The Remaking: A Novel

Not a five-star read, but I really did enjoy this one.

I know a lot of other readers didn't like the pacing, or the multi-decade jumps, but honestly, I really enjoyed that aspect of this story. For me, it allowed for different characters, therefore different points of view, on the central theme, which was enjoyable. We also got to see Amber at three different stages of her life, and how this had affected her entire life. And that, to me, is powerful.

I have two complaints. One minor, one a little more problematic.

The first is just more of a stylistic complaint. It didn't really matter who was narrating, but the author has a habit of really digging into repetition to drive a point home.

I'm taking you home.

I'm taking you home.

Taking you show more home.

Home.

Home.

Used sparingly, this can really underscore a point, but the author makes use of it far too much and it simply dilutes the point.

The second, and more problematic point is something I'm finding with a few of the horror novels I've read lately (I'm looking at you, [b:Ghoster|31934011|Ghoster|Jason Arnopp|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1565086425l/31934011._SX50_.jpg|72948659], and giving you the stinky side-eye, [b:The Cabin at the End of the World|36381091|The Cabin at the End of the World|Paul Tremblay|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1575855422l/36381091._SY75_.jpg|57969097])...you have a great concept, and you may even pull it off for the majority of the story, but then it's like the author doesn't know how to end it.

I feel like Chapman knew what he wanted here, and he came close, but it felt rushed and vague. That's all I can say without spoiling it. I'll just say it sort of works, if you squint your eyes and cant your head at just the right angle, but it's not quite there.

Still, overall, I'd recommend this one. Don't come in expecting major jumps and terror. This is a much slower, creeping horror. It's quiet and it sneaks up on you. show less

I really enjoyed parts I & II of this book, was mostly just irritated during part III, and just ready to be done by part IV...

I was super intrigued by the premise of this book and the pacing of the first two sections felt really good and I was absolutely rooting for Amber, the child actor. Adult Amber, however, made me roll my eyes completely and the writing became overwrought & incredibly repetitive. If the author's goal was to make me despise the main character, he succeeded. Mostly, I was just hoping that the ghosts would finally show up and put her (& me) out of our misery. The final section was better, but still very repetitive and, strangely, rushed.

The audiobook was good, the narrators were overall excellent. I hope others get show more better mileage from this one than I did. show less

*Received via NetGalley for review*

At the very end, Chapman (in the voice of Ellen Louise, a women murdered with her young daughter in rural America on accusations of witchcraft), delivers a kind of closing message: men have and never will do the story of these two women justice. Which is fine and fits into the themes of the novel... but why, then, call yourself out as a male author writing about these two women?

The Remaking focuses on the titular remaking of an urban legend about two women, Ella Louise and Jessica, who were accused of being witches and burned at the stake. A first, failed movie is made that achieves cult status, a second is permanently stalled by a death, and an attempted debunking podcast finds out the truth but is show more unable to pass it along.

Much is made of how ignorant the people of Pilot's Creek were in burning the two women, but much of the novel focuses on how their story has touched people and remained in the subconscious mind. Amber, who played Jessica in the first movie and was slotted to cameo as Ella Louise in the second, is the most touched, being in contact with the ghosts of both women throughout her career.

Chapman seems to have bit of a bit more than he could cover, however. In wanting to discuss the impact of failed cult films on their actors, in addition to the story of the two tragic women, in addition to Amber's trauma stemming from both the film and her mother, in addition to the satirization of true crime podcasts... it's all too much, and just gets muddled in the delivery. show less

The writing was OK, the content was pretty interesting, but holy crap this was the most repetitious reading I have ever done in my life! The name of the movie was drilled into my head so much, I will be taking it to my grave! I was just expecting something completely different than what I got with this one.

Well this is awkward. Whisper Down The Lane by this author is going on my best horror of the year list. I thought I would love this book too but I didn't care for it much.
Ella Louise has been ostracized from her family and from the town. She keeps to herself and is rarely seen by anyone. On one of her rare trips for supplies when it is noticed that she is pregnant, the gossip mongers chitter away that it must be the devils child. As her daughter grows they are both shunned, except when people visit for potions and tinctures to cure their ails or get even with those who've offended them. When one such tincture leads to a death the mother and child are burned as witches.
Years later terrifying things happen to a child playing the part of show more the daughter in a movie filming in the graveyard...

I was all set to love this book. It's got the makings of absolutely everything I could want. However it was really difficult for me to connect with the writing style, which is all over the place, and unbearably repetitive. Words. so many of the same words. Words being typed on my keyboard. Words showing up on the page, on the review, in my head, words combining to create this review, the review that I will post here on the page, the page of the internet, the page you are reading...
Are you ready to tell me to shut up yet? Because for me this is what it was like reading this book. show less

I really liked this book. It was horror but yet not horror. Creepy would best describe it but I don’t believe that is a genre. If sitting around a camp fire telling ghost stories is something you like...or have ever liked to do... then this book is diffidently written just for you. Some of the facts in the story are true...and yes...I asked “Mr. Google.” I learned that it is based on an unsettling horror story and does contain true events that took place in 1931 in Pilot’s Creek, Virginia. The townspeople accuse Ella Louise Ford and her daughter, Jessica, of witchcraft and burn them at the stake. This begins an urban legend that echoes through the decades. I love a good ghost story. I am the “Ghost Story Junkie”.

About a ghost story, the movie about the story, and remaking of that movie. Weird and uncomfortable, but somehow I liked it. Will I read it again? Probably not.