Book Review: GROWING THINGS AND OTHER STORIES by Paul Tremblay

 

GROWING THINGS AND OTHER STORIES by Paul Tremblay  (William Morrow, July 2019) Hardcover, 352 pages.  ISBN 0062679139 / 9780062679130  

 

Summary from the Goodreads website . . . . .

 

A chilling anthology featuring nineteen pieces of short fiction from the multiple award-winning author of the national bestseller The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts.

 

In “The Teacher,” a Bram Stoker Award nominee for best short story, a student is forced to watch a disturbing video that will haunt and torment her and her classmates’ lives.

 

Four men rob a pawn shop at gunpoint only to vanish, one-by-one, as they speed away from the crime scene in “The Getaway.”

 

In “Swim Wants to Know If It’s as Bad as Swim Thinks,” a meth addict kidnaps her daughter from her estranged mother as their town is terrorized by a giant monster . . . or not.

 

Joining these haunting works are stories linked to Tremblay’s previous novels. The tour de force metafictional novella “Notes from the Dog Walkers” deconstructs horror and publishing, possibly bringing in a character from A Head Full of Ghosts, all while serving as a prequel to Disappearance at Devil’s Rock. “The Thirteenth Temple” follows another character from A Head Full of Ghosts—Merry, who has published a tell-all memoir written years after the events of the novel. And the title story, “Growing Things,” a shivery tale loosely shared between the sisters in A Head Full of Ghosts, is told here in full.

 

From global catastrophe to the demons inside our heads, Tremblay illuminates our primal fears and darkest dreams in startlingly original fiction that leaves us unmoored. As he lowers the sky and yanks the ground from beneath our feet, we are compelled to contemplate the darkness inside our own hearts and minds.

 

“Paul Tremblay has mastered creepy, interstitial spaces with his own brand of supernatural-adjacent horror. This collection proves again that in any form, at any length, Tremblay is a must-read.” 

—Chuck Wendig, New York Times bestselling author of Wanderers and Invasive

 

“Both wildly entertaining and deeply unsettling, Paul Tremblay’s writing has a way of sneaking under your skin and messing with your head. Superb. Can’t rate it highly enough.” 

—Sarah Lotz, author of The Three and The White Road

 

“A skilled purveyor of the uncanny who always seeks meaning amidst the fear, Paul Tremblay is one of the key writers who have made modern horror exciting again.” 

—Adam Nevill, author of The Ritual

 

“These aren’t just stories - they’re spirits that linger, shadows that haunt, terrors that follow you even after you’ve closed the book. . . Growing Things is a collection of Paul Tremblay’s most searing and powerful work yet.” 

—Christina Henry, author of Alice and The Girl in Red 

 

 

My review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

 

     What I enjoy most about Paul Tremblay's work is how he skillfully negotiates the thin line between reality and imagination. His scares come from the paranormal, the supernatural, the unearthly, and contain just enough skepticism that readers are never sure if the disturbing events aren't internally created by one of the characters or just how they imagine things to be. A Headful Of Ghosts and The Cabin At The End Of The World are great examples of that. I'm curious to see if he employs the same devices in his shorter fiction.

 

     Here's the short answer for those who don't want to read all of my lengthy review: Tremblay doesn't employ the style that's made him recognized for "Ambiguity Horror" (his words) in every single one of these stories. As he refers to this in a character's voice in NOTES FROM THE DOG WALKER, he doesn't want to be considered a one-trick-pony writer. Many of these stories are more straight-forward. Many seem to be deliberately experimental, as if he was trying to work through a few things. 

 

     I didn't like every story in this collection. It's quite a mixed bag. Only 8 of the 19 stories are what I would consider above average and/or exceeding expectations. Six were just average. Five just weren't what I consider a good story. It never takes me this long to finish a Tremblay novel because I'm usually fully immersed in the story by the 50 page mark. 

 

     There are two stories written just for this collection, and NOTES FROM THE DOG WALKER is the absolute best of the bunch, good enough for award consideration. The other THIRTEENTH TEMPLE is a welcome return to some familiar characters from his novel.

 

     It's also interesting that the six stories I found to be the best here have that flavor of vagueness to them that Tremblay does so well. GROWING THINGS AND OTHER STORIES is deserving of your reading time. Just don't feel obligated to read every single story or try to finish the ones that don't catch on with you. THREE STARS OVERALL. My story by story review follows:

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     I"m going to read this one slowly in order to enhance my appreciation and post updates here as I go. I started reading on July 19 with the title story, GROWING THINGS:

Damned if he didn't get me wondering if this apocalyptic scenario wasn't created by a "squirrelly" character. And are the growing things real or imagined, planted (ha) in a young gullible mind? It was nice to see two familiar characters from A Headful Of Ghosts and learn how Tremblay transferred some of their traits to the novel. GROWING THINGS is a very short but nonetheless disturbing tale. The only downside is that it ends without any resolution, as do many horror stories of this type. All is hopeless. Woe is me/us. Four stars.

 

SWIM WANTS TO KNOW IF IT'S AS BAD AS SWIM THINKS includes a giant monster invasion of a small New England town in the background. Because of the unstable narrator of the story, whether it's really happening is (again) questionable. This tale of a meth-eating mother grabbing her court-removed daughter in order to protect her is more of a character-study than a complete story, and ends in apparent doom (again). I'm detecting some themes so far, but it's early so I'll hold off on stating them. The grocery-store employee incident felt incredibly accurate and brought back memories of my high-school part-time job. Swim is also a clever acronym. Four stars, only because of the skillful writing.

 

SOMETHING ABOUT BIRDS is something about birds. What exactly is uncertain. It ends abruptly in infuriating fashion, leaving what might have been a horrific moment (or not) to the reader's imagination. The opening featuring a fictional author biography followed by excerpts from an interview is clever. Once again, Tremblay gives us a sad but creative character study -- this time of a journalist hoping to achieve his fame by interviewing a respected author who didn't get enough credit, except for one story about birds that everyone inserts symbolic meaning into. The author does have a fascination with birds and pulls the journalist into his circle of converts. It seems like Tremblay grew tired of the story and just stopped. Would have been four stars with a satisfying ending. Three stars.

 

THE GETAWAY starts out as a straightforward crime story about an early morning robbery of a pawn shop. Then it turns horrific until ending in . . . (wait for it) . . . . doom. (Again) This first person narrative includes a well-done character study but unfortunately I didn't connect with a single character in this story. More resolution than the other stories, though. The horror also doesn't appear to be imagined. Three stars.

 

NINETEEN SNAPSHOTS OF DENNISPORT is a crime story told by the young narrator, referring to 19 different photos and recalling the instances around them. They're mainly about a family shore vacation, although the dad gets mixed up in matters outside of family business. I liked the method Tremblay used to tell the story, but it's pretty average. Two and one-half stars.

 

WHERE WE ALL WILL BE: I shouldn't like this story because it's inconclusive like most of what I've read in this collection so far, but I truly enjoyed it. I guess there is a resolution of sorts, in that the main character finally realizes the danger he is in. However, there is no explanation for why the apocalyptic event occurs, or an clear indication of where it is going. The Notes section in the back of this collection is a very insightful look at how many of these stories originated and what Tremblay was aiming for. It's amazing how he can pull single incidents from his life and spin them into compelling yarns. In this particular story, a college student diagnosed with special needs fails to recognize a dire situation simply because he processes information differently. The analogy offered with the premature break from hibernation of moths is clever. Four stars.

 

In his Notes on THE TEACHER, Tremblay says "This story represents some of my anxieties as they relate to school (both as being a student and a teacher) and how any of us get through those adolescent years and into our scary futures." I would guess his anxieties included doubts about his ability to teach, as well as concern that students would be negatively influenced by his lessons. Both of these are touched on in the story, and it seems pretty accurate and convincing. Except I didn't develop any concern for a single character, teacher or student. Not really a horror story, unless you consider the horrific consequences of learning from this particular teacher. Two stars.

 

In his notes on NOTES FOR "THE BARN IN THE WILD", Tremblay reveals that the story was part of a tribute to the work of Laird Barron. Tremblay attempts to write in his style and does a good job. You would not recognize this as Tremblay story. He lays the story out as a series of entries from a composition book found as the only remains of the narrator. The footnotes, meant to indicate when notations were made in the margins, are distracting and interrupt the flow of the story. Laird Barron would write this better and scarier. Two stars.

 

_____ Yes, that's the title of the next story. Just a straight horizontal line. The reason why is not mentioned in the Notes. This starts out like a straightforward piece of contemporary fiction - - a father watching his two children take swimming lessons at a local pond, and having a conversation with a female acquaintance. Mom isn't around. Then it takes a weird twist and ends in disturbing fashion. I would only spoil it to tell more. It's also a rather short piece. This one stayed with me. It's not the best story in the collection; but it is the creepiest so far. Four stars.

 

OUR TOWN'S MONSTER is a different spin of sorts on "The Boy Who Cried Wolf". I didn't care for it as much, simply because I could not connect with a single character, and several I disliked. I did appreciate the twist, however. Three stars.

 

In A HAUNTED HOUSE IS A WHEEL UPON WHICH SOME ARE BROKEN the sole remaining member (daughter) of a family (father, mother, brother) revisits her historic landmark childhood home after many years away. She senses the ghosts of family members in each room as well as the ghosts of stories told by her brother when both were children, most likely in order to scare her. Tremblay utilizes the Read Your Own Adventure device of multiple choice at the end of each one page chapter, although every choice leads back in the same direction eventually. He also uses repetition throughout. I was annoyed more than I was entertained, although I give this Three Stars for clever experimentation.

 

The narrator in IT WON'T GO AWAY is an author, troubled by some messages he received from a fellow writer before his demise. It's short, but very disturbing as things become clearer near the end. This is to the point, and not vague in any way. Four stars.

 

NOTES FROM THE DOG WALKER is brilliant. This could very well end up being my favorite story of the collection. A writer, P (for Paul Tremblay, maybe?) hires a dog-sitting service to walk his dog every other day. A trademark of their business is to leave notes for the owner, normally short messages about how the dog performed, did it pee or poop, etc. Initially there are three different dog walkers visiting the home. Soon, the entries become more detailed, with the dog walkers commenting on observations (owners not picking up after their pets, other dogs behavior, how the dog responds, etc) and then actually sharing some of their personal philosophy. One walker in particular leaves long detailed notes beginning with analysis of the author's bookshelves, commentary on his writing, then actually providing a detailed story idea to him, and criticism of a writing career. The notes are signed by KB, and Tremblay even throws in some doubt when it's suggested that may be a pseudonym he's using. The notes get longer and eventually very disturbing, making for a frightening tale that ends with a solution on the author's part but not necessary the removal of the threat. This should be included in some Best of The Year anthologies. Five stars.

Ugh. One fabulous story, followed by two subpar stories. FURTHER 

 

QUESTIONS FOR THE SOMNAMBULIST is exactly what it says. Why does Tremblay make his somnambulist a seer/prophet instead of the sleepwalker that defines the term? This is an experimental story, in that after the brief introduction, the remainder is the listing of questions from 3 different sources in 3 separate columns simultaneously. The story ends when the somnambulist decides to give a brief answer, supposedly to satisfy all the questions at one time. Maybe some readers would like this story for the experimental style of telling. I thought it was 100% dumb. One star. 

 

In notes for the very short THE ICE TOWER, Tremblay states this is his homage to Arctic horror. It reads like that except he includes enough confession and doubt at the end to make the reader wonder. Told from different points of view, which works for the main character. But to clump all the rest into a group point of view doesn't work. One star.

 

While reading THE SOCIETY OF THE MONSTERHOOD I couldn't escape the feeling that the whole thing was an allegory, that the monster was a stand-in for an unidentified internal demon or demons that plague us. The last paragraph of the story just reinforces that belief. Three stars.

 

THE RED RIGHT HAND was written as a tribute to Hellboy, the demonic hero character created by Mike Mignola for Dark Horse Comics. I think Tremblay captured the tone of the series and the spirit of the character quite well, but the story just didn't excite me. Three stars. 

 

IT'S AGAINST THE LAW TO FEED THE DUCKS is apocalyptic fiction. An unknown disaster has occurred while a family is on vacation, and their responses are related via the point of view of their five-year old son. There is no explanation provided for the where or why, and no real resolution. Still, it's a compelling portrait, a single slice-of-life for a family dealing with crisis and coming together. Four stars.

 

The final story, THE THIRTEENTH TEMPLE is a sequel of sorts to Tremblay's novel A HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS in that the inner story features sisters Merry and Marjorie and the outer story concerns Merry in present day, a writer and speaker stalked by a creepy fan. It's well told, and I liked it mainly because I like the character of Merry much more than I liked this story, another unresolved exploration that raises more questions and leaves them unanswered. Four stars.