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defaultnamespace's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
It is slow and the horror elements are sparse, so not something I'd normally be interested in. It's also very long. More like a sprawling southern soap opera with some horror elements thrown in. And I was completely hooked. I never thought I'd become so invested in the day to day drama of a family, and a story spanning 50 years. I didn't want it to end.
When the horror does show up, it's in full force and doesn't hold back, made all the more powerful because of the investment in the characters. The writing is masterful and the narration excellent.
Simply put, it's unlike anything I've ever read.
When the horror does show up, it's in full force and doesn't hold back, made all the more powerful because of the investment in the characters. The writing is masterful and the narration excellent.
Simply put, it's unlike anything I've ever read.
michellesmelancholia's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
gatun's review against another edition
5.0
Blackwater: The Complete Saga by Michael McDowell runs just over 30 hours. That is large even in audiobook circles. But it is worth every moment of it. Matt Godfrey does an incredible job. The story includes males, females, and children. The accents, for the most part, are southern Alabama. The differences in wealth, education, and race are apparent by the accents Mr. Godfrey creates for them. I had no problem identifying who was speaking.
Blackwater: The Complete Saga is categorized as Southern Gothic and horror. It is a complex, rich story, not only because it covers a time period from 1919 to the late 1960s. The main characters, Oscar and Eleanor, meet during the worst flood ever recorded in Perdido, Alabama. Oscar rescues Eleanor from a hotel room where she has been trapped for four days due to the rising water. The mystery of how Eleanor came to be in that hotel room when the rest of the town was evacuated is not solved until the end.
I know I am not doing this book justice. Without spoilers, I can tell you there are two monsters who bring very, very different horrors to Oscar's family. There is also a love story that is simple and also very strong. There is a hate created of jealousy, pettiness, and narcissism. There are innocent children trapped in this world of two monsters.
The audiobook is excellent. I will listen to it again. I really enjoyed Michael McDowell's The Elementals as an audiobook. My next listen by him is Glittering Needles.
Performance 5 stars; Story 5 stars; Production values 5 stars; Overall 5 stars
Blackwater: The Complete Saga is categorized as Southern Gothic and horror. It is a complex, rich story, not only because it covers a time period from 1919 to the late 1960s. The main characters, Oscar and Eleanor, meet during the worst flood ever recorded in Perdido, Alabama. Oscar rescues Eleanor from a hotel room where she has been trapped for four days due to the rising water. The mystery of how Eleanor came to be in that hotel room when the rest of the town was evacuated is not solved until the end.
I know I am not doing this book justice. Without spoilers, I can tell you there are two monsters who bring very, very different horrors to Oscar's family. There is also a love story that is simple and also very strong. There is a hate created of jealousy, pettiness, and narcissism. There are innocent children trapped in this world of two monsters.
The audiobook is excellent. I will listen to it again. I really enjoyed Michael McDowell's The Elementals as an audiobook. My next listen by him is Glittering Needles.
Performance 5 stars; Story 5 stars; Production values 5 stars; Overall 5 stars
sandygx260's review against another edition
5.0
Back in the 1980's, I read the Blackwater Saga and absolutely loved it—I read it twice. I urged it on my friends. I made the mistake of lending the six book set to a friend who was fired from where we worked and abruptly moved back home to New York. You don't ask a friend who has been fired to return your books.
Over the years, I kept thinking about the series. I finally bit the bullet and paid entirely too much money for a battered set on eBay. The next read proved to be as intriguing and bizarre as I remembered.
Last week I was poking around Kindle books on Amazon and saw that the Blackwater Saga was on Kindle. I snapped it right up and raced through it again.
With the Blackwater Saga, McDowell crafted one helluva of a fascinating Southern Gothic tale. The saga features jealousy, passion, hatred, murder, avarice, and a calculating female river monster who occasionally eats people as the heroine. I have never read anything quite like Blackwater. It feels as if McDowell decided to write a Southern Gothic about a powerful family living in Alabama and threw in a river monster.
When I finished, tears came to my eyes because I wanted more! The ending is powerful.
Now I want ro re-read McDowell's amazing The Elementals, a truly frightening book featuring an abandoned house, heat, and sand. Once you read this book, you'll never regard sand as benign.
I will add this—McDowell was gay. I certainly didn't know this when I read his novels, but now I do see his exploration of "outsider" characters in his novels.
Over the years, I kept thinking about the series. I finally bit the bullet and paid entirely too much money for a battered set on eBay. The next read proved to be as intriguing and bizarre as I remembered.
Last week I was poking around Kindle books on Amazon and saw that the Blackwater Saga was on Kindle. I snapped it right up and raced through it again.
With the Blackwater Saga, McDowell crafted one helluva of a fascinating Southern Gothic tale. The saga features jealousy, passion, hatred, murder, avarice, and a calculating female river monster who occasionally eats people as the heroine. I have never read anything quite like Blackwater. It feels as if McDowell decided to write a Southern Gothic about a powerful family living in Alabama and threw in a river monster.
When I finished, tears came to my eyes because I wanted more! The ending is powerful.
Now I want ro re-read McDowell's amazing The Elementals, a truly frightening book featuring an abandoned house, heat, and sand. Once you read this book, you'll never regard sand as benign.
I will add this—McDowell was gay. I certainly didn't know this when I read his novels, but now I do see his exploration of "outsider" characters in his novels.
mialeyden's review against another edition
I got this book after hearing Stephen King fans would like it, I didn’t feel that way myself. I hoped the family drama and the horror would eventually balance, but that was unfortunately not the case. It took me three months to slowly reach the end of the second part. I think I’ll just leave it there and move on. Not enjoying my time with this.
alexandrabree's review
3.0
I couldn't decide all the way through if this was a magnum opus or a long-winded short story.
I really was into the first book, and then got into the family drama and development, but there was just a little too much mystery, a little too much that was never quite explained, the pacing was very slow and I think if I had put thr book down I could easily have just walked away from it and never picked it up to finish at any point.
I think if this is your cup of tea, then it is probably a 10/10 stars but it was a 4/10 for me in the end, I don't quite regret reading it and spending so much time with it.
BUT I totally could have done with more everything, more gore, more explanations, more alligator people, more action, more drama (so much slow burn that just smoulders, and smoulders and smoulders)
I really was into the first book, and then got into the family drama and development, but there was just a little too much mystery, a little too much that was never quite explained, the pacing was very slow and I think if I had put thr book down I could easily have just walked away from it and never picked it up to finish at any point.
I think if this is your cup of tea, then it is probably a 10/10 stars but it was a 4/10 for me in the end, I don't quite regret reading it and spending so much time with it.
BUT I totally could have done with more everything, more gore, more explanations, more alligator people, more action, more drama (so much slow burn that just smoulders, and smoulders and smoulders)
yomenia's review against another edition
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
aliciagw's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I would not at all call this book horror. I think even calling it Southern gothic is a bit of a stretch.
I would say this is a family saga about a southern family, which does include some supernatural/disturbing elements, but those elements are few and far between.
It is a long, very character based book about the Caskey family of Perdido, Alabama. I really loved it because I really enjoy long character based books, but if you are expecting a lot of thrills and gore, you won't find much of it in this book.
I would say this is a family saga about a southern family, which does include some supernatural/disturbing elements, but those elements are few and far between.
It is a long, very character based book about the Caskey family of Perdido, Alabama. I really loved it because I really enjoy long character based books, but if you are expecting a lot of thrills and gore, you won't find much of it in this book.
lydzzz357's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0