The Town That Forgot How To Breathe

Has anyone read The Town That Forgot How To Breathe? It sounds so good and I like the idea of horror with real literary merit, but the reviews seem so fair to middling, I'm not sure if it is worth the time.

Weird. I read it around the time it first came out, and it wasn't being marketed as horror at all...more just your garden-variety bizarre Canadian fiction. (I think I tagged it on my list of finished books as fantasy.) I don't remember it as being scary, really, but it was odd and creepy. It was very...meandering. I think if you go into it expecting something like Stephen King you'll be disappointed. (Getting off track here, but I hate the way any and every book with a "weird" element that's set on the East Coast is automatically compared to his. *rolls eyes*)

Anyway, I've forgotten a lot of the details, but I remember loving it at the time. I'd definitely give it a try.

I got the horror tag from the book jacket.

"An eerie and gripping story, the work of an extravagantly haunted imagination."--J. M. Coetzee, Nobel Prize--winning author of Disgrace

"A thoughtful, grounded piece of literary horror."--San Francisco Chronicle

"Harvey brings uniquely imaginative storytelling skill to this wickedly allegorical tale. . . . It will frighten readers so much they may never turn out the lights."--BookPage

I don't expect it to be a Stephen King like tale. (Some time I mean to start a thread titled 'The next Stephen King...' I HATE seeing that in a review!)

Just that I read good and really bad reviwes of the book. Wasn't sure what to think.

Looks like I can order a brand new copy for a buck on Half.com, so I'll take the chance.

Sorry, yeah, I just came back to edit my original post to say that I didn't mean you personally were expecting that, but that it seemed like some of the disappointed reviewers were.

It's so interesting how the marketing of books changes! I don't think the copy I read had anything even remotely resembling those quotes.

I've been on the library list for a couple of months now, I'd buy it if enough said it was worth it.

beeg,

I obviously have no opinion of the book, but Amazon has four new copies for under $1.50 a piece. If you decide to buy at least it isn't much of a gamble.

#3: "I don't expect it to be a Stephen King like tale. (Some time I mean to start a thread titled 'The next Stephen King...' I HATE seeing that in a review!)"

I have at least three books from three different authors with blurbs proclaiming them to be "The Stephen King of Japan" on the cover. It's incredibly annoying.

Jack, you have the ring series?

Jack, you have the ring series? - That's what I was thinking!

LOL! I got three books in, but I'm not sure what I've have? The titles are confusing and one is a graphic novel. (I thought Spiral was number 2) so I'm confused. I have Ring, Spiral and Loop with no clue of the order? (well ok, I can figure out Ring is first) did I get the right books? Any help would be nice.

Wikipedia says it goes:

1. Ring
2. Spiral
3. Loop
4. Birthday (Stories set in the Ring universe)

(I just went and cleaned up the Ring novel series here at LT.)

Ring is a novel that was adapted as a manga (graphic novel). Sounds like the person you ordered from maybe listed it wrong?

I was worried of having the same problem when I bought Battle Royale, so I just went to a store and bought it off the shelf.

well it seems "Birthday" is being called Spiral (according to my book) maybe it's a gimmick to get you to buy the wrong books.

No, they are two seperate books, published (here in the states) in English by Vertical publishing.

Birthday (ISBN 1932234829) is a book of short stories with a pink and black cover with a sort of 'happy face' pattern.



Spiral (ISBN 1932234160) is a novel with a green and blue cover.



These are both novels written by Koji Suzuki, not graphic novels. What is making a mess is that due to the whole Ring phenomenon in Japan, these novels were then all also adapted into graphic novels.

Out of curiousity, which one did you get as a graphic novel? That is where your trouble is I bet.

Like I said, it's called Spiral but thanks to your post I now see it's by a Sakura Mizuki.

f*ck, now I have to order two again, and hope I pay better attention.

(edited for profanity)

Beeg,

Maybe you can get a refund?

Glad I was able to help. And don't worry about profanity. LT seems pretty open about language.

eh, it's a used book, cost more to ship it back, I'll just add it to the pile of used paperbacks looking for a home.

i requested it on bookmooch b/c it seemed good so i guess ill have to see. ill write on here after i get and finish it.