Bird Box
by Josh Malerman
Published: May 13,
2014
Publisher: Ecco
Genre: Horror,
Apocalyptic, Post-Apocalyptic, Dystopia, Science Fiction, Mystery, Thriller,
Fiction
Blurb:
Something is out there...
Something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse and
a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came
from.
Five years after it began, a handful of scattered survivors
remain, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned
house near the river, she has dreamed of fleeing to a place where they might be
safe. Now, that the boy and girl are four, it is time to go. But the journey
ahead will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat—blindfolded—with
nothing to rely on but her wits and the children’s trained ears. One wrong
choice and they will die. And something is following them. But is it man,
animal, or monster?
Engulfed in darkness, surrounded by sounds both familiar and
frightening, Malorie embarks on a harrowing odyssey—a trip that takes her into
an unseen world and back into the past, to the companions who once saved her.
Under the guidance of the stalwart Tom, a motley group of strangers banded
together against the unseen terror, creating order from the chaos.
But when supplies ran low, they were forced to venture
outside—and confront the ultimate question: in a world gone mad, who can really
be trusted?
My Review:
The world is going mad.
There are monsters out there.
Keep your eyes closed.
Never look upon the face of the monster or you will go
crazy.
The monsters have reached the United States and are entering
the minds of everyone who sees it. No one knows what the monster looks like.
They have to keep their eyes covered at all times.
They live in rooms where the windows are covered with
blankets, sheets, cardboard or whatever they can find. No one ever goes outside
unless it is to look for supplies and then they must keep their eyes covered or
they will go insane.
Malorie a pregnant woman witness the craziness first hand
when her sister kills herself in the bathroom of their home. After the death of
her sister Malorie decides that it is time to leave her home and find the
people who put an ad in the paper a while back inviting people into their home.
Malorie must venture outside for her trip but she cannot look at the monster or
she will go mad. She only has to go a few blocks but when you can’t see it can seem
to be a lot longer.
Malorie stays for a few years with the people at the house meeting
some nice, friendly people and some not so friendly. In a world where you can’t
look outside and see all the beauty around you, a world where you have to live
in the dark and can’t look upon the face of the monster who can you trust? Is
everyone who they say they are?
Malorie stays at this house for about five years with the
children. She has taught the children how to live in a world of darkness. Malorie
teaches the children how to identify sounds, how to use their ears to move from
place to place. She teaches them that they must keep their blindfolds on always
and never to take them off under any circumstances what so ever.
Their supplies are running low. There are not many people
left in the world. Malorie thinks it is time to find other people. She has heard
of another group of people where she and the children can go but to reach these
people they must go on the river which will not be easy with two children. She
will need the help of the children if they are to make it down the river safely.
She will need their ears, hopefully she has taught them well.
I think Malorie did a great job of raising the children and
an even better job of teaching them to use their ears instead of their eyes.
This will be a horrifying trip for both Malorie and the
children. Just being outside with a monster is terrifying enough on its own but
to have to go down a river blindfolded with a monster is even more terrifying.
Can they do it? Will they make it? Can they make it on a river without looking?
Will one of them have to make a sacrifice and look?
Can you image the children never knowing what the outside
world looks like? Never knowing what a tree looks like? What the sunshine looks
like? What a flower looks like growing in the ground? Never knowing what the
water on the river looks like? Or the forest? Can you miss something you have
never seen?
I watched Bird Box on Netflix and I loved it. I stayed awake
through the whole movie without even dozing off once. If a movie is not good to
me then I will fall asleep no matter how much sleep I have had but if it is
good then I will stay awake even if I had only a couple of hours sleep. I
watched the movie one day and then the next day I saw the book on Amazon and I
had to have it. The saying goes is that the book is better than the movie so I
had to read it right away to find out. Is the book better than the movie? Hmm….All
I can say is…read the book…and watch the movie to find out.
Bird Box is one of the most intense and terrifying novels
that I have read in a long, long time. Bird Box pulled me in from the first
page and never let go, not even after reading the last page. This is one book
that is going to stay with me for a long time to come. It is filled with so
much mystery and suspense making you long to see the monster but at the same
time hoping you never do. Bird Box has a way of making you feel what the characters
are feeling and wanting to help the children or actually Malorie as they row
their way down the river.
I would highly recommend Bird Box to everyone. Read the book or
watch the movie, whatever your preference may be or do both. Is the book better
or the movie? There is only one way to find out…..
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