Haunted House (Marianne Dreams - Catherine Storr)

Member Name: cyberem78

Product:	Marianne Dreams - Catherine Storr
Date:	06/05/09 (132 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Memorable, haunting story.

Disadvantages: Can be emotionally disturbing.

'Marianne Dreams' is a book written for children by author Catherine Storr. It was first published in 1958. I first read it when I was eleven and re-discovered the reprinted paperback year 2000 version a few years ago. The book has become one of printing company Faber's 'Children's Classics' and quite rightly so. This is a story that once read permeates the mind and soul and remains there like a haunting ghost. It is a tale that is both disturbing and beautiful in equal measures. It is as if the author has tapped into our waking dreams or twisted reality with fantasy and created a brand new world where personal thought and feelings are master over everything else.

The story centres around a little girl called Marianne who falls ill. A long-term illness, confining her to her bed, is quickly diagnosed. Her mother is her main carer and companion along with a doctor and a personal tutor. In this isolated world she begins to worry about recovery and these worries fester and turn inward on her. She starts to draw to pass the time and begins, as so many children do, by sketching a house. When Marianne sleeps she dreams of the exact house she has drawn. Inside the house is a boy she has drawn and she is desperate to return to him in her dreams as she likes him. So she continues to draw the house - adding scenery and details to the picture in order to create a more perfect dreamworld.

In Marianne's reality she is told about an invalid boy called Mark whom her personal tutor also teaches. The boy in Marianne's dream and picture assumes the identity of this sickly Mark. Dream Mark seems to be trapped in the 'paper house' and is at the whim of Marianne's moods. He becomes the victm of Marianne's transitory frustrations as she uses her pencil to express her anxiety about getting over her illness and draws horrible, threatening things. The only thing is, the pencil won't rub out - so whatever Marianne draws becomes part of her Dreamworld forever - good or bad.

The dreams become the core of Marianne's existence and her relationship with Dream Mark the most important thing in to her. How the children deal with their surroundings and the events in the Dreamworld is fascinating to read. It seems to be an allegory of how both children are trying to recover from their life-threatening illnesses in real life. At the same instance, their boy-girl relationship changes from one of childish companionship to something much more special and mature. It is essentially a story about being able to overcome adversity but there is also a focus on the importance of the male/female relationship and what this means in terms of growing up.

When I first read this book I was terrified by the things Marianne draws in her tamper tantrums. Her dream assumes the atmosphere of a horror film and there is a horrible sensation of being trapped in the false reality of the pencil-drawn house with languid Marianne and Mark. It is also slightly terrifying to imagine that Marianne's disturbed mind could be so powerful as to conjure up anything imaginable as any reader can understand that the mind can think up some pretty scary things! When I re-read this book in my twenties I was equally disturbed although I was much more intrigued by what it all really means and curious about what the author imagined when she wrote this novel. I was also more able to recognise the degree of symbolism used and this allowed me to experience the story in a whole new way.

'Marianne Dream's is the kind of book that a child who enjoys horror or fantasy stories would enjoy. It is definately for slightly older children who have the maturity to be able to cope with the bleak scenery of Marianne's Dreamworld. I would thoroughly recommend this novel to anyone - adult and child alike, as I feel that it is a story that you'll never forget.

Summary: A brilliant, scary children's novel.