The Ruins (Vintage)
by Scott Smith
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Book Summary Information
Author: Scott SmithEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-03-25
ISBN: 0307389715
Number of pages: 528
Publisher: Vintage
Product features:
- vines
- Ruins
- Scott Smith
- Cancun
- Mathias
Book Reviews of The Ruins (Vintage)
Book Review: "The Raft" meets "The Inferno"...?
Summary: 3 Stars
There's an obvious parallel to Stephen King's "The Raft;" a much scarier short story which I highly recommend to anyone. The monster in The Ruins, while not as scary, is more complex. Instead of just eating all the characters, the vines get to know them first. It even leaves a clear area so they all have plenty of time to really get acquainted with what's happening.
Why does it leave a clearing? Why are the characters so focused on survival until rescue (defense) rather than learning about the vine and trying to kill it (offense)?
Here's my interpretation: The vines are a physical manifestation of human weakness. They're like the She Wolf at the beginning of Dante's Inferno (there are people trapped in vines in that book too), or the Curse in Pirates of the Caribbean, or even Lord Voldemort. Avarice is always hungry, no matter how much it consumes. Your body gets ravaged, but the real prey is your soul. The characters walk through the vines and are scared, but nothing truly terrible happens to them until they succumb to some kind of vice (pride, gluttony, despair...)
People have been telling this story since the oldest books of the Bible and before, and it's still good.
This particular book has some problems. The dialogue isn't very compelling. The female characters are not very distinct. Some of the attempts at characterization are a little aimless. It's unfortunate that the characters aren't stronger because this is not a plot driven book.
All in all, the pacing is great, the setting is great, and the monster is scary. It has some execution problems, but don't believe anyone who says it's shallow.
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