the works of the likes of M.R. James. The university lecturer, the cosy fire in his lodgings, a glass of whisky, the terrible tale of a haunting that has blighted his life. All the cliches are there, and they are part of why I read these books. The Man in the Picture is more of a long short story. I got through it in a couple of lunch break reading sessions. While it doesn't have the resonance of The Woman in Black and is a much slighter tale, I was entertained and I will certainly look forward to any more such stories that Susan Hill may write. A collection of ghost stories would be good...