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Peter Straub - In the Night Room


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Chosen Book: In the Night Room - Peter Straub

 

As a suggestion, please put at the top of your post which chapter you're up to. Then if some one hasn't reached that far, they know not to read that post.

 

I just feel that if we wait until we've finished to post, because we're all worried about spoilers, many of the smaller discussions will get missed.. we'll end up discussing the book as a whole, instead of particular bits of it that grab our attention. Does that make sense?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I must say, it's nice to be reading a new book after such a long time - I've been re-reading old favourites because I haven't the money to buy new books, nor the energy to find and register with my local library.

 

As I've said, I have read Straub before (Shadowlands, MR X, Floating Dragon, The Talisman and Black House, both co-written with Steven King) and so far, this book is one of the easiest to read - straightforward prose (or maybe that's because I've just finished Mr X which is quite difficult?).

 

An interesting thing I find with Straub is that he doesn't bother with much physical description of the leading protagonists like some authors, he leaves room for your imagination to add faces from the barest hints. He spends a lot of time on situation, circumstance and emotion - fear and suspicion rather than hurt or loss, especially considering the number of friends and family that these 2 people have lost (at least in my mind).

 

Strangely, although I can feel sorrow for Willy and Tim for their pasts, I don't really care a huge amount about them - is this just me? I am not reading a personal discovery, growth or emotional change, I'm not reading to find out about the characters - they are almost irrelevant to the book. I'm intrigued though - what's the story with the e-mails, are they all from dead people? Why has April suddenly appeared and why is Mitchell so secretive?

 

An enjoyable read so far though.

 

Jo xx

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CHAPTER 16

 

Am I the only person actually reading it? :wink:

 

I'm not entirely sure what I actually think about this, but is this book just a marketing device? :laugh:

 

Tim Underhill's book that has enraged Kalendar and provoked the e-mails from Cyrax and the dead people is called 'lost boy lost girl', which is a Straub book detailing the tragic life of Tim Underhill following the death of his Sister-in-law and Nephew.

 

Odd, but a common Steven King trick! There was a time I thought King had done another Bachman! :D

 

Jo xx

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So.. I read this on holiday, which I didn't think I'd be able to do. I read a bit each night, then some in the launderette. :D

 

Random thoughts.....

 

I certainly felt as if I should have read 'lost boy lost girl' first, and in fact I shall probably do so, then go back and read this again.

 

Having emails crop up near the beginning made me smile, but I ended up getting so annoyed with the IRC-type text.. Cyrax was explaining what was going on, but it was hard to follow.

 

A fictional character crossing over into the 'real world' was interesting.. how would you feel if you discovered your whole life was nothing but a story, and the author's memories?

 

I too had problems really attaching to the characters though, and I didn't feel much loss when Willy disappeared.

 

I can't say Straub has become one of my favourite authors.. I gave up on Mr X, and although this was enjoyable enough, it wasn't great.

 

Btw, if anyone would like to borrow it, let me know. :D

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I'm afraid I finished this and had already moved on to "lost boy lost girl" before I discovered it's the next reading circle book!

 

"In the Night Room" certainly would have made more sense having read "lost boy lost girl" first, but I'm finding "lblg" a far more interesting read having read "ItNR"!

 

Suddenly parts of both books come together at once and it's twice the joy! I did enjoy this month's book, but I do quite like Straub (even though he can make tricky reading at times), although Cyrax's e-mails did become annoying, and I'm not sure I get what WCHWHLLDN's name really meant.

 

Jo xx

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I'm afraid I finished this and had already moved on to "lost boy lost girl" before I discovered it's the next reading circle book!

 

 

It's only nominated.. voting hasn't finished yet.

 

Mind you, I've just bought it.. and am looking forward to reading it now! :D

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Still reading this one, I am finding it heavy going to be honest, although there are glimmers of interesting things to come, so I live in hope!

 

I am glad I am not the only one. I have barely made it to Ch.14 and its a slog. I hope his other one doesnt make it next month cos I am fraid I will duck out :?

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Well I finished the book eventually last night.

 

I found it really hard going at first, but it got better. I found the concept interesting, although I think Robert Heinlein did the fictional character thing better in 'Number of the Beast', which had everyone being someone else's fiction in multiple alternate realities.

 

I agree I wished I'd read lost boy lost girl first, but I feel I know enough about that book for it to be spoilt if I read it, so I probably will give it a miss.

 

There were a couple of glaring inconsistencies which irritated me as well, and I thought not tying up loose ends of the fictional Willy story by saying things like 'I was going to work that out later' were cop outs!

 

I thought Willy's disappearance was an anticlimax also, and not meeting Lily seemed to me to be another cop out.

 

I got the feeling that he couldn't wait to finish the book (on a deadline perhaps?) and rushed it, particularly towards the end.

 

I have read Peter Straub before and had mixed feelings about his work, and this one is definitely on the negative side for me.

 

Having been so negative, the idea was good and the plot reasonably effective after about the first 200 pages!

 

Debbie

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