Me being the typical teenage girl who is usually into the heart warming Nicholas Sparks novels such as The Notebook, The Lucky One, and Dear John decided to pick up a grusome murder book where I would be indulged with devil worship, blood, and bad intentions. From the first page the novel the killings began and I had to decipher a murder story instead of a love story. Though these aspects contain horrible aspects I would recommend the genre to a variety of audiences because of its character development and its way of targeting the internal thoughts of both the reader and protagonist.
My reading selection was "Dark Choices" by Gillian Flynn and I found it extremely engaging and mind boggling while traveling along with the main character Libby Day as she tries to relive her past and finally figure out who truly killed her family during a cold night in 1985. Yes, the plot was interesting however that is not my main purpose for recommending the horror genre. Each book can have different plots that can make or break the book. But, there are important aspects to look out for that I beleive will lead to a promising yet frightful reading experience:
-Firstly, though I believe most horror books already have this, I found reading a horror book with specifically a female protagonist made it much more terrifying and complex. Typically a female is portrayed to be more easily scared and a target for a crime since they are viewed to be vulnerable. A horror story with a character such a Libby Day pin points this trait and allows the reader to feel her terror and sadness among the dark events that she experiences. A male character would have a more tough outlook and give the audience reassurance that everything will turn out just how he wants it. A female protagonsist atleast gave me a more shaky storyline. In the end this allows the reader to make better predictions on their own and predict much more depending on cliffhangers and foreshadowing.
-Secondly, stories that are more of a "cold case" and are revisted from the past were appealing to me because of its ability to have much more data based off multiple decades. The characters themselves are almost overwhelmed, just as the reader can be, while trying to put evidence from multiple decades together and trace the suspect. It creates an atmosphere that can touch upon multiple friends or relatives through a period of time and allow their true identity or thoughts to be revealed. This time span allows the settings to change and people to grow which when revistied can spark the protagonists ideas and make the reader be stunned by the major changes. During the days after the murders of the Day's, Libby testified against her own brother, however, in the present (twenty-four years later) you are able to see the changes that Ben has made in jail and try to re-examine the crime from an adult point of view. "Dark Places" was able to tell the story from a childs point of view and then from an adults point of view years later I believe that this was a huge difference maker in the novel.
No comments:
Post a Comment