If you don't want spoilers then you shouldn't read further. Instead, support the blog and buy your copy here: http://amzn.to/1Xuofot Trust me, this is going to be a powerful read for you. Need more of a hint of how great this book is. This happened last night (last night being the night before I wrote this, not necessarily the posting or when you read this)
On with the blog! These monthly features are pieces of media that inspire horror fans. They deserve some recognition for the things they accomplish (which I'll outline) and you won't go wrong picking it up for yourself.
Paul Tremblay is no stranger to writing a piece that reflects on society's short comings, the comedically odd nature of reality and he's done so before this book. He wrote Swallowing a Donkey's Eye which is the modern day Animal Farm. This book features a reality TV show in the midst of a break down of an entire family. A demon exorcism and family shattering all for the entertainment of America.
Character wise there's four primary entities. Merry, who is our main character, tells the story from both the eyes of her young self and a twenty something woman breaking into writing. Marjorie is a girl who is believed to be possessed or might have a mental illness. The parents (John and Sara) are foils to each other. John becomes religious and wants the exorcism while Sara becomes a drunk and loses her ability to protect her daughters.
Other characters fill in over time. Father Wanderly, a priest who is going to perform the exorcism. Barry and Ken who are TV producers and writers respectively, and some of their crew. Another major character is an author who is writing a book about Merry's story. Her name is Rachel and she acts more like a representative for us. She asks some questions we're wondering and her reactions are similar to the ones I was having when I went through this book.
We start off with a true love letter to the exorcism. Marjorie begins to display symptoms of demonic possession. She's making up odd stories, talking with strange and scary voices, she's almost harming her sister, and we have an amazingly disgusting vomit scene. I seriously had to stop my audio book and give silent props to Tremblay on his descriptions. John takes Marjorie to the church (against her mother's wishes) and then begins the road towards exorcism.
The book is divided into several parts. You get a pretty clear indication of when a new part is starting because you read through a blogger's post about the TV series (The Possession) that shows the events with a camera's eye. Its a really fun way to split up the story, to alter the pacing and we get a very indepth look at what's happening on the TV show. The blogger's name is Karen, but she's actually Merry. We now have 3 different point of views through one character. How fun is that!
When the TV crews arrive the family starts going through some really dark times. Mom is drinking a lot of the time. Dad is blaming anyone but himself for what's happening to his daughter and the book states that both mom and dad have done a lot to get Marjorie the help she needs. There's a lot of indication that Marjorie might be going to a psychologist but she's certainly finding ways to avoid taking her medicine. While Merry believes Marjorie is faking, the reader is left to make that decision. Marjorie's actions become stranger and her personality changes several times and then reverts back.
This is still a Tremblay novel. There's some back door indications that there's a lot of money involved and the church stands to make a lot of money off the TV show just as the generic TV corporation will be making their money too. Marjorie makes some statements about this during her "possessed" moments which are brilliant and sword sharp.
The relationship between the sisters is an over all reflection of the state of the family. The beginning of the book has them nearly inseparable. They make up stories together and write them down together. They play together. Merry's best friend is Marjorie. The progression of love and trust to hate and distance is done in slow and nauseating moments. The love and trust of a very young girl is being broken by her older sister. We're not sure if its a demon or her mental illness that's doing this.
You're told through out the book that Merry was a young girl when it all took place. You're left to wonder what's made up, what's real and what was things that they were doing on the TV show to increase the scare factor. Merry makes several statements that no one story is accurate so you're left to fill in some gaps which is fine. You're individual imagination can come up with what it's like to live with a possessed pre-teen. Fucking hell I assume.
Eventually, the exorcism takes place and we have a dissection of what Merry saw when she was a young child, what happened on the TV show and the fall out after the exorcism. Everything is quick in the moments of the exorcism. It's not how you think it would go though. You have everything that's on par with the Exorcist but then its all very surreal and human. We're left with a "what the fuck were you doing." moment. All the people that came to help the family, the priests, the TV people and the groupies of both leave them all there.
Mom with her drinking, dad with his broken idea of religion, Marjorie with her illness and Merry is just left there by herself. The aftermath is a truly sad moment. A moment where you wonder if dad is losing his mind about to do something terrible to his family or is Marjorie manipulating Merry.
During the story we get another thermometer that reflects the state of the family. There's protestors and as the book continues they move from just a couple of people with signs to a full compliment of hate church protestors with signs of "God hates Marjorie". As the protesting becomes worse you can directly reflect that to the state of the marriage, family and Marjorie.
Now here's the big one. The question that poses itself several times is, is Marjorie possessed or is she faking it? A young Merry believes she's faking it and the older believes that Marjorie is sick. The only people who fully commit to the idea that she's possessed in John and the priest. Both of these characters have antagonistic roles within the story, but they are attempting to help Marjorie in the way that they know how.
The final interaction with Merry and Marjorie is one of the most shocking works in recent memory. Marjorie tells Merry about her father's fall into madness. He's built a shrine in the basement to the failed show and to his falling family. He's been talking to a hate church about what to do now (ironically the same hate church that protested his house and he got into a fist fight with) and now he's planning on poisoning them all.
In order to stop this, Marjorie convinces Merry to use a small amount of the poison to make their parents go to sleep so they can go to the police and save themselves. In the ensuing moments, Marjorie arrives to eat dinner and happily and almost manically eats the poison with her family. There is no shrine in the basement and Merry has killed her family. The little 8 year old girl has been manipulated into murdering her family. They find her sucking on the finger of her 3 day dead mom. Holy fucking fuck fuck! Paul Tremblay you are amazing!
The book ends shortly after this with a scene that's reflecting the moments of the exorcism when Merry was younger. We're left with the knowledge that people can see their breath in the final scene the same way people could see it during the exorcism. Could it be the demon? Could it be something more? Could it be because Boston is fucking cold as hell?
You can draw your own conclusion with all the evidence that is shown, but the things that take place in the background are probably the most heart breaking. Merry and Marjorie's break down is some of the hardest stuff I've encountered this year. The foreshadowing that's used outside of the 8 year old Merry's story just gives you the sense of the impending heart break.
I again have to give a nod to Tremblay being able to put his standard social issues into the book. They aren't really at the forefront of the story at any point in time, but you get the family in economic crisis and closed door deals and the craziness of it all.
This isn't a story that you read and think "This could happen to anyone." but it is a story that you read and you realize that the things that John does to try and help his family is some of the most terrible, wrong direction stuff you've ever seen. By the end you can realize that John is sick and so is Marjorie. You could also make a compelling argument that there was a demon and after the attempted exorcism it manipulated Merry into killing her family. Maybe we are the demons. Oooh...
Either way, this book is still tragic and its a modern twist on your typical possession. A Head Full of Ghosts is entirely worth of the awards that it has won and I can't wait to see where Tremblay goes next. Must read, keep it on your shelf and give it to someone who needs a good read.
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