Let the Right One In

Vampires in suburban Sweden. As novel concepts go it is quite low key for a vampire story. This ultimately works hugely in its favour. Let the right one in is at times intimate and at times brutal, always seeded with a grim a mundanity, a gritty realness that makes it all the more hard hitting. Living in a Scandinavian country myself also gives it a more personal feel, rather than the typical grand castle setting or the big city urban fantasy setting more typically used in such a genre. The vampires here are not attention seeking or ostentatious. They are not the glamorous beasts of the post Dracula vampire mythos - these are in many ways closer to the eastern European folk myth. They survive and try to hide.

Ultimately it is the intimacy of this novel that gives it the power it has. The genuine relationship built between Eli and Oskar. The seedy and disturbing nature of Eli's other thrall. The alcoholic underbelly of a socially lauded country. The brutal loneliness of childhood. Everything here is intimate, disturbing and haunting.

One of my favorite vampire books. On my to reread list.

way way way way way too fucking long. never emotionally resonated, and for it being this long, you can't just give me like maybe four fucked up scenes past the 200 page mark. hopefully i like the movie more