The Night Strangers (book review)

I was excited to read "The Night Strangers". I've been a fan of Chris Bohjalian for some time now and have loved most of his work. Disappointed by his last release ("Secrets of Eden"), I had hoped this novel would be the redeemer. I think my first impression of "hmm, this sounds a little boring" when I read the beginning passages was all too correct.

My experience reading "Secrets of Eden" was like a much-hyped road trip; I returned from it underwhelmed by the attractions it had to offer and not much of anything to report back to interested parties. "The Night Strangers" is much the same way with one exception: the story's queer ending dropped me off miles from my destination and left me stranded and confused. It was enough to make me regret having taken the trip at all.

Bohjalian is an immensely talented writer. He's authored some amazing books with moving and enthralling storylines and complex characters (Skeletons at the Feast, The Double Bind, Trans-Sister Radio), one of which (Midwives) managed to make the all-too-famous list of Oprah's Book Club. The appeal of those books is strangely absent from this one - it lacks that specific charm and grace that I've come to expect of Bohjalian. It's almost like a different author wrote this book. His characters lacked an edge and weren't compelling. His odd 2nd-person narrative was distracting. It makes me wonder if he was so focused on the paranormal aspects of the tale that he forgot to flesh out his characters.

And again, that ending. I distinctly remember shaking my head after reading the last page, befuddled, thinking, "Surely you could've done better than this." It's confounding, nonsensical, and irritating. It went against his characters' struggles all throughout the book. I can understand a previous reviewer's comparison to Stephen King - King is famous for nonconforming and unapologetic endings that go against a reader's hopes and expectations. But when Bohjalian attempted to do the same, it did not work for me. I saw it as a cop-out, a go-to ending he chose because he couldn't quite figure out how to tie up all the story's loose ends after a grandiose climax. I know it sounds snobby of me but I don't have much patience with skilled writers who do this sort of thing. I see it as a refusal on the author's part to challenge himself/herself and take the easy route for the sake of producing a completed manuscript.

Oft thought by me to be a goose who only laid golden eggs, Bohjalian has produced a dud with "The Night Strangers". I can only hope that this one bad apple doesn't ruin the whole bunch.