Monday, March 23, 2015

Literature Review #8: The Worsening

To be an attractive young lady in a big city.  Kind of exciting!  Cool job....running a trendy coffee shop.  Stressful, income not great.  A bit insecure, perhaps a touch overwhelmed by responsibility.  To make matters a bit more complicated, a really cool stranger is attracted to her.  However exciting, the thoughtful will always be revisited by their vulnerabilities and insecurities.  Carla has a past that haunts her, and now, her past will deliver a most shocking horror.  Olivia Stanton's "The Worsening" is a story that will stick with you, and give you nightmares.  Ms. Stanton introduces us to Carla's unsettling (....horrific?) past, by yanking her out of a promising existence, right back into the personal Hell she believes she escaped from.  Unfortunately, unless we meet our demons head on, as Ms. Stanton reminds us in this novel, they will seek us out.
To avoid spoilers, I am going to be brief on the plot.  The above mentioned Carla is unceremoniously advised of the death of her dad, the only family member she felt close to.  Her malignant mother (Abby) and creepy brother (Matty) pick her up in Philadelphia and take her on a most uncomfortable four hour drive to the mountains.  The car stinks, and during this ride we meet Abby, a purely dysfunctional mom, who used to seduce her daughter's boyfriends.  Also we learn Abby has spells, known to Carla as "the worsening."  What is "the worsening"?  Ms. Stanton defines it for us through her prose throughout the novel.  When the last pages of this work have been read, you'll know what it is.  Surfeit to say, picture it is something not right that dwells in our subconscious, and perhaps lives inside of all of us.  Most of us keep it locked up, but in some people, it escapes and overtakes.  Forgive this cryptic explanation, read the book for the full story on this dysfunction. 
During this week-end, the family will stay at Abby's double-wide in the mountains.  Carla will then revisit some very uncomfortable, perhaps terrifying, episodes of her past.  A pall of dread and doom permeate the mountain residence, and the maliciousness directed at Carla will make your skin crawl.  Though not monsters in the classic sense, Abby and Matty emerge as total creeps, completely unnerving our protagonist.  Any attempt to remember her dad fondly is interrupted by her family's almost demonic demeanor and social skills. Even when her beloved brother, Derek arrives, Ms. Stanton doesn't provide Carla an oasis of sanity and safety...you'll see.  Then, just as you believe you are reading a psychological horror story, which you are, Ms. Stanton masterfully transcends it to a blood-curdling gory horror tale as well.  "The Worsening" works magnificently weaving the psychological and horror together.  As we follow Carla through the plot, we are on edge.  Something dark is heading her way, and we don't know what.  No matter how much we yell, "Run, get away!", she can't.  Eventually she will come face to face with the most unimaginable evils a horror writer can concoct.
Ms. Stanton's "The Worsening" is available on Amazon.com.  We forgive many writers for using familiar plot devices, especially if they tell a good story.  Ms. Stanton tells a great horror story, avoiding cliche plot devices.  What keeps the reader so unsettled is that there is no familiar territory to take comfort in.  As uncomfortable and vulnerable Carla is in these pages, so is the reader,  Perhaps this is how this great horror author built empathy between us and her protagonist.  If you want shocking horror, read "The Worsening," by Olivia Stanton.  
 

6 comments:

  1. Great to see you doing book reviews too my friend. Sounds very interesting indeed, shall check it out on Amazon. Thanks Christopher. You open my eyes to many fresh delights.

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    1. It is an absolute pleasure knowing all of you...thank-you so much...*smiles* so very much... XX <3 XX

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  2. Olivia, your book THE WORSENING sounds utterly terrifying! This would appear to be an excellent synopsis of your book without really spoiling anything. Christopher Zisi did a fine job.

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    1. Christopher did a wonderful job. His review is beautifully done, I can't say enough. Not only were there no spoilers, he understood the characters completely, right down to the images he used in this incredible review. Thank-you so much Christopher not only for taking the time to read and review my novel The Worsening, but seeing through the pages and stepping into Carla's world. ~Love and Light~ Olivia Stanton AKA Nyla Vox

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  3. For anyone interested in reading what this wonderful review is all about here's your link to >>>>"The Worsening" http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UALXWJ0
    Thank-you again Christopher, you did a beautiful job...
    ~Love and Light~ Nyla

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  4. A must read which I'm very much looking forward to delving into. A most intriguing review of a most intriguing novel.

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