First Line: "It is a quiet place, especially at night."
Random Quote: "She is, in this moment, more powerful than a thousand warriors. The world suddenly holds no fear, as her body holds no pain and no nausea. She stays lost in this moment. Feels the intensity of this present, free from past and future, and keeps feeding under the comfort of a dark and starless sky."
Review: A [fill in the genre] with vampires (or zombies or fallen angels or werewolves or all of the above) has become a norm in current literature. I keep trying to decide what that says about the times, but the best I can come up with is that we're just as obsessed with death and sex as the Victorians (and just as twisted about them, too). The Radleys
is a suburban domestic drama with vampires. Think David Lynch's Blue Velvet meets John Updike with a little excursion through Shirley Jackson.
Image by [phil h] via FlickrLike all angst-ridden novels of suburbia the Radleys are bored with their choices, hiding themselves and their impulses, cheating their children of their real lives. Their marriage is stale, their lives are stale, their neighbors are stale - it's all just a little too bloodless.
It is to Matt Haig's great credit that he has a wonderful sense of humor. He understands his setting and its cliches, but by populating it with vampires he both satirizes and cannibalizes it for everything its worth. Terse, thoughtful, witty, and dark - all told a fun read.
FTC Disclosure: Advance copy from the publisher for review
Rating: Blue
I bought and downloaded and began The Radleys after reading your review. A ways in, I think it's a bit overwritten, but engrossing all the same. Thanks for this review!
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