Customer Reviews

Some of Your Blood

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

 

 

The book is written in fragments, semi-epistolary. I struggled through the first third because it was a narrative written by a semi-literate man. (the grammar was atrocious)

I'm glad I did. Since I've started writing, I've scared myself with what my mind was able to conceive, but only on rare occasions. Horror fiction doesn't scare me as it did when I was a child--it doesn't make me look around and put the book down and hope everything is going to be okay.

I felt that way again in a couple of places while reading Some of Your Blood. Without setting off too many spoilers, let me just say the end of the book struck me like no other since I Am Legend (the novella of course--not that joke of a movie); it was just that good.

Some of Your Blood isn't for the casual horror fan. I understand why it isn't more widely read. The Freudian psychology used throughout is a bit dated. I'm not even sure some would consider it horror in the popular sense of the term. But if you like to think--if you like a book that makes you go back and reread some passages because of their sheer power, go for it. Be patient. This one avoids cheep scares for deeper, longer lasting discomfort. I promise that you'll think about it after you're done reading.

Meet George. George is a fellow from about as far back into the woods as you can get, and boy is he a monster. His story probably won't take you much more than an evening to get through, but it'll be a damn creepy evening.

The novel is based primarily around the conversations between doctors and other officials concerning George's condition, followed by a short autobiography on the man. We learn more and more of George's issues as the conversations progress, and it's capped with a resolution that's much like a punch to the gut. It's unsettling stuff, but I'm not going to spoil a thing.

From what I've gathered, Sturgeon was much more prevalent in the science fiction field than he was in psychological horror. Some of his classic offerings, such as the labyrinthine "More Than Human" remained in print while "Some of Your Blood" tumbled into general obscurity. I find that almost criminal, but what can you do. Millipede Press released a hideously over-priced version of this tiny novel awhile back, but you'll more than likely have to special-order it from the bookstore nonetheless.

Not only is "Some of Your Blood" as chilly as a meatlocker, it's also an effective and thought-provoking character study that's bound to linger with the reader for a good deal of time. Read it and weep.

The take on vampirism was indeed unique, one of the best I have read, but that wasn't what struck me most about the "story." This was as far from traditional storytelling as one can get, and would probably have lesser experienced literary critics up in arms. There is only one traditional scene to speak of and that doesn't appear until the very end of the book, which is only 143 pages in total. Dialog is practically non-existent for the exception of two interviews between patient and psychologist, and the remaining narrative is completely exposition. As far as character arc goes, well, don't look for growth here. The monster is created and subsequently remains a monster.

There are a lot of different telling techniques used here to great effect. The book begins with a series of letters back and forth between a couple of Army psychologists who have initially conflicting views on a patient by the name of George Smith. Smith was thrown into lock-up for punching an officer who had become alarmed by a letter Smith had attempted to send home to his girlfriend. The book then flows into a third person narrative of George's life, written by George as instructed in the course of this therapy. The corn-pone dialect was bothersome to read but appropriate. Everything seems pretty standard fare for an abused backwoods undereducated -- possibly mentally retarded -- child. But ... nothing should be taken at face value here. Intuition plays a huge role in this story. The intuition of one psychologist who wouldn't give up digging until George's pathology, in all it's horror, is finally laid bare. We don't even know what the letter to his girlfriend said until the very end of the book. Every move each character makes is based on gut instinct. Everyone is speaking in code, hiding and yet revealing their intent at the same time. This is what gives the book its brilliance, not the gripping action, of which there is almost none, but the characterization. The style is very reminiscent of Stoker's Dracula, and George Smith was nothing less than Frankenstein.

Put all your notions of storytelling aside and pick this one up. Its nature is entirely subliminal versus visceral, and it strikes to the core. Very frightening, and yet in the end, disgusted, our sense of humanity shattered, we can't help but feel for George.

'Some of Your Blood' is a very interesting and creepy novella by Theodore Sturgeon. The story is basically told through mail correspondence between a military psychiatrist and his colleagues. The topic? A fellow identified as George. George is twisted, backwater monster. Through very clever writing the author reveals George's true maladies bit by bit. In the end we understand he is a bit ghoulish, and very dangerous.

Although the plot by itself is unique, .. I think it would make a great horror movie .., I think it's the author's narrative and characterizations that shine through. I have read a few short stories by Theodore Sturgeon before and have been impressed. This longer work is the best I've read from him. Thankfully he was a prolific writer; I plan to read a lot more of his works.


Bottom line: a unique, nightmare-ish story that is somehow believable. Recommended.

Although it belongs to the old SF books (or maybe because of that) it is a well-written and interresting book. I liked the idea presented as a new way to understand vampirism. I'd give it 4.5 stars if that was possible.