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George O'Har

Auteur de Psychic Fair

2 oeuvres 15 utilisateurs 3 critiques

A propos de l'auteur

Comprend les noms: George M. O'Har

Œuvres de George O'Har

Psychic Fair (1989) 10 exemplaires
The Thousand Hour Club (2011) 5 exemplaires

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1965. In a religious boarding school Adrian Sparks plays with the old Ouija board he purchased at a yard sale. He works out a plan to convince his roommate Boylan, and their friend Welcome to try it out....

1962. A lonely teacher almost regrets the purchase of his fine, large house. His mother and longtime companion had died before they moved in. There is a mystery surrounding the family that built the house but he's become curious about the occult and his mind wanders towards a female student of his with those interests....

The Civil War. A Confederate colonel deserts from the army, noting the death of his comrades, but not before he secures something from a remote cabin. He makes his way to Canada, and then to Massachusetts where he entrances a widow and builds a fine, large house....

I should find a gif of SNL's Stefan, because this book has everything: a confederate ghost, a cursed family, buried treasure, abandoned houses, heads in jars, night-time hunts with flashlights after curfew.... The boys make contact, of course, with a vengeful spirit through the board and are asked to help it by scouting out an abandoned Victorian pile on Halloween. There is a corrupt little person hunting about for gold, numerous flashbacks detail the history of the spirit's family - the spirit is the colonel - and how the spirit had been just awful in life.

The switching of timelines was poorly done. They were clearly marked, but they came at awkward times. There is misdirection to make the reader think that there is only 1 Ouija board being used, when if fact there are 2. For what purpose? The 1962 plot-line makes zero sense and should have been cut entirely. It exists to line up the fact that the dwarf is creepy and how the teacher and his platonic girl pal get the idea for a Psychic Fair.

Speaking of, the Psychic Fair is a carnival and nothing else. The boys have a tolerably good time and Adrian has his fortune told. The vendors sell scarves and there is a palmist, but otherwise there are the expected set of games and attractions. I believe O'Har wanted to give the book a 'Stand by Me' vibe, but the friendship of the boys never gelled.

The author kept adding elements, stacking them on top of each other, but we didn't get an effectively scary horror novel, a compelling family drama, young friendship, or a period piece. In the end, the Ouija board itself and the goofy conversations the kids have with it are the best takeaway from the book. While reading it I was entertained, but a lackluster resolution left me cold.
… (plus d'informations)
½
 
Signalé
ManWithAnAgenda | Sep 3, 2019 |
The narrative style of this book was really different from anything I've read before, and I really enjoyed it. The style felt very personal - like the character narrating the story was a good friend talking directly to you.
 
Signalé
bicyclewriter | 1 autre critique | Jan 8, 2016 |
The Thousand Hour Club by George O'Har is the meandering story of Tommy Betz. After witnessing the drug deal gone bad murder of his good friend, and trying to hide it from police, friends and family, Tommy embraces his drafting into the Vietnam war by joining the US Air Force. The story follows Tommy's training and subsequent service, along with the making and breaking of his many relationships along the way.

You get the distinct sense that Tommy is really struggling in his search for who he is and what his purpose in life is. In this sense, the meandering of the story line reflects this. At times though, I found this to be quite a tough read in that it was really slow at some points. I did actually have to put the book aside and read something else to give myself a break.

This is not to say that I didn't enjoy many other aspects of the book, such as the many interesting characters that Tommy meets along the way. I didn't connect with Tommy, though, and that started to become a real problem for me. There were many times I just wanted to slap him and tell him to stop feeling so sorry for himself! Things could have been a lot worse for him, and he was quite the whinger at times!

I also felt that all this searching took place and then at the end there was nothing. Tommy never really came to any understanding of himself that I could see. The only thing I felt was that he was at some kind of peace or contentment finally. So, I felt like there was kind of no point to the story and that left me feeling quite let down.

I really feel this book could have done with a lot less meandering & more direction, a decent cut back on length & a decent ending. Otherwise it was an ok read, but just ok.

This review was completed in exchange for a complimentary copy of this book. In no way was tge subsequent review influenced by these circumstances.
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Signalé
wonderkell | 1 autre critique | Aug 30, 2011 |

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Statistiques

Œuvres
2
Membres
15
Popularité
#708,120
Évaluation
½ 3.7
Critiques
3
ISBN
2