Many moons ago (er, last fall)... I signed up for the always fun annual R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril (RIP) Challenge. The selected book for the readalong was The Quick by Lauren Owen and since I typically am amazing at signing up for challenges, but horrible in completing them, I surprised myself when I started the book and then COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN. I did succeed in my usual pattern, however, by inadvertently forgetting to post a final review about it, so my apologies to the wonderful Estella Society. I will do much better this year! (I've gotten into a bad habit of not posting as frequently as I used to because of the events in this post; but Thank God, I am all good now.)

I chose to participate in this group read because of one important detail that was included in the intro. "For fans of The Historian and The Night Circus." Yep, I was in. Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian will always be one of my favorite books, and I've read it twice in the past ten years, even hosting a group readalong at On the Ledge Readalongs. The Historian was such a visual experience, incorporating overseas locations and unique meals with an unnamed narrator, that it launched my own interest in researching and posting pictures relevant to the pages our group read together. That was a ride of an adventure that I am always looking to replicate with another story.

Since it's been a few months since I read it, I'm opting to go with the below Goodreads synopsis so I don't miss out on anything, or give away too much.

London, 1892: James Norbury, a shy would-be poet newly down from Oxford, finds lodging with a charming young aristocrat. Through this new friendship, he is introduced to the drawing-rooms of high society, and finds love in an unexpected quarter. Then, suddenly, he vanishes without a trace. Unnerved, his sister, Charlotte, sets out from their crumbling country estate determined to find him. In the sinister, labyrinthine city that greets her, she uncovers a secret world at the margins populated by unforgettable characters: a female rope walker turned vigilante, a street urchin with a deadly secret, and the chilling “Doctor Knife.” But the answer to her brother’s disappearance ultimately lies within the doors of one of the country’s preeminent and mysterious institutions: The Aegolius Club, whose members include the most ambitious, and most dangerous, men in England.

While The Quick was much more action-packed than The Historian, the setting and the atmosphere, was equally intense, creating an eerie and contemplative feel that I so appreciate in Victorian/Gothic tales. I loved it. The characters and overall quest fit snugly into the category of Victorian horror and Owen's debut creatively demonstrates the challenge of combining present events with the epistolary genre of letters and diary entries into a distinctly peculiar and thoughtful story of unexpected love, loyalty, and of course, vampires. This was an absolutely fantastic story. The key to it are the characters, who fit a range of the unexpected and curiously hopeful, banded together for the ultimate goal. This is a wonderful story filled with secrets and turns, and one that is perfect for you to put on the list of creepy tales to keep close on cold winter nights. I'm eagerly awaiting the next work from Lauren Owen.

Just as a side note: The Quick was also ranked as one of the best books of the year by Slate.

Here's the original button that The Estella Society created. My apologies to them again that I didn't participate like I intended! But, I did read the book, loved it and will try much harder for the next RIP Challenge!

About the Author (from Goodreads)

Lauren Owen studied English Literature at St. Hilda's College, Oxford, before completing an MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, where she received the 2009 Curtis Brown prize for the best fiction dissertation. The Quick is her first novel. She lives in Durham, England.

Visit the author:

• On Twitter
• On Goodreads
• On Penguin UK's author page

I planned on reading the extremely short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman for months now because of the positive reactions from other respected bloggers. I downloaded it onto my Nook, and once I read The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita Laski, I knew that The Yellow Wallpaper had to be next. But I took my time, and when Chrisbookarama peer-pressured recently urged others to read it, I thought, "Seriously, it's only fifteen pages, what have I been waiting for?"

I read it in a flash last night. And was sufficiently freaked out.

An unreliable narrator is married to John, a doctor, and they have a baby. Recently, they've moved to a small rental home and while she would prefer that she and her husband take a downstairs room that is pretty and airy, her husband decides that the upstairs room is the one they should stay in. Considering he prescribed rest to cure her from her recent ills (postpartum depression), it seems extremely bizarre that he should select the room for her daily containment to be one that was once a children's nursery, has ripped and aging wallpaper in it that is a ghastly yellow, and the windows have bars on them. When she begins to see the wallpaper moving and then starts to see a woman trapped in the wallpaper trying to get out, she does everything she can to figure it out and to help the woman escape. But it slowly becomes a murky undertaking for the reader to decipher what is real and what isn't. Is something sinister truly happening, or is it madness? Which is more frightening?

It doesn't help that her husband and sister-in-law are skeptical of our narrator's health, but then are seen scowling at the wallpaper. At least, this is again according to the narrator as she writes her thoughts in her journal... so who to believe?

Written in the first person, Charlotte Perkins Gilman has easily mastered the craft of a creepy and haunting story with frighteningly vivid descriptions, and has also successfully preyed upon a reader's eagerness and natural inclination to believe that the narrator is always right. When that is questioned in any way, it becomes uncomfortable and harrowing. With whom should you place your trust?

Those who enjoyed The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita Laski will enjoy this short story.

Favorite passages from The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman:

You see, he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do? If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression - a slight hysterical tendency-what is one to do? 

_____________________ 

There are things in that paper that nobody knows but me, or ever will. Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer every day. It is always the same shape, only very numerous. And it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern. I don't like it a bit. 

_____________________

The History I Should Know More About

(Generally gathered from Wikipedia, The Science Museum of the UK, and The Literature Network)

Silas Weir Mitchell, creator of the "rest cure," was an American neurologist. The rest cure was a treatment for hysteria and other nervous conditions, including neurasthenia, which Charlotte Perkins Gilman "suffered" from. Although it is no longer included as a diagnosis today, at one time (mid 1800s) neurasthenia was identified as a condition associated with "fatigue, anxiety, headache, neuralgia, and depressed mood." 

The "rest cure" was a common prescription for women more so than men during the Victorian era. Charlotte Perkins Gilman and even Virginia Woolf were advised to use the rest cure, and Perkins Gilman's interaction with institutions and doctors at that time contributed to the creation of this phenomenal story. 

Want to read more? Click here for The Science Museum (UK) and the University of Virginia has additional information that questions the negative perception he received after Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story became popular in the 1970s.

_____________________

About the Author

(Wikipedia) Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a prominent American sociologist, novelist, writer of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction, and a lecturer for social reform. She was a Utopian feminist during a time when her accomplishments were exceptional for women, and she served as a role model for future generations of feminists because of her unorthodox concepts and lifestyle.

After the birth of her first child, she had a nervous breakdown and was prescribed the "rest cure," in which she was advised to not write at all during this period. This exposure and treatment contributed to her writing The Yellow Wallpaper.

Want to read more? Click here for more biographical information and click here for a list of her work (she is also known for Herland). Click here for the BBC dramatization of her life. I haven't seen it, although it sounds interesting.

Note to me... I have finally contributed to two challenges. The E-book Challenge hosted by Ladybug Reads and the Victorian Literature Challenge hosted by Subtle Melodrama (words, words, words).