A review by reads_vicariously
Shiver: Junji Ito Selected Stories by Junji Ito
5.0
A selection of some of Junji Ito's best short stories! Need I say more?
Ok fine, they're all great! True to Ito's style they're full of deranged and through-provoking concepts mixed with evocative and terrifying imagery. Sure the characters are somewhat underdeveloped and thin, but that's easy enough to overlook in favor of all the nightmare-inducing imagery.
It's hard to pick favorites in a collection this good, but here are a few that are really burned into my brain:
"Hanging Blimp" - a rash of suicides that quickly escalates into a full-blown apocalypse of giant floating heads with nooses; as wild in concept as it is hard to explain.
"Marionette Mansion" - a family who have built a house allowing them to be fully controlled like marionette dolls by strings and people in the ceiling; also a creepy demon puppet that causes excruciating havoc in the end.
"The Long Dream" - a frightened hospital patient whose dreams continue to increase in length (though his sleep time remains the same) and whose body begins to transform because of it; a really interesting concept with some shocking images.
There's also one story, called "Greased," that I won't ever read again just because it was so effectively gross. And not like in a gory way or anything, I just can't handle greasy pimple stuff (you weirdo pimple-popping video watchers will love it :P).
Ok fine, they're all great! True to Ito's style they're full of deranged and through-provoking concepts mixed with evocative and terrifying imagery. Sure the characters are somewhat underdeveloped and thin, but that's easy enough to overlook in favor of all the nightmare-inducing imagery.
It's hard to pick favorites in a collection this good, but here are a few that are really burned into my brain:
"Hanging Blimp" - a rash of suicides that quickly escalates into a full-blown apocalypse of giant floating heads with nooses; as wild in concept as it is hard to explain.
"Marionette Mansion" - a family who have built a house allowing them to be fully controlled like marionette dolls by strings and people in the ceiling; also a creepy demon puppet that causes excruciating havoc in the end.
"The Long Dream" - a frightened hospital patient whose dreams continue to increase in length (though his sleep time remains the same) and whose body begins to transform because of it; a really interesting concept with some shocking images.
There's also one story, called "Greased," that I won't ever read again just because it was so effectively gross. And not like in a gory way or anything, I just can't handle greasy pimple stuff (you weirdo pimple-popping video watchers will love it :P).