Hi guys!!
I got sent this book by titan books a while back to read and review!!
‘Growing Things and Other Stories’ is a collection of horror stories by award-winning author Paul Tremblay!
This collection of short stories was one of the weirdest, spookiest things I have ever read! I enjoyed all of the stories, however I did enjoy a couple a lot more, so I will focus on those!!
-‘Something About Birds’ was the kind of story that felt a little off the whole way through, and then at the end revealed why. This one has stuck with me the most and honestly am still thinking about it daily! It’s so creepy and I almost feel weird saying I enjoyed it, but I really did! It had such an interesting concept that kind of reminded me of a strange adult version of Lord of the Flies? I’m still not quite sure what was going on, but it’s making me want to read it again which is always a good thing!
-‘The Getaway’ kind of hid the horror at first. Up until a certain point, the reader isn’t made aware that there’s anything sinister going on. However, once it is realised, by both the characters and the readers the whole atmosphere of the story changes! It goes from being scared of being caught be the cops to being terrified of something else entirely. As I read this after I watched Infinity War, that’s all I could think about. I don’t know if that made it sadder, scarier or less shocking, but it definitely helped me to visualise what was going on!!
-‘Where We All Will Be’ is so disturbing because it doesn’t feel impossible. The whole basis is that everyone is effected by something, except the protagonist whose brain is said to ‘work differently’. This was so interesting to me because people’s brains are ‘wired’ differently in real life, and some people process things differently, or not at all so this felt quite plausible! You can really feel the panic in the main characters actions, which instantly put me on edge! It’s so so creepy and has definitely made me not trust moths!
-‘It’s Against The Law To Feed The Ducks’ honestly with this one it took me a while to actually figure out what was going on, but oh my god! I adored this story, it reminded me of a freaky sci-fi end of the world type thing! It was just incredible! I loved the family dynamic, and how it felt like it was showing you the end of the world partially through a child’s eyes, but a child whose parents were trying to hide it from them! I’m currently rewatching the walking dead and it keeps reminded me of this story! I think it’s mostly the weirdly empty places that should be packed with people!
This collection of short stories is amazing, there are so many amazing ones, I barely even scratched the surface with these three!! Another one of my favourites’ title is just a bunch of underscores, which is both genius and makes it very hard to talk about😂 I will go into more detail in my blog post in the next couple of days!!
If I had to sum up this book, I would say it is perfect for anyone that enjoys horror and maybe doesn’t have time to read whole books! Each short story in on average about 20 pages, which is totally doable in one sitting!! I will rate this book 4.5/5 stars! Only taking away .5 because I didn’t love love all the stories! But I thought they were all interesting and thought provoking!
See you next time!
Elizabeth
Dainty Beth Blog 