A Classic Something

Auri suffers from a debilitating condition that almost completely destroys her life in this ghastly and petrifying horror novella from the normally chill Patrick Rothfuss.

Auri is a Hoarder! As you turn the pages you will discover how her sick and twisted mind can imbue the simplest piece of trash with its own personality, resulting in an unending cycle of conflict that may well be her doom. Her only saving grace is that she lives underground in the sewers where she has endless amounts of space to store her treasures so she can remain undiscovered by her potential victims above. She is able to sense the presence of another person days after they have passed through her space, giving her lethal hunting and tracking skills. Despite her deadly potential your heart will shatter as you see her unable to escape the myopic existence where her entire day can be spent making soap and the perilous thought that should one thing be out of place her mind might explode…..

I’m having some fun.

It’s an odd little book and I’ve never read anything like it before in my entire life. It even looks funny on my shelf, not as big or small as anything else around it. I read it very slowly. It's fun and constantly surprising though I felt no compulsion to keep reading it. I picked it up and read a little, had a smile and put it down. It was nice to know she was waiting.

There was something childlike about the writing. It rearranged my imagination and put things in places that they had not been since I had discovered the way things should be. It’s like Patrick allowed himself to give words a greater freedom than they are usually allowed and the results are more endearing than a puppy trying to get on a couch that’s just an inch too high.

There was a particular line I like which completely captures my feeling toward the Slow Regard and it was this:

“It was wise enough to know itself, and brave enough to be itself, and wild enough to change itself while somehow staying altogether true.”

I hope you enjoy the experience of sharing time with Auri and her world as much as I did. It’s not a classic fantasy, it’s certainly not a classic horror but it is a classic something and on my bookshelf it is in its perfect and very right place.

Published by DAW Books.