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THE MAN IN THE PICTURE a Ghost Story Susan Hill 9781846680755 Books

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THE MAN IN THE PICTURE a Ghost Story Susan Hill 9781846680755 Books

On a freezing January night Oliver visits his old tutor Theo in Cambridge. Seated near a briskly burning fire with drinks within reach, the old bachelor, who has lived there for over 50 years, prepares to tell Oliver the story of the late 18th-century painting that hangs almost invisible between two bookcases. Oliver walks over and is instantly enthralled.
Young Theo was a keen buyer and seller of old drawings and paintings at auctions. This piece is a detailed crowd scene of carnival in Venice, à la Breughel or Hieronymus Bosch with lots of things going on at once. After the auction, Theo was accosted by an excited man commissioned to buy the work, who arrived late; he wants to buy it from Theo at any price. Theo had been mysteriously drawn to it during viewing hours and the incident fortified his resolve: he will not sell it, never, ever.
Susan Hill (SH) describes the painting from the perspective of four main characters. Some report having detected whiffs of newly-dried paint, and/or have seen the terrified faces of recently, suddenly passed-away loved ones trapped in the painting. The four accounts are an incomplete history of how the painting may have blighted the lives of many generations of owners. The oldest reference is of its having been a wedding present from a young lady who hoped to be the bride herself...
I am no expert of this genre. SH is a gifted plotter and good on atmosphere in Cambridge and North Yorkshire and Venice is described as dangerous. The novella is timeless, but a chance mention of a mobile phone reveals it occurred yesterday. There are other issues. One smart reader wrote that it reads like a first draft with many loose ends. He/she is right. Some scenes are Gothic page-fillers going nowhere. Oliver's future wife is introduced much too late in the book. And why does Theo, aware of the painting's evil past, bequeath it to Oliver? Neither Oliver nor Theo see the end of the story. Ideal for reading groups and to reread solo.


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THE MAN IN THE PICTURE a Ghost Story Susan Hill 9781846680755 Books Reviews

Susan Hill's latest novella recalls the famous Edwardian ghost stories of M. R. James and the Benson brothers as much as her famous previous short novel THE WOMAN IN BLACK recalled the Victorian ghost stories of Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Henry James and John Meade Falkner. We have here many of the more familiar tropes of M. R. James's ghost stories--tales within tales, multiple narrators, bachelor antiquarians in rooms at Oxbridge, and a woman possessed by a burning revenge--and in terms of atmosphere Hill is pretty faultless. But the novella leaves too much unclear in its telling. Although you want a certain amount of mystery preserved at the end of a ghost story, there's just too much muddled at the end of this to really get the effects Hill strives for--so while most of the story is quite a page turner, the final narrative section leaves you a bit unsatisfied.
A quick short read; more like a "Twilight Zone" episode - fairly predictable and banal. Seems like maybe an outline for a longer novella? Not a waste, but certainly not memorable in any positive way. It is what it is.....
It's a good ghost story and a nice short read, but if you've read "Woman in Black" or have seen the film, you can probably guess how this will end. Ms. Hill seems to have a fixation on doomed relationships and bitter, spurned women. Too formulaic for my tastes, but if you want a quick read that will give you a sense of unease and you don't mind seeing the end coming from a mile away, by all means have at it.
As much as I liked Woman in Black, I actually LOVE The Man in The Picture.
This book is hauntingly atmospheric. Please I beseech Thee to run to your computer or mobile device and order the hardcover version from . This book must be savored with all senses. It is an aged jewel, one you will wish to treasure throughout time.
Susan Hill's "Woman in Black" represents the classic English ghost story; that inimitable tale that conjures up not campfires and guys with hooks for hands, but drafty rooms in country manors on cold nights, snifters of brandy around the dim light of a fireplace's dying embers. That the theatric version Of "WiB" has been running for nearly twenty years on London's Drury Lane is a testament to Susan's Hill's ability to create sheer terror through sparse prose and minimal trappings.

Theo Parmitter is an ancient Cambridge professor and still the perennial favorite of generations of former students who still compete for a seat next to him at the table wen returning to visit. "Married" to the university and its cloistered life, Parmitter's passion is collecting art. Decades earlier he obtains an unremarkable but strangely alluring painting of a carnival scene in Venice, eventually learning that the painting has a sinister history that promises a dark future for those who come into ins possession. As Parmitter recounts the story of the painting to a former student, the malevolence of the painting and its violent history are slowly revealed.

Unlike the period setting of "Woman in Black," "The Man in the Picture" is contemporary, but follows the same formula a narrative recounting the seemingly routine events of an earlier time building gradually to horror. But unlike "Woman," "Man in the Picture" produces a lighter level of fear, more cerebral and less direct; a well-told and well-executed story, but not one that will reverberate in bad dreams or keep the lights on at night. This is a quick read - not much more than an ambitious short story - that starts strong but suffers from an ending that falls short of an intriguing set up. Notwithstanding, Susan Hill is a master at her craft, and any fan of old-school, pre-slasher horror fiction will want to keep this one on their short list.
On a freezing January night Oliver visits his old tutor Theo in Cambridge. Seated near a briskly burning fire with drinks within reach, the old bachelor, who has lived there for over 50 years, prepares to tell Oliver the story of the late 18th-century painting that hangs almost invisible between two bookcases. Oliver walks over and is instantly enthralled.
Young Theo was a keen buyer and seller of old drawings and paintings at auctions. This piece is a detailed crowd scene of carnival in Venice, à la Breughel or Hieronymus Bosch with lots of things going on at once. After the auction, Theo was accosted by an excited man commissioned to buy the work, who arrived late; he wants to buy it from Theo at any price. Theo had been mysteriously drawn to it during viewing hours and the incident fortified his resolve he will not sell it, never, ever.
Susan Hill (SH) describes the painting from the perspective of four main characters. Some report having detected whiffs of newly-dried paint, and/or have seen the terrified faces of recently, suddenly passed-away loved ones trapped in the painting. The four accounts are an incomplete history of how the painting may have blighted the lives of many generations of owners. The oldest reference is of its having been a wedding present from a young lady who hoped to be the bride herself...
I am no expert of this genre. SH is a gifted plotter and good on atmosphere in Cambridge and North Yorkshire and Venice is described as dangerous. The novella is timeless, but a chance mention of a mobile phone reveals it occurred yesterday. There are other issues. One smart reader wrote that it reads like a first draft with many loose ends. He/she is right. Some scenes are Gothic page-fillers going nowhere. Oliver's future wife is introduced much too late in the book. And why does Theo, aware of the painting's evil past, bequeath it to Oliver? Neither Oliver nor Theo see the end of the story. Ideal for reading groups and to reread solo.