Horror Aficionados discussion

Our Corn read for July is Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon.
Please use spoiler tags and page numbers/percentages when discussing, and have fun reading!

A great horror novel. Truly frightening!

I enjoyed Harvest Home, and Thomas Tryon is an excellent writer. But the book was a little too long-winded for my taste and felt like it had been padded out to meet a certain word count. It would have made a very effective novella.

In contrast, The Other, by the same author, is one of the most chilling horror novels I've read, wonderfully paced IMO.

I already own this book, but have not read it yet. July will be the month I read it. I'm looking forward to reading this with everyone!

I've read this one several times. Looking forward to what everyone else thinks.

Damir wrote: "I enjoyed Harvest Home, and Thomas Tryon is an excellent writer. But the book was a little too long-winded for my taste and felt like it had been padded out to meet a certain word cou..."

Absolutely! I saw the name and got super excited! The Other is one of my favorite books - but sadly, everyone I've recommended it to was not impressed :(

Looking forward to reading this one. It'll be my first horror read with this group, and possibly the first horror read ever. I can't think of anything I've read that's been scary. Dracula, maybe?

Anyway, looking forward to it! =D

Kaley wrote: "Absolutely! I saw the name and got super excited! The Other is one of my favorite books - but sadly, everyone I've recommended it to was not impressed :("

I feel like The Other gets unfairly dissed because (view spoiler)[of the big reveal/twist at the end (hide spoiler)], which these days seems a bit overused. But when the novel came out in 1971, it was a very effective shocker.

I have this book on my tbr shelf already!

This has been in my TBR pile since 2014! Oh my goodness, guess it’s a good time to read it :)

MAN, there is a LOT of info to unpack in the 1st paragraph of this book, eh? Not to mention the writing techniques crammed into just a few sentences! I'd say this one might be more 'dense' than some other reads (and no, I do not mean 'dense' as in 'unintelligent'!) --Jen from Quebec :0)
(PS) Happy Canada Day to...well, the whole planet!

Dawn wrote: "This has been in my TBR pile since 2014! Oh my goodness, guess it’s a good time to read it :)"

i just checked. I added this book to my TBR in 2015, so I am right there with you!

I just finished Clowns Vs. Spiders our July "Clown" read and am in Chapter 5 of this book. We could not have picked two more different books in terms of tone and writing styles to read in the same month if we tried!

Badseedgirl wrote: "I just finished Clowns Vs. Spiders our July "Clown" read and am in Chapter 5 of this book. We could not have picked two more different books in terms of tone and writing styles to r..."

I completely agree! I also just finished Clowns Vs. Spiders and started on this book and I thought the same thing!

I just finished reading Harvest Home. This is my first book by Thomas Tryon and I really enjoyed his writing style. He does a good job at describing the characters and scenes but I feel that sometimes it is just too much detail. This book is long which is fine with me but I feel that it went overboard with the descriptions and that made me start to lose interest and skim over some parts. I found this book to be more unsettling than scary. I am still glad that I read it and I would read another book by this author.

@badseedgirl glad I’m not the only one 😂

Amanda wrote: "I just finished reading Harvest Home. This is my first book by Thomas Tryon and I really enjoyed his writing style. He does a good job at describing the characters and scenes but I feel that someti..."

I have 9 chapters left. I should be done by this weekend.

I just finished this book and even though I saw the ending coming by the 8th chapter, still. Dang!!!

I'm almost sure I've seen a movie based on this book. Off to the internet to research.

There was a 1978 TV mini-series based on the book. I watched it earlier this year on YouTube. It's a bit dated, but reasonably faithful to the story.
Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjwvZ...
Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueLRM...

I started it and it’s setting the scene to be a really good horror read. It has all the components, but I’m not sure how I feel about the pace and writing style it seems a bit slow and clunky

I just started the book. I've watched the movie several times and enjoyed it. I've had this on my list forever. I fist watched the movie back in the 80's, I think. I've wanted to read the book since I found it in my school library around the same time. I've just never gotten around to it for some reason.

Badseedgirl wrote: "I just finished Clowns Vs. Spiders our July "Clown" read and am in Chapter 5 of this book. We could not have picked two more different books in terms of tone and writing styles to r..."

LOL!!! Oh I completely agree here. Definitely opposites. I still like it all but whew.

Alan wrote: "There was a 1978 TV mini-series based on the book. I watched it earlier this year on YouTube. It's a bit dated, but reasonably faithful to the story.
Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjwvZ4wT..."

Thanks for posting the links to this! Widow Fortune is played by Bette Davis, which is pretty spooky already.

Alan wrote: "There was a 1978 TV mini-series based on the book. I watched it earlier this year on YouTube. It's a bit dated, but reasonably faithful to the story.
Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjwvZ4wT..."

Alan wrote: "There was a 1978 TV mini-series based on the book. I watched it earlier this year on YouTube. It's a bit dated, but reasonably faithful to the story.
Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjwvZ4wT..."
Thank you for posting this. I tried watching it on my Roku tv but the feed is so poor, blowing it up made it almost unwatchable. My phone showed it much better.

Starting it today!
Really excited to see what the book is all about

Gone! Boo...

I agree with other posters: Harvest Home contains florid descriptions on nearly every page. For some, the details are too rich and weigh on the plot, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading, savoring, and rereading many of those descriptions.

That said, I won’t read it again. There are so many other books to catch up on. I can hardly keep apace with the buddy reads.

Man, it sucks that the Harvest Home miniseries has been taken down. You can't stream it anywhere now!

So I'm taking my sweet time with this one, as I'm only at Chapter 6. And what's been bothering me, as the (view spoiler)[ Constantines are flitting about their new digs, admiring hand-made quilts and time spent on drawing corn and farmers, is that they've ripped their adolescent daughter from any form of good education in the city and enrolled her in a one-light, one-room school to be educated by Laura Ingalls Wilder! Oh, and she's got asthma really bad, even if they think it's psychosomatic, but still, let's go out and live in the country and the pollen with the farm animals, because, hell, you know, our city-life jobs suck so hard and we just want to draw in our sketchbook and admire the craft movement up close! WTF kind of parents are these? (hide spoiler)]

Okay, the rant is over for now.

Yay! This was one that I had on my to-read list. Finally came in the mail the other day. I've just started, but looks promising so far. I can tell the couple's little girl is going to annoy me though. Very bratty.

Netanella wrote: "So I'm taking my sweet time with this one, as I'm only at Chapter 6. And what's been bothering me, as the [spoilers removed]

Okay, the rant is over for now."

I kind of wondered about that. At one scene, the mom is opening the window to let the country air in . . . and I'm wondering if that's a thing you would really do if you had a child with dangerous asthma like that.

Badseedgirl wrote: "Man, it sucks that the Harvest Home miniseries has been taken down. You can't stream it anywhere now!"

Haven't watched it, but it looks like this link works!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjwvZ...

I'm about 75 pages in, so I'm a little behind. I agree with most people about the writing being bogged down and clunky. But I'm interested in the story enough to want to keep going for now. Hoping I can pick up my pace this week and catch up.

I'm hearing the audiobook and it makes wonders at setting the pace.

I’m listening to the audiobook as well! I’m to about chapter 15.

I have been wanting to read this book since I was a kid. I have a very dim memory of watching the TV movie with Bette Davis.
I am just over a third of the way through and, so far, I’m enjoying it. It’s quite a gentle pace, but the characters, and particularly the setting, are interesting enough to keep me going.
I have always had a taste for folk horror and seems to be scratching that itch. Strong echoes of Midsommar and The Wicker Man. I found the climax to the first part impressively chilling and, I expect, an indication of things to come.
At the moment, Cornwall Coombs seems a lovely place to spend your time. I suspect that feeling won’t last.

I'm not reading this book this month, but I have read it. Not the scariest or most thrilling read ever, but I enjoyed it. I agree with those who have said his other book, The Other, is a much better story. But I don't want to discourage anyone reading Harvest Home for the first time, it IS a good book, and there was a TV movie made from it that was OK as well. If you read it and like it, be sure to read The Other as well.

Still plugging along on this one. It's weird reading it and Clowns vs Spiders at the same time. Completely different tones and pacing!

So far, I find this one promising, but a little slow. Of course, I'm reading a little slow lately too, which doesn't help.

so I started this a few days ago and for some reason I just can't read more than a few pages at a time. I am around page 50, Still super early into it, some please tell me it picks up soon...

Amber wrote: "so I started this a few days ago and for some reason I just can't read more than a few pages at a time. I am around page 50, Still super early into it, some please tell me it picks up soon..."

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but that pacing is pretty consistent throughout. The plot does move forward but at its own leisurely pace. I have about a hundred pages left. Not the most exciting book but there is some great imagery and scenes if you want to keep at it.

I'm not gonna be able to finish this one this month, but I'm really enjoying it. I'm about halfway through. At first I was wary, I thought I knew where the story was gonna go, but then I fell a little in love with Cornwall Coombe and the Widow. Will definitely finish it.

Neil wrote: "I have been wanting to read this book since I was a kid. I have a very dim memory of watching the TV movie with Bette Davis.
I am just over a third of the way through and, so far, I’m enjoying it..."

I just finished it and totally agree about the Midsommar feel. I really loved that movie and I also really enjoyed this book.

(view spoiler)[ I felt super disappointed by the ending, however. I really wanted Ned to be able to find some sort of justice, and found Beth to be a really one-dimensional, selfish character. I can understand the frustration of wanting another child, but to go through what she went through?

I did love the build up around Gracie, from the general suspense to finding the skull, and then finally putting it all together. (hide spoiler)]

I agree Neil, about reminding of the Wicker Man! I too loved the characters and the story felt so vivid from the grand descriptions of every little thing. I was struggling with it too in the beginning, I think because I don’t read writing like it often. I’m glad I read this and want to check out the Other