Status
Available
Call number
Publication
NYRB Classics (2012), Edition: Main, 272 pages
Description
Fiction. Horror. Suspense. Thriller. HTML: Holland and Niles Perry are identical thirteen-year-old twins. They are close, close enough, almost, to read each other's thoughts, but they couldn't be more different. Holland is bold and mischievous, a bad influence, while Niles is kind and eager to please, the sort of boy who makes parents proud. The Perrys live in the bucolic New England town their family settled centuries ago, and as it happens, the extended clan has gathered at its ancestral farm this summer to mourn the death of the twins' father in a most unfortunate accident. Mrs. Perry still hasn't recovered from the shock of her husband's gruesome end and stays sequestered in her room, leaving her sons to roam free. As the summer goes on, though, and Holland's pranks become increasingly sinister, Niles finds he can no longer make excuses for his brother's actions. Thomas Tryon's best-selling novel about a homegrown monster is an eerie examination of the darkness that dwells within everyone. It is a landmark of psychological horror that is a worthy descendent of the books of James Hogg, Robert Louis Stevenson, Shirley Jackson, and Patricia Highsmith..… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member laytonwoman3rd
This is one of my all-time favorite creepy-crawly reading experiences. Seldom does an author catch me up so completely in the story as Tryon did with this one. I remember reading it alone when my husband was working at night, and finding it necessary to turn on lights in every room. Over and over I
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would come to a realization of what was really going on just a paragraph or two before the author made it really obvious---I must have said "Oh, my God" a half dozen times, and I couldn't wait for my husband to read it so I could watch his reactions and see whether he figured things out in all the same places. If you've missed this, you have a treat in store. Stephen King has nothing on Tryon at his best. Show Less
LibraryThing member sturlington
Good and evil twins cause havoc for their family and the small Connecticut town where they live.
Wow. This one was a tough one to rate and review. On the one hand, I appreciate the pure, over-the-top schlock of this story. If I hadn't already known this was published in the early '70s, I certainly
It's not a perfect book, by any means, or even a perfect horror book. Tryon's writing can be convoluted, excessively wordy, and frustratingly vague. There is a sense of having read this kind of story before, but done much more cleanly (perhaps I'm thinking of We Have Always Lived in the Castle or even The Turn of the Screw). There are some great moments, but taken all together, it's almost too much.
Fans of horror or anyone who's interested in the development of the genre will want to read this. But I'm afraid The Other dates itself. It's a fun book, if you don't take it too seriously, but is it a timeless book? I don't think so.
Read in 2014.
Wow. This one was a tough one to rate and review. On the one hand, I appreciate the pure, over-the-top schlock of this story. If I hadn't already known this was published in the early '70s, I certainly
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would have deduced it. It fits right in with the early wave of pulp horror that the 1970s came to epitomize, along with novels like Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist. Tryon stuffs everything he can think of in here. There are twists upon twists, gothic elements, the absurd, and the outright shocking. There was one scene that was at once so insane and gruesome, and yet so unexpected, that it literally turned my stomach.It's not a perfect book, by any means, or even a perfect horror book. Tryon's writing can be convoluted, excessively wordy, and frustratingly vague. There is a sense of having read this kind of story before, but done much more cleanly (perhaps I'm thinking of We Have Always Lived in the Castle or even The Turn of the Screw). There are some great moments, but taken all together, it's almost too much.
Fans of horror or anyone who's interested in the development of the genre will want to read this. But I'm afraid The Other dates itself. It's a fun book, if you don't take it too seriously, but is it a timeless book? I don't think so.
Read in 2014.
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LibraryThing member Grant_Palmquist
4.5 stars. Here is a great horror novel, unrelenting in its bleakness. It centers on twins, Niles and Holland, who don't really get along but hang around each other all the same. The novel moves slowly, revealing their relationship piece by piece, throwing harbingers in here and there, giving us
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murky glimpses of evil before slamming on the gas pedal in the second half. My deduction of half a star merely has to do with portions of the novel that were overlong and overwrought, but the story, and the horror therein, was perfection. To say any more would spoil it for the reader. Pick this book up if you like inky dark horror. But remember, there is no light here. Show Less
LibraryThing member laytonwoman3rd
This is one of my all-time favorite creepy-crawly reading experiences. Seldom does an author catch me up so completely in the story as Tryon did with this one. I remember reading it alone when my husband was working at night, and finding it necessary to turn on lights in every room. Over and over I
EDIT: 10-7-12 I discovered this back in the mid-70's, not too long after it was published, and it really kept me flipping the pages, as noted in my original review above. Tryon beat Stephen King to the punch (Carrie wasn't published until two years after The Other), but nothing else he wrote had quite the same impact on me. In The Other, Tryon masterfully weaves the tale of a family beset by tragedy, from the perspective of 13-year-old twins, Niles and Holland. With their father dead, and their mother psychically wounded, their Russian Grandmother Ada teaches them "the game" by which through concentration they can feel what it's like to be a rooster, or a dragonfly, or a sunflower. And of course, it all goes terribly wrong, with consequences Ada never imagined, and cannot bring herself to acknowledge until it is much much too late. It held up very well to a re-read after all this time, even though I remembered every twist and turn of the plot. I rated it 5 stars from memory when I entered the book in my catalog in 2006, and I haven't changed my mind after reading it again.
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would come to a realization of what was really going on just a paragraph or two before the author made it really obvious---I must have said "Oh, my God" a half dozen times, and I couldn't wait for my husband to read it so I could watch his reactions and see whether he figured things out in all the same places. If you've missed this, you have a treat in store. Stephen King has nothing on Tryon at his best.EDIT: 10-7-12 I discovered this back in the mid-70's, not too long after it was published, and it really kept me flipping the pages, as noted in my original review above. Tryon beat Stephen King to the punch (Carrie wasn't published until two years after The Other), but nothing else he wrote had quite the same impact on me. In The Other, Tryon masterfully weaves the tale of a family beset by tragedy, from the perspective of 13-year-old twins, Niles and Holland. With their father dead, and their mother psychically wounded, their Russian Grandmother Ada teaches them "the game" by which through concentration they can feel what it's like to be a rooster, or a dragonfly, or a sunflower. And of course, it all goes terribly wrong, with consequences Ada never imagined, and cannot bring herself to acknowledge until it is much much too late. It held up very well to a re-read after all this time, even though I remembered every twist and turn of the plot. I rated it 5 stars from memory when I entered the book in my catalog in 2006, and I haven't changed my mind after reading it again.
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LibraryThing member jen.e.moore
I heard about this book through Tor.com's "Summer of Sleaze" series of reviews of older horror novels, and I have to say, my expectations were set unfairly low. This was pretty great, excellent pacing and buildup to horrific events, any number of reversals of expectation, and most importantly,
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plenty of interesting and believable characters. I wouldn't call it horror, though: "psychological thriller" is much closer. Show Less
LibraryThing member NancyKay_Shapiro
Not being much of a thriller fan, I would never have tried this if not for the NYRB imprimatur; I remember the novel's ubiquity when it was first published when I was a kid. Reading it now I was reminded of Shirley Jackson, which is a good thing. I was tempted to abandon it about halfway through,
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wishing it was a little shorter, but every time I picked it up I found myself gripped enough to keep on going, and the last 75 pages really are irresistible. Show Less
LibraryThing member DJRMel
1) Actually a reread but Goodreads has simple way of recording that
2) Not true Southern Gothic because it doesn't take place in the South, but it has all the key points of Southern Gothic and theses are myshelves and I will mark them like I want them.
This is a the rare horror story that gets
2) Not true Southern Gothic because it doesn't take place in the South, but it has all the key points of Southern Gothic and theses are myshelves and I will mark them like I want them.
This is a the rare horror story that gets
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better after the first reading, when you know all the twists, because they become more twisted with each reading. Also, once you know what is coming, you can focus on the very complicated characters that Tryon created, again something you'll find only in the best horror. Show Less
LibraryThing member BBcummings
I first read this book when I was in university. I must have taken it out of the library,or otherwise lost my copy, because when I wanted to read it again about three of four years ago I needed to buy a copy. To my dismay, I could only buy a used paperback copy for $62! Last year I searched Amazon
I enjoyed the book just as much as the first time. A Gothic novel set in rural New England, it scared the pants off me again, not in an overt shocking way, but with an insidious creeping of fear. There is always an element of horror when it involves psychopathic children, and Tryn does a good job of juxtaposing innocence and cruelty. A great book from a great writer.
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again - and lo and behold - it has been re-released by New York Review Books for 14.95.I enjoyed the book just as much as the first time. A Gothic novel set in rural New England, it scared the pants off me again, not in an overt shocking way, but with an insidious creeping of fear. There is always an element of horror when it involves psychopathic children, and Tryn does a good job of juxtaposing innocence and cruelty. A great book from a great writer.
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LibraryThing member filmbuff1994
Being an identical twin can be murder. Just ask Niles Perry, a well-mannered thirteen-year-old whose twin brother Holland possesses a sadistic streak and a penchant for causing deadly ‘accidents.’ Niles both loves, fears, and is in intense awe of his enigmatic brother, but all is not what it
I had a rocky start with this novel, because I kept on wondering how Niles could not suspect his brother of wrongdoing. I was relieved to find, however, that the (cleverly wrought) twist midway through the book rendered these concerns obsolete. If Niles seems outrageously naïve, that just makes the revelation all the more effective.
Novelist Thomas Tryon evokes the homey mystique of a 30’s Connecticut farming town. Pequot Landing, as it so happens, is an idyllic place to grow up for children who are independent and reasonably well-adjusted, because of the freedom such a locale offers (kids can go wherever they want and do whatever they want, within reason,) but the stifling gossip of the town ladies also makes it important to tread carefully while within earshot of anyone who might decide they want your family problems as fodder for discussion.
For the Perry’s, for which insanity seems to run in the family, the continual stream of hearsay is never-ending. If you can get by Tryon’s penchant for long, elaborate, needlessly wordy sentences, ‘The Other’ might prove to be your new favorite creepy-cool summer read. You might be surprised that despite the fact that it was published in 1971, it’s aged quite well and doesn’t seem watered-down in terms of horror by jaded modern standards.
There are deaths a-plenty in “The Other,” and the one that bothered me most (even more than the particularly taboo murder at the end) was the demise of elderly widow Mrs. Rowe. Damn it she just wanted to have some tea and lemonade with the local children! Why must the lonely old bird be treated so? :_(
“The Other” makes you think about what people do to keep their loved ones out of the mental health system, and how that initial act of mercy can prove to be destructive later on. Doesn’t the boys’ Russian grandmother, Ada, know her grandson is a raving lunatic? Of course she does. But she refuses to anticipate the consequences of keeping such a boy at home with her, and her naiveté is punished tenfold.
I’ve heard of people whose family members continually lashed out at them; people who’s loved ones had to be locked in their room at night. In the end, the decision lies with the caregiver, but sometimes it’s not only easier, but kinder just to let go. This is an extreme version of a situation many people deal with- the seemingly impossible challenge of loving and caring for a severely emotionally disturbed child.
Ultimately, I think Tryon is too hard on old Ada. Yes, it was her ‘game’ that led to much of the insanity in the first place. But she is only human. And If the game had never came to be? What? Tragedy may have been avoided, but sociopathy and madness still ran thick in the Perry’s blood. While Ada’s final act seemed somewhat out of character, it was a decision born of extreme desperation, not evil or cruelty.
Although I found Niles annoying throughout (though he seemed surprisingly less so after I found out the twist,) I thought ‘The Other’ was a chillingly rendered, deliciously Gothic read. I love those kind of Gothic stories involving family secrets and sequestered craziness, so this was right up my alley. Now I want to rent the movie.
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seems in Thomas Tryon’s Gothic psychological horror novel.I had a rocky start with this novel, because I kept on wondering how Niles could not suspect his brother of wrongdoing. I was relieved to find, however, that the (cleverly wrought) twist midway through the book rendered these concerns obsolete. If Niles seems outrageously naïve, that just makes the revelation all the more effective.
Novelist Thomas Tryon evokes the homey mystique of a 30’s Connecticut farming town. Pequot Landing, as it so happens, is an idyllic place to grow up for children who are independent and reasonably well-adjusted, because of the freedom such a locale offers (kids can go wherever they want and do whatever they want, within reason,) but the stifling gossip of the town ladies also makes it important to tread carefully while within earshot of anyone who might decide they want your family problems as fodder for discussion.
For the Perry’s, for which insanity seems to run in the family, the continual stream of hearsay is never-ending. If you can get by Tryon’s penchant for long, elaborate, needlessly wordy sentences, ‘The Other’ might prove to be your new favorite creepy-cool summer read. You might be surprised that despite the fact that it was published in 1971, it’s aged quite well and doesn’t seem watered-down in terms of horror by jaded modern standards.
There are deaths a-plenty in “The Other,” and the one that bothered me most (even more than the particularly taboo murder at the end) was the demise of elderly widow Mrs. Rowe. Damn it she just wanted to have some tea and lemonade with the local children! Why must the lonely old bird be treated so? :_(
“The Other” makes you think about what people do to keep their loved ones out of the mental health system, and how that initial act of mercy can prove to be destructive later on. Doesn’t the boys’ Russian grandmother, Ada, know her grandson is a raving lunatic? Of course she does. But she refuses to anticipate the consequences of keeping such a boy at home with her, and her naiveté is punished tenfold.
I’ve heard of people whose family members continually lashed out at them; people who’s loved ones had to be locked in their room at night. In the end, the decision lies with the caregiver, but sometimes it’s not only easier, but kinder just to let go. This is an extreme version of a situation many people deal with- the seemingly impossible challenge of loving and caring for a severely emotionally disturbed child.
Ultimately, I think Tryon is too hard on old Ada. Yes, it was her ‘game’ that led to much of the insanity in the first place. But she is only human. And If the game had never came to be? What? Tragedy may have been avoided, but sociopathy and madness still ran thick in the Perry’s blood. While Ada’s final act seemed somewhat out of character, it was a decision born of extreme desperation, not evil or cruelty.
Although I found Niles annoying throughout (though he seemed surprisingly less so after I found out the twist,) I thought ‘The Other’ was a chillingly rendered, deliciously Gothic read. I love those kind of Gothic stories involving family secrets and sequestered craziness, so this was right up my alley. Now I want to rent the movie.
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LibraryThing member LisaMorr
Horror novel set in 1930's Connecticut, The Other follows Niles and his twin brother Holland as they get involved in a number of disturbing incidents during one hot summer in the town of Pequot Landing. One twin is nice and one twin is evil, isn't that how it always is in horror novels? And then
Super creepy, and even though I saw the movie back in the late 70's and generally knew what would happen, this was an excellent read, and definitely gave me chills.
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there is grandmother Ada, who teaches them to play a game, but is it a game? Ada so loves her grandsons, but what is she to do?Super creepy, and even though I saw the movie back in the late 70's and generally knew what would happen, this was an excellent read, and definitely gave me chills.
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LibraryThing member JHemlock
Thomas Tryon’s “The Other” Where to begin? Within the scope of a week I read Harvest Home and The Other. This review will be primarily for The Other. Fifty years and some change ago The Actor/Writer Thomas Tryon released this book. Tryon was a literary Assassin. Who knows where he would have
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went had he stayed in the field long enough to compete with the likes of King, Koontz, Barker or John Saul. But one thing is for sure. Based off the strength of his debut novel, things may have been a little different. The Agony Tryon puts the reader through in this book is like being nailed to wall. He is able to tell a story that crawls onto your back and slowly inches its way beneath your skin. The Other without a doubt uses James’s Turn of the Screw for a blue print, but easily manages to stand on its own two feet. I can say I had the story figured out after a while, but that fact being known did not diminish the eerie feeling that something was terribly wrong with the child Niles and the Grandmother. The events that take place in this book seem so real and when we look at the time frame, 1935, we can understand that something like this more than likely happened in small places with minimal access to health care and attention to mental disorders. The Other is eerie, haunting and oddly enough cheerful and melancholy. The writing is tight, and all the elements of what is actually going on are right in the readers face from the start of the story. But it is up to the reader to pick up on them. It is a shame the film is so obscure because it is very faithful to the novel. This is a style the author would develop over the course of a short but powerful writing career. Show Less
LibraryThing member Sandra2891
I really like this book. I read it as an adolescent and could never get the story out of my head, or the fact that there is a great twist at the end. After all these years I had forgotten what that twist actually was, although I had an idea, so I wanted to find this book and read it again. I knew
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it was about an evil twin and a good twin. The second read for me was great. I really like how Thomas writes. He puts you right there in the scene all the time and I like his quirky characters, like the grandmother Ada and Niles. This book is pretty crazy and definitely worth a read for the twist at the end! It keeps you guessing and is actually pretty gruesome. I really liked it! Show Less
LibraryThing member NinieB
Really nicely done horror, really psychological horror. No supernatural beings or powers are used.
LibraryThing member khal_khaleesi
(This review can also be found on my blog at The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl).
When I read the synopsis of this book, I was definitely intrigued. One good twin, one bad twin, yup, definitely sounded interesting. However, it took me a long time to get into this book, but I was
Niles and Holland are identical twins. Niles is the good one whilst Holland is the bad one, always up to something really bad. Niles worships Holland and would do anything to get Holland's admiration, including making excuses for Holland whenever Holland does a bad deed. What will it take for Niles to realise that Holland isn't all he seems?
The title of this book comes across as being a book about something sinister. I believe there were plenty of better titles the author could have chose for his book though. Whilst it does suit the story, I feel the author missed a trick with the naming of it.
The cover of The Other very much suits it!! I won't say too much because I don't want to give anything away, but once you read this book from start to finish, you'll realise why it suits the book perfectly.
The world building and setting are fantastic! The book takes place around the mid-1900s. I wasn't alive at the time, but the author did a great job in re-creating that era for me. I could actually feel that I was in that moment in time.
The pacing is what really good me. The first two-thirds of the book is really slow, almost painfully. I was tempted to stop reading it and add it to my did not finish pile, but I really hate leaving books unread, so I read on. However, I'm so glad I didn't give up on this book. The last third of the book is amazing! The author nailed the pacing here. I couldn't put the book down once I got to this bit. I was rewarded for my perseverance with a twist I never saw coming as well as an ending that I didn't see coming either.
The dialogue matches the setting. The characters speak as they would from the mid-1900s. I found the dialogue between the characters to be quite entertaining and sometimes funny.
As for the characters, for a long time, I had a hard time relating to them. It wasn't until I started to really enjoy the book and found out the twist that I started caring about the characters. Niles is always aiming to please, a goody two shoes. Holland doesn't really care what anyone thinks. He's his own person and will do anything to get what he wants. Ada comes across as the voice of reason in the book. I found myself wishing that she was my grandmother. My favourite character was Alexandra, the mother of the twins. Although she wasn't featured much in the book, I still really liked her. I think it's because I found myself relating to her the most.
This book definitely isn't what you think it is. It will leave you gobsmacked once you finish it. I'd recommend this book to anyone aged 15 .
When I read the synopsis of this book, I was definitely intrigued. One good twin, one bad twin, yup, definitely sounded interesting. However, it took me a long time to get into this book, but I was
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definitely rewarded with a twist and a great ending!Niles and Holland are identical twins. Niles is the good one whilst Holland is the bad one, always up to something really bad. Niles worships Holland and would do anything to get Holland's admiration, including making excuses for Holland whenever Holland does a bad deed. What will it take for Niles to realise that Holland isn't all he seems?
The title of this book comes across as being a book about something sinister. I believe there were plenty of better titles the author could have chose for his book though. Whilst it does suit the story, I feel the author missed a trick with the naming of it.
The cover of The Other very much suits it!! I won't say too much because I don't want to give anything away, but once you read this book from start to finish, you'll realise why it suits the book perfectly.
The world building and setting are fantastic! The book takes place around the mid-1900s. I wasn't alive at the time, but the author did a great job in re-creating that era for me. I could actually feel that I was in that moment in time.
The pacing is what really good me. The first two-thirds of the book is really slow, almost painfully. I was tempted to stop reading it and add it to my did not finish pile, but I really hate leaving books unread, so I read on. However, I'm so glad I didn't give up on this book. The last third of the book is amazing! The author nailed the pacing here. I couldn't put the book down once I got to this bit. I was rewarded for my perseverance with a twist I never saw coming as well as an ending that I didn't see coming either.
The dialogue matches the setting. The characters speak as they would from the mid-1900s. I found the dialogue between the characters to be quite entertaining and sometimes funny.
As for the characters, for a long time, I had a hard time relating to them. It wasn't until I started to really enjoy the book and found out the twist that I started caring about the characters. Niles is always aiming to please, a goody two shoes. Holland doesn't really care what anyone thinks. He's his own person and will do anything to get what he wants. Ada comes across as the voice of reason in the book. I found myself wishing that she was my grandmother. My favourite character was Alexandra, the mother of the twins. Although she wasn't featured much in the book, I still really liked her. I think it's because I found myself relating to her the most.
This book definitely isn't what you think it is. It will leave you gobsmacked once you finish it. I'd recommend this book to anyone aged 15 .
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LibraryThing member carlahaunted
Fabulous, disturbing, magnificent.
LibraryThing member carlahaunted
Fabulous, disturbing, magnificent.
LibraryThing member SharonMariaBidwell
I’ve only read one other book by Thomas Tryon, many years ago, loved it, and still own. So I thought it way past the time I read another. I’d heard good things about The Other, and overall this is excellent. The trouble stems perhaps from the dated feeling of both the writing, setting, and how
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distanced a modern audience often is from subconscious scares. I wouldn’t categorise this as horror, though for those who like evil child stories, this undoubtedly deserves to be a classic. The construction that will meet with dislike from some was ingenious at the time it was written and remains good today. Most profoundly, a subtle unease exists within the pages that creeps into the mind. Unfortunately, the surprises didn’t feel all that big; again, perhaps because a modern audience is harder to shock. Show Less
LibraryThing member markm2315
I don't read much horror (on purpose anyway), but it was Halloween. This story is pretty well done. It seemed to labor under my familiarity with the evil child genre - including at least one movie. In horror books one must suspend ones disbelief, of course, and the author should help out. While the
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characters in this novel were wringing their hands over the suspected or real actions of the protagonist, I fear that I might have just kicked his little ass. Show Less
LibraryThing member datrappert
Wow. This is about the most truly horrific thing I have read in a long time. Perhaps ever. But it isn't Lovecraftian horror; the clear antecedent is Shirley Jackson. But she was never so visceral. I'm writing this before I read the afterword to the NYRB edition, because I want to capture my
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thoughts fresh. This book has one horrific shock after another, although after the first two or three, you realize more are coming, so you are a bit prepared. No spoilers, but the foreshadowing is pretty clear in hindsight or even as you are reading. You just don't know exactly how or when the shock will come, but when it does, it still makes you want to put down the book and refresh your drink. The other thing that makes this story about twins very different is the way in which it is told. The narrative voice is certainly unusual in how it shapes the story and resets our expectations. This is a book that you can really spend a long time thinking about afterwards. Horror like this, frankly, has much more impact on me as a reader than Lovecraftian horror, even as much as I love some of Lovecraft's work (particularly The Shadow Over Innsmouth). I recently reviewed the Penguin collection of Thomas Ligotti's first two story collections. They are well written and some are quite clever, but the world they describe isn't real and no amount of nice wordsmithing can make it so. But the events in The Other, no matter how terrible they are, have the aura of truth about them. Again...wow. Show Less
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1971
Physical description
272 p.; 7.97 inches
ISBN
1590175832 / 9781590175835