Here is another audio book which I picked up for a joke amount - probably 50 cents - at one of the local libraries which I have frequented in recent years. Finally gave it a listen. Ultimately, and a bit to my surprise, I managed to get through it in maybe a week and a half. It was five compact disks, so thus was relatively short.
Before I get into it, let me just warn here, as I usually do, that there will be spoilers ahead. So if you have not yet read this book and intend to, here is your warning not to read on:
SPOILER ALERT
SPOILER ALERT
SPOILER ALERT
Okay, so that was my usual warning. If you are still reading, I have to assume that you either are familiar with this book, or for some reason or other, you do not mind the spoilers to come. So be it
Let me resume with the book review:
It starts off with a woman, Louise, complaining to her noisy neighbor about listening to music too loudly for her liking. He has friends over, it is on a weekend night, and he feels that he has every right to listen to the music like that. But we find out that there is a long history between the two, with him playing music too loudly for her, and him basically ignoring her protests.
Of course, the situation worsens, and seems to get out of control before long.
Eventually, she gets officials involved. She is a bit horrified by the monotone voice of the man whom she initially reaches. Then, she has other, more subtle problems with the woman who physically comes to her place to respond to the noise complaint. In particular, she has a problem with how the woman seems unable or unwilling to make any kind of eye contact.
Things spiral further out of control. Before long, both neighbors are playing mind games with the other, regarding loud music. The original offender blasts music for just a few seconds, just to get the narrator's attention, before listening to music not so loudly for exactly one hour. But Louise then responds by playing the most obnoxious music she can as loudly as she can very early in the morning, at an hour which she knows will irritate him (it was six in the morning, if memory serves correctly).
It should have ended there. But of course, it did not.
The feud keeps going. One of the things which the narrator particularly gets annoyed at is her neighbor's claim that she hated noise so much that she sent her own child away. This is before we get to know her son, Joseph. And so we do not know yet what the story is behind this.
As it turns out, she and her husband did indeed send their child "away," if you will. But it is not for some petty reasons like noise. Far from it, actually. Joseph has in fact been sent to a highly reputable music school, where Joseph is the star of the boy's choir there. It will almost assuredly secure a bright future in music for him.
At first, Louise suspects that her neighbor just does not have any idea about her son and their family situation. But that changes when the music that keeps Louise awake is choir music. Specifically, the music which Joseph and his choir sing, and which is particularly effective at haunting her and keeping her sleepless.
The thing is, Louise is missing her son terribly. She feels very bad about sending him away, and clearly wants her son home and present with them at home. This grows more and more intense as the story goes along.
She begins to feel that her neighbor is almost an evil genius, hell-bent on playing mind games with her. Torturing her, in short. Nobody else seems able or willing to help. In fact, nobody else seems to hear the music which keeps her awake, which she believes is all part of that neighbor's evil genius.
Before long, she begins to look into greener pastures - quite literally - at a place called Swallowfield. They already have a home - a beloved Victorian which they love and, in fact, are doing renovations on - but she suddenly is absolutely hell bent on getting a new home in Swallowfield. This will surely solve all of her problems, getting her away from her evil neighbor, and providing a healthy and beautiful home setting for Joseph, as well.
Things, however, are not really what they seem. Somehow, she has convinced her skeptical husband to buy the expensive home and property, which has access to lush woods and a heated pool, and pretty much all of the luxuries that most people could possibly dream of in a home. And Joseph seems happy, home for the holiday break.
But the happiness does not, and cannot, hold, of course. The choir music comes back, and this time, Louise knows enough that she cannot seriously assume it's her evil neighbor. Eventually, it leads to a mental breakdown, when she goes underwater, where the source of the music appears to come from.
Here again is the ultimate spoiler, the twist end, which comes at the end. Are you sure you want to read on, just in case you might want to give this story a read?
One last spoiler warning:
SPOILER ALERT
SPOILER ALERT
SPOILER ALERT
Okay, so let me continue, then.
Ready?
It turns out to be a Sixth Sense kind of a story. She was warned by the woman who came over originally for the noise complain not to drive to check out the new housing development, Swallowfield, while she was tired. Louise ignored the warning, to her own peril.
Louise figures out, too late, that in fact, she really should have heeded the warning. She has some vague recollection of bad driving conditions, and an accident. She had come to view the presence of the ghostly choir as a warning to parents, but she learns that the members are actually already dead children. Her son is already gone, and so is she and her husband.
Boo!
So there you have it. An interesting idea, but this story somehow never felt overly engaging. At first, I like Louise, the main character. But then she seemed to grow pettier and pettier as she went along, thinking nothing of going heavily into debt to buy a house in a very privileged neighborhood, even though she and her husband already are swimming in debt with their current house (plus renovations). She felt to me like someone who has a false sense of entitlement, frankly, and it became almost impossible to relate to her.
Also, the ending felt...well, kind of like it was a bit of a rip-off. There is a reason why I mentioned the Sixth Sense. If you remember seeing that movie and then read this book, you would likely suspect, like me, that she got the idea quite directly from it.
Not a bad book. But not a particularly great read, either.
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