When I first started reading Thirteen Chairs, I was expecting it to be immediately terrifying. I must say I was fairly relieved to discover it wasn’t. At least, not at first. I’m not the bravest of readers, especially when my bedside light has a tendency to go out for no apparent reason.
The story starts with a boy, Jack, deciding whether or not to enter a room. When he eventually does, he discovers twelve people seated around a table, with an empty seat awaiting him. He takes the seat, and begins to listen as each of the twelve people tell a story.
One of my favourite elements of Thirteen Chairs was how distinctive each of the storytellers’ voices were. With thirteen different stories this must be quite difficult to achieve, but Shelton manages it with ease. Thirteen different characters leap off the page, each with their own compelling story to tell and their own way of telling it. And the stories are certainly told, rather than written. It feels as if somebody is speaking directly to you, explaining how things happened, rather than as if you are reading from a page.
I say the story wasn’t scary at first; the horror element of the book is much more gradual. Along with Jack, the realisation of what is going on begins to slowly dawn on the reader in between each story, and the suspense is slowly increased. The stories certainly have a very sinister and creepy feel to them, and a lot of the details are left to the reader’s imagination, which in some ways is more unnerving, as your mind is left to run wild and create the scenes described for yourself in vivid detail.
There is also a mystery element to the book, as you never truly know what’s happening or how Jack got there in the first place, leaving you always trying to work everything out.
Whether it is looked upon as a good point or a bad, Thirteen Chairs didn’t give me that chill down the spine feeling I was anticipating, however the stories within it will be niggling at the back of my mind for many weeks to come. I would rate it 7/10 and recommend it to anyone over the age of 12, for those who want to read something a bit different or spooky for Halloween!
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