[.ca] The House Next Door (ISBN 1416544925)

From Amazon.com:
Anne Rivers Siddons is a writer of literary fiction whose one foray into the horror genre is this remarkable 1978 novel, The House Next Door. The setting is a wealthy suburb in Atlanta where an ambitious young architect is building a dramatically contemporary house. The novel uses a frame device to put three short stories under a single cover: as each of three families moves into the house in succession, we watch the bad things that happen to them and eventually force them to leave. But the frame itself--the observations of an urbane and sophisticated couple who live next door and become close friends with the architect--is the most deeply involving story in the book. Stephen King was so impressed by The House Next Door that when he wrote Danse Macabre, his personal tour of the horror genre, he sought out Siddons for an interview. She told him, "The haunted house has always spoken specially and directly to me as the emblem of particular horror. Maybe it's because, to a woman, her house is so much more than that: it is kingdom, responsibility, comfort, total world to her.... It is an extension of ourselves; it tolls in answer to one of the most basic chords mankind will ever hear.... So basic is it that the desecration of it, the corruption, as it were, by something alien takes on a peculiar and bone-deep horror and disgust." Siddons was also fascinated by how the supernatural has the power to disturb the complacent rich and their comfortable little world: "What has the unspeakable and the unbelievable got to do with second homes and tax shelters and private schools for the kids and a pâté in every terrine and a BMW in every garage? Primitive man might howl before his returning dead and point; his neighbor would see, and howl along with him.... The resident of Fox Run Chase who meets a ghoulie out by the hot tub is going to be frozen dead in his or her Nikes on the tennis courts the next day if he or she persists in gabbling about it. And there he is, alone with the horror and ostracized on all sides. It's a double turn of the screw." One caveat: some people find the ending a false note that mars the effect. Even so, The House Next Door is an exquisite horror novel. --Fiona Webster

L'horreur au quotidien...:
Anne Rivers Siddons. Que voilà un nom inconnu pour moi! Jusqu'à un certain jour de 1992, où j'ai découvert son roman et l'ai feuilleté dans la librairie, très rapidement parce que je n'étais pas seule. Un unique souvenir m'est resté: le prénom de l'héroine. Pas le titre, juste... le prénom!! Colquitt. WOW!! Où a-t-elle pêché cela? (Si je pouvais, je le lui demanderais parce que je veux savoir d'où ça vient, c'est original comme prénom) J'ai aussi vu qu'il s'agissait d'une histoire un peu inquiétante, et cela me plaisait bien. Toutefois, je ne l'ai pas acheté. Neuf ans plus tard, je suis retombée dessus tout à fait par hasard, à la bibliothèque de mon quartier. Là, je l'ai reconnu (encore à cause du nom) et je me suis dit "je vais me payer la traite !!" Alors je suis repartie avec lui dans mon sac. De retour chez moi, je l'ai lu tout d'un trait (dévoré, en fait). Après, j'ai remué ciel et terre pour me le procurer. Ce qui m'a tant plu dans ce livre, c'est l'horreur dans l'ordinaire: de toutes petites choses, du moins au début, et toujours plausibles. Dans ce type de récit, il faut que la trame soit plausible d'un bout à l'autre, sinon, ça ne marche pas et le lecteur peut décrocher. Elle l'est. De léger malaise en petit détail troublant, d'incident en accident, le quotidien se dérègle tranquillement et chaque nouvelle situation, un peu plus étrange et douloureuse que la précédente, met rudement à l'épreuve les liens mutuels d'amour et la crédibilité des deux héros. Qu'ils soient riches ou pauvres n'a pas tellement d'importance. Étant donné que Colquitt et Walter étaient des gens à l'aise financièrement et semblaient jouir d'un statut social relativement enviable, ils avaient bien plus à perdre, en parlant de leurs craintes à leur entourage, que si c'étaient deux "nobodys" sortis de nulle part. C'est la raison pour laquelle, selon moi, Anne Rivers Siddons les a placés dans cette situation au départ. Quant au genre de vie qu'ils menaient, c'était bien typique des années 70. Le lieu non plus n'a pas d'importance: l'histoire est très intemporelle (une autre belle qualité du roman) et aurait tout aussi bien pu se passer à Miami en 1990, à New-York en 1960 ou même à Londres en 1900... elle aurait même pu se passer dans une banlieue huppée de Montréal! L'horreur n'a pas d'âge, pas de lieu et ne suit aucune mode. Petite critique de ma part: en tant qu'écrivain, j'aurais peut-être davantage tiré parti de certaines situations potentiellement explosives. Quand Walter est arrivé un soir, par exemple, et a trouvé sa femme et Kim dans la cuisine de la fameuse maison (peu importe pour quelle raison, c'était l'état d'esprit de Walter qui comptait à ce moment-là), quelque chose de "weird" aurait pu se passer. Sans qu'il y ait nécessairement du sang à profusion, Walter aurait pu réagir plus intensément et poser un geste regrettable... À tort, bien entendu, mais cela aurait ajouté à l'horreur de la situation. Il faut lire le livre pour comprendre ce que je veux dire! Il me reste à dire que j'ai bien aimé la manière dont Colquitt parlait de ses chats et de la façon qu'ils avaient de "changer leurs queues de place" (c'était ainsi traduit en français), j'ai trouvé cela bien mignon!! J'ai eu des chats moi-même et j'imaginais sans mal Razz ou Foster prendre des poses en changeant sa queue de place de temps à autre. La fin du roman. Quelle fin! Moi aussi, j'en ai été surprise et je me suis dit "voyons! ai-je manqué quelque chose??" Mais je ne déteste pas qu'un roman se termine sur une question... Au fond, Anne Rivers Siddons a laissé au lecteur le choix d'imaginer sa propre fin. Vraiment, un excellent roman!

If Danielle Steel and Stephen King built a house...:
This book is an odd mix of novel and horror story. Picture an idyllic street with upper class residents whose biggest problem is a neighbor who seems to breed annoying children yearly. Suddenly, a vacant lot, seemingly too small and oddly shaped to build on, is sold and a house goes up. Once in progress, bad luck begins to befall the builders and their architect. At the housewarming party, a shocking event leads to tragedy, causing the owners to move and sell the home. Fast forward through two more similar, yet still interesting, scenarios and towards an ending that is a bit less than satisfying and you've got "The House Next Door." The strength of this book lies in the fact that the story keeps your attention long enough to get you from one shocking revelation to the next. The weaknesses (note the plural) don't ruin the book, but do make it less enjoyable than it might be otherwise. First, the writing is adjective and metaphor rich, often to the detriment of the storyline. I'd occasionally find myself needing to re-read a sentence or paragraph in order to wade through the language to get to the actual point. Second, the characters are a little "too" highbrow to be sympathetic. They belong to the ballet guild and the Junior League, lunch at the club, and describe friends and colleagues as being from "substantial" families. Their biggest problem seems to be having one martini too many at the semi-formal neighborhood party to make tomorrow's 8:00am tennis date. At times, I found myself wishing something terrible would befall them just to bring them down a notch. As for the ending, it left me wanting. It wrapped up the bigger story, but left some of the lesser details without resolution. I actually flipped the last page back and forth a couple of times to make sure I didn't miss something! All in all, I'm glad I read the book. It was enjoyable, different, and surprising at times. I recommend it to anyone wanting a casual, not-too-involved read.

Wow! Great psychological horror - with a modern twist.:
I loved this book. I found it very crisp and it never waivered in its intensity, although it had amusing and delicious moments of yuppy socializing and two fantastic heroes: Colquitt and Walter Kennedy, who refused, by the end, to allow the horrors next door to continue. Yes, they had to perform a drastic deed to end the tyranny of the architectural monster-house, but no one can say they were wrong to do it. There is a major question left for the reader to ponder at the end of the novel...I won't spill it here, and spoil the book for the lucky readers to come... I say "lucky," because this is definitely a 'treat' book that will keep you up all night and turning the pages frantically. And I have to say I miss Col and Walter and Razz and Foster Grant. House is also a charming love story. It's about good, popular people who love each other unconditionally... In fact, I think it is one of the few suspense novels that portrays a truly loving couple, for Col and Walter never fall out of love with each other, no matter what horrible things happen around - or to - them.

Well Written...:
...but I had to physically get rid of the book after I read it. It was as if the book had the same effect on my life as it did on the lives of the characters in it. That's all I will say. I don't want to give too much power to words on paper that were written as fiction, but I felt a sense of relief once I had put the book physically out of my living space, as if it no longer had the power to use the evil that is described in it to influence my life. Sorry, Ms. Siddons, I can't help feeling that I never should have read that book, well written as it was. I have read other works by you and enjoyed them, but this one contained real and unspeakable horror and evil. That may be one of the reasons Stephen King ranked it as highly as he did. I won't be able to forget it for a long time, if ever, as it has haunted me ever since I finished it - I couldn't wait to see how it turned out, and when I did, I deeply regretted reading the ending. Probably the way Col felt when she finally looked into the windows during the second section of the book. The ending is as shattering as that of William Bayer's masterpiece, Peregrine, although it's a different sort of book. Many will not be touched by this book in the same way I was, but as Col said to prospective buyers of that evil house, beware...

The horror in an everyday world:
If you are an Anne Rivers Siddons fan, you will recognize the type of characters in this novel. It is a world which goes horribly awry. There is real horror here, not the shock and gore usually presented as a horror tale. A deliciously disturbing read!