Official Review: The Luminously Lurid Legends of Lewiston...
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Sieron1
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- Latest Review: "The Luminously Lurid Legends of Lewiston Idaho" by Chad T Nelson
Official Review: The Luminously Lurid Legends of Lewiston...
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Luminously Lurid Legends of Lewiston Idaho" by Chad T Nelson.]
1 out of 4 stars
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The Luminously Lurid Legends of Lewiston by Chad Tatum Nelson is a piece of fiction containing four short stories of the horror and science fiction genre. The stories are all by the same author Chad Nelson.
The style of writing is very different, in that the stories interconnect and mesh in such a manner that it is rather difficult to know where one ends and the other begins. The first story is the very chilling title story which speaks in the first person. It is about a young man who tries to change an abandoned asylum, near his hometown Lewiston, into a haunted bed and breakfast. The place is feared by the locals and he is faced with much opposition there, but gets support and funding on a larger forum and therefore he goes ahead. He is joined by a friend who agrees with his ideas, but what they find on their very first foray into the asylum changes their lives.
The second story is where the book starts getting complicated. It tells the story of a happening in the same state, though in a different town. Though the entire story is in the first person there are two narrators. The initial narrator gives the reader a sense of fear and horror without explaining what happened. He speaks about some of the aftermath. He then tells about how the only record from the event, which happens in a small gated community in the town, is a voice recording from his brother. The story then moves to the brother’s view as he details what happened and his emotions. The story ends or rather the next starts (it is confusing which it is), with a further explanation from the initial narrator on how things are after the event. The explanation also links the very first story and the upcoming story.
The third story an account from the view of the person who has links to the first story and tells a little of what happened in the asylum before it closed and what happened after. The story seems to contradict many points in the first story. It muddies the seemingly clear idea the first story generated leaving the reader confused and struggling to understand the entire theme. Not least of the reasons is the seeming lack of purpose to the third story, since it doesn’t actually seem to have a theme. The fourth story gets a few hints here as well, as does the second story.
The final short is actually the longest of the entire group. The account is entirely different and has no relation to the other shorts, though there are mentions of the previous events in the story. It gives a sense of fear despite being science fiction. It is in the first person and tells of a man who has nightmares of a complex code which nobody is able to solve. But the solution is found many years later by a young genius and the code makes a huge evolution in the Artificial Intelligence field. A few years after the solution was found, the same man who first had the nightmare wakes up once again to find that he has written a code in his sleep. The story follows him as he and his wife try to understand what is going on.
The story ends is a seemingly idealistic and peaceful manner, except that the trend of horror in the previous stories have us wondering whether it is truly so. In addition to that unease, this incomprehensible conclusion to this interconnected mesh of stories leaves the reader rather unsatisfied and confused. The best way to understand the feeling is to imagine a complicated maze. There are so many branches that, after giving way to further complicated pathways, come to a dead end. When at last you find the way out after following so many aimless pathways, you find yourself in a plain blank box, another dead end. It leaves you wondering whether you lost yourself at some point of time. The Luminously Lurid Legends of Lewiston leaves a reader with the same feeling.
Another significant negative, in addition to the complete confusion and mental chaos the stories generate, is the unnecessary use of complicated words and long sentences. Though the author may argue that it is his style of writing, the fact remains that the characters have dialogues where they think and speak, not just to the reader but also to each other, in hugely complex language that nobody would use casually. A very good example would be this line - “I can feel your trepidation, Kale” – where the wife is trying sooth her husband’s fear after an already confusing nightmare in the fourth story.The unnecessarily complex language makes the entire story feel forced. There were also quite a few spelling errors.
All in all, though the concept was all right, ‘The Luminously Lurid Legends of Lewiston’ felt like a beautifully complex maze (an unnecessarily beautiful one) with no beginning or ending. It left me with no satisfaction and way more confusion than when I started the book. I also spent half my time trying to wrap my brain around the most obscure and complicated wording I have ever seen in a piece of fiction. The Luminously Lurid Legends of Lewiston by Chad Tatum Nelson was a huge disappointment, despite the interesting title. So I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars.
******
The Luminously Lurid Legends of Lewiston Idaho
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1 out of 4 stars
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The Luminously Lurid Legends of Lewiston by Chad Tatum Nelson is a piece of fiction containing four short stories of the horror and science fiction genre. The stories are all by the same author Chad Nelson.
The style of writing is very different, in that the stories interconnect and mesh in such a manner that it is rather difficult to know where one ends and the other begins. The first story is the very chilling title story which speaks in the first person. It is about a young man who tries to change an abandoned asylum, near his hometown Lewiston, into a haunted bed and breakfast. The place is feared by the locals and he is faced with much opposition there, but gets support and funding on a larger forum and therefore he goes ahead. He is joined by a friend who agrees with his ideas, but what they find on their very first foray into the asylum changes their lives.
The second story is where the book starts getting complicated. It tells the story of a happening in the same state, though in a different town. Though the entire story is in the first person there are two narrators. The initial narrator gives the reader a sense of fear and horror without explaining what happened. He speaks about some of the aftermath. He then tells about how the only record from the event, which happens in a small gated community in the town, is a voice recording from his brother. The story then moves to the brother’s view as he details what happened and his emotions. The story ends or rather the next starts (it is confusing which it is), with a further explanation from the initial narrator on how things are after the event. The explanation also links the very first story and the upcoming story.
The third story an account from the view of the person who has links to the first story and tells a little of what happened in the asylum before it closed and what happened after. The story seems to contradict many points in the first story. It muddies the seemingly clear idea the first story generated leaving the reader confused and struggling to understand the entire theme. Not least of the reasons is the seeming lack of purpose to the third story, since it doesn’t actually seem to have a theme. The fourth story gets a few hints here as well, as does the second story.
The final short is actually the longest of the entire group. The account is entirely different and has no relation to the other shorts, though there are mentions of the previous events in the story. It gives a sense of fear despite being science fiction. It is in the first person and tells of a man who has nightmares of a complex code which nobody is able to solve. But the solution is found many years later by a young genius and the code makes a huge evolution in the Artificial Intelligence field. A few years after the solution was found, the same man who first had the nightmare wakes up once again to find that he has written a code in his sleep. The story follows him as he and his wife try to understand what is going on.
The story ends is a seemingly idealistic and peaceful manner, except that the trend of horror in the previous stories have us wondering whether it is truly so. In addition to that unease, this incomprehensible conclusion to this interconnected mesh of stories leaves the reader rather unsatisfied and confused. The best way to understand the feeling is to imagine a complicated maze. There are so many branches that, after giving way to further complicated pathways, come to a dead end. When at last you find the way out after following so many aimless pathways, you find yourself in a plain blank box, another dead end. It leaves you wondering whether you lost yourself at some point of time. The Luminously Lurid Legends of Lewiston leaves a reader with the same feeling.
Another significant negative, in addition to the complete confusion and mental chaos the stories generate, is the unnecessary use of complicated words and long sentences. Though the author may argue that it is his style of writing, the fact remains that the characters have dialogues where they think and speak, not just to the reader but also to each other, in hugely complex language that nobody would use casually. A very good example would be this line - “I can feel your trepidation, Kale” – where the wife is trying sooth her husband’s fear after an already confusing nightmare in the fourth story.The unnecessarily complex language makes the entire story feel forced. There were also quite a few spelling errors.
All in all, though the concept was all right, ‘The Luminously Lurid Legends of Lewiston’ felt like a beautifully complex maze (an unnecessarily beautiful one) with no beginning or ending. It left me with no satisfaction and way more confusion than when I started the book. I also spent half my time trying to wrap my brain around the most obscure and complicated wording I have ever seen in a piece of fiction. The Luminously Lurid Legends of Lewiston by Chad Tatum Nelson was a huge disappointment, despite the interesting title. So I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars.
******
The Luminously Lurid Legends of Lewiston Idaho
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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Latest Review: "The Luminously Lurid Legends of Lewiston Idaho" by Chad T Nelson
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kimmyschemy06
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That was a very honest review. I'm not much into thrillers and such but I give them a try every once in a while. However, I'm the kind of reader who gets easily confused, so, I might find this one too confusing for me.
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Nelson19761976
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Sieron 1,
Thank you for your review. This was my first attempt at a short. I have found reviews, on both sides of the coin, regarding the ambiguous natuare of this book.
This has motivated me, to write ( The Blackwater phenomenon) the next volume, explaining the first novel.
sincerely,
Chad T
Thank you for your review. This was my first attempt at a short. I have found reviews, on both sides of the coin, regarding the ambiguous natuare of this book.
This has motivated me, to write ( The Blackwater phenomenon) the next volume, explaining the first novel.
sincerely,
Chad T
