Shadows in Summer A Novel in Six Voices Crescent Varrone 9781439251966 Books
Download As PDF : Shadows in Summer A Novel in Six Voices Crescent Varrone 9781439251966 Books
Plagued by dreams of her dead father, Katrina Nielsen returns to her native Denmark to face the ghosts of her past. After seven years in New York, sidelined by a career-ending injury, Katrina is determined to reunite her shattered family. But when she and her American husband, Richard, purchase Sound House, an ordinary-looking home overlooking the water, a series of weird events begins inexplicable smoke and footsteps, a ghostly face at the window. After she is "pushed" down the cellar stairs by an unseen force, her charming (if slightly creepy) neighbor, Søren, convinces her that she is being haunted by the ghost of Karl Damsgaard, the original owner of Sound House. As the terrifying disturbances escalate, the desperate couple puts their faith in Rowena, a flamboyant psychic - which leads to the book's tragic conclusion. Inspired by actual events, Shadows in Summer is a deliciously scalp-prickling tale that will haunt readers long after the final page.
Shadows in Summer A Novel in Six Voices Crescent Varrone 9781439251966 Books
Cresent Varrone's "Shadows in Summer" is not only a gripping page-turner mystery but an intriguing post-modern novel "in six voices." Six narratives mingle, but do not always communicate, throughout the novel, telling the story of weird experiences of a young couple who has recently moved into a relatively creepy house. Each voice narrates somewhat different explanations for the unusual occurrences, ranging from haunting by ghosts to psychosomatic explanations. The novel does not limit itself to a consideration of human relationships with the supernatural, but also family and cultural relationships, e.g. estranged siblings, marital encouragement and responsibilities, life in a foreign culture, etc. The leitmotiv of "shadows," from physical to psychological to supernatural, runs throughout. The author leaves the reader to probe and to ponder the different theories concerning life's shadows, the ambiguities that characterize human existence. The characters' choices and explanations range from divine illumination to despairing tragedy. A particularly clever scene depends upon the biblical book of Tobit, a deuterocanonical work with which many readers may unfortunately be unfamiliar. Richard, one of the main characters, wanders stunned through the streets of Copenhagen where he comes across a man named Tobias cooking the guts of fish and then a hot-dog vender named Raffaelo. Richard sees the statue of an angel -- he has already had a number of angelic encounters in his haunted house -- swoons, and comes to some major realizations: shadows fade. The book of Tobit deals with a righteous man who goes blind; he has a son named Tobias who is protected from a demon by the archangel Raphael who, among other things, instructs him to burn the liver of a fish to ensure his survival -- both physical and marital.Some issues and subplots seem to hang or are difficult to believe. The American Richard-married-to-a-Dane-and-living-in-Denmark, for example, decides after his angelic encounter and illumination in September to start studying Danish; by Christmas he can discourse with his Danish in-laws in Danish. That's impressive! Richard and his wife Katrina have a moving encounter with a priest who recounts a miraculous experience that saved his life; I was expecting some follow-up to this vignette. The question of moving out of an apparently haunted house doesn't arise until toward the end of the novel, and the couple whose house burns down after a neighbor commits suicide in it is remarkably phlegmatic. That's impressive even if one of them IS Jesuit-educated. And no one in Denmark, it seems, does not speak fluent English.
These blips, however, are extremely minor and do not detract from the overall power of the work. I look forward to Varrone's next opus.
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Tags : Shadows in Summer: A Novel in Six Voices [Crescent Varrone] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Plagued by dreams of her dead father, Katrina Nielsen returns to her native Denmark to face the ghosts of her past. After seven years in New York,Crescent Varrone,Shadows in Summer: A Novel in Six Voices,BookSurge Publishing,1439251967,VIB1439251967,Fiction,Fiction - Horror,Fiction Ghost,Ghost,Horror & ghost stories
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Shadows in Summer A Novel in Six Voices Crescent Varrone 9781439251966 Books Reviews
In recounting the threads of this mystery set in Denmark from the viewpoints of each of its six protagonists, including an American newly employed in Copenhagen, the author easily holds our attention, especially because his story of a "haunted" house is not entirely fictional and because he bases his characters on people he came to know during the years he has lived there. Their varied ages, backgrounds and world outlook heighten the level of suspense, and, as if the story line were not enough to keep us reading, we watch these characters wrestle with deep philosophical questions while affording us some insight into Danish history, its place and its prospects in the global economy, and its language, food, geography and weather. Those of us who have Danish friends recognize their uniquely Danish personality traits and habits. The author's sensitivity to interpersonal dynamics and his carefully crafted descriptive writing, some of it rising to the level of poetry, give this volume gravitas and propel it gracefully out of the category of mere pulp thriller.
It has been many years since I wandered into the fiction genre and Shadows in Summer has me excited about fiction once again.
I enjoyed the author's approach of offering different perspectives from the main characters. This ghost story captured my imagination and provided insight into Danish culture, history and religious belief when it comes to ghosts.
It was quite a surprise to learn the book was based on actual experiences of Mr. Varrone. I look forward to his next work!
A ghost story set in Denmark, but this isn't Hamlet! Instead, it is an intriguing and riveting exploration of the relationships between six protagonists, and how they perceive and react to the supernatural. Katrina and Richard's new house is haunted -- is it a ghost, or just unexplained coincidences, or somebody being malicious? Is the ghost a Nazi collaborator, or Katrina's dead father, or a mysterious libertine from the late 1800s -- or is it just all in Katrina's mind, as she mourns the loss of her father?
Setting the story in Denmark sets the stage nicely and keeps the reader interested and a little off balance -- perfect for a ghost story. Many Americans who have travelled in Europe may think they know it, but not well. Like Richard (a "boy from Queens, NY" who moves there with his Danish wife), we discover things about Denmark that we never knew, while the haunting unfolds around us. Our journey of discovery -- of the natural and the supernatural -- has begun.
The author does a fantastic job juggling the voices and perspectives of each protagonist, drawing the reader in and keeping him on his toes. As each character's personality develops, his/her perspective about the unfolding events -- which sometimes contradict that of another character -- forces the reader to ponder what is really going on, and ultimately to question whether our own perspective of our world is accurate or complete.
The ending will leave you hanging -- as it should. The author does not neatly wrap things up in a bow and explain all the incidents. Each character does that for him or herself, and the author stays true to each character's voice. The reader is left to decide what to think and believe, and which character is "right" -- or perhaps they all are, in their own way.
Cresent Varrone's "Shadows in Summer" is not only a gripping page-turner mystery but an intriguing post-modern novel "in six voices." Six narratives mingle, but do not always communicate, throughout the novel, telling the story of weird experiences of a young couple who has recently moved into a relatively creepy house. Each voice narrates somewhat different explanations for the unusual occurrences, ranging from haunting by ghosts to psychosomatic explanations. The novel does not limit itself to a consideration of human relationships with the supernatural, but also family and cultural relationships, e.g. estranged siblings, marital encouragement and responsibilities, life in a foreign culture, etc. The leitmotiv of "shadows," from physical to psychological to supernatural, runs throughout. The author leaves the reader to probe and to ponder the different theories concerning life's shadows, the ambiguities that characterize human existence. The characters' choices and explanations range from divine illumination to despairing tragedy. A particularly clever scene depends upon the biblical book of Tobit, a deuterocanonical work with which many readers may unfortunately be unfamiliar. Richard, one of the main characters, wanders stunned through the streets of Copenhagen where he comes across a man named Tobias cooking the guts of fish and then a hot-dog vender named Raffaelo. Richard sees the statue of an angel -- he has already had a number of angelic encounters in his haunted house -- swoons, and comes to some major realizations shadows fade. The book of Tobit deals with a righteous man who goes blind; he has a son named Tobias who is protected from a demon by the archangel Raphael who, among other things, instructs him to burn the liver of a fish to ensure his survival -- both physical and marital.
Some issues and subplots seem to hang or are difficult to believe. The American Richard-married-to-a-Dane-and-living-in-Denmark, for example, decides after his angelic encounter and illumination in September to start studying Danish; by Christmas he can discourse with his Danish in-laws in Danish. That's impressive! Richard and his wife Katrina have a moving encounter with a priest who recounts a miraculous experience that saved his life; I was expecting some follow-up to this vignette. The question of moving out of an apparently haunted house doesn't arise until toward the end of the novel, and the couple whose house burns down after a neighbor commits suicide in it is remarkably phlegmatic. That's impressive even if one of them IS Jesuit-educated. And no one in Denmark, it seems, does not speak fluent English.
These blips, however, are extremely minor and do not detract from the overall power of the work. I look forward to Varrone's next opus.
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