Oh, hi, yeah, blog.
Catching up on a lot of things to-day.
Visited Marty and finally returned one of the books he let me borrow more than a year ago.
The book? Ghost Story by Peter Straub.
A book about being a man and having frightening interactions with women. In a small town where nearly everyone cheats on their spouse--and usually to sleep with Ricky (protagonist) Hawthorne's wife, Stella Hawthorne--there're a number of deadly supernatural incidents that seem to go back to something that occured at party involving a beautiful young actress that old Wanderley was in love with. Wanderley died at the party and the actress disappeared.
Or maybe it goes back to something more horrible . . .
Wanderley's nephew Donald falls in love with a mysterious and captivating young woman, only to have her bail on him, get engaged to his brother, and then perhaps cause his brother to kill himself. Then she disappears.
This is a brilliant book that plays on so many of the discomfort strings in the human mind. From the innocent mishandling of love in youth, to the confused vista of betrayal in adulthood, to the guilt and despair of old age. All of it literally comes back to haunt and to kill.
But what's going on in the whole of this novel is far subtler and more disturbing than I could ever hope to give justice to in any analysis. Read it!
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