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Sineater Elizabeth Massie 9780743497831 Books

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Sineater Elizabeth Massie 9780743497831 Books

I was drawn to this book because of the title and since I read a horror book every October, I thought I would give this a spin for 2013. And it's not a very good sign that I finished it around Christmastime.

What I liked about Sineater were the "keep you guessing until the last chapter" ending and the realistic voice used by the young characters when writing letters to each others, complete with misspellings. The novel is a Bram Stoker award winner after all. Unfortunately, the novel dragged for me. I never felt emotionally attached to the young protagonist. It's as if there is an unwritten law that no humor can be used in a serious horror novel. Who started that, Lovecraft? At times some of the horror was over the top and some of it felt cliched like the use of rats in one chapter (Every modern horror book just has to have them!). There were also a number of typos that were annoying (yes, they make me lose my train of thought) and surprising for a hardback edition.

For these reasons I give Sineater middle of the road marks and wish it had been more in several areas.


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Sineater Elizabeth Massie 9780743497831 Books Reviews

First one of Ms. Massie's books that I have read. I met her a few weeks ago at a get together and had no idea she was an author of horror novels. She suggested this as the first one I should read and I have really enjoyed it Can't wait to read some of her others.
This novel is a disturbing tale about a perverse form of Christianity practiced in the mountains of Virginia. The sineater (an old Irish fantasy if memory services) is a man who voluntarily soaks up the evil men do, takes it unto himself at death. When the sineater's son goes to school some weird events take place and the loons think Judgement Day is nigh. Massie is from in Virginia so the atmosphere is tense and the descriptions of locale and population tight and precise as the son, a boy named Joel, tries to find out what is actually going on all around him. Ms. Massie won the 1993 Stoker Award for First Novel for Sineater.
The problem with genre fiction is that so much of it is cruft. Sineater, however, is a daimond in the rough. Massie's writing style is evocative and vivid without becoming florid. Reading this novel I had a definite feel for exactly what things looked like, how they felt, and how they smelled. The characterizations were strong and even her touches on the minor characters leave the reader feeling like they are actual people with full lives outside of their small parts in the unfolding story.
The plot is a bit slow and wanders off track in a few places, but this book is not about the plot. This is a novel of human interactions and reactions, a novel about people. The true story lies in the way in which the town is dealing with their own changing traditions. That said, I was very impressed with the fact that the action sequences are unusually well-done and, occasionally, exciting.
I read this novel straight through in one sitting and would recommend it to just about anyone, horror fan or no. I wish I'd waited and got a hardback edition.
Excellent. That's my one-word review. Massie demonstrates some of the finest writing talent I've seen in a long time. Her words create images that have stayed with me long after reading SINEATER.
SINEATER starts with the birth of Joel, the newest member of the Barker family whose patriarch is the sineater--the person who eats from the dead in order to absorb their sins. The Barkers are shunned in this small Virginia town and try to live out a quiet existence in their mountain home. No one in town wants to associate with, touch or even look upon a Barker. Then Missy Campbell, a hopeful relgious leader, calls for the townspeople to forego the sineater tradition and to find another way to help the souls of the dead enter heaven. Thus begins a serious of deaths with dire warnings about ignoring tradition and turning away from God. Joel, now in school despite the traditions, struggles to find his place in the world and to make contact with other humans, most of whom turn away from him.
This is one of the most touching horror novels I've ever read. I truly felt compassion and hope for Joel, and I cared about what happened to the characters. The writing style is excellent, and the characters are well-developed. I don't always agree with the choices that award committees make for "best" novels, but in this case Massie deserves all the recognition and applause for her first novel. I will definitely be reading her other books.
This is an exceptionally well written horror novel and one of the best of its genre. This Bram Stoker Award winning novel is set in the backwoods of Virginia, and the author's talent as a writer gives the reader a real feeling for the place about which she is writing. It is a grim, gripping, and highly atmospheric horror novel about a backwoods town in which some of the residents practice an old time religious custom...one that requires the service of one known as the "Sineater".

By custom, the Sineater is one who redeems the souls of the dead by eating food laid out on the bodies of the dead before they are buried. In eating the food, the Sineater is symbolically redeeming their souls, as the food represents their sins. The living are forbidden to look upon the countenance of the Sineater.

That taboo, however, has been violated, as the Sineater now has a wife and family, even though they, too, must avert their gaze. The family is also to be shunned by the people of the town. Yet, the youngest member of the family, Joel, attends school in town. Though his company is generally avoided by nearly all, he manages to touch some hearts, and some folks actually interact with the child much to their ultimate dismay, as someone appears to be very angry with this break in tradition.

The goodness and sensitivity innate in Joel, as well as his touching appreciation of friendly overtures by others, and the discovery of his own humanity, is a wonderful counterpoint to the evil let loose upon this backwoods town and the ignorance which fuels customs that are destructive and inhumane. This is a horror novel well worth reading.
I was drawn to this book because of the title and since I read a horror book every October, I thought I would give this a spin for 2013. And it's not a very good sign that I finished it around Christmastime.

What I liked about Sineater were the "keep you guessing until the last chapter" ending and the realistic voice used by the young characters when writing letters to each others, complete with misspellings. The novel is a Bram Stoker award winner after all. Unfortunately, the novel dragged for me. I never felt emotionally attached to the young protagonist. It's as if there is an unwritten law that no humor can be used in a serious horror novel. Who started that, Lovecraft? At times some of the horror was over the top and some of it felt cliched like the use of rats in one chapter (Every modern horror book just has to have them!). There were also a number of typos that were annoying (yes, they make me lose my train of thought) and surprising for a hardback edition.

For these reasons I give Sineater middle of the road marks and wish it had been more in several areas.