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juushikaTitle: Picnic at Hanging Rock
Author: Joan Lindsay
Published: Cutchogue: Buccaneer Books, 1967
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 212
Total Page Count: 86,702
Text Number: 249
Read Because: mentioned in Caitlín R. Kiernan's The Red Tree, borrowed from the library
Review: On St. Valentine's Day, 1900, three girls and a teacher disappear from a school picnic at a local landmark called Hanging Rock. Only one of them will ever return. Picnic at Hanging Rock follows the events and fallout surrounding this mystery. The book is a view of the sublime: a natural wonder, concurrently beautiful and frightening, viewed through the eyes of those standing in its vast, dark shadow. At only 200 pages and written in a clean, clever voice, Picnic at Hanging Rock is a short book—but never simple. Its tone is at once gentle and morbid, equally suited to the dreamy hauntings and harsh fates that follow the events at Hanging Rock. Much of the book's complexity arises from the fact that its entire premise is an unsolved mystery. It offers more questions than answers, but it does so with quiet, thoughtful intent. In sprinklings of detail, dark implications, and suspicious events, the book sketches the shadow cast by Hanging Rock; its unsolved mysteries invite the reader into the story to engage and interpret, emerging with their own understanding of the events and their own view of that vast shadow—but perhaps no answers. The lack of answers is unsettling and for some readers may be unfulfilling, but those in search of something atmospheric and thoughtful, shadowed and intriguing, will do well to pick up Picnic at Hanging Rock. I recommend it.
(I add in brief that I also recommend the film based on this book. The book and film are quite similar, but the book offers more detail while the film better capture the ghostly atmosphere. Each stands alone, but they are beautiful in tandem—perhaps best with the book first.)
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Author: Joan Lindsay
Published: Cutchogue: Buccaneer Books, 1967
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 212
Total Page Count: 86,702
Text Number: 249
Read Because: mentioned in Caitlín R. Kiernan's The Red Tree, borrowed from the library
Review: On St. Valentine's Day, 1900, three girls and a teacher disappear from a school picnic at a local landmark called Hanging Rock. Only one of them will ever return. Picnic at Hanging Rock follows the events and fallout surrounding this mystery. The book is a view of the sublime: a natural wonder, concurrently beautiful and frightening, viewed through the eyes of those standing in its vast, dark shadow. At only 200 pages and written in a clean, clever voice, Picnic at Hanging Rock is a short book—but never simple. Its tone is at once gentle and morbid, equally suited to the dreamy hauntings and harsh fates that follow the events at Hanging Rock. Much of the book's complexity arises from the fact that its entire premise is an unsolved mystery. It offers more questions than answers, but it does so with quiet, thoughtful intent. In sprinklings of detail, dark implications, and suspicious events, the book sketches the shadow cast by Hanging Rock; its unsolved mysteries invite the reader into the story to engage and interpret, emerging with their own understanding of the events and their own view of that vast shadow—but perhaps no answers. The lack of answers is unsettling and for some readers may be unfulfilling, but those in search of something atmospheric and thoughtful, shadowed and intriguing, will do well to pick up Picnic at Hanging Rock. I recommend it.
(I add in brief that I also recommend the film based on this book. The book and film are quite similar, but the book offers more detail while the film better capture the ghostly atmosphere. Each stands alone, but they are beautiful in tandem—perhaps best with the book first.)
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
