(just a little custom fan art that I dabbled away at in Photoshop)
Little Star (2011)
Author: John Ajvide Lindqvist
Origin: Sweden
Rating:
9 out of 10
One night whilst picking Mushrooms, Embittered One Hit Wonder Pop Star, Lennart Cedarstrom, makes the shocking discovery of a baby girl who has been left for dead in a plastic bag. Lennart manages to save her from death where he is met in return with a shocking discovery as the young girl lets out a perfect harmonic set of musical notes in place of crying. He considers the young girl to be a gift, a miracle of sorts and decides to take her home with him where he proceeds to lock her in the cellar. His wife, Laila (also a former one hit wonder), initially expresses concerns over her husband’s actions. Lennart retaliates threatening to kill her if she opens her mouth about the baby in the cellar.
As time passes on, the young girl grows older. However she is not your typical child; she barely shows any signs of life. She doesn’t play nor does she show signs of mental growth. Lennart’s biological son, Jerry, shows interest in the strange peculiar girl, affectionately naming her Theres. The only times Theres shows signs of life comes from the music that is shared to her by Lennart or Jerry. As she grows older, Lennart tries to contain her from the outside world which he views as Evil and Corrupted. In a selfish attempt to protect the world from corrupting Theres, Lennart brainwashes her with a story of how the “Big Ones want to eat the Little Ones”.
Meanwhile, the story cuts to another young girl by the name of Teresa. An odd young girl who maybe has a few hints of Asperger’s Syndrome, she lacks a childish imagination and views the world as a logical place. She is slightly overweight and is casually bullied; she views herself as an outsider who doesn’t quite fit in to society. To numb the pain of pre-adolescence, she spends her time writing poetry and trolling message boards online. It is here where she eventually meets Theres. The two girls initially bond over poetry and as time passes on, they grow an intense connection with one another as they realize they both share the same disturbed outlook on the world. Needless to say, as the two girls bond, everything surrounding them goes horribly awry in a gruesome fashion.
Little Star is without question the best book that John Ajvide Lindqvist has produced. It’s a lengthy novel, coming in at 530 pages, but yet it is never once sluggish in pacing. It is utterly compelling the entire way through. Lindqvist proves once again that he is a master of capturing the pain of adolescence. A feat that was duly noted in his debut novel, Let the Right One In. This time he transplants it into a girl’s perspective.
With the introduction of Teresa, Lindqvist captures that time period of entering puberty and the growing pains that come with it. Granted I have never been a teenage girl and can’t comment on the accuracy of it. But there are some wonderful little details that feel completely accurate, such as the 12 year old Teresa wearing baggy clothing to hide her developing breasts; Or the pain of taking a male best friend and suddenly feeling new confusing emotions about them. It is all these little details that Lindqvist manages to convey in an utterly painful and real way.
But the real strength of this novel comes from Lindqvist’s ability to merge the confusion and pain of adolescence with the horror. There are no easy answers in this novel for all of the gruesome events that are to occur. Was Theres the result of a supernatural world or is she just a deeply mentally disturbed child who is a product of her sheltered upbringing?
Little Star has a fair deal in common with Let the Right One In. The connection between Theres and Teresa is in some ways similar to that of Oskar and Eli. However the main difference is that Theres and Teresa share a rather destructive bond that leads them to the worst, whilst Oskar and Eli shared a bond that was almost complimentary and helped bring out the best in one another.
The connection between Theres and Teresa is almost that of an instinctive connection that borders into the realm of love (albeit a destructive-almost perverse and obsessive love). I think one of the big themes of the novel is centred on the idea of the enpowerment that comes from their bond. It is a friendship that is instinctive; one built on a twisted understanding that they both share that could never be comprehended by any of reasonable adults that surround them. This bond only encourages the destructive behaviour that they engage in. Otherwise, it could be seen as a friendship made in hell. But Lindqvist manages to craft these girls into a couple of Anti-Heroes as opposed to just being flat out Evil little children. Or one could see it as a twisted ode to "Girl Power"
Little Star is a gruesome novel at points. There are some things in this novel that made me wince a little. Lindqvist isn’t afraid to play with taboos, in both means of sexual and gore related. There are certain sections of this book that are very graphic in detail and some that just might linger in your mind long after it was all said and done. His clear strength as a writer is his vivid attention to details, time and place. A constant in all of his books has been establishing what is a normal, mundane and boring location and then stripping away the surface to reveal the dark underbelly that is simmering beneath. Much like Stephen King, Lindqvist dabbles in the ordinary and the surreal but manages to find the right balance preventing it from becoming absurd.
Little Star is a completely compelling novel. It is a novel where the tension builds and builds until it reaches its shocking conclusion. It is a novel that holds no easy answers for its actions. And it is right up there as being one of the best horror stories that I have engaged in all year, in both book and film. It gets a very high recommendation, just be warned, it might not be for some of the squeamish out there.
In closing....SO I SAY THANK YOU FOR THE HORROR JOHN
(trust me when you read the book, you'll know what I'm referring to with that line)
