Keith Donohue

An enjoyable fantasy novel about bantering Irish people that has some great gabbing - some marvelous turns of phrase. Deep affection on display for the rhythms and movements of rural Ireland, and the folklore of the island itself. The novel's greatest strength and weakness is that it has convinced me to read the Táin Bó Cúailnge, which is always lovely when I become motivated to read something, particularly something unusual, but at the same time, I found myself wondering if I would just show more be better off reading that instead.

Folklore has always been a special interest of mine - the stories of ancient bygotten Ireland are fascinating, very much worthy of deeper study. In some ways, I am grateful for the frustrations this book left me as I know this new curiosity is a boon, rather than a burden.

Keith Donohue is a gifted author, and I have wonderful memories of [The Stolen Child], which I thought was much more obscure than it apparently is, and after reading this, I think I might revisit that, as well as check out his other work. show less

"Had you not been born,you would not know what it is like to be alive, and without life,death is impossible to understand."

I admit I hadn't heard of Kevin Donohue before I came across this book.I didn't know he is an author of Horror books primarily.What appealed to me was the cover and the fact that I find puppets fascinating in a deliciously creepy way.I don't keep any at home,but I would read a story about them anytime.This is a haunting book,beautiful and sad.Terrifying,for some, but in show more a subdued,elegant manner.I'd say it is a version of Gaiman's "Coraline" for grown-ups.

The setting is contemporary Québec and our protagonists are Theo and Kay,a young artistic couple,closely bound to each other.Theo is a university professor and Kay is an acrobat in a travelling Cirque.One night,Kay simply vanishes and Theo,shuttered and terrified,begins a search for her that brings him to a world he'd never imagined possible.I cannot tell you more about the plot,because there are too many spoilers,but I can assure you that it is full of elements of magical realism,a genre that continues to fascinate me.

Theo and Kay are very sympathetic.Their relationship is tender and honest and it breaks your heart when they are separated in such a sudden way.I'd say,though,that the real stars of the book are the puppets.They are a spectacle of a cast,indeed.The Queen, the Clown,the Three Sisters,Noe and,of course, the Devil,my favourite.Along with the main narrative,we are shown snippets of the life of Eadeard Muybridge,an English photographer whose biography Theo is translating in the course of the story.

The word "Motion" isn't in the title accidentally.There are references to the early stages of motion picture and references to Aristotle's "On the Motion of Animals".However,the strongest echoes in the story come from the beautiful Ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.Now,this carries certain connotations of love,loss,despair and the struggle against forces that surpass the human world in order to have a second chance with the person you love.And allow me to say that the world Kay finds herself into is worse than Hades' realm...

The writing is beautiful,both the dialogues and the descriptive parts, Donahue manages to create puppets with personalities and character development,human-like indeed.I loved the description of Theo's agony,without resorting to drama, I loved Kay's determination and ability to adapt into her new life.The descriptions of the days approaching Halloween and the decorated nightly streets of the Old Town were just chilling.Would I consider it a Horror story? It doesn't matter. "Horror" doesn't mean the same to everyone.To me,the creepy puppets are frightening,but the real "horror" of the book is the unjust ordeal the young couple has to go through.It is magical realism,a great effort to create a dark story,with beauty and sensitivity.I loved the fact that some threads were left loose.After all, I need to think from time to time and we are readers, we can make do with some open-ended questions:)

The end is....I don't know how to describe it...it left me staring into space,utterly speechless....Don't try to understand whether the story makes sense, it doesn't.It is a fairy-tale for adults, a myth of love and darkness.A nightmare where awakening isn't guaranteed.If you want a Horror novel,full of blood and guts and zombies,this isn't for you.If you're in a mood for some dark magic and a wonderful story about a deep love and a haunting parable,then you should give this book a chance. show less

Title - The Boy Who Drew Monsters

Author - Keith Donohue

Source - Net Galley

Summary -

Three years ago Jack Peter Keenan and his friend Nick nearly drowned in the ocean by his home. Since then Jack Peter, called Jip by his father, has never been the same. Jip was already diagnosed with Aspergers, but after the incident he became even more withdrawn and anti-social. He hated to be touched and if startled would lash out, even blackening his mother's eye. His was a high functioning disease, but for show more his mother and father, dealing with Jack Peter was destroying them. But what they didn't know was that the world Jip retreated to in his mind was even more terrifying to him than the world on the outside.

"...The boy was not sure if it was a house in which dreams came true or if the house itself had been made our of dreams. Once upon a time, the name had made him happy, but on ice cold nights like these, the dreams turned into nightmares, and monsters under the bed stirred in the bump of the night..."

Jack Peter finds an outlet for the world trapped within his mind. He draws and he draws all the time. He draws everything he thinks of, only lately he thinks of monsters. Creatures that rise out of the sea and great massive dogs. He listens to the conversations around him and from there he draws, turning comments and thoughts into nightmares. But once they are on paper, the scenes begin to come to life. And out on the shore his father sees a shambling form of a man, a creature that wanders nude in the freezing snow. Lately, he can even hear something moving inside the house at night. Something that leaves the floor cold and the doors like ice.

Jack Peter knows what the thing is and he knows its real. He draws it to keep it away and he draws other things to keep them near. The line between the world's reality and Jip's mind has cracked and soon all the monsters will begin to flood in.

Review -

Keith Donohue writes creepy stories. Not the bloody slasher type, but the old black and white Twilight Zone kind that sort of cause the hairs on the back of your neck to stand. It is the old instincts within us. The one that says there is something darker and far more evil nearby. A predator. A sense that for a moment, the story could be more real than we want it to be.

Little Jack Peter is not a likable kid. The difficulty his parents have in managing him is well written. Though you know it's because of the Autism, still you find it difficult to imagine having to work that hard just to communicate with your child. Slowly, Donohue unravels the secrets behind this family and you begin to understand that in some way they have laid all their troubles at the feet of the child. Blaming him for all that is wrong in their lives and their marriage. For Jack Peter's part, he is just trapped in his world with his monsters.

Donohue builds the suspense slowly, taking his time to develop the characters and the story until midway through you are re-examining your feelings about each individual one. The secrets unfold and there is something of a sense of retribution forthcoming in the appearance of Jack Peter's nightmares. These monsters are not only here to terrorize but perhaps to also take some recompense for the wrongs of the past.

In the end, the power of Jack Peter's drawings goes far beyond the creatures he calls forth. In the end, Jack Peter is drawing for their very lives.

A good read. show less

Recommended, but not for everyone. The Stolen Child is made up of alternating first-person narrations from both a changeling who has replaced Henry Day and the original Henry Day, trapped as an eternal child. This is a fine fantasy story idea, and the adventures that both have as they try to "find themselves", or grow up, is often poignant and enjoyable... interspersed with stark, tragic and lonely moments. What the author is doing under-the-covers is exploring the way in which growing up show more steals all of our childhoods... there are several distinct hints that the entire fantasy element may be occurring within the mind of Henry Day, and it reminds any reader of how we believe we have secrets, sins committed in childhood, that we can never tell anyone, even our deepest loves. As the changeling shapes himself, we shaped ourselves in order to grow up. We did not fit in, but we pretended we did so we would be accepted. Some part of us has resisted this, deep inside, all the way through. The lesson is something about confronting and reconciling the adult you with the child that still rages and wanders inside of you... or, in this case, the multiple children, each representing aspects of a soul that never grows up and gets a job and pays taxes. Our soul still wanders the woods, watching every sunset and sunrise. The riskiest thing Donoghue does is leave it vague for the reader... he leaves just enough hints that our subconscious might begin to suspect that Henry Day is just one, slightly insane person. But he tells the story in a straightforward means, from both Henry Days' point of view. It almost doesn't occur to us that the narrators may be unreliable, even when they come out and state that they've gotten plenty of facts and details wrong as they took down their story. Plenty of readers will never suspect, but part of them, under the skin, will know. show less