Friday, November 14, 2014

Grave's End: For Really Reals


This week we’re switching gears from a fictitious “true” story to a truly true story. Elaine Mercado’s Grave’s End is a woman’s account of her and her family’s time spent in a haunted house. So, basically, this is what Amityville Horror was supposed to be.

Grave’s End starts as Amityville does with a family purchasing and moving into their dream home. Yet it’s clear from the beginning that Grave’s End is an entirely different beast from Amityville. First, the tone of the book is what worked best for me. Rather than a sterile, journalistic retelling, Mercado’s tone is conversational. Granted, this is not the best written book nor does Mercado have beautiful, lyrical prose. Yet, the conversational tone she uses throughout the entire book gives the story a “real” quality that Amityville lacked. I believe in ghosts—this is no secret. Yet all while reading Amityville, I couldn’t suspend my disbelief, even when keeping in mind it was a novel.

What helped me go with Mercado on her story were hers and her family’s reactions to the paranormal activity. Just because I believe things happen that science will never explain doesn’t mean I expect others to share my beliefs. In fact, I’m more surprised to talk with someone who agrees with me than doesn’t. Mercado and her family tried to logic away all that happened in the house for years. Then, when she finally accepted that logicking away wouldn’t work, looked into selling the house. Something else that’s always bothered me about ghost stories: it seems far too easy to up and leave. Granted, I’ve never owned a home and I’ve moved all of once, so my experience is limited. But from what I do know, it’s not as easy as hopping in the car and yelling, “Peace out!” over your shoulder at the entities who have spent all their limited energy trying to evict you. This issue was addressed in Mercado’s book, which added the “reality.” She was forced to stay in a house she feared because selling wasn't a financially sound option.

I was curious to see what came up when I Googled Mercado’s case, just to double check that this wasn’t another Amityville “true story” without the truth. I found nothing of that nature. In fact, the several articles I found quoted Mercado as saying it was all right if no one believed her. Perhaps this is a reaction to last week’s reading, but a part of me is impressed that she said that in the articles. She even prefaces and ends her book with the same thought. Maybe it was a brilliant marketing strategy, but the disclaimer fit beautifully with the tone of the book: this is what happened, believe me or not, but here’s my story.


I think I now understand why Amityville was so successful when it was first published. Because Grave’s End is a true story, I began wondering what it would be like if I ever lived in a haunted house—if I’d ever be able to gracefully handle paranormal activity in my home. The lens of “true story” completely alters the reading experience by adding a layer of reality. I read to escape into a different world, so escaping into another facet of the real one turns the process on its head. Especially when the possibility of the supernatural is peppered in.


3 comments:

  1. I agree about the tone. I struggled with Amittyville because it read like a newspaper article and I felt it lacked emotion from the characters. This was a much easier read for me. I enjoyed the characters and their reactions felt real. The women in the house didn't pretend like it didn't happen, but they acknowledged the occurrences.

    I was intrigued by how long they managed to stay in the house. The other books showcased shorter time frames, so it was interesting to see how they managed through the years. I think part of it was because the haunting seemed so tame. Lights and shadow people that didn't interfere with daily life. The suffocating dreams get to me though, because I can't imagine living with that for so long.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I too kept coming back to the tone of the novel. I read most of it in one day. It was short, so that wasn't difficult, but it felt as much as though I was sitting there talking to Elaine herself, as reading. It just felt like it would if a friend of mine told me about their experiences (which has happened). So it not only made the story itself believable, but helped me to identify with Elaine. I also appreciated the explanation of just why they couldn't leave. This is always a sticking point in haunting stories. But she explains quite well that moving simply was not an option. I really appreciated that.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I don't believe in ghosts, but even I can appreciate how Mercado’s writing style added that “real” feeling to the prose. Like you said, it was conversational, but the writing wasn't fantastic. It's just the sort of thing I would expect an educated person who hadn't specifically studied writing to produce. It landed a very authentic feeling to the work, and though I'm skeptical on the haunting, I have no problem believing that they lived in a house like that, that the children were real children, that Mercado's actual marriage fell apart. The best stories have facets of truth to them, and I can see why.

    ReplyDelete