/lit/ - Literature

Let the Right One In is Twilight if you switched the genders, dropped the age down to about 12, and removed the down syndrome.

Which is to say it's good.

Except that there's undercurrents that it's not really a romance at all and the vampire is a horrible, manipulative person who orchestrated events to produce a guy devoted to her so that she could have a new helper.

Which is just a longer sentence that says it's good.

>>1094804
>Let The Right One In
Yes. Yes yes yes.
Also, if you are interested in vampires that don't suck, I'd suggest looking into the World of Darkness Roleplaying Game Vampire: the Requiem. There are a few novels for it. (And a lot for the previous edition, Vampire: The Masquerade. But they're faggot Anne Rice vampires.)

>>1094814
Really? It seemed to me that the girl wasn't all that manipulative, and that she really did care for Oskar, insomuch as a horrible blood drinking abomination of a corpse can feel an emotion.
But I only saw the movie.

>>1094821
"She" is several centuries old. Her method for producing devoted helpers is practically routine at the point she meets Oskar and loses the previous helper.

While she may care for Oskar, she still regards him as a tool that will soon be worn out and sacrificed.

OP: This book will heal all the damage bad vampire fiction has done to your poor soul.

Fuck the remake, OP. Read the book and watch the original movie. In their respective mediums they are probably the best things related to vampires in the last decade.

>>1094828
While I don't agree entirely with your interpretation, it is a perfectly valid one.

>>1094828
You know, there's a reason I didn't say 'the girl'.

It seemed more like the relationship you'd have with a good pet. I don't know, only seen the movie, but the ending felt like this time was supposed to be different.

>>1094838
> the ending felt like this time was supposed to be different

This is quite heavily implied in the novel as well. However, there are tons of similarities between Oskar and Håkan hidden throughout the text as well. It's quite ambiguous.

Two words: masturbating zombie

>>1094821
>vampires that don't suck
Go back to bed, Friedbergseltzer

I recommend this book to EVERYONE. I couldn't put it down.

>>1094828
This. She only really started pursuing a relationship with Oskar once her guardian was caught. There's some other little question marks throughout the movie, that's really what made it such a good picture. The creepiness was based on the simultaneous 'heartwarming coming of age / first-love story' while at the same time you realize that's equally a story of an evil, murdering vampire enticing a young boy into the life of a serial murderer. By the ending you feel sorta happy about the ending, but you're not sure if you SHOULD be.

"she"

>>1094859
Swede here. I've read all five of his books. Feels good man.

... it's a shame that Let the right one in still is Ajvide's best. While the others are better at some things, LTROI is still the best in general.

>>1094874
I've only read that and Handling the Undead. Everything else hasn't been translated into English yet.

>>1094874
Tell me about the rest of his books.

oh shit is this out already

hmm, brainwashed into becoming the helper of a cute vampire?

>implying attraction is ever a matter of rational choice
>implying it isn't worth it

>>1094878
I feel that Handling the Undead is his weakest book, actually. I only read it when it was released, though, so I think I'd have a different opinion.

>>1094883
My pleasure. I'll go chronologically. (Had to split this into separate posts.

His second book was Hanteringen av odöda (Handling the Undead). It's been translated to English, as well. Thousands of dead are suddenly resurrected in Stockholm. They only want to come home, though, and pose no threat to living humans. The bok is about how Swedish authorities handle them, and how the relatives of the undead come into conflict with it. It has great ideas, but shits itself inside out towards the end. In my opinion his weakest book.

>>1094937

Pappersväggar (Paper walls) is a collection of short stories. Like all collection, it's a mixed bag. Some of the stories are meh, some are bad and some are amazing. I hold the very first story, Gräns (Border), to be his absolute best work.

>>1094939


His fourth book is Människohamn (Human harbour - the translation isn't perfect, though, since the Swedish title plays on the homonymous meaning of "hamn" - it can mean both harbour and shape), and I consider it his second best. It takes place on an island outside of Stockholm. A couple of years earlier, the main character's daughter disappeared without a trace. After returning to the island, he believes he is receiving messages from her, and ghost of two of his drowned childhood friends beings terrorising the island. The lovecraftian influence is very obvious, but it is still mainly a social realistic book. This is probably the one that's closest to LTROI - it is far superiour stylistically, and by far the one with the most fantastical elements. Despite its strenghts, the story and characters simply aren't structured as well as in LTROI. Its set to be released in English in late 2010 or early 2011. Get it, it's great.


Lilla stjärna (Little star, refers to the song by Alice Babs), his latest, was released this spring. It is a story about two young girls - one is overweight, bullied in school and makes herself feel better by trolling internet forums (srsly), while the other is of some supernatural origin; she was found in the woods, buried in a plastic bag, by a washed up pop musician. Since she could sing perfectly, he locked her in a room in their basement for thirteen years. It's about the girls' friendship and rebellion against grown-up culture. Stylistically, it's so fucking awesome it's ridiculous. All the characters are amazingly written. I felt he kind of lost the supernatural theme, though, and the ending feels very anti-climactic and really hard to grok. It's basically amazing at everything except the horror.

Buy this book. IN HARDCOVER

I liked the movie better than the book, but the book was still awesome. OP, if you have Netflix, you can watch the movie on demand (in Swedish with subtitles) and see if you like the story. The book has a lot more going on than the movie, but the vampire parts of the story are still pretty much the same.

I started this book today (I had previously watched the film) and now I'm wondering why the book is being toted as a "good vampire novel." I can't get past the awful writing.

>>1095010
0/10

>>1095100
Why not tell me why I'm wrong instead? I flipped to a random page and here's an excerpt: "No anxiety for the next day, whatever it would bring. He would sleep well tonight.
When he was back in the yard, he sat down on the edge of the sandbox for awhile to calm himself before he went back home. Tomorrow he would get himself a better knife, a knife with a parry guard, or whatever it was called... so he didn't cut himself. Because this was something he was going to do again.
It was a good game."

How can this be described as worthwhile?

>>1095133
Could be the translation but I read that just fine. Like it was a 10 year old thoughts and narration.

>>1095133

I'm inclined to agree.
I got a rough translation of the book, after the movie was leaked years ago- and the writing was sub-par at best.

The movie is only slightly better, by a small margin. Most of the characterization is bland and the plot isn't that original.

pissball