Review: The Amityville Horror

The Amityville HorrorThe Amityville Horror by Jay Anson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I read this book when it first came out back in the 1970s — I lifted it from my Dad’s den, which was crammed with all sorts of 1960s-1970s bestsellers like Ghost Boat, The Anthrax Mutation, and Jaws — and I was definitely way too young to be reading it, because it scared the hell out of me. At the time, though, it was sold as “a true story” — there’s much controversy now about whether it was or not, so that took a lot of the scare out of it. I will say that this book is not at all well-written (it’s awful, in fact, there are exclamation points in the narrative at least once on every page), but that’s not why anyone should read it. Read it because it’s a good old trip down 1970s lane in which people still have land-line phones, station wagons–and we were all a lot more gullible. This was a guilty pleasure.

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About kristipetersenschoonover

A ghost story writer who still sleeps with the lights on, Kristi Petersen Schoonover’s fiction has appeared in many magazines and anthologies; her traditionally published books include a short story collection, THE SHADOWS BEHIND. She was the recipient of three Norman Mailer Writers Colony Residencies and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. She serves as co-host of the DARK DISCUSSIONS podcast, as founding editor of the dark literary journal 34 ORCHARD, and is a member of the New England Horror Writers. Follow her adventures at kristipetersenschoonover.com.

Posted on January 12, 2011, in Deep Thoughts & Fun Stuff. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.

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