Let the Right One In
Ratings24
Average rating4
Did not enjoy the paedophile perspective. At all. Why? I'm sure something comes of it later but ew. The writing style was fine enough to read but the story itself just felt too mundane and I couldn't get interested. None of the characters were interesting to me, or loveable. Even when the vampire attacks somebody there was no excitement there, I didn't feel gripped, no suspense. I was just bored. Decided not to waste my time further. It may well pick up but many books to read, little time!
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
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.