Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd (1983), Edition: New edition, Paperback, 656 pages
Description
Experience the true nature of terror in this "deliciously imaginative" (San Francisco Chronicle) novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Peter Straub. The quiet suburban town of Hampstead is threatened by two horrors. One is natural. The hideous unstoppable creation of man's power gone mad. The other is not natural at all. And it makes the first look like child's play... "Unspeakable horror...has 'Bestseller' written all over it."--Los Angeles Times "Straub's effects are quite spectacular...I was fairly awed by some of the more nightmarish scenes in Floating Dragon."--The New York Times
Media reviews
Here is a novel guaranteed to double the national nightmare quotient, so watch out.
A deliciously imaginative story of hauntings and monsters.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Jonathan_M
*Spoilers ahead*
In 1979 Peter Straub wrote Ghost Story, arguably the greatest modern horror novel; a few years later he reimagined it as an over-the-top spoof, Floating Dragon. The author has described this book as an "exuberant valentine" to the horror genre and to fans who had devoured his
In virtually every major feature of its construction, this book replicates the formula of Ghost Story: 1.) A group of friends so close that they are like family must confront a supernatural menace that is destroying an entire town. 2.) In both novels, said supernatural menace has suffered temporary defeats in the past but always returns. 3.) A pivotal moment in each book occurs during the 1920s, when--as a young man--the senior member of the group of friends is terrorized by the supernatural menace in one of its various human guises. And the similarities don't end there: scary mirrors and even scarier movie theaters figure prominently in both Ghost Story and Floating Dragon.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work nearly as well the second time around. Floating Dragon is solidly written (you can take that for granted with Straub) and sufficiently entertaining, but the characters don't quite manage to endear themselves to the reader. In Ghost Story, Ricky and Sears are so vividly rendered that you can almost see them sitting beside you; here, you struggle to picture the faces of Graham and Tabby and Patsy, which makes it impossible to believe that they're real. Straub tells you how charming and special they are, and you just have to take his word for it. There are frightening, compelling scenes and situations in this novel (even if the manifestations of the supernatural do strike me as a little overbaked), but for some reason--and I don't think it's necessarily because of the exaggerated satirical tone--I never felt wholly involved. Floating Dragon works best when the reader doesn't examine it too closely and is content to just roll with the flow.
In 1979 Peter Straub wrote Ghost Story, arguably the greatest modern horror novel; a few years later he reimagined it as an over-the-top spoof, Floating Dragon. The author has described this book as an "exuberant valentine" to the horror genre and to fans who had devoured his
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supernatural-themed novels up to that point, but also acknowledges that he was distancing himself from straight horror by then and had set out to write something excessive and even "goofy". So, from the beginning, the reader who is about to undertake the 600-page journey which Floating Dragon represents should bear in mind that it is essentially a parody of horror novels rather than the genuine article. Straub was having fun with the conventions of the genre and freely admits it. In virtually every major feature of its construction, this book replicates the formula of Ghost Story: 1.) A group of friends so close that they are like family must confront a supernatural menace that is destroying an entire town. 2.) In both novels, said supernatural menace has suffered temporary defeats in the past but always returns. 3.) A pivotal moment in each book occurs during the 1920s, when--as a young man--the senior member of the group of friends is terrorized by the supernatural menace in one of its various human guises. And the similarities don't end there: scary mirrors and even scarier movie theaters figure prominently in both Ghost Story and Floating Dragon.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work nearly as well the second time around. Floating Dragon is solidly written (you can take that for granted with Straub) and sufficiently entertaining, but the characters don't quite manage to endear themselves to the reader. In Ghost Story, Ricky and Sears are so vividly rendered that you can almost see them sitting beside you; here, you struggle to picture the faces of Graham and Tabby and Patsy, which makes it impossible to believe that they're real. Straub tells you how charming and special they are, and you just have to take his word for it. There are frightening, compelling scenes and situations in this novel (even if the manifestations of the supernatural do strike me as a little overbaked), but for some reason--and I don't think it's necessarily because of the exaggerated satirical tone--I never felt wholly involved. Floating Dragon works best when the reader doesn't examine it too closely and is content to just roll with the flow.
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LibraryThing member SonicQuack
The concept of a whole town subjected to evil promises so much, yet this Straub effort delivers so little. A chemical weapon leak creates confusion in a small coastal town at the same time a recurrent malevolent presence turns up to subvert the town to it's own despicable end. Ultimately, it is not
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the plot of the novel nor the plethora of characters that make this such a tough read; it is the time shifting as Straub tries to paint the real-time events that actually stop you becoming engaged. Also much of the content is redundant, this book is just too voluminous. In summary, Floating Dragon offers nothing new to the horror genre, it's unoriginal and at times is poorly executed. Show Less
LibraryThing member Marlene-NL
This book to me ages to read. Did not think it was that good as some of the amazon reviewers say it is. From the beginning I thought it was confusing, too many people, to many time jumps, and later in the book I noticed another fault, too many plots.
It is not bad but I would not want to re-read
It is not bad but I would not want to re-read
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this this in comparison with The Stand which i read so many times. Show Less
LibraryThing member srboone
A government experiment goes awry and a deadly gas is released over the affluent suburb of Hampstead, Connecticut. Meanwhile, the decendants of the town's original founders return to Hampstead for the firts time in over 100 years, igniting a firestorm of events that are the continuation of an
After I read (and was completely scared shitless) by Ghost Story in high school, I was afraid to read anything else by Straub. I remember passing up Shadowland and this book; by then I was involved with reading too many other writers to be concerned with him. But rereading Ghost Story last year got me thinking about investigating more of Straub's work and the 30th Anniversry edition of FD seemed like a good place to start.
I was mistaken about that as this book was a huge disappointment.
I think the biggest problem with Floating Dragon was that it couldn't decide if it wanted to be a supernatural or science-gone-awry tale. It begins with a pretty good setup of a DOD expereimental project getting released into the atmosphere and then becoems the tale of a curse over Hampstead that recurs every 30 years or so. Even as the two threads continue, they never mesh in any significant way--in fact, the narrator of the story decides that the chemical accident was merely a coincidence. So the reader is left wondering why it was needed to bloat an already over-wrought story.
Then there is the narrator of the story, a black-listed author of novels/screenplays who ex-patriated himself to England and alcoloholism until the McCarthy-era ended. He begins his story in the third person, but then breaks in with a chapter of first-person narration to explain his role in the affair. He says he got most of his information from the diaries of the three other protagonmists, but he may have made some stuff up himself--he's a writer after all, and he may not have remembered stuff very well. Then it's back to the first-person (though he does break in two more times for pointless POV narration.) So now we have a unrealiable narrator to deal with.
Finally, the overall tone of the book is one of Straub being in love with his own writing. His unrealiable narrator speaks as if he is smarter than everybody else in the room and he knows it. Add to this a setting of affluent people who are feel they are better than everybody else and there's very little to care about in this confused and off-putting tale of death and destruction. In the epilogue to the story he talks about the narrator finally publishing "the excellent book Floating Dragon"--that actually made me laugh. But it just went to the overall arrogant and confused prose relating this tale.
There was about 100 pages (divided by one of the narrator's interludes) that were pretty good--they dealt with the main storyline of the curse, not the chemical accident. And I liked the climactic scene in the Gorge at Kendall Point. But overall, this was not a memorable reading expereince. If you are a newcomer to Straub, start with another title--I recommend Ghost Story; if you're already a fan, you'll probably like it.
But Cemetery Dance's edition of the book is beautiful (I gave it and extra 1/2 star for that!)
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ongoing curse.After I read (and was completely scared shitless) by Ghost Story in high school, I was afraid to read anything else by Straub. I remember passing up Shadowland and this book; by then I was involved with reading too many other writers to be concerned with him. But rereading Ghost Story last year got me thinking about investigating more of Straub's work and the 30th Anniversry edition of FD seemed like a good place to start.
I was mistaken about that as this book was a huge disappointment.
I think the biggest problem with Floating Dragon was that it couldn't decide if it wanted to be a supernatural or science-gone-awry tale. It begins with a pretty good setup of a DOD expereimental project getting released into the atmosphere and then becoems the tale of a curse over Hampstead that recurs every 30 years or so. Even as the two threads continue, they never mesh in any significant way--in fact, the narrator of the story decides that the chemical accident was merely a coincidence. So the reader is left wondering why it was needed to bloat an already over-wrought story.
Then there is the narrator of the story, a black-listed author of novels/screenplays who ex-patriated himself to England and alcoloholism until the McCarthy-era ended. He begins his story in the third person, but then breaks in with a chapter of first-person narration to explain his role in the affair. He says he got most of his information from the diaries of the three other protagonmists, but he may have made some stuff up himself--he's a writer after all, and he may not have remembered stuff very well. Then it's back to the first-person (though he does break in two more times for pointless POV narration.) So now we have a unrealiable narrator to deal with.
Finally, the overall tone of the book is one of Straub being in love with his own writing. His unrealiable narrator speaks as if he is smarter than everybody else in the room and he knows it. Add to this a setting of affluent people who are feel they are better than everybody else and there's very little to care about in this confused and off-putting tale of death and destruction. In the epilogue to the story he talks about the narrator finally publishing "the excellent book Floating Dragon"--that actually made me laugh. But it just went to the overall arrogant and confused prose relating this tale.
There was about 100 pages (divided by one of the narrator's interludes) that were pretty good--they dealt with the main storyline of the curse, not the chemical accident. And I liked the climactic scene in the Gorge at Kendall Point. But overall, this was not a memorable reading expereince. If you are a newcomer to Straub, start with another title--I recommend Ghost Story; if you're already a fan, you'll probably like it.
But Cemetery Dance's edition of the book is beautiful (I gave it and extra 1/2 star for that!)
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LibraryThing member zmagic69
This book took forever to get through.
Nearly 600 pages in large sized paperback and the narrative goes on forever. The author can definitely write well but there are pages and pages of the story where nothing really happens. The last third of the book does move quicker but it is very predictable
I have read 2 other books by this author and they were also wordy and overly long.
Nearly 600 pages in large sized paperback and the narrative goes on forever. The author can definitely write well but there are pages and pages of the story where nothing really happens. The last third of the book does move quicker but it is very predictable
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how it will be resolved.I have read 2 other books by this author and they were also wordy and overly long.
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Subjects
Awards
British Fantasy Award (Winner — August Derleth Fantasy Award — 1984)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1983
Physical description
656 p.; 17.7 cm
ISBN
0006164943 / 9780006164944
Local notes
Omslag: Ikke angivet
Omslaget viser en rovfugl gennemboret af tre tråde mens man bag den ser en dragesilhouet mod månen
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Omslaget viser en rovfugl gennemboret af tre tråde mens man bag den ser en dragesilhouet mod månen
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
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Pages
656
DDC/MDS
| 813 |