Just Finished Reading Handling the Undead

For discussion of John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel Hanteringen av odöda
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Slightlydazed
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Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2013 2:33 pm

Re: Just Finished Reading Handling the Undead

Post by Slightlydazed » Fri Apr 12, 2013 2:07 pm

Like they say in Stephen Kings Pet Sematary- "Sometimes, dead is better..." :shock:
The scene where Mahler digs up Elias really reminded me of that scene from Pet Sematary where Gage is unearthed by his father.
The sheer physical effort and the desperate determination by both men to dig up their dead son/grandson is heartbreaking.
But imagine being able to hear scratching coming from the coffin! :o

honeysucklepie
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Joined: Mon Jul 08, 2013 9:54 pm

Re: Just Finished Reading Handling the Undead

Post by honeysucklepie » Thu Jul 11, 2013 5:18 am

I just finished it tonight, maybe I went to fast. There are two reasons that I enjoy reading JAL:
-there is such a human element to all his novels, a real, flawed, human experience.
-as disturbing as LTROI was, more than anything I have ever read, it didn't feel sensationalized. I appreciate this. It makes the "horror" more palatable. Same here, with the non-Hollywood zombies. I wish they had a different cover for the US version. I don't think it represents the novel at all.
These two things let me enjoy JAL's very novel approach to the genre (is there a better category than horror?), and I don't mind letting things be a bit ambiguous, or unexplained. I'll take it! It is such tasty storytelling. I also like Murakami, who I have read enough of to say that his novels can be...annoyingly similar in some ways (painfully Murakami-esque). Like JAL, I don't care! I want to go there! I want to ponder the mysteries of such a story!

Yes! I loved the scene of Mahler digging out his grandson. Utterly bizarre that Mahler has this erotic hallucination inspire him to continue to struggle. I loved it, in a non pervy way, sort of fun I guess, and surprising. wolf-child---what puzzled you about Anna,s change? And what change? She flip flops a bit, going from denial that Elias is still in the body, and also on the island she sort of turns on her father. I sort of chalk it up to being a mother, one who is conflicted about the situation, and then very in tune psychically with her son, when he becomes a bit more "alive". this is where I just accept the weirdness and enjoy it. I enjoyed the worms too, as out of place as they felt to the story, beats a rising mist for the soul.

I got to figure out appropriate spoiler usage here.. I apologize!

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