Survivor Song - Double Trouble Review - We Dare You to Read This During Quarantine
“This is not a fairy tale. Certainly it is not one that has been sanitized, homogenized, or Disneyfied, bloodless in every possible sense of the word, beast and human monsters defanged and claws clipped, the children safe and the children saved, the hard truths harvested from hard lives if not lost then obscured, and purposefully so.”
Joe:
Growing up in the suburbs of Boston, I always thought Stephen King was the center of the horror universe. He was a New England guy, though he wrote about Maine a lot he always mentioned the Red Sox and places that I was familiar with having lived in the New England area for so long. As I got older I realized there were other, just as capable horror writers as Mr. King, but still his horror was located close to home and it was easily relatable.
Then I started to read the work Paul Tremblay was putting out. And his stuff hit even closer to home for me. Though I don’t live there any longer, I’m not just familiar with the region Tremblay wrote about, I know the streets and buildings. I know the people that wind up in his stories and there is nothing more relatable than that. That intimate knowledge of the area makes his novels better for me, but it doesn’t take away from the skill that it takes to produce the high-quality work that he continually puts out. His latest novel, Survivor Song, is a perfect example of this.
Reading Survivor Song while quarantined in the middle of a pandemic adds a whole new level to the reading experience. I realize the novel was written prior to the coronavirus outbreak but it certainly doesn’t feel like it. Tremblay got pretty much everything right when it comes to how the government and American citizens would deal with a pandemic.
The horror in this book is large scale. an outbreak of a super-rabies that is easily and quickly transmitted from animals to humans and humans to humans. While Tremblay offers up horror on a massive scale, the story is an intimate one. It takes place over the course of only a few hours and we follow two friends, Ramona, a doctor and her best friend Natalie. The rest of the outbreak, to the reader doesn’t matter. The relationship between these two friends and how they fight for each other and Natalie’s unborn baby throughout the course of the book is the only thing that truly matters to us as we turn page after page hoping and pleading for them both to make it through the story in one piece. Tremblay pulls all the right strings and keeps you on the edge of your seat from one end of this novel to the other. This is one of the best novels of the year so far for me and I highly recommended it.
“This is not the end of a fairy tale, nor is it the end of a movie. This is a song.”
Book mood board (all images from weheartit)
Charlotte:
This book is so creepy you guys. It almost feels prophetic which makes it even creepier. As Joe mentioned, this is about a rabies type virus. But what’s astounding is how close Tremblay got to the reality of America dealing with a pandemic. Right down to the doctors and nurses not having the correct PPE equipment or training. It’s horrifying.
And the horror is absolutely on display here. Much like his previous books, Tremblay does a fantastic job of telling a story about human relationships and reactions, sneaking in the horrific moments to keep you on edge.
Our two main characters have such a lush history that plays out over this 300 or so pages. And while he doesn’t introduce too many new characters, he quickly forms personalities of those that do show up. The opening chapter follows Natalie, 9 months pregnant, and Paul, her husband who are quarantined inside. Paul has gone to the grocery store while Natalie bunkers down. In only a few pages Tremblay rips out your heart and dances on it for a little bit, just to remind you and set the tone that this story is NOT a fairy-tale.
Ramola is really our lead, and she is one of my favorite literary ladies of 2020. An asexual doctor who loves her best friend deeply and spends this story working incredibly hard to keep herself, Natalie, and the unborn baby safe. She doesn’t become a cheesey hero; even at the end she’s forcing herself to do things she knows is right, but like a normal human being; would rather not do them. When things are hard, she faces them with trepidation. And once again Tremblay proves he is the master of character development and depth.
Overall, Survivor Song, is another literary achievement by a horror great of our generation. I dare you to read this while in quarantine.
“Sassafras and lullabies.”
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