Review of Ray Bradbury's book ' The October Country'

It's a monster party!.. Hope you have your invites!

As mentioned in my previous post, the first task of the Reading Challenge 2016 was to read a horror book. Today I finally finished reading Ray Bradbury's collection of short horror stories called  The October Country. I have till now never read a Bradbury book. 'The Martian Chronicles' has been on my reading list forever. So naturally I was very excited to start reading this little collections of stories. Bradbury was the first author that come to my mind when I first saw my reading list ( and though I liked The October Country well enough, I really wish I had picked his more critically acclaimed book, 'The Illustrated Man' for this challenge.) 

Some classics of horror

Surprisingly, I am quite well read in the horror genre. It is amusing that a huge scaredy cat such as me has read horror classics like Dracula, Frankenstein, The Exorcist, as well as the stories by Poe and M.R. James. In context of the horror books that I have read,  I would put Dracula and The Exorcist in the same group as they both have similar themes and are written in a very fast paced style of a spy novel. The aim is to shock and intrigue you rather than give you sleepless nights. Frankenstein has always been a misfit for me in the horror genre. It is tragic, it is poetic and deeply beautiful in its writing. The horror is not the monster but rather the self-absorbed creator who puts everyone in harm's way for his own selfish ends. Rather, I found H. G. Wells, 'The Island of Dr. Moreau' much more terrifying and a harsher moral story about man's ambition to play God. In that sense, Frankenstein is less horror and more tragedy of a modern day Prometheus who goes overboard with his genius. The Monster is not born horrifying, it is made to become a horrifying creature by the fear and selfishness of its creator. Even then, it remains a tragic, misunderstood figure. 

Poe's works or rather his keen obsession with beautiful women who die early is pretty evident in most of his tales and have been much discussed in the literary circles. But still some classics such as 'The Tell-Tale Heart', 'The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether', 'The Black Cat', and 'The Cask of Amontillado' are exceptional works. Needless to say, as much as I adore Poe's penmanship, he is clearly at his best when he is not writing about dead women!! Here I am also reminded of some of the short stories written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 'Mosses from an Old Manse' where the focus is also on beautiful women suffering from such immense terrifying distress that even their heroes cannot save them (Oh boy!). Classics in this theme include 'Rappaccinni's Daughter' and 'The Birth-Mark'. I think M. R. James was the one author who really managed to spook me. Initially while reading, I had assumed that he was another of those writers who was trying to imitate the style of Poe's writing (who despite his obsession, was truly a gifted writer). Thankfully James is not obsessed with dead women, but he is indeed taken with antique ornate houses with long deep histories. Almost all his stories are situated within or around a Gothic mansion or cathedral. The house is as much a participant as the protagonist of his stories. I have read 'Ghost Story of an Antiquary' and as you continue to read the book, the stories get spookier. The supernatural is hinted and acknowledged but never comes right out. Instead, like most horror writers, he skillfully puts you in the protagonist's shoes and makes you feel the chills going through that unfortunate person's spine. 'Canon Alberic's Scrap- Book', 'The Mezzotint', 'The Ash Tree' and 'The Treasure of Abbot Thomas' (this particular story really scared the daylights out of me!!) are some great examples. 

Anyways, I seem to have got carried away with my discussion. I have to admit I chose Bradbury's collection of short stories for a particular reason. First of all, I did not want to pick something too scary such as Clive Barker's Books of Blood or Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves. I really value my sleep and I would hate it if terror kept me up. Also since I am currently working on my thesis and need to travel everyday, reading short stories seemed like a good choice to not get too involved in the book in order to remain needfully focused on my work. I would say that the book on the whole, was a mixed bag. The common trope used by the author is that of psychological horror. So it might seem ambivalent whether true horror is taking place or that it is simply the paranoia of the protagonist. For me, the best story was clearly, 'The Man Upstairs'. (Attention, spoilers ahead!!) It was an interesting take on the vampire motif. The Upstairs Guy is clearly the malevolent vampire but he is actually a very submissive figure in the story. It is only hinted at that he might not be human. What was more shocking was the behavior of the protagonist, a young preteen boy, who is the only one suspicious of the Upstairs Guy. Okay, the boy is a PSYCHOPATH who calmly dissects the vampire while he is sleeping simply because he wants to prove his theory that the vampire does not have the right internal organs. And the boy does it with a smile and childish excitement. And that was horrifying!!

Another story that I liked was 'The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone' which is technically not a horror story. It seemed that the story was written more for Bradbury than the audience as it captures very ironically the tensions and fears that writers go through with each release of their books. The anxiety of continually wanting critical approval and how 'death' might free you from the hold of this strain of that pressure. It is a clever and interesting story and in fact, quite honest in its message. It really gives you an nice insight into the author. 'The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Matisse' was a macabre take on the pressures of popularity where the true horror is actually your need to please others. It was the most insightful story among the bunch and therefore had me wondering whether I had picked the right book. 'The Emissary' was a nicely written ghost story, though a bit predictable. Actually most of Bradbury's stories in this collection are quite predictable. I also loved 'The Scythe' which was incredibly sad. 

Ray Bradbury really tries hard to push the limits of our thinking by choosing very unconventional protagonists and antagonists. You are not going to find ghosts or ferocious monsters in his stories. Instead your biggest enemy is the warfare and conflict in your mind. Something as harmless as the wind blowing on your face or the skeleton inside of you might actually be the real villain. Is your mind playing tricks or are you suddenly aware of malevolent entity that you had earlier taken for granted. While playing with this kind of horror trope, Bradbury sometimes succeeds but sometimes he flops spectacularly. Stories such as 'Uncle Einer' (think Addam's Family), 'Homecoming', 'The Wind' (a very unexpected antagonist), 'Jack-in the-Box' (very bittersweet coming of age story where Bradbury ironically twists our understanding of being dead and being alive), 'The Jar' and 'The Next in Line' (Both these stories have interesting female protagonists who also end up dead) and 'The Crowd' (predictable but still engrossing) were really excellent pieces. However some stories I simply did not get and personally for me, it was a major fail. 'The Small Assassin' had a ridiculous premise of a killing baby. Clearly a terrible ripoff of 'The Omen'!! (Though I have to admit that the ending line was very nice and quite catchy). Another one I did not like was 'There was an Old Woman' about an old lady who manages to evade death. It is supposed to be morbidly funny but humor for me falls flat. Stories like 'The Dwarf'', 'The Cistern', 'Touched With Fire' and 'The Skeleton' were just average. Overall, the book was an enjoyable read. And even though it seemed a slight bit amateur in its writing style and presentation (but not in its ideas which were quite unique and creative), it was certainly worth the time taken to read it. I also look forward in the future to read more of Bradbury's numerous works.

Next on my list is Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Looking forward to reading it and enjoying it. Cheers!!!