Wakening the Crow

Wakening the Crow by Stephen Gregory. Published by Rebellion

August 28, 2014 by cayocosta72 Leave a comment

When Oliver finds an old tooth in a velvet box that supposedly came from Edgar Allen Poe, he puts the tooth on display in his aptly named “Poe’s Tooth Books” bookshop. Life has changed for Oliver and his little family since daughter Chloe’s accident. While Oliver feels he is somewhat to blame for the incident, to be perfectly honest he prefers his daughter now. She’s much quieter and easier to control. His wife, Rosie, however, still holds out hope that her daughter will make a full recovery. Then Oliver sees the crow, mangy and old, it refuses to leave, and soon things begin to change in the family. Their relationships become fraught with tension, anger and something else. Is this Poe’s revenge?

A wonderful, wicked novel that could have been written by the dark master (Poe) himself. Fiendish.

Review: WAKENING THE CROW

I loved this book. The setting, the plotting, the horror so subtle it only creeps, not pounces, the lyricism such that I often slowed to savour...lovely, all! I think of Susan Hill 's Simon Serraileur, who resides in a cathedral close--this family, since the settlement from the accident, live in a renovated church tower and vestry. It's all lovely, it is....until we get to the protagonists.

No joy here. The first-person narrative is delivered by one Oliver Gooch, a character I've tried very diligently to like, or even admire--but no, that's not happening. By rights I should: reader, incipient bookseller, newly writer, devoted father and husband. oh, stop right there.. Devoted he is not. His daughter is a profane, spoiled piece of nonsense, so he allows her to be concussed during a hit-and-run. His wife is.infected by a very strange crow. So Oliver turns guilt to.joy, and happily enjoys the freedom of the senses. I.just want the crow to carry Oliver somewhere far, far away. Meanwhile, the prose is special, and the wide cast of secondary characters are sheer delight. 12 stars for WAKENING THE CROW, and I'm anticipating further reading of author Stephen Gregory.

From the beginning, the way Oliver Gooch describes his own daughter Chloe leaves a bitter aftertaste in the reader's mouth. We know straight away that Oliver is creepy, and that is the story's bite in my mind.
Chole has had a terrible accident while in her Daddy's care, that has changed her into a shadow of her former self, and loathe as he is to admit this, Oliver prefers this new, sweet angel to the challenging brat she was before. On one hand he feels guilt, that he was the cause of it all, of course most readers aren't buying it, there is just something smarmy about him. The accident is the key to his dream, for now he has the money to make his dream bookstore a reality.
Oliver finds a treasure within a velvet box, a tooth that the seller claims is from the mouth of one young Edgar Allan Poe. This is just what he has been looking for, something to inspire him to open his bookshop. Soon, with his malleable sweet Chole at his side, the two find a scrappy bird that haunts them, wreaking havoc in their lives. Wife Rosie isn't spared either, and the marriage that already stinks of blame and mistrust over the Chole incident unravels. The bird effects his daughter in eerie ways, and all the while as Oliver wants his daughter to 'keep her secrets and truths buried in her damaged mind' some stalking terror is sure to reveal all.
The creep factor in this novel isn't the horror in my mind, it's the taint of Oliver. It's an uncomfortable feeling the reader carries along the dark tale. I really enjoyed this more than I imagined I would. Yes read it!

A nasty child, and I have seen kids like this, had a temper tantrum and is injured in an accident. She has a head injury that changes her personality. Her dad is plagued by double guilt. He thinks he could have stopped her from getting hurt and he is guilty of liking the new sweet person she has become over her former self. I don't want to spoil the story for you, but if you think Poe had a hand in writing it you might be right. Are Oliver's visions part of an unbalanced mind, a drunken hallucination. or are they real? I'm still not sure.

Wakening The Crow is one of the most beautiful, thoughtful, and unsettling novels that I have ever read. A slight deviation from my normal penchant for horror, it did not leave me wanting. Stephen Gregory writes as if he created language; his words are poetry without pretense

The story revolves around a brain-damaged 7-year-old, her guilt-wracked father, a carrion crow, and a tooth. It is the story of how a few lost moments can set into motion a dream (nightmare?)-like chain reaction of coincidences. Is it the curse of Poe or simply the result of a a feckless alcoholic who is losing touch with reality?

This is a novel that deserves a fire place, a cup of tea, and preferably some rain pelting off the roof. Stephen Gregory speaks to the demons within and the melancholy that lies within every human soul.

This book was provided to me as an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When Oliver and Rosie’s daughter is injured in a hit and run accident, she suffers brain damage and her personality is altered. Upon being granted a payout for the accident, Oliver decides to use the money to set up a bookshop, something he’s longed to do for many years. They purchase an old church in which to live, with the bookshop forming the lower level of the building. One day they come across a scabby-looking crow, who refuses to leave.

This is quite a difficult novel to read, not because the prose is poor – it certainly isn’t, quite the opposite – but because of the writing style. It begins simply enough, but as the story develops, so does the gradual spiral into madness and the inexorable mental descent of Oliver and his relationship to Rosie and Chloe. The descriptive passages are wonderful, creating a beautifully icy depiction of Nottingham. There’s a dreamlike quality to the prose, which mirrors the story and Oliver’s sense of dislocation and detachment. Gregory is superb at teasing out the sinister aspect of birds – this theme features in many of his books – and it’s brilliantly entangled into the story. The shadow of Edgar Allan Poe is also present in much of his writing, and here it acts as a perfect counterbalance to Oliver’s guilt. I would say it’s a novel that’s definitely not formulaic, despite the Poe influence, and one that works well against the backdrop of contemporary Britain.

But beneath all of the gothic madness and macabre detail, the novel hints at something even darker. This aspect only really reveals itself after the book is finished, once you’ve closed the pages and let the story settle on your mind. There are a couple of moments that hint at something horrific lurking in the darkest recesses of Oliver’s subconscious, something that’s subtle and delicately handled, and yet might be too strong for some readers.

I thought this was a great novel. Even if you know little about Edgar Allan Poe, you’ll still enjoy this, but if you’re a fan you’ll delight at the little references. Recommended.