The Fifth Child
By Doris Lessing
Synopsis:
David and Harriett Lovatt fall in love at a work party and shortly afterwards they get married. Sounds like a happy ending? Not in this novel! Harriett is in for the surprise of her life: the birth of her fifth child Ben.
Her painful pregnancy serve as a foreshadowing of the misery to come. Ben's violent and destructive nature isolates him from his family, and eventually Ben is admitted into an institution. Harriet however feels guilty and brings him back home.
Although Ben tries to adjust to life with his family and others throughout the novel, his main characteristics remain the same. He makes friends with others like him, and his mother comes to accept his true nature, while giving up on her dreams and happiness.
Characteristics that fits it into horror:
Dark tone: The narration style is told from a third person point of view, and although the narration seems objectives, it highlights the despair and misery that Ben's actions cause unto others.
Twist to the typical love story: People find comfort while reading about those who fall in love at first sight and dream about making a big family, however, this novel takes away those feelings to replace them with pure horror.
The asylum: Ben is admitted to an institution for children with mental problems, in which he is treated very badly along with the other children. That notion itself is horrifying.
Pregnancy made into pure horror: Pregnant women should not read this book!
Ben's paranormal, inexplicable behavior: Ben is constantly angry and violent, however, the ominous signs of his dark nature begins as early as when he was still unborn, giving his mother pains which she had not experienced anything like with her other 4 children.
Read-a-likes:
1- A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks
2- The Piano Man's Daughter by Timothy Findley
3- The Spoils of Poynton by Henry James
4- Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
5- The Gravedigger's Daughter by Joyce Carol Oats
This is exactly how I felt after reading this novel:
This sounds like a great book! I really enjoy reading V.C. Andrews and Sidney Sheldon and some of their plotlines are definitely not appropriate when pregnant either! I was introduced to Joyce Carol Oats in one of my English lit classes for my minor and I really enjoy her writing too. Your review as well as my own for the historical fiction book that I read have shown me that I've gotten into too much of a reading rut.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great book! I really enjoy reading V.C. Andrews and Sidney Sheldon and some of their plotlines are definitely not appropriate when pregnant either! I was introduced to Joyce Carol Oats in one of my English lit classes for my minor and I really enjoy her writing too. Your review as well as my own for the historical fiction book that I read have shown me that I've gotten into too much of a reading rut.
ReplyDeleteSeems like an interesting horror story and I will in fact check it out. It seems like it will upset me to read it though based on the elements you've written about but I will check out. I haven't read that many horror stories but this one sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Brianna - it sounds like I could easily have a love/hate relationship with this book. I am curious to see if they make Ben into a devilish (possessed?) child, or if it's less of a possession situation and more of a story about a deeply disturbed kid. Kids that are portrayed as evil/dangerous/violent terrify me. Putting them in this light is so unlike the social constructs we have about children!
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