Hauntingly dark
4 steloj
There is a hauntingly dark atmosphere throughout When The Stars Disappeared, heightened because, for most of the novella, we don't know the whys and hows of events that led up to Sam and Nura's dystopian reality. Hints are dropped with Zandovskis alluding to the disaster that befell America, but his withholding of the exact detail prompted my mind to start imagining, thereby increasing the story's tension. The whispering shadows are a brilliantly terrifying concept, slightly reminiscent for me of the X-Files episode, Darkness Falls, although their vocal mimicry ability here adds substantially to their horror. I cannot begin to imagine the turmoil of hearing familiar voices calling every night from the darkness and never quite being sure of their origin.
As a counterpoint, I loved the kind and hope filled relationship between Sam and Nura. Although he is a father figure to her, they still have a sense of equality …
There is a hauntingly dark atmosphere throughout When The Stars Disappeared, heightened because, for most of the novella, we don't know the whys and hows of events that led up to Sam and Nura's dystopian reality. Hints are dropped with Zandovskis alluding to the disaster that befell America, but his withholding of the exact detail prompted my mind to start imagining, thereby increasing the story's tension. The whispering shadows are a brilliantly terrifying concept, slightly reminiscent for me of the X-Files episode, Darkness Falls, although their vocal mimicry ability here adds substantially to their horror. I cannot begin to imagine the turmoil of hearing familiar voices calling every night from the darkness and never quite being sure of their origin.
As a counterpoint, I loved the kind and hope filled relationship between Sam and Nura. Although he is a father figure to her, they still have a sense of equality between them with him relying as much on her to keep going as she does him. The book's language interested me too. Although it is set in a near future America, several frequently used words are historic Scots or English which gave When The Stars Disappeared a unique feel. I felt the language complemented Nura's wonderfully eclectic reading habit and I could envisage her having picked up her vocabulary this way, her and Sam's social isolation resulting in them beginning to evolve their own dialect.
When The Stars Disappeared isn't a novel for insomniac readers. It wormed its way into my mind and, while I was relieved that there aren't many overtly violent or gory scenes, there are implied and off-the-page actions which my caught my imagination prompting me to envisage the worst. Zandovskis has created a distinctive world for this novella and I found the book to be an exciting, tense read.