Suffer the Children
by John Saul
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Book Reviews of Suffer the Children
Book Review: A chilling, truly disturbing horror classic
Summary: 5 Stars
While John Saul is not held in the highest of regard by many horror fans, he is the man who first introduced me to the genre. Some of his later novels did indeed become pretty repetitive, but his first novel, Suffer the Children, is a dead-on, unflinching classic. This was the first truly scary book I ever read; I was probably around twelve at the time, and I remember staying up into the wee hours of the morning to finish it and then finding it almost impossible to get to sleep. Reading it again now, it still possesses much of the power it possessed years ago. It is a tale of a family curse, murder, schizophrenia, general unhappiness, and gruesome, frightening events. Long ago, the scion of the Conger family killed his daughter, supposedly bringing a curse down upon the succeeding generations of his family. Now, Jack Conger fears the curse is real. In a drunken rage, he physically assaults his youngest little girl Sarah. While he struggles to remember what exactly happened that day and grows increasingly estranged from his long-suffering wife, his daughter exists in a quasi-comatose state, living in her own silent fantasy world. The Congers look at their first daughter as a true blessing through all of their pain--Elizabeth is mature beyond her years and takes care of her little sister with great love and kindness. When several local children begin to disappear, though, the Congers' delicately balanced world finally turns completely upside down. This is a pretty scary novel, largely because the horror centers around the two young sisters Elizabeth and Sarah. The description of the gloomy woods around the home and the truly dangerous embankment nearby help produce a great dark atmosphere, but Saul's description of a series of horrible events is especially unsettling. The story gets pretty gruesome at one point, and I think some horror writers would not be bold enough to go as far as Saul did. Saul committed himself fully to this novel and dared to describe everything in great detail; combine that with his incredibly effective characterization of the two sisters and you get a true horror classic in every sense of the word. Saul hooks you securely in his clutches and drags you down with him into the pits of depravity. The ending did not provide me with a complete feeling of closure, but I certainly have no quarrel with it; in fact, the evil Saul so vividly describes almost defies comprehension and thus necessitates the type of ending Saul chose to give us. I would highly recommend this novel to any horror fan--Saul creates a psychological atmosphere of real terror that essentially oozes out of the pores of each page.
Book Review: Page Turner with Underdeveloped, Disturbing Plot
Summary: 2 Stars
Suffer the Children, like some of Saul's other books, had tremendous potential but fell short because several aspects of the plot were never fully developed and fleshed out. Character development is also virtually non-existent. In short, this book needed to be a couple hundred pages longer to read more like a novel and less like a movie script (where parts are left out or assumptions are made due to time constraints). The plot is certainly disturbing and is not for a reader easily upset by sadistic violence and cruelty (all involving younger children). It was also frustrating to read what I thought were really messed up relationship situations that were so unrealistic, it was difficult to suspend disbelief. A father viciously beats his daughter in the woods, nearly to death, suggests he wanted to rape her, and still sleeps in the same bed as wife, who, though struggling with her relationship with him, still tries to have sex with him and repair their damaged life. Huh? While I wouldn't necessarily doubt a family trying to put itself back together a la "The Shining", this is totally ridiculous. They have a traumatized daughter (the one beaten) who is now diagnosed as schizophrenic, but might recover. Not only does that not make sense as schizophrenia is not the result of trauma or something that necessarily heals, but there is no evidence whatever that she is schizophrenic from the novel itself. I know, it's just a novel, but authors such as Stephen King give some effort to make the horrible and fantastic somewhat plausible in the real world. The book is still a page turner as one wants to know what's going to happen next, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it or laud it. Read it if it's free or nearly free to get and you're sick in bed or something.Book Review: Depressing, But Good! (WARNING: SPOILER!)
Summary: 4 Stars
I'll start by saying that I did like this book. I had to push a bit to get into the first half of the story, but the second half had me pretty hooked. I was not pleased with the end, but then again, I guess it was alright not to see all the loose ends nicely tied up.....even though that's what I really wanted. At least for Sarah's sake.
There were aspects of the story that creeped me out, which is good because that seldom happens, and there were some rather grotesque scenes, nothing over the top but enough to make you cringe a tad.
I found Elizabeth's character, or rather Beth's character, to be repulsive. Despite the fact that 'Beth' and 'Elizabeth' were two different people, I found I couldn't stand Elizabeth's character throughout the enitire story. I was on the edge of my seat, waiting for her to get caught.
I felt so terrible for Sarah's character. Here the poor girl was beat severely by her father, just to go on to be blamed for her sister's hideous acts. The only part of the story that really upset me was the ending. I felt for Sarah's character and it was nice to read that she had recovered from her psychosis.
I kept waiting, up until the last few pages, to read that Sarah had finally remembered the past and was able to hold her sister accountable. Well, once she did remember but was just thrown back into the same psychosis, unable to relay what she had remembered, I was annoyed. I wanted her character to prevail.
This book was good enough, but nothing great.
Book Review: Suffer the Children Review
Summary: 3 Stars
Do you like horror novels? If yes, then you'll love John Saul's book Suffer the Children. This novel takes place in Port Arbello on a sunny, breezy day. The characters in this book are Jack and Rose Conger. Their family has a lot of history in Port Arbello. There is Elizabeth, the Conger's eldest daughter, who is extraordinarily mature for a thirteen-year-old. Next, there is Sarah. Sarah is the Conger's youngest daughter. The past has closed in on her, and she doesn't talk. Finally, there are Sylvia Bannister and Ray. Sylvia is Jack's secretary, and Ray is the Chief of Police in Port Arbello. (Here are a few lines from Suffer the Children to help you sample the story.) "The man rose out of the bushes, the bottle held aloft, the knuckles of his right hand white as they gripped its neck. He brought the bottle down hard, crushing the rabbit's skull just as it came to light at his feet"(pg.10). The main problem in this book is that children are disappearing. The problem becomes complicated when the eye-witness to the kidnapping gets sent to a place 40 miles away. In this book John Saul is able to create suspense and excitement well. Students in grade eight and up can easily relate to this book. The audience of this novel might enjoy the excitement and thrill of this book. The book is very easy to follow and understand. You will not want to put it down. It is worth reading all 378 pages of Suffer the Children.Book Review: Disturbing....
Summary: 4 Stars
This is my second foray into the works of John Saul, and I'm kinda glad to have stuck with it. This is his first novel and it's easy to see why people became fans. It definitely convinced me to stick with Saul, for a little while at least.
In Port Arbello, the Conger family rules. Or at least it did long ago. Now with the family fortune crumbling, a traumatized daughter, rumors of a family curse, and a tattered relationship, Rose and Jack Conger are beginning to unravel. Jack has been beset by psychological troubles for the past year since his youngest daughter Sarah suffered a trauma so great that she has not spoken since. The only other person present was Jack and he can't remember. And Sarah's not talking. Their older daughter, Elizabeth has been a godsend, playing with Sarah, keeping her calm and happy, and generally keeping her out of trouble. But when a portrait of a girl who is nearly identical to Elizabeth is found, their stable, sweet young lady undergoes a radical personality change. And when the children of the town begin disappearing near the Conger homestead, there's really reason to worry. Could the events of the present be linked to the horrors of the past?
This was a very good book. Disturbing and fascinating, it really didn't take me long to finish it. Definitely a good starting place for anyone interested in test driving the horror genre.