Week 6 Annotations: “Heart-Shaped Box" by Joe Hill

Heart-Shaped Box

By Joe Hill

Synopsis:

Former rock star Judas (Jude) Coyne is a collector of all things disturbing.  He has items personally sent to him from John Wayne Gacy, a hangman’s actual noose, a three-hundred-year-old confession from a witch, and so on and so forth.  Most of these items were sent to him from fans of his music, however, if something ever caught his attention, he was likely to purchase and add it to his collection.  So, when Jude’s assistant, Danny Wooten, came to him with an email from someone claiming to be selling their stepfather’s ghost, Jude did not hesitate to purchase it.  He paid the $1,000 for it to be immediately shipped to him, and went on with his day. Days later, the suit arrives to Jude’s house in a black heart-shaped box. Jude immediately gets the impression that this suit is in fact haunted, and the spirit that haunts him is evil. After a little investigation, Jude determines that this suit was sent to him by the sister of a former girlfriend/groupie who committed suicide, and that the spirit is out for revenge on Jude and anyone who tries to help him.  Jude is determined to rid himself of this evil spirit, and save the lives of himself and his current girlfriend, Georgia.

Characteristics of Horror:

·     Tone/Mood:  Author, Joe Hill, did not follow his famous father’s (Stephen King) trend in bolding, capitalizing, or italicizing words for extra emphasis in this novel.  The tone of this novel follows the Visceral end, where “violence occurs early on and the intensity never flags” (Saricks, p. 114).  As soon as the suit is delivered to Jude, we are introduced to the vengeful spirit, and he is present throughout the entire novel, wreaking havoc on all the lives that surround Jude. 

·     Frame/Setting:  This novel is extremely descriptive, and feels like you’re watching a film while reading it.  Descriptive writing is a must in a horror novel, because in order to scare a reader, they must be able to picture with detail everything that is happening in the novel.  Heart-Shaped Box follows the horror trend of containing a supernatural “monster”, which in this case is the vengeful spirit, Craddock.  “Horror novels usually contain graphic violence and themes of sensuality and sexuality...” (Saricks, p. 115) and Heart-Shaped Box contains all of these as well.

·     Storyline:  The storyline of Heart-Shaped Box is pure horror; a highly-troubled goth rock star purchases a suit that is said to contain the ghost of the sellers step-father.  After purchasing the suit, the main character becomes haunted and is unable to rid himself of the evil spirit who was delivered to him with the suit.  As stated in our class reading, “The presence of the supernatural pervades these stories and sets Horror apart from other genres” (Saricks, p. 116).  One way that this book does not follow the traditional horror style, is the ending.  It is common for a horror novel to end unresolved, with loose ends. This book seems to be heading in that direction, but turns out to end clear and straightforward.  

·     Style/Language: Profanity and sex play a role in this novel. As I stated before, the language of this book is extremely descriptive, with the use of a lot of adjectives to help describe to the reader what is going on. 

·     Characterization: Majority of the characters in Heart-Shaped Box have dark back stories.  These stories range from child abuse, to molestation, to depression and suicide.  The two main characters, Jude and Georgia/Marybeth are both described as gothic.  This is a common theme in horror books as most characters in horror are out-of-control and “shattered individuals” (Saricks, p. 118). 

·     Pacing: The pacing in Heart-Shaped Box is erratic, like most horror titles — jumping from a slow and calm pace to heart-thumping terror.  Some parts of this book seem slow, but then are immediately followed with a sudden burst of intensity.  This book is unpredictable, and the pace of it keeps readers at the edge of their seat, waiting in fear and anticipation for what will happen next.

Read-A-Likes:

If you enjoyed Heart-Shaped Box, you might also enjoy these similar books:
-   A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

-      The Damned by Andrew Pyper
-      A Stir of Echos by Richard Matheson
-      The Dead Path by Stephen M. Irwin

Kirk’s Style Book Review: Dark Matter - Blake Crouch

DARK MATTER
by Blake Crouch



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KIRKUS REVIEW

Brilliant quantum physicist turned family man is kidnapped and forced into an alternate universe where he must fight to return to the only life he knows and loves.

Jason Dessen lives a somewhat ordinary life with his beautiful wife and their teenage son.  He lives this somewhat ordinary life because years ago he gave up his dreams of becoming a world-renowned quantum physicist when his now wife, Daniela, became pregnant with their now teenage son, Charlie.  Jason is satisfied with how his life turned out, and rarely thinks of what could have been, until one night Jason decides to meet an old college buddy at a bar to celebrate this buddy winning a prestigious science award.  While Jason is walking home from the bar, he is kidnapped and knocked unconscious by a masked assailant.  When Jason wakes up, he is in exactly the same place he last remembers before blacking out, but everything around him is entirely different.  His wife is no longer his wife, his son does not even exist, and he is no longer a college physics professor, but the award-winning quantum physicist he had once dreamt of becoming.  Although this new life might seem ideal to some people, it is a nightmare to Jason, who just wants to get home to his real life and his real family.  To make matters much worse, the people around him are beginning to question his authenticity, and Jason knows that he needs to get back to his own real world before its too late

Dark Matter is everything you could hope for in a sci-fi thriller.  Suspenseful, exciting and emotional engaging - you won’t be able to put this book down until the very last page.

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Pub Date: July 26, 2016                         Page Count: 342                             Review Posted Online: 10 February 2019
ISBN:  9781101904220                          Publisher:   Crown Publishers                  

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Week 5: Prompt Response

The Billionare’s First Christmas is a book I would not recommend my library to purchase based on the reviews.   I don’t find the reviews to be unreliable (despite the grammar and spelling errors), however, neither of them convinced me that this is a book worth reading.  I don’t think the library should be spending money on a book that is “just fine” when there are millions of books out there that are a lot better than “just fine”.  Also, I have a hard time trusting a person’s judgment who had “tears rolling down her face” from the description of a characters love for Santa Claus. (Only half kidding).

I’ve already read Angela’s Ashes, but for the sake of this assignment, lets say I hadn’t.  Reading those reviews would have definitely persuaded me to adding Angela’s Ashes to my library’s collection.  This sounds like it would be a book that would be of interest to many people, and all the reviews seem extremely positive towards this book.  I love that the reviews explain how the book is heartbreaking, but also humorous, and believe that others will also like that mix.

I don't think its fair that one type of book gets reviewed to death and other types get little to no coverage, but if more people are reading a certain genre of books than others its bound to happen. I think libraries are generally good at keeping books of all different genres to suit the needs of different patrons, so I don't believe that a lack of reviews impacts a library's collection too much.  Even when it comes to Ebook only books,  I think a lot of librarians (or the ones I worked with at least) read reviews on Goodreads and Amazon even, that aren't professional publications, to get an idea of what patrons might like, so I don't believe that lack of professional reviews impacts the collection too much.  I don't think I'd trust a review source that refuses to print negative content. I feel that both negative and positive reviews should be available so that the person seeking out the reviews has an opportunity to decide for themselves if they want to read something. There are so many classic books and movies that were once reviewed or received poorly, that people rave about today.  I think its so important to post the negative reviews because that gets the word out about these books and more people can read them and decide for themselves.

I personally love reading short reviews about a book before reading the book.  I like to know what other people thought of the book before reading it myself.  I'll never read a long review though because I don't want too much information - just a quick idea of what to expect when reading it.

Secret Shopper Assignment Summarized

For this assignment, I went to one of my local libraries where I am not familiar with the librarians.  Normally, I would feel uncomfortable approaching someone I don’t know and asking for help, but I worked the adult reference desk for about two years and my favorite part of my job was when people would ask me for book recommendations.  Having this experience made this a more comfortable assignment.

I approached the reference desk where a woman a bit older than myself was working. I told her that I had just finished reading the book In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware and was looking for something else.  She started by asking me if there was a specific book I had in mind or if I was looking for a specific genre.  I told her that I had nothing in mind, but I normally read fast-paced thrillers with strong female leads. She then asked me if I wanted to stick with this style, or if I wanted  something different. I told her I was open to anything, but suggested maybe keeping a little suspense or mystery in the plot. She consulted her computer for a few minutes, and then told me she found three titles that I might be interested in.  She read off three books that were definitely interesting to me, but it was the final book she named that I was most excited about.  The final book she chose was a new one called An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. I immediately told her I had read The Wife Between Us by these authors and loved it.  I didn’t know they had a new book out! 

My readers advisory transaction was a successful one, because I was excited by the recommendations I was given.  I’m definitely going to read An Anonymous Girl, and I added the three other options she gave me to my Goodreads “to read” list.

Week 3: Prompt Response

1. I am looking for a book by Laurell K. Hamilton. I just read the third book in the Anita Blake series and I can’t figure out which one comes next!
Hello! The fourth book in the Anita Blake series is called “The Lunatic Cafe”. A great resource for following book series is KDL’s What’s Next. You can search by your favorite author’s name, or by the series/book title!

2. What have I read recently? Well, I just finished this great book by Barbara Kingsolver, Prodigal Summer. I really liked the way it was written, you know, the way she used language. I wouldn't mind something a bit faster paced though.
Another book you might be interested in is Anna Quindlen’s “Blessings”. Anna’s writing, like Barbara, is descriptive and lyrical, and the plot is about an elderly couple who find a baby on their doorstep and decide to raise it in secret. The plot definitely seems fast-paced! If “Blessings” is too dramatic, another book you might be interested in is “The Little Paris Bookshop” by Nina George. Nina’s writing style is also descriptive, and the plot is a heartwarming love story.

3. I like reading books set in different countries. I just read one set in China, could you help me find one set in Japan? No, not modern – historical. I like it when the author describes it so much it feels like I was there!
“The Teahouse Fire” by Ellis Avery seems like it would be right up your alley. It is told from an American orphan’s point of view when she is adopted into a Japanese family in 19th century Japan. The writing is descriptive and engaging, and told at a leisurely pace.

4. I read this great mystery by Elizabeth George called Well-Schooled in Murder and I loved it. Then my dentist said that if I liked mysteries I would probably like John Sandford, but boy was he creepy I couldn't finish it! Do you have any suggestions?
I’m not sure if you are aware, but Well-Schooled in Murder is actually part of a series (book 3) by Elizabeth George - Inspector Lynley Series. If you’d like, I could print you out a list of all the books in this series. If you’re looking for something different, “The Man With a Load of Mischief” by Martha Grimes could be fun. Similar to “Well-Schooled in Murder” this book is also a murder mystery, but with a little bit of humor to counteract the scary!

5. My husband has really gotten into zombies lately. He’s already read The Walking Dead and World War Z, is there anything else you can recommend?
“Feed” by Mira Grant is part of a trilogy of zombie books. It’s fast paced, suspenseful, and violent, like all good zombie reads. If he hasn’t read “I Am Legend” by Richard Matheson it is a great read, and was made into a movie in 2007 that gained a lot of popular attention.

6. I love books that get turned into movies, especially literary ones. Can you recommend some? Nothing too old, maybe just those from the last 5 years or so.

• “The Children Act” by Ian McEwan is about a Judge who is forced to rule on if a seventeen year old boy must get a blood transfusion that might possibly save his life, or respect his religion and let him die. This book was made into a film in 2017.
• “Bel Canto” by Ann Patchett is another one you might be interested in. This one is based on a true story about terrorists hijacking a politicians party. The film came out in 2018.
• “A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman is the story of a grumpy old man who, after the death of his wife, decides he no longer wishes to live. He is set on taking his own life, until quirky neighbors move in to the house next door and give him a new outlook on life. This book was adapted into a film in 2015, and received raving reviews!

7. I love thrillers but I hate foul language and sex scenes. I want something clean and fast paced.
Two authors that come to mind are Agatha Christie and Mary Higgins Clark. How about you try “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” by Mary Higgins Clark. It is book one of her popular Under Suspicion series, and I think you will really enjoy this series! If you want to try Agatha Christie, she has a few books that have been recently made into movies - “Crooked House” and “Murder on the Orient Express”. Once you finish reading these you can check out the movies and see how well they compare!

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I personally use Goodreads for my book recommendations. I like to see what my friends are reading, and see if any titles just jump out at me. I love and trust the GoodReads rating system, and I feel like this website never lets me down. Another way I find books is by looking on Amazon’s best sellers list for anything that stands out. Sometimes, I just browse the shelves at local bookstores or libraries and just see if a cover grabs my attention. I’m guilty of pre-judging books by their covers when browsing like this. If a cover looks interesting and well done, I’ll likely check it out!