We all remember Goosebumps. Their freaky covers were almost as haunting as the books themselves. I've read a few of his books as a kiddo. I had difficulty putting them down, and when it was time for lights out, I had difficulty getting his images out of my head.
(Side note: The campy television series cheapened the tales a bit, but I would run home on Halloween Night for the Goosebump specials, like Night of the Living Dummy. It's the youthful drive to seek out and conquer fear that makes Halloween such an awesome day)
R. L. Stine is part of many of our childhood. So when I saw a novel of his at Walgreens I asked myself: Why Walgreens? Is R. L really still alive? And does he still have it?
Stine clearly has a knack for understanding mundane mores that are typical in middle class life: Moody children, cheating partners, refrigerator and helicopter parents, bullying, iphones, and Google. Toss in possibly psychotic twins who want to "rule the school" and you have this R.L Stine novel.
A part of me wants to give this novel two of five stars, but writer and guru David Farland, has taught me that rather than tearing each other apart, we should find that creative audacity to aspire for literary greatness that bonds many of us writers. With that said, I am not a published author, but I consider myself well-versed in Horror and speculative fiction, and Red Rain is just okay.
Stine has built his career on children and teen fiction. Unfortunately that translation into adult lit comes off rather sophomoric. The plot devices are so cliche and the characters a bit flat that the overall product and quality of writing is amateurish. I read to the end just cause I got to a point in the book where I couldn't turn back.
While not a knock out the park, kudos to R.L. Stine for his longevity in this career. It has inspired me to keep at it.
(Side note: Halloween is coming up. What horror movies should I see or re-watch? What will you be doing this Halloween?)
No comments:
Post a Comment