The Darkest Part of the Woods Ramsey Campbell 9781848634923 Books
Download As PDF : The Darkest Part of the Woods Ramsey Campbell 9781848634923 Books
SYNOPSIS
In The Darkest Part of the Woods, Campbell introduces readers to the Price family, whose lives have for decades been snarled with the fate of the ancient forest of Goodmanswood. Here, Dr. Lennox Price discovered a hallucinogenic moss that quickly became the focus of a cult-and though the moss and the trees on which it grew are long gone, it seems as if the whole forest can now affect the minds of visitors.
The Darkest Part of the Woods Ramsey Campbell 9781848634923 Books
It turns out I had at least 2 copies of this book but I never got around to reading it until the title came up in a discussion of mythos novels. I finally got around to reading it and I'm kicking myself for putting off such an enjoyable read for so long.I don't believe I had ever read a novel by Ramsey Campbell, if you can believe it. With my rather more specialized tastes I had tended to stick to his earlier Lovecraftian fiction. In fact at least one of Mr. Campbell's stories is on my desert island list, The Other Names. Of course, Mr. Campbell has long ago moved away from derivative mythos pastiche but when the mood strikes him he can return to his own fictional topography (the Severn Valley, compared to HPL's New England) and spin a yarn with Lovecraftian overtones that matches the best Lovecraftian fiction available.
Without getting too detailed, I loved The Darkest Part of the Woods. The very unhurried development of mood reminded me of The Ceremonies by Klein, but with more spare language. I wonder how long it took the author to write this because it seems to me as if just about every phrase is sculpted. I was sort of reminded of when I read All the Pretty Horses, where the space between the words was as important as the words themselves. One of the advantages of having a novel length work to play with is that he took his time, layering one unnerving development on the next. For a similar unhurried feel in a mythos short story you can try Welcome to Goatshead by Tim Curran in Cthulhu's Creatures; I found the drawn out mood building to be similar to The Darkest Part of the Woods. Based on this I ordered a copy of Creatures of the Pool.
Now as far as categorizing it, I am interested in what other people thought. Certainly this is a worthy Severn Valley tale. To my way of thinking, it is not Cthulhu mythos. The only mention of some of the main volumes of the Eldritch Library was to note the Brichester copies had been burned by an irate student (hooray, get them out of the
picture!). Yes there was a tome, the diary of an old wizard Selcouth. For a change here we get to read the entries of interest and they layer directly on to the disquieting mood. Daolath gets a mention, which made me happy. The device of an ancient wizard using his powers to reach beyond the grave and perhaps control an alien, malign intelligence from another plane (which he clearly underestimated) was certainly a device used by Lovecraft, but does it a disservice to the author to call this Lovecraftian? Why not Campbellian? Was HPL the first/only writer to use such a plot device?
Whatever you call it, I certainly enjoyed this book. I would also suggest fans get a copy of the anthology Black Wings to read more of Campbell's mesmerizing Lovecraftian art.
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The Darkest Part of the Woods Ramsey Campbell 9781848634923 Books Reviews
Ramsey Campbell does a nice present-day eerie Lovecraft imitation. Not quite as good, but Lovecraft is no longer with us to write more, so Mr. Campbell gives us the chills now.
I've read a good chunk of the Campbell canon and THE DARKEST PART OF THE WOODS is truly among his very best works. In fact, I'll stick my neck out and state that in future years this novel may be widely recognized as a classic of the horror genre. The best horror, in my opinion, builds slowly and frightens subtly, at least initially. It does so by using well realized characters and a sharply - and darkly and unusually - painted setting. Here is a novel in which the setting is every bit as important a character as any human being in the tale. Campbell masterfully makes the woodlands a dominant presence both inside and outside the Price household. He does so by the use of clever naturalistic metaphors to describe characters' traits, moods, and home surroundings. The novel's setting is a curious one a place where an urban neighborhood, convenience store, highway and nearby mental asylum threaten to encroach upon the nearby woods. But it is the shrinking woodsy setting which dominates over all and whose power is felt by each member of the Price family. The novel is richly textured and surprise builds upon surprise as the tension mounts toward a horrific climax which echoes some of H.P. Lovecraft's cosmic horror tales. Fans of great fright fiction do not miss this book.
An excellent work of Lovecraftian fiction. Those who love Campbell and the Lovecraft circle are in for some delightful reading.
He's done better, but still enjoyed it
Ramsey Campbell is a bit of an aquired taste. This most literate of horror writers is not out to race your pulse or gross you out. Thrill seekers should search elsewhere. But for those of you able to settle into moody, carefully crafted prose, the subtle delights set him apart from his run-and-gun contemporaries. If most horror fiction is beer to be guzzled, this is cognac to be savored.
Ramsey Campbell has obviously had some experience with psychedelics. Any knowledge you may have in this realm will add to the verisimilitude. If you've read H.P. Lovecraft, M.R. James, and/or Robert Aikman you can better appreciate the literary traditions Campbell draws upon.
I have little to add to the story descriptions ably discussed in other reviews. One additional warning, the paperback version is printed in the smallest type I've ever seen (or not seen). Unless you have excellent vision, buy a new or used hardback copy. And sip s-l-o-w-l-y.
I had heard that Ramsey Campbell wrote in the Jamesian (M.R.) tradition so I eagerly purchased The Darkest Part of the Woods hoping to have found a new author to feed my addiction to that particular kind of creepiness. The book started out with promise, although the dialogue seemed a little contrived and so were the characters, yet I held onto hope that the story would pick up. Indeed there were moments at the beginning of the book where it seemed as if Campbell was ready to deliver the goods, but as the chapters moved on, instead of building horror, the book waded into plodding chapters of boring inner-familial conversations full of imprecise reminiscences, all of which threw a wet blanket over any malevolent threats or horror the author was attempting to establish. When I found myself skipping over pages and pages of dialogue between flatly-drawn sisters, I knew it was over.
Ramsey Campbell, in this tale of a family made the catspaw of dark forces, has made a Russian doll of a novel - a tale of supernatural forces that causes great spiritual and psychological anguish told in realistic detail in a precise literate style. His penultimate chapter, where the skeptical heroine faces the horror behind the trees, is a fine example of supernatural, psychological, and literary horror brought together.
It turns out I had at least 2 copies of this book but I never got around to reading it until the title came up in a discussion of mythos novels. I finally got around to reading it and I'm kicking myself for putting off such an enjoyable read for so long.
I don't believe I had ever read a novel by Ramsey Campbell, if you can believe it. With my rather more specialized tastes I had tended to stick to his earlier Lovecraftian fiction. In fact at least one of Mr. Campbell's stories is on my desert island list, The Other Names. Of course, Mr. Campbell has long ago moved away from derivative mythos pastiche but when the mood strikes him he can return to his own fictional topography (the Severn Valley, compared to HPL's New England) and spin a yarn with Lovecraftian overtones that matches the best Lovecraftian fiction available.
Without getting too detailed, I loved The Darkest Part of the Woods. The very unhurried development of mood reminded me of The Ceremonies by Klein, but with more spare language. I wonder how long it took the author to write this because it seems to me as if just about every phrase is sculpted. I was sort of reminded of when I read All the Pretty Horses, where the space between the words was as important as the words themselves. One of the advantages of having a novel length work to play with is that he took his time, layering one unnerving development on the next. For a similar unhurried feel in a mythos short story you can try Welcome to Goatshead by Tim Curran in Cthulhu's Creatures; I found the drawn out mood building to be similar to The Darkest Part of the Woods. Based on this I ordered a copy of Creatures of the Pool.
Now as far as categorizing it, I am interested in what other people thought. Certainly this is a worthy Severn Valley tale. To my way of thinking, it is not Cthulhu mythos. The only mention of some of the main volumes of the Eldritch Library was to note the Brichester copies had been burned by an irate student (hooray, get them out of the
picture!). Yes there was a tome, the diary of an old wizard Selcouth. For a change here we get to read the entries of interest and they layer directly on to the disquieting mood. Daolath gets a mention, which made me happy. The device of an ancient wizard using his powers to reach beyond the grave and perhaps control an alien, malign intelligence from another plane (which he clearly underestimated) was certainly a device used by Lovecraft, but does it a disservice to the author to call this Lovecraftian? Why not Campbellian? Was HPL the first/only writer to use such a plot device?
Whatever you call it, I certainly enjoyed this book. I would also suggest fans get a copy of the anthology Black Wings to read more of Campbell's mesmerizing Lovecraftian art.
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