This collection has been one I have been meaning to read for so long. I had heard so much about it and so many great things said about it, it should not have taken me so long to read. And having read it, the hype is very well deserved. There is nothing else like the stories in this collection. They are one-of-a-kind and can only come from someone whose child-like imagination is as twisted and bizarre as Clive Barker’s. They manage to creep out and incite, disgust and turn on, seem to be heavily influenced by classic horror stories as ancient as story itself and be wholly original and breathtakingly unique. This collection is such a wild ride, it is surprising that the actual first story is rather boring, but once you begin “The Midnight Meat Train” about a man who kills subway passengers for creatures who live under and control New York City, it is a journey you will not soon forget, even if you want to. My favorites include “The Yattering and Jack” a rather darkly comical take on a modern Job, who life is being destroyed by an unseen demon. It is funny how the man constantly ignores the fact of the demon’s presence and how frustrated the demon gets at not being able to break this man. As sick as it sounds, you actually begin to sympathize for the demon, whose task is impossible, and survival relies solely on his impossible success. It is a recurring theme throughout these stories that the monsters that create such havoc in our life should be embraced by us since they come to represent aspects of our life that are unpleasant but necessary to our spirits. It is an idea that enhances each of his stories, and makes them that much more beautiful. This idea comes up again in the gruesome story “Jacqueline Ess: Her Will and Testament” where a woman discovers she has the power to manipulate the bodies of those around her into horrendous shapes. Throughout the story Jacqueline is constantly afraid of her body and what she might do to herself. In the end, she finds the one person who loves her for what she is, and they consummate their love, which results in both of their deaths. It is sickeningly sweet scene that appalls and arouses with equal measure, but is always completely beautiful and romantic. To me, the most affecting story is “Dread” about a university student obsessed with other people’s fear. So much so that he locks his girlfriend, a strict vegetarian afraid of any kind of meat, in a room with a cooked steak. She must eat the meat in order to be let free, but she refuses and the meat begins to spoil, and the inevitable is so revolting and stomach turning, you may become a vegan yourself. Everyone of these stories offers something you have never seen before, whether it is the walking giant made of the citizens of an entire town in “In The Hills, The Cities”, or the cancerous tumor of a long dead escaped convict that haunts an old movie house in “Son of Celluloid”. Even old story types like the monster in “Rawhead Rex” and the zombies in “Sex, Death and Starshine” become new and eye opening in Barker’s hands. I truly loved this book and the journey it took me on, which can be one of great self-discovery and illumination if you let it be.
Rating: 5/5
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