Blackwater: The Complete Saga

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Overall, there is a slight supernatural twist to this that the author isn't really making a mystery about. The reader is shown early on who the supernatural element is and even what (at least to a degree). This supernatural seed is growing in the Perdido river, triggering a number of events, some of which I did see coming and some of which I didn't expect.

It's evident that Michael McDowell based many of these characters on his personal experience. They are too alive to think otherwise, the man was born in Alabama, and it felt authentic. The depictions of the depression, World War I and other important events that affected the American life impacted this small town of Perdido, Alabama. Beyond the family dramas and horrific deaths, the slice-of-life scenes that are scattered throughout are bloody amazing. He captures the mundane of life beautifully. This book is a generational novel, so, some sacrifices must be made appropriately. This should be a limitation, yet it’s paced so wonderfully. The amount of depth he gives in a single chapter is surreal. He knows how to capture important moments of characters' lives, giving implied characterisation, knowing how to do multiple-year transitions smoothly without feeling like you missed a lot. From the characters serving food, hanging on the beach, going to school, working in the office, working on a farm and being a housewife. The mundane elements of life are depicted with such vividness. I genuinely, loved these characters, their interactions, and the dialogue associated with them all qualities are excellent and consistently engaging. Oh! Elinor said in a light, smiling voice, after going through a flood there’s just no other way to get clean—I know it for a fact, Miz Driver! It is, said Mary-Love. I’m afraid it is, even if I do have to say it about my own son. Sister’s talking to her now. Maybe Sister can get a little something out of her.As you can tell by the opening quote I started this review with, his books ooze with gothic nuances. The novel on the surface feels so normal, but underlying the words is this feeling of impending doom and the sizzling hum of menacing danger. The reader knows things aren’t quite right, but we don’t know exactly why.

Oscar shook his head. The baluster was covered with the slime of the flood. He attempted to wipe it off on his trousers, but succeeded only in transferring some of the stink.I do feel that the universe is a joke,” McDowell said. “And that we are the butt of that joke. And horror is one of the best ways of saying that, of saying that there are things out there and forces and vibrations that are simply malevolent.”