The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Girl Next Door
Book Review: What is the reader searching for in this novel?
Summary: 3 Stars
With a nearly 5 star average rating on this book, it was one I considered buying for a bit. I was curious more than anything.
I eventually decided to read it and now I'm left asking myself more the question of "What was I looking for?". The real-life inspiration for this novel intrigued me since its brutality seems unreal in so many ways. What Ketchum meditates on here is the duplicity of its main character, David. I can neither hate him nor sympathize with him - he simply invokes indifference.
The scenes of torture, rape and abuse are abundant.
The dilemma I find with this book is that the writing is actually not bad. Ketchum carves out vivid scenes (even the peaceful ones spattered throughout) and there is certainly a moral tale being told here. But neither of these - together or alone - results in a story that leaves the reader satisfied. The contrived last scene seems cliche and very formulaic, almost as an afterthought. And then I wonder why I picked up the book in the first place.
I think genre fans may find it decent, but beyond that this isn't a book for the average reader (which I consider myself to be).
Book Review: Wonderful, yet terrible
Summary: 5 Stars
The Girl Next Door is one of the hardest books to rate. Yes, it's an incredibly well-written novel and amazing novel, but at the same time, it's utterly terrible. I've read a few horror books and none of the others horrified me like The Girl Next Door did.
I saw The Girl Next Door movie about two years ago, so I already had an idea about how hard it would be to read this book. Immediately, you start to sympathize with Meg. And when the abuse starts, you flinch and think "Oh my God, this is terrible", and yet you feel a sense of relief as you think "Well, now things can't possibly get any worse for her", but it does.
Reading this book, I felt like a voyeur. Seeing these things happen to this little girl and being powerless to stop it is one of the worse feelings ever. Sure, I was thinking, "It's just a book, calm down", but this novel is based on a true story so it just makes those feelings of contempt to the people doing this to Meg get stronger. Even though, you dislike everything that's happening in the book, it's like a trainwreck you can't look away.
This book is an eye-opener to just how evil the human spirit can be. Even the most normal-looking family has the potential to inflict a serious amount of pain to a fellow human being. That thought in mind made this book that much harder to finish. Yet I did, but cried through those last 100 pages as Meg's abuse got worse and worse.
The Girl Next Door is not for the faint of heart. It's an amazing, yet terrible book. While I don't regret reading it, I'm not exactly thrilled that I did.
Book Review: Wow...just wow.
Summary: 5 Stars
Did you know this was not only a book but a movie? Well it is, and the movie doesn't do the book justice. But isn't that always how it is? This is a twisted, morbid, tale...that I loved to hate. But, if that's what your looking for in you crazy horror world then this is for you. I love Ketchum, Ed Lee, Richard Laymon, Brian Keene, Jeff Strand, Gonzalez...and the list goes on, forgive me if I forgot your name...oh yeah, and Monica O'Rourke. Anyway, this is sick and twisted, and really shows the backward thinking of parents, of children and people who choose "not" to get involved, well...and the people who choose to get involved. A great book by Ketchum, in fact one of my favorites. I think I liked this because I like horror that is more realistic. That's because it scares me worse than anything else. This scared me! I want to keep my kids closer and really, really know who they are friends with.Book Review: greusome
Summary: 4 Stars
Between good and very good. I'm ordering another of his novels.
KFW
Book Review: reprint of a deep psychological study
Summary: 4 Stars
Suburban 1950s New Jersey is a great place to raise kids; just ask twelve year old David, who loves playing in his idyllic neighborhood where crime is nonexistent. Next door Ruth Chandler, single mother of David's best friend Donny and two brothers, takes in two young distant cousins whose parents died in a horrific automobile accident. The older sister fourteen years old Meg seems to have fully recovered; the younger sibling Susan needs crutches and wears heavy metal braces on her legs while mentally she is totally broken.
David is immediately attracted to the lovely Meg and they begin meeting at places like "Big Rock"; they make a charming cute couple. Ruth lives in the past when she was the office manager of a large firm; she hates suburbia and being saddled with five children. She takes her growing rage out on her new charges, physically and mentally abusing Meg and Susan, especially Meg who reminds her of all she gave up to have kids. Her sons by omission support her actions. David also knows that Ruth is violent towards Meg, but though he loathes what she is doing, he is also fascinated by her dehumanizing the one person who reminds her how far she has fallen.
This reprint of a 1989 deep psychological study focuses on the watcher-narrator David who learns about abuse and helplessness when he fascinatingly observes the pain a human inflicts on another while neighbors ignore the truth. The story line hooks the audience from the opening line as a wizened David understands pain and never lets go as the serene middle class suburban neighborhood enables ugliness to hide behind the scene (mindful of the Kitty Genovese killing in 1964 Queens). This book also includes two short stories and an interview with Jack Ketchum, but cannot be considered padding since the novel is 340 pages. Readers will be shocked by the horror of customized violence that society chooses to ignore when it happens to THE GIRL NEXT DOOR.
Harriet Klausner