Thursday 26 July 2012

Room 13

This is the third book the group have read, which could be styled as 'gothic horror', and they were keen to debate its merits against the others we have read. Some discussion about whether a vampire story and 'Hush, Hush' do in fact belong to the same genre took place, and I'm resolving it here by using the term 'gothic'.

This book is not a contemporary 'gothic' novel. First published in 1989, the 'present day' setting of the novel is by now dated, and as a result the children struggled because the characters to them appeared naive and unreal. This became a major barrier to enjoyment for them all. Issues like the absence of swearing in their speech were highlighted. The 'bad boys' in the school party seemed ridiculously innocent compared with those our kids have experienced. 

In terms of plot they found it a bit predictable, and the methods employed to kill the inevitable vampire, absurd. 

In the end it was agreed that the book offered a light read, that was good enough. 

On the other hand I found the book quite charming, depicting school life as I remembered it....but then, I have always been naive.

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