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A review by whatmeworry
Parasite Life by Victoria Dalpe
3.0
This review first appeared on scifiandscary.com, I received a copy of this book for review consideration
There was a great deal that I liked about ‘Parasite Life’ but the quality of the writing never quite keeps up with the freshness of the ideas. It’s a different take on the teen vampire novel, that has more in common with George A Romero’s excellent movie ‘Martin’ than it does with the likes of ‘Twilight’. Aside from their taste for blood, the vampires here are indistinguishable from humans. The challenges they face are emotional, social and practical. There are no villagers marching to the gates with flaming torches, just moral unease and problems of finding a fresh supply of blood.
To even use the V-word is slightly spoilery, but it’s pretty obvious right from the start why teen protagonist Jane feels so different from here peers, and why her catatonic mother is covered in tiny wounds. Jane’s path through the novel is one of self-discovery, as she gradually uncovers the secrets of her origins and her mother’s mysterious illness. She shares narrator duties with her mother, whose diaries flesh out the back story. The secrets those diaries reveal are wonderfully macabre, and evidence that author Dalpe has an entertainingly twisted imagination. This is a very personal kind of horror. The horror of the fluid contents of our slowly decaying bodies and of the power our instincts have over our rational minds. There are scenes and images here which linger long after the page has been turned.
‘Parasite Life’ is marketed as a YA book. I’ve long struggled to understand exactly what gets a book that classification, other than a teenage protagonist. The book has that, but the horror is full bloodied, and I’d certainly not recommended it for very young readers. In line with other YA books I’ve read, Dalpe explores coming of age themes like teenage alienation and the relationship between parents and children. Indeed, Jane and her mother represent a horrific and desperately bleak vision of motherhood. The handling of the teenage elements is particularly sensitive, and Jane’s problems make her an appealing and sympathetic character. She is easy to relate to if you’re someone who has ever felt that they don’t quite fit in. Her growing friendship with new girl Sabrina is also well done. It’s convincing and a reminder of how intoxicating new relationships can be.
The richness of the ideas and themes makes it all the more disappointing that the story is weak. The problem is that it’s all self-discovery with no real plot to back it up. Loner Jane befriends the new girl at school, things get weird between them, Jane finds out the secrets of her past. That’s basically it. The resulting lack of tension and drama meant I found myself reading the book because I wanted to see what Dalpe did with the concept, rather than because I was gripped by the story. What’s more, things feel a bit padded given the lack of incident. I can’t help feeling that there’s a great short story or novella in here, but at nearly 300 pages the book is too long. The writing can be pretty turgid too, it’s not bad, it just never crackles.
For all that, I think the book is worth reading. It’s original and often thought provoking, even if it lacks a compelling plot to pull the reader through it.
There was a great deal that I liked about ‘Parasite Life’ but the quality of the writing never quite keeps up with the freshness of the ideas. It’s a different take on the teen vampire novel, that has more in common with George A Romero’s excellent movie ‘Martin’ than it does with the likes of ‘Twilight’. Aside from their taste for blood, the vampires here are indistinguishable from humans. The challenges they face are emotional, social and practical. There are no villagers marching to the gates with flaming torches, just moral unease and problems of finding a fresh supply of blood.
To even use the V-word is slightly spoilery, but it’s pretty obvious right from the start why teen protagonist Jane feels so different from here peers, and why her catatonic mother is covered in tiny wounds. Jane’s path through the novel is one of self-discovery, as she gradually uncovers the secrets of her origins and her mother’s mysterious illness. She shares narrator duties with her mother, whose diaries flesh out the back story. The secrets those diaries reveal are wonderfully macabre, and evidence that author Dalpe has an entertainingly twisted imagination. This is a very personal kind of horror. The horror of the fluid contents of our slowly decaying bodies and of the power our instincts have over our rational minds. There are scenes and images here which linger long after the page has been turned.
‘Parasite Life’ is marketed as a YA book. I’ve long struggled to understand exactly what gets a book that classification, other than a teenage protagonist. The book has that, but the horror is full bloodied, and I’d certainly not recommended it for very young readers. In line with other YA books I’ve read, Dalpe explores coming of age themes like teenage alienation and the relationship between parents and children. Indeed, Jane and her mother represent a horrific and desperately bleak vision of motherhood. The handling of the teenage elements is particularly sensitive, and Jane’s problems make her an appealing and sympathetic character. She is easy to relate to if you’re someone who has ever felt that they don’t quite fit in. Her growing friendship with new girl Sabrina is also well done. It’s convincing and a reminder of how intoxicating new relationships can be.
The richness of the ideas and themes makes it all the more disappointing that the story is weak. The problem is that it’s all self-discovery with no real plot to back it up. Loner Jane befriends the new girl at school, things get weird between them, Jane finds out the secrets of her past. That’s basically it. The resulting lack of tension and drama meant I found myself reading the book because I wanted to see what Dalpe did with the concept, rather than because I was gripped by the story. What’s more, things feel a bit padded given the lack of incident. I can’t help feeling that there’s a great short story or novella in here, but at nearly 300 pages the book is too long. The writing can be pretty turgid too, it’s not bad, it just never crackles.
For all that, I think the book is worth reading. It’s original and often thought provoking, even if it lacks a compelling plot to pull the reader through it.