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mondoweirdo's review against another edition
2.0
I was pulling for this book, just by virtue of the fact that it's a spec fic title by a woman... but man, the prose was too scattered for me to really latch onto either protagonist. The uncanny terror of the building is lost once Langan goes out of her way to start explaining her intention in clear terms, there's no room for metaphor... I'm so bummed, because Audrey stole my heart in the first few chapters. Unfortunately her framing wasn't quite right for me.
overdueshrew's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this book. A cross between Rosemary's Baby and The Shining,it's fantastically macabre and grotesque. Creepy monsters, a haunted/possessed apartment building, and falling into madness - I could definitely picture being made into an awesome horror movie.
charshorrorcorner's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 Stars! A very creepy haunted house story, in the vein of The Haunting of Hill House. Loved it!
mikekaz's review
3.0
A good haunted house story should involve ghosts, scary moments that are possibly real or not and a feeling of dread that leaves the reader or audience glad that they are not in that house. While AUDREY'S DOOR has most of those elements, the one thing that got left out was "scary". It is an interesting story due to the problems that the main character encounters but it wasn't really strong enough to leave me spooked or overly concerned.
Audrey Lucas, a young architect in New York City, moves into an apartment in the Breviary, a building with Chaotic Naturalism that combined with the super cheap rent makes it very appealing for her. After she finds out that the previous tenant drowned her four children there, Audrey starts to notice more and more things odd with building. At the same time she must deal with her boyfriend's unwelcoming family and her own OCD problems.
The supernatural elements don't really kick in though until the last third of the book; unfortunately I thought that Langan hit a good stopping point shortly before that point. There would have been unanswered questions but it seemed a more natural stopping point. The supernatural parts didn't quite fit the story as nicely as I would have liked. Audrey and her boss were both interesting characters. There could have and should have been more interaction between them. Or maybe more parallels drawn between their lives. With the horror elements gone, it would have targeted a different audience and thus lost me as a reader but I think it would have been a more satisfying book.
Audrey Lucas, a young architect in New York City, moves into an apartment in the Breviary, a building with Chaotic Naturalism that combined with the super cheap rent makes it very appealing for her. After she finds out that the previous tenant drowned her four children there, Audrey starts to notice more and more things odd with building. At the same time she must deal with her boyfriend's unwelcoming family and her own OCD problems.
The supernatural elements don't really kick in though until the last third of the book; unfortunately I thought that Langan hit a good stopping point shortly before that point. There would have been unanswered questions but it seemed a more natural stopping point. The supernatural parts didn't quite fit the story as nicely as I would have liked. Audrey and her boss were both interesting characters. There could have and should have been more interaction between them. Or maybe more parallels drawn between their lives. With the horror elements gone, it would have targeted a different audience and thus lost me as a reader but I think it would have been a more satisfying book.
bmartino's review
3.0
I would give this one 3.5 stars if I could. It had SO MUCH potential and I just don't feel like it ever quite lived up to everything I wanted this haunted house story to be. I've read some reviews that thought the background was well developed, but I personally was left wanting to know more about the history and previous occupants of the building. I'm rounding down to 3 stars for the fact that the main character was just so unlikable.
whalleyrulz's review
4.0
Horror is such an awkward thing to write. On the one hand, the genre exists to cause you to lose control of your body. Its purpose is to make you jump at a movie, scream at a sound, or even sit on the metro at 11am, hands shaking as you thumb page after page on your way to a job interview, terrified of what's happening on the next page. To create it is to just tap into the thing that keeps you awake at 3am. Horror is, along with comedy, one of the purest forms of emotional manipulation around. It should be easy. On the other hand, because the genre is so rawly manipulative, it is unbelievably easy to drop the ball, lose tension, and make your reader hate you.
Sarah Langan kept that ball in the air this whole novel.
The titular character of Audrey's Door suffers from OCD. Her childhood was survived, not experienced. She has a history of drug abuse and depression. To the reader unfamiliar with these experiences first hand, the book seems like a morose parody. To people who have experienced the self destructive urges of depression or the harsh detachment of obsession, be warned: this book may gut you.
Audrey leaves her boyfriend. He doesn't understand her mental issues, she doesn't know how to cope with them and include him in her life. She, as an architect, is stunned to find an affordable apartment in an architecturally unique building. Rare, and beautiful, the school of design takes her breath away.
On her first night, she is haunted by a ghost telling her to build a door.
As with Shirley Jackson's The Haunting Of Hill House, the hauntings in this book act as a reflection of the mental and emotional strain the main character has been under her whole life. Unlike Hill House, this book is far more explicit. These ghosts definitely exist. The inbred descendants of socialites that make up Audrey's new apartment building definitely are creepy fucks. Audrey definitely spends the book breaking down, further and further, into a pit of loathing and self destruction.
I was amazed to find myself genuinely feeling fear as I read this book. In the daylight. In public. On a train. Langan taps into - and accentuates - the struggles of Audrey's mental concerns so realistically that the fantastic elements in this book feel real. I wanted to squirm away and partially shield my eyes during the scene where Audrey attempts to deliver her first architectural presentation while a ghost scratches messages in the wall of her office. Her ex-boyfriend's anger and frustration, and Audrey's willing acceptance of it, was believable and painful, and only served to humanize her character even more. I should warn you: this book will not make you feel good. It shouldn't. It's fucking horror, people, not The Hero's Journey.
I didn't think people still made good haunted house novels. I was wrong. They've just mutated into haunted apartments.
Sarah Langan kept that ball in the air this whole novel.
The titular character of Audrey's Door suffers from OCD. Her childhood was survived, not experienced. She has a history of drug abuse and depression. To the reader unfamiliar with these experiences first hand, the book seems like a morose parody. To people who have experienced the self destructive urges of depression or the harsh detachment of obsession, be warned: this book may gut you.
Audrey leaves her boyfriend. He doesn't understand her mental issues, she doesn't know how to cope with them and include him in her life. She, as an architect, is stunned to find an affordable apartment in an architecturally unique building. Rare, and beautiful, the school of design takes her breath away.
On her first night, she is haunted by a ghost telling her to build a door.
As with Shirley Jackson's The Haunting Of Hill House, the hauntings in this book act as a reflection of the mental and emotional strain the main character has been under her whole life. Unlike Hill House, this book is far more explicit. These ghosts definitely exist. The inbred descendants of socialites that make up Audrey's new apartment building definitely are creepy fucks. Audrey definitely spends the book breaking down, further and further, into a pit of loathing and self destruction.
I was amazed to find myself genuinely feeling fear as I read this book. In the daylight. In public. On a train. Langan taps into - and accentuates - the struggles of Audrey's mental concerns so realistically that the fantastic elements in this book feel real. I wanted to squirm away and partially shield my eyes during the scene where Audrey attempts to deliver her first architectural presentation while a ghost scratches messages in the wall of her office. Her ex-boyfriend's anger and frustration, and Audrey's willing acceptance of it, was believable and painful, and only served to humanize her character even more. I should warn you: this book will not make you feel good. It shouldn't. It's fucking horror, people, not The Hero's Journey.
I didn't think people still made good haunted house novels. I was wrong. They've just mutated into haunted apartments.
alexctelander's review
3.0
In Bram Stoker winner, Sarah Langan’s third novel, Audrey’s Door, the reader is left with questions and feeling confused, which is never a good sign for a book. Audrey Lucas has a lot of problems: with a terrible upbringing from a drug-addicted and abusive mother, she managed to get herself an architectural degree and is pretty good at it, yet her mental status is certainly to be questioned; then there’s her boyfriend who she’s becoming close to but has commitment issues with, then he proposes and she just needs to get away from everything. Audrey moves into a new apartment that she finds at a record rent for New York in an old building known as the Breviary. Of course, there are a few caveats with moving in: she has to vetted by the landlord and tenants first to be a specific kind of person, and she apparently qualifies. Audrey loves the place, as it’s one of the last examples of Chaotic Naturalism still standing. After getting somewhat settled, Audrey then discovers that it was in her very apartment that a short while ago a mother killed herself and all her four children.
Audrey never gets a decent night’s sleep at the Breviary, plagued by strange dreams and nightmares. She wakes to find she has wet her bed (something she had problems with as a child) and that she has been busy in the night building a doorway out of boxes and packing tape, which will open to she knows not where. Then there are the strange tenants, who spy on her every move, and seem like they’ve lived there for centuries. As Audrey begins researching the history of the building, she finds it to be a unique and unusual commune for unique and unusual people. Then she discovers the number of deaths and suicides in the building and realizes she’s made a very big mistake. But with her job on the line and her sanity all but gone, she doesn’t know what to do.
Audrey’s Door won Sarah Langan the Bram Stoker Award once again in 2009, and while the novel definitely has its high points with its interesting characters, the down-spiraling of Audrey’s sanity, and the unusual plot; at the end the reader is left unsatisfied and wondering on the whole story, while this reader is wondering why the book won an award at all.
For more book reviews and exclusive author interviews, go to BookBanter.
Audrey never gets a decent night’s sleep at the Breviary, plagued by strange dreams and nightmares. She wakes to find she has wet her bed (something she had problems with as a child) and that she has been busy in the night building a doorway out of boxes and packing tape, which will open to she knows not where. Then there are the strange tenants, who spy on her every move, and seem like they’ve lived there for centuries. As Audrey begins researching the history of the building, she finds it to be a unique and unusual commune for unique and unusual people. Then she discovers the number of deaths and suicides in the building and realizes she’s made a very big mistake. But with her job on the line and her sanity all but gone, she doesn’t know what to do.
Audrey’s Door won Sarah Langan the Bram Stoker Award once again in 2009, and while the novel definitely has its high points with its interesting characters, the down-spiraling of Audrey’s sanity, and the unusual plot; at the end the reader is left unsatisfied and wondering on the whole story, while this reader is wondering why the book won an award at all.
For more book reviews and exclusive author interviews, go to BookBanter.
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