Rose Madder by Stephen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I find Stephen King’s novels a bit long. I respect that he puts Rose and Norman’s back story first, rather than trying to work it in as a flashback. That’s good. But it takes him so, so long to get to the supernatural horror. I picked up your Stephen King novel, Stephen King, for some prime supernatural horror. And I’m reading it for like, hours and hours before you introduce the haunted painting.
Put the haunted painting in earlier, bro. I don’t know, maybe that’s just me.
One thing I don’t get is the name ‘Erinyes’. These are the ancient Greek Furies: terrifying, feminine spirits who avenge familial crimes. Like in the Oresteia. Rose Madder is a Fury. If you wanted to write the Furies in a contemporary setting, you would write Rose Madder.
And yet he gives the name ‘Erinyes’ to the masculine bull spirit. At the center of a labyrinth. I’m like, dude, call it Asterion.
On the plus side, I love how he fastens his supernatural world to the real world. Part of why it works is because he spends so much time in the real world. Which I complained about. He could have done it in fewer pages.
I also love how that supernatural world remains unexplained. It’s like peering through a crack in the wall of normality. Real things stay unexplained like that. Actual spiritual reality is ineffable.
This is a supernatural horror novel in which the monster isn’t the antagonist. The antagonist is a mere mortal. He only takes on ghostliness after the supernatural is already involved. And he’s not the scariest thing in the novel. Or, at least, the two monsters are scary in different ways. Norman is a psycho killer. Rose Madder is a vengeance goddess. Which would you rather meet in a dark alley? If you’re vulnerable, prefer Rose Madder. She might chipper shredder your oppressor. If you’re evil, prefer Norman. You might make friends.