Little Star

Lindqvist is one of my favorite writers of all time. He has a way of writing horror stories that are slowly disturbing you as you read more, and are more horrific thinking back on it than when you are reading it. I also think he shows the human side of everything very well in his stories.
This is a story about a failed artist couple. The man finds a baby in the woods, and while she is completely silent, she can sing or hum perfect notes. She grows up as a strange little girl. Very quiet, and without much understanding of the real world. This is because of her strange upbringing and because of who she is. The first part of the book is about her growing up, and the people around her discovering her true character. The second part shows how show more she connects to other young girls looking for something in life. The last part shows the terrible but inevitable conclusion of the story.
This story is truly disturbing, mostly because the girls are not that abnormal. This isn't about supernatural monsters, but the monsters in us all. The written horrific events (trying not to spoil here) I found very disgusting, but they need to be there. Five out of five stars, and Lindqvist remains high on my list. show less

Read it and never be able to listen to ABBA's 'thank you for the music' the same way again.

There is always a point in reading each Lindqvist book where I regret ever having started it but I cannot deny their effectiveness in horrifying me and making my skin crawl for weeks afterward.
I suspect that I'm susceptible in part due to a shared 70s and 80s childhood and I suspect that goes double if you happened to be Swedish through that time.
I'm struck each time by how well Lindqvist portrays the interactions of children and youth with each other and also the way in which he builds sympathy for frankly unsympathetic characters. I think it is this that sucks you so deeply into the stories so that even when the horror starts you cannot put the show more book down.
I don't know that this is the definitive attempt to unravel the mystery of cold, calm-looking sociopaths and the people that follow them but I will admit that I was thinking throughout this book about the Charles Manson Helter Skelter murders, the Norwegian Breivik massacre and all those high school rampages.
This is an author I would love to do a Q&A session with. In fact I'd love to find a book club willing to read it and talk about it. show less

I'm not sure if Little Star is my favorite of the four Ajvide Lindqvist novels I've read, but it was the most compulsively readable. The story begins as Lennart Cedarström is hunting for mushrooms in the forest when he finds an abandoned baby. He brings it home and, instead of turning it over to the authorities, convinces his wife to let him raise the girl secretly in their cellar. To keep her from wanting to go outside, he tells the child, who comes to be called Theres, stories of "big people" outside who want to eat her up. That this is somewhat true metaphorically is touched on, but Theres doesn't understand metaphor, and that ultimately proves to be Lennart's undoing.

It is rare for anything I read in a book to literally make my show more jaw drop, but that is exactly what happened at the end of part one. And yet, this twist (if you want to call it that) is perfectly logical and in tune with what we've been shown so far. If you don't see it coming either, don't feel bad; it just means that you probably aren't a sociopath. Little Star is a breathless ride about teen angst, the need to belong to something, and fighting the monsters that want to eat us up--even if it means we have to become monsters ourselves. show less

I won this book through the GoodReads first-reads program.

[b: Let the Right One In|8731203|Devil's Advocates Let the Right One in|Anne Billson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348010760s/8731203.jpg|13604234] proved that [a: John Ajvide Lidqvist] is a force to be reckoned with. He weaves his plots deftly, intertwining characters in a complex dance of destruction that's shocking to behold. He is the master of suspense, creating a slow dread that refuses to reach a full climax until the very end of the tale. That isn't to say nothing comes before that final cataclysm - for there is plenty. His violence and gore are shocking, and the perversions that he shines a light upon have never failed to produce within me a truly visceral disgust and show more horror.

In short, he is fast on his way to becoming my favorite horror writer.

[b: Little Star|13797027|Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star|Jane Cabrera|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344101183s/13797027.jpg|19431349] satisfied in the same way that [b: Let the Right One In|8731203|Devil's Advocates Let the Right One in|Anne Billson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348010760s/8731203.jpg|13604234] did. It shocked me, disgusted me, made me laugh and made me cringe. It ate its way into my brain with its teeth and claws, and while it didn't leave me guessing about the ending, it did leave me guessing as to how precisely we'd get there. Even knowing what would come didn't take away from the strange horrible journey.

The writing is gorgeous, and surprisingly funny at times. The characters are twisted, but not without a certain degree of pity or even affection. These characters are human, rather than the caricatures that commonly populate so dark a book. I, at least, understood where many of them came from and could relate to some of the abuse that they took. I believed in them, and they didn't disappoint me.

[b: Little Star|13797027|Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star|Jane Cabrera|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344101183s/13797027.jpg|19431349] is horrible in all the right ways. For a true horror junkie it will scratch the right itch, but it may draw some blood in doing so.

Enjoy. show less

The Basics

A man finds a baby alone and dying in the woods. He gives the baby mouth-to-mouth, and when she begins to cry, a pitch perfect music note comes out. This man just so happens to be a former pop star settling into his older years, and to him this child is a miracle in the making. This being a horror novel, she’ll turn out to be quite the opposite.

My Thoughts

Around this same time last year, I read Lindqvist’s most popular work, Let the Right One In, and it’s possibly the best vampire novel written since Salem’s Lot. Needless to say, I couldn’t stop there. I needed more of his work. Little Star caught my attention immediately. I have this strange weakness for horror novels that involve the entertainment industry. A show more strange child that has a magical talent for singing and becomes some kind of monster via her fame; I knew this was the book for me.

And it didn’t disappoint. I’ll go ahead and warn those of you who like explanations for your monsters that you won’t find one here. I have lots of theories about Theres, but nothing concrete is ever given in the book. Nothing’s even truly speculated about. This book exists solely in the present. Theres’s past is not explored; none of these characters seem overly interested or worried about the future. There’s a sense of focus on the here and now that makes the strange path the two, main characters are on seem even more immediate and speedy, despite the book’s length.

This is a hefty book, speaking of. Yet I read it in two days. The cliche applies: I couldn’t put it down. Even though the prologue is actually an epilogue, I had to find out how we got there. What led to this. And the further it went, the more fascinated I became to see what would come next. This book is a perfect example of how stories aren’t about endings, they’re about the journey. The crazed, bizarre journey.

This book is incredibly character driven, and these are not likeable characters. They are engaging, interesting characters whose inner workings may repel you, but you won’t be able to look away. Most bothersome of all, if you were the sort of kid who was ostracized or picked on or didn’t quite fit in, you might even relate on some level. And when things get really dark, that’s when it will really start to get under your skin, making you question how this makes you feel, if you want to be as attached to these characters as you are. It’s a disturbing experience that got right inside me and left me feeling unlike any book has made me feel before. In short, it was Let the Right One In turned up to eleven, and only the stout of heart need apply.

Final Rating

5/5 show less

The problem, if there is one, with the receipt of a new book by John Ajvide Lindqvist is the vague worry that one day there just could be a book by this author that doesn't quite work for me. If there is such a book in Lindqvist's imagination, LITTLE STAR isn't it.

I don't quite know what it is about Lindqvist's writing but he consistently takes this reader into territory that I'd normally run a mile from - be it vampires in LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, zombies in HANDLING THE UNDEAD or mysticism and profound parental attachment in HARBOUR, so nothing much has changed as I found myself deeply involved in a plot that culminates with an "Swedish Idol" styled TV program.... Without giving too much away, let's say that LITTLE STAR is about a show more family's musical stardom, an abandoned baby, ambition and the perversity of fame. LITTLE STAR is another clever morality play from this author, weaving a tale of manipulation, selfishness, and selective blindness in the face of raw ambition, into a narrative that's extremely readable, hypnotic and frequently very moving.

I'm not sure if it's a feature of the original language, but somehow there's a tone and a cadence to the prose in all of Lindqvist's books, that gives them a lyrical, beautiful and extremely readable style - it must, at the very least, be quite a feat of translation. However it's done, that style, cadence and tone were a part of the great appeal of the first book, and it's definitely continuing in LITTLE STAR. Which makes many of the less palatable elements of some of the characters, their actions, and their behaviour stand out even more starkly, and, in particular, make the mystical, the "other" (for want of a better description) just work. They become not just believable, but somehow expected, required if you like.

So yet again, I'm confounded by the use of another "other worldly" scenario in LITTLE STAR that was so simply and beautifully built into the narrative that I didn't bat an eyelid. I was amazed at the way that the narrative ebbed and flowed, the way that a story built and rolled out and around and into some of the dark places of the worst of behaviour. I was strangely relieved at the metering out of justice, albeit somewhat startled at the method... but mostly, I was extremely pleased to spend time with yet another superb book from a master storyteller like John Ajvide Lindqvist.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/content/little-star-john-ajvide-lindqvist show less

A washed-up musician finds a baby girl in the forest, barely alive in a shallow grave. She is strange and almost catatonic. But she sings in the most perfect pitch anyone has ever heard and can imitate any song after hearing it just once. The musician believes her gift must be protected in order not to be destroyed, and him and his abused wife raise the girl in their basement, not telling anyone about her. Until a truly gruesome turn of events forces her out into the world.

At the same time another girl is born into a much more regular family. She has no exceptional abilities whatsoever. In fact, she’s just like anybody – perhaps just a little more fat, ugly and lonely. She’s like a million other girls on the outside, learning the show more hard way that the world is a cold and difficult place.

When these two girls meet, fourteen years later, something happens. They do something with each other. They become something apart, something strong, something dangerous. And music is their weapon. Or, well, one of their weapons. And soon they are not alone anymore.

I was rather taken by this, Lindqvist’s fifth book. He does a beautiful and heart-breaking job at showing everything that is hard about not fitting in – both in an extreme and a mundane scenario - and he creates an ambience right up until the inevitable, frightening end on Sweden’s biggest TV show. As ever, he juggles many voices, letting whoever is best fitted at the moment, telling the story. Really, this is another book of his where I can’t turn the pages fast enough.

There are also some flaws. The supernatural streak of this book is very discreet for a long time, and when Lindqvist puts more emphasis on it towards the end, it comes across just a little clumsy (those of you who had a slight problem with the ending of Handling the Undead will know what I mean). He also completely loses Jerry, one of his main characters, in the last hundred pages.

The genuine horror elements of this are pretty few and far between, but fans of Lindqvist will know what to expect. For new readers, be aware that explicit gore is part of the fare. If stuff like drilling through someone’s temple is too much for you, this is not your book.

What remains for me in the end, even after the horror of the final turns of events, is after all a tale of friendship and community. That and a glimpse of the power that could rest inside that silent, invisible, scared girl who’s always sitting at the front of the classroom. show less