Customer Reviews

Strange Seed

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

 

 

First of all, the last reviewer didn't even get the name of one of the main characters right, and he certainly didn't GET what the novel was about. Perhaps he should try to read it again, "tiresome" as it is or not.

The book is, actually, on a number of "Best of the Genre" lists, including one by Stephen King (in Danse Macabre) and one by Douglas Winter, and several others. Sure it's atmospheric, but the atmosphere draws you into the characters, and their inevitable doom. At least that's what it did for me.

The reviewer, whether or not it was Mr. Wright (to whom I am not related, by the way) got it right when he or she said that the book was not for the "MTV" generation, as the previous reviewer so clearly demonstrates.

I don't know what all these people are arguing about. I read this book years ago, when I was living in a cabin in a canyon in the Rockies, surrounded by wilderness. The book was chilling and eerie, though you never quite got what exactly was going on. Very mysterious. This is the kind of horror I like, and not too many authors write it any more. I also read People Of The Dark, which was a similar sequel and equally unsettling, and then some of the author's more recent stories which were set in the city. I prefer the rural stories to the urban ones. I highly recommend this book for those who like creepy rural horror that is not as in your face as what currently seems to be in vogue.

The crime novel is often viewed as a clash between two schools of writer--the cosy yarn spinners such as the so called Golden age writers,and the hardboiled,gritty realism school.The horror novel,it could be claimed,is also split,in this case between gore merchants and the adherents of what is often called "quiet horror".This latter school proceeds by a slow build up of often barely seen or glimpsed menace,reliant on suggestion and hints rather than the frontal assault on the senses and gross out techniques utilised by some genre practitioners

Mr Wright is an adherent of the quiet horror school,and this,his debut novel,is set in a remote woodland area in upstate New York,where city dwellers Grace and Paul Griffin have relocated.There new home is a somewhat derelict cottage which lacks even the basic amenities,and has been subject to major incidents of vandalism while standing empty.
They are befriended by a local man,Lumas,a carpenter who not only remembers the previous cottage dwellers ,a deeply religious family who killed themselves while in residence ,but also knew Paul's father who died on the land his son and daughter in law now inhabit
The couples'life on their new property is a literally gloomy one as they are without electricity or telephone and only Paul's romantic notions of living from the land keep them going
Soon they are aware of a family of feral children living in the woods surrounding their property,ones moreover with vampiric tendencies

The novel proceeds to unfold the tale of how the couple seek to come to terms with their situation
I ran out of patience with the tale pretty early and found myself wanting more action rather than the overly elliptical striving after atmosphere with which the novel is burdened.Later novels by the author managed to get the balance a bit more deftly but this bears all the marks of a prentice work and is a tad tiresome

Wright has some weird Freudian thing going with demon children borne of the earth. This is one of two books that have the same theme. The book has creepy elements, but overall it just doesn't deliver. It has atmosphere but not much else.

Some people don't seem to get this book. That's okay. It's on a dozen "Best of the Genre" lists, and is considered something of a classic. It's not simply about a "weird Freudian thing" involving "demonic children borne of the earth," though I don't expect members of the MTV generation to understand that. It's about a man's search for identity, for his personhood. And, by the way, there are five books in the series, not just two.

He thinks more highly of his work than his readers do. And God help anyone who criticizes him or disagrees with him. He's infamous for his infantile rants and insults on the web. (As in the below review, posted anonymously, but obviously him.) "Some people don't get this book..." he claims. As though the story and it's theme were "above" some readers. Perhaps he did a crappy job of telling the story and conveying that theme? The book speaks for itself, regardless of it's inclusion in so- called "Best of" lists and claims by the author. Wright has a good imagination and conveys a great sense of atmosphere in his work, he just doesn't know how to deliver the goods. You'll find youself sighing half way through the story and until the very end. If you can finish it.