Rating: ★★★★
Genre: Horror
Format: eBook
Pages: 119
Read: 06/25/22
Synopsis:
A HAUNTED HOUSE FOR THE CLIMATE CHANGE ERA.
On the island of Sri Lanka, at a colonial mansion between the forest and the paddy fields, a caretaker arrives with four children in tow after pledging to keep them safe. When violent thugs storm the house demanding that Ushu repay his debt, young Jasmit and the other children hide in an upstairs bathroom where a running tap opens a gateway to escape. But the Dry House is not the only force at work in the place where the forest and the estate meet-something else stirs in the trees, something ancient, something that demands retribution.
The Sap Mother bides her time, watching and learning from the house's inhabitants. She burrows beneath the foundations of the Dry House, hungry for atonement. Pulled between these warring powers, Jasmit must choose between saving those trapped in the mansion's bulging stomachs and preparing the house for when the Mother emerges again.
Advanced Review:
“The House of Drought. The upside-down house. The house hibernating inside the house.”
Bernhard Zimmerkrug and his associate travel to Sri-Lanka to record a documentary exposing climate change and the severe drought in Anathakandu. While there he comes upon an old mansion and out of curiosity, he decides to explore and learn the history of the house. He believes his documentary needs something more; a human connection. What he learns and experiences will change his life.
We are given the history of the house during different eras and the people that were in some way connected. From the original builder and the people who once dwelled there. There is an ancient lore connected to the mansion, one that has always watched over the land to preserve and prosper it, a ghost of the forest. The building of the house has hurt the spirit and the forest in which she dwells. The house has become a curse upon the land.
The house has many, many secrets.
I feel one must keep an open mind while reading this. Read it for what it is, a work of fiction to entertain and yet still give a look into climate change and its effects. It has many unsettling moments as we are introduced to the lore of the forest and how the house is perceived as a labyrinth of hidden halls, an otherworldly side, with a very dry, dusty, parching, claustrophobic setting. It is never really explained how the house became a curse, but we are given a story of a woman who hides her children within to protect them from harm. A lineage of stories piecing each puzzle together, but never quite getting that foothold because we are shifted from the characters experiences within the house and then brought back to their entry into the house, but as the house is a labyrinth, it gives the feeling of also being taken through the many layers within. I felt it was very effective keeping with the themes that eventually are more revealed.
Good imagery, descriptive and atmospheric. Not necessarily frightening, a bit unsettling if one imagines oneself stepping into an old colonial mansion and becoming trapped within its corridors of dryness and dust.
“It’s worse than the world outside, worse than the forest and the fields. This place doesn’t belong here; it never should have been built.”
Goodreads Author Page:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/
Amazon Purchase Page:
https://www.amazon.com/House-Drought-Dennis-Mombauer-ebook/dp/
Review Links:
No comments:
Post a Comment