Review : Bird Box by Josh Malerman
Bird Box by Josh Malerman
Pages : 291
Genre : Horror
Stand alone
My Rating : 4.5/5
About the Book :
My Thoughts :
I read a few dark, scary, creepy novels this fall, mostly for the R.I.P. challenge; but none quite affected my like Bird Box did. Some made me uncomfortable (I’m looking at you, Neil Gaiman!), others had me confused (parts of me are forever lost in the house of leaves), but none of these scared me like Bird Box. I’m talking too-scared-to-walk-in-the-dark kind of scared!
Bird Box is kind of interesting because it sorts of reverse some of the usual horror tropes. Usual horror movies have you scared of the dark: it’s when the monsters come out to eat and the serial killers are out to play. Dark streets, darks houses, dark forests… You always fear what horrible things are hiding in the shadows. And in a way, you get a little of that in Bird Box : something bad is lurking outside, something you can’t see. But the difference here, is you don’t want to see; for whoever glances upon these monsters, meets a crazy, deadly fate.
And so Malorie doesn’t know what these things outside look like. It’s left to her imagination – and consequently, ours – to guess what they are and where they come from. The only thing she knows for sure is not to look at them, day or night; and so she barricades the windows, wears a blindfold when she needs to get out, and teaches her children to rely only on sounds. You can imagine what kind of crazy, scary situation it is when she decides to leave the house with her two five-years-old to get on a small boat and row down the river – all of it while blindfolded!
This is without a doubt one of the best books I’ve read this year. It’s slow-moving rather than filled with action and “jump scares”, and it doesn’t give a lot of answers, which I know some readers will be disappointed with. But for me, it worked perfectly: this lack of answers was just enough to keep the mystery and the horror intact as the story slowly dragged me along the scary river. On top of that, I felt like the author wrote Malorie and other characters with great care, giving them just enough depth and personality.
I read Bird Box for the R.I.P. challenge and it was a perfect fit; but it would be as good a read on a dark january night on a stormy summer day. After all, these monsters are here to stay.
That sounds creepy but in a good way!
Yes! That’s how it felt! 🙂