Let the Right One In

Horror di classe, "Lasciami Entrare" è sicuramente uno dei romanzi più duri e tristi che mi sia mai capitato di leggere. C'è una vampira dall'aspetto di una ragazzina dodicenne, c'è un suo coetaneo umano e, forse, c'è anche amore tra di loro, ma scordatevi le stronzatine neogotiche in stile twilight: quella roba è buona per teenager americani cerebrolesi. La materia che dà corpo al libro di Lindqvist, invece, è la vita, quella vera, grigia, squallida e dura che vediamo nelle periferie delle nostre città, e anche la sua controparte vampiresca non le è da meno. Niente fascino tenebroso, solo una sete inestinguibile che porta chi è affetto dall'infezione vampirica sempre sull'orlo di un'orribile morte per denutrizione e lo show more costringe ad uccidere per sopravvivere...
Un romanzo duro che, nonostante l'argomento di matrice fantastica, riesce ad essere reale e sincero, ma siete avvertiti: dopo la lettura sarà difficile scrollarvi di dosso il profondo pessimismo con cui l'autore delinea una realtà dalla qual si può solo scappare per essere felici.... show less

"Let the Right One In" seems to have come out at about the same time that Stephanie Meyer's "Twilight" series was in the process of taking over the entire planet, but while it, too, puts vampires in a modern setting, it's important, I think, to highlight the differences between the two books. First of all, it's not a classic, but it's not, you know, Twilight. And while the book's basic premise might not have been revolutionary by the time the mid-aughts rolled around, it adds some interesting -- and quite frankly, daring -- twists to he usual gory bloodsucking procedures. It provides some interesting medical musings about the condition -- if that's what it is -- of vampirism. Lindqvist takes great care to describe the physiological show more changes that take place when a normal human being becomes a vampire, and much of the book is set in antiseptic hospital waiting rooms as doctors try to figure out just what they've got on their hands. More interestingly still, while vampires have always been portrayed as seductive, "Let the Right One In" takes this trope into some seriously dark and disturbing territory that I can't even hint at on a family book-cataloguing site. That alone means that this one may not be for everyone.

Lindqvist, quite honestly, doesn't really come off as a literary star in this translation: the book's prose isn't elegant, and it sometimes feels about twice as long as it should be. But he seems genuinely interested in the question of evil: Oskar, the boy at the center of the tale, is the victim of bullies, but that doesn't mean he's exactly an innocent. Neither, quite frankly, are the shiftless half-drunks that populate many of this novel's other pages. The author always leaves the question of Oskar complicity with evil open in regards to his relationship with the book's vampire protagonist. He doesn't drain people's blood to survive, but it's made pretty clear that his anger at being the target of bullying make this possibility at least sort of palatable to him. This probably isn't an accident Though the novel set in eminently civilized early-eighties Sweden, which features Walkmans, Rubik's cubes, and awful hair metal bands, there's a persistent "return of the repressed" theme running through the book. "Twilight" may have put vampires in rural Washington state, but "Let the Right One In" puts the smack dab in the middle of the best-running, best-planned, and most boring societies the world has ever seen. But there's danger about: sadistic bullies and bloodthirsty vampires roam the suburbs of Stockholm. It's an interesting juxtaposition, to say the least. It may keep many readers going right up to the book's last pages. show less

Admittedly, it took me a few pages to get into Let Me In. Once I fell in love with Oskar and Eli I couldn't get enough of their story. Being a twelve year old sensitive boy, Oskar is the subject of daily bullying at school. He dreams of murderous revenge far beyond his sad and lonely years. At night he takes a hunting knife into the woods and repeatedly stabs trees, imagining the soft and penetrable flesh of his school yard enemies. Meanwhile, Eli is a mystery. With a strange way of speaking and no history to speak of, Eli fascinates Oskar to the point of obsession. He finds himself in love with a strange girl who only comes out at night, repeatedly says she neither a girl nor boy, and can solve puzzles she has never seen before in the show more blink of an eye. Who is she? Then the murders begin. Gruesome and strange, victims are drained of blood. Is Eli to blame?
A running theme through Let Me In is the absence of father figures. Eli has a fake father. Tommy has a fake step-father. Oskar's dad has divorced his mom and is living an alcohol-soaked life outside of town. I wanted to pay attention to the mothers for I hoped they would be the unspoken heroes of Let Me In.
Not so much.
As an aside, I appreciated the literary references of Plato, Dante, Pyramus, Thisbe, and King Minos. show less

Another tough read. A Swedish vampire novel, it again ignores most of the conventions, instead going for the jugular with some profoundly disturbing sexuality combined with merciless social realism. Horrible, horrific and heartbreaking, redeemed only by the touching friendship at its core, this is probably the Iron Dragon’s Daughter of vampire novels. Unromantic, unsexy, uncomfortable and brilliant.

Let the Right One In is a unique spin on the vampire tale. There are several mini stories that converge on the two main characters: Oskar and Eli. Oskar is a bullied boy with a thirst for revenge. Eli is the mysterious 12 year old who moves in next door and bewitches Oskar almost immediately. Eli is also a vampire. (This isn't a spoiler because this is a vampire novel, ya'll. Someone had to be a vampire.) This is no Twilight. That isn't to say that there aren't romantic tones but it's completely different from Edward and Bella. For one thing, they're 12 year olds. For another...well I don't want to give that part away. Lindqvist is a fantastic writer (and since it's been translated I'm sure it's even better in Swedish). There are so show more many themes that are covered in this book: bullying, discovering your true self, alcoholism, drug addiction, abuse (emotional and physical), and true love just to name a few.

*I'm going to break one of my rules and give you guys a tiny spoiler. This is also a warning for those of you who might be triggered by sexual assault. Even though I had seen both film adaptations for Let the Right One In I was completely unprepared for what lay ahead for me in this book. Whereas gore, violence, and death have little to no effect on me some of the themes in this book gave me nightmares. There are graphic depictions of pedophilia, male castration, sodomy, and rape.* show less

От Швеция почнаха да излизат интересни книги и филми - Покани ме да вляза е поредната медийна комбинация книга-филм, която идва от там, а темата му са преекспонираните напоследък вампири. Само че ако Twilight е розовия кадилак на вампирските книги, Йон Айвиде Линдквист изкарва от гаража къстъм Гран Торино oт 1976 г…

Така или иначе, шведският филм Let the right one in определено си заслужава гледането (има и американски Let show more me in, но не съм го гледал), но книгата вкарва повече подробности и прави действието много по-истинско и някак по-психарско – с впиянчените съседи, децата-хулигани, с религиозните маниаци и изобщо безцелното съществуване на хората в малкия шведски град, което влиза в разрез с представата ни за „социална Швеция“ дето всички живеят добре.

Въпреки претупания си финал, Покани ме да вляза е интересна, с по детски невинна любовна история, която почти няма да усетите че е и нещо друго, с достатъчно кървища и екшън и най-вече, с нестандартно и доста по… нормално представяне на вампирите. Главната героиня срещнала през двестагодишния си живот само 1 друг вампир (освен този, който я заразил де) – някаква баба, която на въпроса й защо са толкова малко, отговорила „Защото повечето се самоубиват, разбира се„… show less

Don’t you hate it when you come across a book that piques your interest, has great reviews and was even turned into a pretty decent movie, only to be crushed by disappointment? That’s how it went with Let the Right One In. Years ago I watched the Swedish version of the movie and quite liked it. It had a suppressed creepiness that seemed to be passe in this new world of sparkly vampires who run speakeasies. Or whatever. It had a tight storyline of tormented boy meets supernatural girl who avenges him by visiting her blood sucking ways upon his enemies. No doubt the screenwriter read the book, but he or she ought to be credited for basically writing a whole new story out of the hints and possibilities of what Lindqvist managed to come show more up with. Talk about missing a great opportunity. There was so much potential wasted.

Instead we’ve got a book that’s far too long, with pages, pages and pages of narrative taken up by people and events unimportant. Over and over we see Oskar beset by bullies and only once, once, does he have the temerity to do anything about it. The severity of the attacks escalates nicely with the final scene quite harrowing indeed, but by then we’re so anxious for the whole thing to be over that it barely matters when Eli swans in on a rope or whatever and saves the day. Despite many, many scenes of violence and horror rendered with careful and precise language, this final episode gets the equivalent of a pastel wash in watercolors. What? NOW you’re leaving things up to our imaginations? Just when we want solid pay off for trudging through your endless descriptions of drunks, paranoia, schoolyard bullies, weekends with dad, glue sniffing, meaningless inner monologues and torture scenes?

OMG what a mess. There are so many needless story threads that don’t really connect up to anything. There’s very little import to Virginia’s awful plight other than describing the transformation from human to vampire, which could have been done with the “mind-meld” Eli does to Oskar. Ditto with what happens to Hakan. I mean, what was that all about? So we could have a nice little pedophile anal rape scene with a zombie and a vampire? I guess that was it. And how about Tommy’s whole “I hate my mom’s boyfriend” schtick? Yawn.

This endless repetition blunted the novel’s strongest feature; the complex relationships and emotional lives of the characters (I just wish there were fewer of them because most of them don’t matter at all). Everyone is an agonized soul. No one is happy, fulfilled or even just doing ok. Nope. Everyone is miserable so that by comparison, Eli seems well-adjusted. Sweden needs antidepressants in the water, never mind fluoride. show less