The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
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Book Reviews of The Girl Next Door
Book Review: reprint of a deep psychological study
Summary: 4 Stars
Suburban 1950s New Jersey is a great place to raise kids; just ask twelve year old David, who loves playing in his idyllic neighborhood where crime is nonexistent. Next door Ruth Chandler, single mother of David's best friend Donny and two brothers, takes in two young distant cousins whose parents died in a horrific automobile accident. The older sister fourteen years old Meg seems to have fully recovered; the younger sibling Susan needs crutches and wears heavy metal braces on her legs while mentally she is totally broken.
David is immediately attracted to the lovely Meg and they begin meeting at places like "Big Rock"; they make a charming cute couple. Ruth lives in the past when she was the office manager of a large firm; she hates suburbia and being saddled with five children. She takes her growing rage out on her new charges, physically and mentally abusing Meg and Susan, especially Meg who reminds her of all she gave up to have kids. Her sons by omission support her actions. David also knows that Ruth is violent towards Meg, but though he loathes what she is doing, he is also fascinated by her dehumanizing the one person who reminds her how far she has fallen.
This reprint of a 1989 deep psychological study focuses on the watcher-narrator David who learns about abuse and helplessness when he fascinatingly observes the pain a human inflicts on another while neighbors ignore the truth. The story line hooks the audience from the opening line as a wizened David understands pain and never lets go as the serene middle class suburban neighborhood enables ugliness to hide behind the scene (mindful of the Kitty Genovese killing in 1964 Queens). This book also includes two short stories and an interview with Jack Ketchum, but cannot be considered padding since the novel is 340 pages. Readers will be shocked by the horror of customized violence that society chooses to ignore when it happens to THE GIRL NEXT DOOR.
Harriet Klausner
Book Review: A Churning Tale
Summary: 4 Stars
I was searching through Amazon's discussion boards and found "The Most Disturbing Novel You've Ever Read," and time and time again _The Girl Next Door_ was mentioned....so naturally I had to check it out. The reviews intrigued me...even the one stars said it was amazing writing, but way too graphic for their taste while the fives declared it a masterpiece. I guess I fall somewhere in the middle of the pack.
I'll be honest, the actual writing isn't filled with horror because, be honestly, we've all read more graphic scenes...it is what goes on in your mind afterwards. As I read, I flipped page by page just in awe of the progression of physical and emotional abuse, and how easily the children of the neighborhood were "sucked in" to be accomplices. Some other reviewers mentioned that this was unbelievable, but working with children of all ages, I know how easy it is for them to be sucked in and persuaded to do unimaginable acts by their friends, let alone an adult (and in the time period of the book, children actually followed blindlessly and trusted that an adult's word was golden and true).
Once I finished the novel, I sat there and thought about why people would say this was the "most disturbing novel," and I finally realized it. Because this is true horror. Not some run of the mill fantasy horror, but horror that actually exists. This really could be the girl next door to all of us, and we don't even know it. That is the most horrific thing of all.
Book Review: Distirbing, yet compelling...
Summary: 4 Stars
The reviews are correct. It is every bit as disturbing and horrific as it is made out to be.
(SPOILERS)
Ketchum's "Girl Next Door" is brutal in its depiction of the torture-murder of an innocent 14 yr old girl. His use of the 1st person narrator accomplishes his goal of allowing the reader to focus solely on the object of the torture (great literary effect but not so kind under the circumstances).
The question I found myself asking all the while was simply this: Is GND a morality play that hinges on a necessary account of heinous child violence for the sake of demonstrating the moral lesson of how all that is required for evil to gain a foothold is for good men to do nothing or is it simply a vehicle for depicting said child violence? Tough call.
In the end, from a consumer's perspective, I cannot say that I "enjoyed" this book. The topic of child abuse (in the extreme in this case) crosses the line for me / becomes too personal (I have two kids of my own, each right at the same age as the central characters in this book). I would consider another of Ketchum's works but will be a bit more selective as to the subject matter going forward.
4 stars because a "horror" novel should deliver a scary / disturbing impact. This book succeeded in that regard, all too well. Hopefully Ketchum's other works can accomplish the same end without resorting to similar subject matter.
Peace.
- Savage
Book Review: Human-Horror, You want Justice
Summary: 4 Stars
You can sum up this book perfectly with: It is the complete opposite of McCammon's "A Boy's Life" -- in every way that book tries to celebrate childhood, this one takes those same kids from that book (bullies and all) and throws them into this crock-pot of insanity-driven torture of an innocent but proud girl.
If you are an experience horror reader, all the classic Kings and that type, this book will come off as "rough" in parts, but feel a lot like other human-driven-horror novels where you are biting your nails being around psychos. If you have read a few horror novels but mostly stick to self-help and fun reading, this book will seem like murder-porn to you and you'll likely stop reading it.
It's well written and moves fast, I wouldn't call the material riveting in the sense that you are on an "adventure", it keeps you turning the page for the same reason you drive slowly by car-crashes on the freeway and crane your neck around to see how bad it was.
You definitely want to follow this up with something uplifting and funny. I might recommend "John Dies at the End" for a mindless adventure with some great laughs.
Book Review: Horrifying
Summary: 4 Stars
Wow, when you find out that there is information left out of this book b/c it's too digusting or horrifying to relate you know you've got a good piece of horror. I read this book in a day, & was completely mesmerized by Ketchum's storytelling. I thought the 1st person point of view was really interesting, you find yourself pulling for him & maybe not really wanting the believe that he acutally participated (passivley anyway).
I would recommend it for any horror lover, the fact that it's rooted in truth makes it even more terrifying!