Haunted-----

So.. I'm kind of new at this, you could say..

Haunted passage:

"This was supposed to be a writers' retreat. It was supposed to be safe. An isolated writers' colony, where we could work, run by an old, old, dying man named Whittier, until it wasn't."

This passage is a complete foreshadow to the chain of events that will tear apart the group of characters in this book. This passage tells the reader what will happen, and pulls them into the book. What will happen to the writers? Where are they going? Will it be dangerous(it was supposed to be safe)? Who is Whittier? Is he the antagonist of the story? Are the writers going to get any work done?

I also just read a short story in this book, and it was very disturbing. It is about a boy who goes to sit on the water pump on the floor of his family swimming pool. His large intestine gets pulled out through his anus and he has to bite through it to swim to safety. This character's nickname is...wait for it... GUTS.

haha.

part two


"OUr first week ,we ate beef Wellington while Miss America knelt at every doornknob and tried to pick the lock with a palette knife borrowed from the Duke of Vandals. We ate striped sea bass while Miss Sneezy ate pills and capsules from the rattling jars in her suitcase. While she coughed into her fist, and wiped her nose on her sweater sleeve. We eat turkey Tetrazzini while Lady Baglady toys with her diamond ring. With the platinum band turned around, she talks to the big diamond that seems to sit cupped in her palm. 'Packer?' she says. 'This is nothing like i've been led to expect.'"

This quote answers a few of my questions in the past post. Right now, they are stranded in a house, and are not allowed out by the crazy Mr. Whittier. As much as they ask him if they can leave, he tells them they must keep their promise to write their next big work. The people here are eating nice food, but it is coming from a bag that you microwave (freezedryed food). Everything is an illusion. The facade created for these writers: they will be eating nice food, staying in isolation, in a nice getaway to finish their next big works. Really, they are eating freezedryed food, being held against their will, in a house that was once nice but now is coated with dust and the people inside are just waiting to go insane.
What are these people going to do?
Will Miss America ever pick one of the locks and get out?
Why does Lady Baglady talk to her diamond ring that was once her husband(she got his ashes compressed into a diamond)? Is she crazy?
Is there any way the writers can create a work in these conditions?

by the way, the pool story is true..
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! hence the name, Haunted.


part 3


"That's how it happened. How no one knew every one else had the same plan. We each just wanted to raise the stakes a little. To make sure our rescue team wouldn't find us pillowed in silver bags of rich food, suffering from nothing but boredom and gout. each suffering survivor, fifty pounds heavier than when Mr. Whittier took us hostage. Of course, we each wanted to leave enough food to last until we were ALMOST rescued. Those last couple days, when we were really fasting, hungry and suffering-we could stretch that to a couple weeks in the retelling. the book. the movie. the television miniseries." 102

The group of hostage authors is secretly torturing the group as a whole. Each person is secretly hoping that the situation will become worse so that they will have something to write about when they are finally released. Now, people are beginning to take initiative. This means that the writers are doing this all to themselves, only so that in the retelling they will be able to make it sound like they were in a near death, horrible situation under the "wretched" Mr. Whittier. How far will the writers take it? I am worried for the writers, because they will probably do something stupid and end up actually killing themselves. At this point, one character has already died, and the writers are hoping for many more deaths. Will they all end up dying? Is all of this actually happening or is it just a retelling of a story that was made up to be retold? (i know you prolly didn't follow that one..)


This book is suh CRAZZY shtuff, mayne.



part 4


"Not to be upstaed, Reverend Godless asked to borrow the cleaver and hacked the smallest toe off each of his feet. The green wallpaper and silk drapes of the Italian Renaissance lounge, the green is splattered and sprayed with blood that looks black under the electric lights. The floor feels so sticky, the carpet, that every step tries to pull off your shoes. " (148).

The writers have begun to make themselves look as if they have been tortured. They have begun cutting off small parts of their bodies: ears, toes, fingers, nostrils, etc.' This shows how crazy the writers have gone and they are taking everything way too far. They are doing all of this just so they have a story to tell, and a story to sell for everything it's worth. How far are they going to take it after this? With Mr. Whittier dead, has Mrs. Clark (his assistant woman) become the new leader? Will any of these writers make it out of this situation alive?

This book is SOOOO weird. but it's also really good.


part 5



"Her fingers release the skin, and that half of her face turns back into shadowy sags and wrinkles. 'I used to see photographs of those people behind barbed wire in death camps,' she says. 'those LIVING SKELETONS. And i always thought:'Those people could wear ANYTHING.'" (194)

This excerpt from the book reveals the attention seeking, selfish nature of the characters. They all want to look like they have suffered so much, and they want people to think that they have gone through a massacre, just for a little more press coverage. At another part, it mentions the characters "thinning down" to be skinny enough for a movie star to play. This also reveals all of the media's influence on real people, and makes them think that they are not good enough. All of the writers are victims of themselves, they are all collaborating to destroy themselves, just so they can live a life of luxury. Will the characters ever actually have a movie made about them? Will people find out that everything the writers are going through is actually caused by the writers themselves? Is all of this a metaphor for something bigger? If so, what would that metaphor be?