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Summary: THE ALL-TIME CLASSIC STRAUB OPUS!!!
Review: "Ghost Story" is a panoramic view of a small New York town that is slowly being torn apart by a group of supernatural beings who can take on the appearance of the dead while feeding upon the flesh of the living. These evil demons have come to Milburn to seek revenge upon the five elderly men (known as "The Chowder Society") who have dared to hurt one of their own in the past. The terror these evil entities cause escalates to a fever pitch as one by one the Chowder Society finds its membership dwindling until the remaining members (old and new) rally against the horrors overtaking their beloved town. By the end of the book the population has been seriously depleted, and the son of Chowder Society member Edward Wanderley is off to San Francisco to track down another "nightwatcher" (as he calls them). "Ghost Story" ranks among the top ten greatest fright tales ever written and is required reading for any fan of the genre. The 1981 film was a vastly truncated version of the book with just the bare bones of the plot left intact, and the loss of several prominent characters (including the fifth Chowder Society member Lewis Benedikt and new inductee Peter Barnes who proves to be the most effective fighter of them all despite his tender age of eighteen years). Yet, it did feature an all star cast (Fred Astaire, John Houseman, Melvyn Douglas, Douglas Fair banks, Jr., Patricia Neal, Craig Wasson, and a great performance by Alice Krige as Eva Galli) which gave the whole production a classy look and an eerie feel even though it wasn't any where near as terrifying as Straub's sweeping prose (HARSH LANGUAGE: about 260 words, VIOLENCE: about 35 instances, SEXUAL REFERENCES: about 3 mild scenes and some suggestive subject matter).
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Summary: Oh My Gosh!!
Review: I read this book many years ago when I was a teenager, and I have never forgotten it. Today at work we were talking about scary books, and I asked if anyone had read this one. I came home to see if I could get another copy since my last one has long since disappeared. Imagine my pleasure at reading all these reviews, most of them agreeing with me. All I can say is Ghost Story is The. Scariest. Book. Ever.
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Summary: Boring!
Review: Because I am a beloved Stephen King fan, I actually took HIS advice and read this book. I was very disapointed. I actually had a hard time finishing the book and when I got to the last 30 pages or so I just skimmed through them and was relieved to have it over and done with. What a boring and tedious book this was.
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Summary: Scary Tale of Scary-Tale Tellers
Review: GHOST STORY was the first of Straub's books that I ever read, and it terrified me beyond imagining. I'm no stranger to ghosts myself, as a Dancer and sometime Healer among my people; even so, this tale of decades-old vengeance and terror is as real and as terrifying as it gets.Few authors rival Straub's ability to place me squarely and matter-of-factly into the middle of terror. The newest scare-master on the block is Tristan MacAvery, whose novel TEA FOR TWENTY is a murderous haunted house tale whose characters -- like those in Straub's GHOST STORY -- are richly drawn and plunged into peril almost from the first page. And like Straub, MacAvery's characters create their own fates by who they are and what they've done. Definitely following in the master's footsteps. I recommend them both highly.
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Summary: I feel bad....
Review: I feel bad because so many people obviously believe this to be the scariest book they have ever read, but yet I can count the number of times I got goosebumps from this book on one hand. Perhaps I'll have to read it again at another time, but I was not all that impressed. Also, I kept being distracted by the poor writing and editing of the novel. Still think "Bag of Bones" is the best true ghost story I've read.
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Summary: "What's the most terrible thing you've ever done?"
Review: "What's the most terrible thing you've ever done?" "I won't tell you that, but I'll tell you the worst thing that ever happened to me...the most dreadful thing" This is how the book opens and comes to life. Boy, does it ever! I first read "Ghost Story" 22 years ago when I was 17 years old. I remember the movie coming out shortly after I read it. The movie version is okay, but really chops up the book. Where is the Lewis Benedikt character in the movie? ... and Edward Wanderly is the mayor of Milburn? No, I'm not going to do a review of the movie, but I must say, that if you really want to enjoy this classic book called "Ghost Story", by all means, read the book where the characters are so rich and full of life. In Milburn, New York, Ricky Hawthorne, Sears James, Edward Wanderly, Lewis Benedikt and John Jaffrey are young friends on their way to professions in law and medicine. They accidentally kill a woman named Eva Galli. This group living in the 1920s panic and they decide the only thing they can do, cover up Eva's death. They put her "dead" body in a car that was loaned to them and together, push the vehicle into a lake. When the car is sinking they notice something that will haunt them for the rest of their lives. Eva moves ("Jesus, she can't, she's dead!"). But yes, it appears that Eva is still alive and they see that she is grinning at them from the rear view window. Grinning! In the book, "Ghost Story" is a tale of supernatural revenge and the Eva Galli character is indeed very evil. Return 50 years later to Milburn. The group of men are now called the Chowder Society. They have regular meetings and swap Ghost Stories, but have vowed not to speak of Eva Galli and her death. Suddenly, Edward Wanderly dies while interviewing a young actress named Anne-Veronica Moore at a party hosted by John Jaffrey. Edward apparently dies of fright. The remaining members of the Chowder Society are possessed by terrible nightmares where they die. They send for Edwards's young nephew, Don Wanderly, who is a writer of horror novels. Don wrote a recent book called "The Nightwatcher" based, we learn later, on his own experiences with Eva, known to him as Alma Mobley. Peter Straub wrote a very cerebral book. Ghosts, known in the book as shape shifters, are entities that have been around when humans first began to gather knowledge. "We (Alma talking to Don inside one of Don's hallucinations) have always lived in your dreams and in your worst nightmares" ... the most dreadful thing! 5 Stars!
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Summary: Ghost Story: It Had Me Running
Review: I can summarize what I think of this book in one word: BAD!!! This is, by far, the worst of Straub's works, especially when compared to The Talisman (with Stephen King) and Shadowland. This book went on and on about five old guys: Ricky Hawthorne, Lewis Benedikt, Sear James, John Jaffery, and the late Edward Wanderly, known collectively as the Chowder Society. The group seems to be cursed with misfortune, which started with Edward's death under mysterious circumstances. This was followed by disturbing dreams, in which only Ricky lived, and a suicide ("He was a leaper"). The Chowder Society's real problem is chronic paranoia, which leads them to bring in another seriously disturbed character. Donald Wanderly is the nephew of Edward, as well as the author of The Nightwatcher, which is based on the death of his brother, leaving Don with his own personal demons. What I mean to say, is that this book is?dare I say monotonous (YES)? up until page 450 out of 483, when something finally happens.
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Summary: All horror fan should MUST read this.
Review: The horrr genre is big market and 1000's of books are coming out every year. This book is so well-writien that it will scare the hell out of you. You may find beginig slow but read on. Peter straub once said that he would never write about warewolf and vampire [ Thanks for that!]Well he can produce horror without it. I read this,shadowland,floating dragon and dont know which one is better! I like all 3 books very much and I read them often. He is diffrent. Whenever I usedto go to wisconsin, I always thought of him, 'alrite, I am on the land of great writer!'
keep writing,Straub.
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Summary: I Do Believe in Ghosts...
Review: I read this book when it first came out. I'm not easily scared, but I found it impossible to read it at night alone. I ended up going to the local Denny's, just to have other people around me. It's that chilling. If any of you have seen the movie and thought it was no big deal, it was nothing compared with this book. To sum my ramblings up, if you want a good scare and a few sleepless nights, this is the book for you. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
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Summary: One of the scariest books I have ever read!
Review: I read Peter Straub's 'Ghost Story' so many years ago that I can't remember when, but the memories came rolling back when seeing the title listed in your roster. I love scary books, but can't remember one that chilled my bones like this one! Alice Krige's portrayal in the movie (which I saw before reading the book), was convincingly creepy; along with the help of wonderful actors like Fred Astaire.
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