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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I hadn't heard of Sean O'Brien when I got this book as a gift, but it said on the blurb that he's a poet, and when you start reading, it shows.
His prose style is beautiful, concise, evocative and intensely personal - poetic in fact, and there are lots of references to poetry and poets, many of whom I didn't know. I wondered if some of them were fictional, but I'm far too lazy to check.
It's essentially a book of short ghost stories, with assorted themes connecting them. This kind of book is difficult to pull off without seeming contrived, but he got it spot on most of the time, using repeated themes and images to insert resonance into the pieces and sometimes to add an extra level of meaning and understanding.
So it was a moving and beautiful work, if a little disjointed, very much like a book of poems.
The reason it doesn't get five stars, despite its many great strengths, is that it often seemed deliberately vague, almost wilfully opaque. I felt I wanted more story and less imagery.
However, it's definitely worth a read if you're a fan of the classic English ghost story, or if you have ever felt at home in a library. I caught hints of M. R. James, William Hope Hodgson, Algernon Blackwood and many similar greats from the past, and, just once or twice, it completely enfolded me and made the real world disappear.
His prose style is beautiful, concise, evocative and intensely personal - poetic in fact, and there are lots of references to poetry and poets, many of whom I didn't know. I wondered if some of them were fictional, but I'm far too lazy to check.
It's essentially a book of short ghost stories, with assorted themes connecting them. This kind of book is difficult to pull off without seeming contrived, but he got it spot on most of the time, using repeated themes and images to insert resonance into the pieces and sometimes to add an extra level of meaning and understanding.
So it was a moving and beautiful work, if a little disjointed, very much like a book of poems.
The reason it doesn't get five stars, despite its many great strengths, is that it often seemed deliberately vague, almost wilfully opaque. I felt I wanted more story and less imagery.
However, it's definitely worth a read if you're a fan of the classic English ghost story, or if you have ever felt at home in a library. I caught hints of M. R. James, William Hope Hodgson, Algernon Blackwood and many similar greats from the past, and, just once or twice, it completely enfolded me and made the real world disappear.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a collection of short stories mainly based in Newcastle upon Tyne and with many references to the wonderful "Lit and Phil" independent library in the city.
There is a common Gothic/horror theme and the characters and depictions are very true to North East life.
Well written, enjoyable stories - recommended.
There is a common Gothic/horror theme and the characters and depictions are very true to North East life.
Well written, enjoyable stories - recommended.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Silence Room is a collection of Short Stories- with many fables centred around The Silence Room- the library... Now I know that makes many potential readers think, ' that will be boring' , but it isn't ... The book has many deep characters that get under your skin and stay with you for days after you have read that particular story... There are many horrible characters that get their come uppance in some of the most macabre ways... Well worth perservering with... Sean O'Brien - a writer for our times...
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