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A review by slettlune
Teatro Grottesco by Thomas Ligotti
3.0
Ligotti was recommended to me as the greatest contemporary writer of cosmic horror today, and from my dabbling I'm liable to agree. Ligotti offers a sort of formal, intellectual horror, characters who don't scream and gibber but who are just as overwhelmed by things beyond their understanding. Interestingly, Ligotti's prose is also very reminiscent of Lovecraft's -- for better or worse. There's a denseness to the prose, sentences that can keep adding twists and turns and fill half a page before it ends in a period. Sometimes that works, other times it makes for a fairly exhausting reading experience.
I do like how Ligotti can write characters who exist in a sort of placeless, timeless setting of oppression. Almost Soviet-like, but not quite. Almost DDR-esque, but not quite. No towns are named, no country stated, we only have the prospect of a border and strange, unknown areas "out there". Everyone's continually medicated, the doctors are part of some vague conspiracy, and the less we know, the better the horror and bizarre oppressive atmosphere comes across.
Sadly, the last half of the book becomes extremely introverted and intellectual, short stories obviously meant to tie up threads and give a deeper understanding to the book's universe as a whole, but pages upon pages of characters philosophizing with themselves, alluding to other events, all speaking in the same, dry, "intellectual" voice, made it a genuine chore to finish the book. Which is such a pity, because there were some stories in the first half I adored to the point I was bothering my friends with them.
My favourite stories were Our Temporary Supervisor (the horror of capitalism, the inhumanity of workplace efficiency); Purity (a young boy colluding with dangerous strangers and his even stranger family); The Town Manager (an almost fairy tale-like story of unearthly mayors and uneasy but perpetual compliance); and The Gas Station Carnival (which feels almost Stephen King-esque, and not for the creepy clown).
Really wish this was a more even, balanced, collection. As it is I think Ligotti probably works better in anthologies where his talents can put others to shame.
I do like how Ligotti can write characters who exist in a sort of placeless, timeless setting of oppression. Almost Soviet-like, but not quite. Almost DDR-esque, but not quite. No towns are named, no country stated, we only have the prospect of a border and strange, unknown areas "out there". Everyone's continually medicated, the doctors are part of some vague conspiracy, and the less we know, the better the horror and bizarre oppressive atmosphere comes across.
Sadly, the last half of the book becomes extremely introverted and intellectual, short stories obviously meant to tie up threads and give a deeper understanding to the book's universe as a whole, but pages upon pages of characters philosophizing with themselves, alluding to other events, all speaking in the same, dry, "intellectual" voice, made it a genuine chore to finish the book. Which is such a pity, because there were some stories in the first half I adored to the point I was bothering my friends with them.
My favourite stories were Our Temporary Supervisor (the horror of capitalism, the inhumanity of workplace efficiency); Purity (a young boy colluding with dangerous strangers and his even stranger family); The Town Manager (an almost fairy tale-like story of unearthly mayors and uneasy but perpetual compliance); and The Gas Station Carnival (which feels almost Stephen King-esque, and not for the creepy clown).
Really wish this was a more even, balanced, collection. As it is I think Ligotti probably works better in anthologies where his talents can put others to shame.