A haunting collection of short stories from Koji Suzuki, author of the smash thriller, Ring, which spawned the hit film and sequels. The first story in this collection has been adapted to film.
My Thoughts: This book had been in my TBR pile for over ten years, so I was glad to finally scratch it off my list. I really loved the Japanese movie, Dark Water. It was creepy and heartbreaking. The American movie adaptation was not as great. Having the Japanese movie in mind, I was hoping this book would have the same emotions that I felt when I watched the film. Unfortunately, I was not expecting it to be a collection of short stories (I did not read the synopsis) so I was a little disappointed.
The stories had a lot of promise, but there was not a lot of character and plot development. I felt as if I was left adrift in the middle of voyage with each novella wondering how everything was going to develop. Perhaps the only story that felt complete to me was "The Hold" but I did not enjoy that story as much (many of the stories had characters with violent tendencies that abused others, especially towards women, which did not bode well with me). The first story, "Floating Water," was my favorite out of the collection. This was the short story that the movie, Dark Water, was based off of. The story began strong as the character tried to make sense of the Hello Kitty backpack that kept appearing. Just as the plot began to intensify, the story ended. Yup, it simply ended right as the climax was climbing. Boy...that was a disappointment.
Now, what tied these stories together was their connection with water. Water was seen as something dangerous but also something good that gives life. It was mysterious; its presence caused terror to some and it was a substance that was difficult to control. So it was interesting to read how water was portrayed differently throughout the stories.
As a whole, I was not too thrilled with the collection. Other than "Floating Water," the stories were kind of dull and lacked the spookiness that I was expecting. Character and plot development did not happen, which left me wanting more. I rated this anthology:
This book counts for the #ShelfLove Challenge.
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