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A review by ghostboyreads
Barrowbeck by Andrew Michael Hurley
3.5
"Here, let us prepare you now. We must bind your hands and fill your pockets with stones. For the river is running fast and wild and the Master will not want you swept away when he leads you into the water. No, be at peace, sir. All this we do with love, with gratitude. It is you who will speed the Master here to the Haven. It is you who will finally reunite a father with his children."
Barrowbeck is a haunting collection of multiple short stories, many of which are folk horror adjacent, all of which are set in the fictional town of Barrowbeck. These stories span the centuries, and offer an extremely diverse blend of approaches to storytelling. Despite their rather eclectic nature, all of these tales are linked by a few common things - some extremely beautiful writing, and a few core central themes, the main theme being highlighting the utter refusal of mankind to every really change. Barrowbeck is said to be a horror novel, however, there isn't a single horror story in this entire book, temper your expectations, because while these certainly are unsettling, creepy, crushing and devastating stories, they lack the horror edge that myself, and many other readers were expecting.
What is perhaps the most interesting part of this entire novel, is that we're treated to a first-hand look at how Barrowbeck changes over the years. The novel starts out with a few cracking stories, they're utterly brilliant, reading much more like traditional old-timey folk horror tales, however, as the book continues, it does lose a little steam, becoming a regular novel full of rather typical, every-day stories. Despite the horror not having been as apparent as was expected, there is for sure, an intensity, a crushing bleakness, a strange and savage feeling that everything is so very wrong here. In every story collection, there's always going to be stronger and weaker moments, this book is no exception, thankfully, in every single story, you're treated to gorgeous writing and vivid imagery.
Barrowbeck is a haunting collection of multiple short stories, many of which are folk horror adjacent, all of which are set in the fictional town of Barrowbeck. These stories span the centuries, and offer an extremely diverse blend of approaches to storytelling. Despite their rather eclectic nature, all of these tales are linked by a few common things - some extremely beautiful writing, and a few core central themes, the main theme being highlighting the utter refusal of mankind to every really change. Barrowbeck is said to be a horror novel, however, there isn't a single horror story in this entire book, temper your expectations, because while these certainly are unsettling, creepy, crushing and devastating stories, they lack the horror edge that myself, and many other readers were expecting.
What is perhaps the most interesting part of this entire novel, is that we're treated to a first-hand look at how Barrowbeck changes over the years. The novel starts out with a few cracking stories, they're utterly brilliant, reading much more like traditional old-timey folk horror tales, however, as the book continues, it does lose a little steam, becoming a regular novel full of rather typical, every-day stories. Despite the horror not having been as apparent as was expected, there is for sure, an intensity, a crushing bleakness, a strange and savage feeling that everything is so very wrong here. In every story collection, there's always going to be stronger and weaker moments, this book is no exception, thankfully, in every single story, you're treated to gorgeous writing and vivid imagery.
"But she'd not been in any pain, even if the Mister thought otherwise. These children never suffered at the end of more than a leaf suffered when it yellowed. Nor did the decay come as a surprise to them, in the way that a tree was never shocked by autumn."
There's a heavy sense of sadness that lingers over each of these stories, and even if it isn't quite the horror book I was expecting, that doesn't mean that it isn't a thought-proving, memorable, troubling and wonderful little novel. Barrowbeck is a chilling thing, with most of these stories carrying a near prophetic warning. There are some really, really fantastic stories in this collection, ones that so perfectly capture the woes of an entire town, of an entire period of time. They're effective, and disturbing, captivating and almost dreamlike. When it comes to evocative, breathtaking writing, Barrowbeck certainly does deliver, sure, it falls a little short of being a real horror novel, but it makes up for that by being so damn enchanting.
"Here was Fadog, here was Cambugail, Bram and Corrath. Stuck like pigs where they had been cornered. Prif they found face down in the rushes, his back stabbed open to the white of his spine. Gogwyn decapitated. The utmost insult. Or was it a punishment?"