Amity

Amity
by Micol Ostow
New York: Egmont
2014
361 pages




Most people are familiar with the story The Amityville Horror, either in book or film form. The movie version with Margot Kidder and James Brolin was one of the first haunted house movies I was allowed to watch.

I remember when the story of the Lutz family was published in such magazines as Good Housekeeping. There are so many websites about them and their house, and people are still debating as to whether or not they were telling the truth. The movie has been updated and sequelized and prequelized and transformed so often that it is unrecognizable. This story has probably influenced all haunted house movies and books since it came out.

Of course, the house still stands and people live in it, quite happily by most accounts. But ghost hunters and gawkers still make pilgrimages to see the famous house.

Micol Ostow, a New Yorker, has taken up the challenge of writing a new fictional teen story about the Amityville house. Our story is split between a time about ten years ago, following Connor and his dysfunctional family's move into the house, and Gwen with her family in the present day. Both families have hopes for a new beginning in this house, but the house has other ideas. And yes, this house seems to be alive with a plan of its own for its occupants.

Slowly, in both timelines, our main characters respond to the house. Weird noises are heard, the boat house door bangs and taunts. Various family members see things or respond violently to the atmosphere of the house and have to leave. We end up uncertain as to whether our two main characters are victims or are tools of destruction.

This story does maintain some of the horror and tension needed for a scary story, although I was rather distracted by all of the back and forth, including a change in the fonts for Connor's story and Gwen's. I think I would have preferred having Connor's story as background, and maybe a merging of stories at the end. It is also told by the characters themselves, and possibly that in itself detracted from the horror. I think it is hard to convey the horror of the situation through one person's limited point of view. I don't get the impression that some characters, such as either mother, really seem to notice the atmosphere of the house or the strange behavior of their children.

I think Amity was worth reading, but it wasn't as frightening as it could have been. I'm somewhat disappointed since this story is so familiar. But if you are a collector of haunted house stories, as I am, you should give it a try.

It doesn't look like a haunted house, does it?

Fiendish

Fiendish
by Brenna Yovanoff
New York: Razor Bill
2014
341 pages



I have seen a newish trend in teen fiction emerging--the Southern Gothic. Maybe it's not so new, since we have seen popular books like Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia, and from my earlier review, Spirit and Dust by Rosemary Clement-Moore, but I have seen more of this particular sub-genre in the reviews. This is my first Brenna Yovanoff book, but I am eager to read more.

Fiendish is an entertaining Southern Gothic with a paranormal twist. I found these elements of the Gothic Novel very nicely outlined by Robert Harris. Here's their application to this novel.

• We have the actually have several large and spooky houses. We have the burnt-down house in which Clementine was found. We have her aunt Myloria's decrepit house. We also have Fisher's grandmother's house, with the mysterious rooms in the attic.
• The first element of mystery in this story is how did Clementine get into the cellar closet and subsequently survive, and who put her in there?
• There are ancient prophecies, omens, portents, and visions in abundance about the "Crooked people" of Hoax County. The return of the Reckoning, when the town's people tried to burn out the Blackwoods' home, is what people of the craft are afraid of.
• There are many supernatural elements: how did Clementine survive all of those years in the cellar? What about the hollow and the fiends? And the hell dogs are deadly. 
• The high, overwrought emotion is everywhere in this story: Aunt Myloria's strange behavior, the animosity between the village and the hollow dwellers, the overwhelming sense of doom, all contribute to the highly charged emotional level of the story.
• Women in distress is also a common theme in the Gothic novel. Clementine, her cousin Shiny, friend Rae and, most of all, Davenport, all are threatened by the past, the town's people, the hollow fiends, and even each other.
• The metonymy of doom and gloom. We have plenty of metaphors in the wind howling, the rain flooding the rivers, and the dark smoke of the burning buildings.
• And the use of language to create a dark and tense atmosphere.

The spooky, swampy hollows

As a Gothic horror story, this story was exciting and intense. I really enjoyed the side romance, too, with Clementine and Fisher, brought together in the beginning of the story by some mysterious connection. It's the typical teen romance, on again off again, but also rather intense as Clementine is so drawn to her rescuer. The characters face their opponents with strength and determination, and although we aren't quite sure how it will end, we know our story's heroes will put up a good fight. I did wonder

I recommend this book for any teen reader who likes horror stories but doesn't mind a touch of the supernatural.