Once is probably enough (Once - James Herbert)

Member Name: Whitehorse

Product:	Once - James Herbert
Date:	07/04/03 (128 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely descriptions

Disadvantages: unoriginal plot

In my teenage years I saw far too many horror films for my own good and my Dad's fascination with Stephen King books soon had me dipping into pages that teemed with every known nightmare, plus a good few more that I wish I'd never discovered. There would be many nights spent supine on the bed, shaking hands holding some or other spooky novel, hair standing on end and light switched to on ever after.

Adjacent to King on my Dad's bookshelf were a smattering of James Herbert books and inevitably I decided to delve into his prose. The only book I ever got around to reading of his though was Fluke; wonderful dogs-eye view of the world and a great story. After that I seemed to become more and more reluctant to read horror - probably as I'd had one too many spooky experiences of my own.

Anyway - life moves on and despite the fact that I can't even watch the trailers for The Shining I was curious when my friend told me about 'Once'.

"I've started this book" she said. "It's really misogynistic and it's driving me mad but it's about faeries and stuff so you might like it". Well - obviously I wasn't thrilled at the idea of reading a women hating book but then I was also curious - more so when my friend informed me it was by James Herbert. I also don't tend to notice patriarchal writing unless it's particularly offensive whereas my friend is perhaps more sensitive to this. I read the blurb and found my curiosity growing.

"Read it if you want" my friend said "I'm not going to finish it"

The chance didn't come to start the book until a long and boring train ride. The thought of 5 hours of unbroken travel had my nose in the book within 5 minutes.

Thom Kindred is the 'hero' of the piece. After a stroke Thom returns to his old home to recuperate - a cottage lying in the rambling grounds of an old mansion owned by his
friends father. Woodland surrounds the cottage (Little Bracken) and it is here that Thom suddenly discovers that the faeries and elves of storybooks are actually real - along with all the goblins and demons and things that go *bump* in the night! What follows is a terrifying tale of Thom's growing realisation that all is not well on the estate and that something dark is gradually gripping the landscape.

Well I say terrifying...

I think it's meant to be. I guess it would be for some people but to be honest there was nothing here that made my spine tingle as such. Several chapters in, I could relate to my friends aversion to the book as each new female character seemed to be there to entertain Thom's seemingly constant thoughts about sex. Not that I have a problem with that of course except there is a fine border between erotic and porn and I don't want to read porn - it's boring. The novel is described as erotic and it is only by the saving grace of character Jennet that it can perhaps pass as such. Until her appearance I was beginning to think that Herbert couldn't get into the mind of a female character (but could quite happily get into her body!).

I did have a little giggle at Herberts cheeky way of naming characters Thom KINDRED, Nell QUICK, Katy BUDD - he makes absolutely no attempt to disguise that these names are blatantly descriptive of some element of the character (or the part they play in the story). It's almost tacky.

In fact, talking to my friend about the book she came up with a really excellent description for it.

"It's rather like watching a Hammer House of Horror film" she said.

The set is a bit wobbly, story contrived, characters have little depth but somehow you keep watching because it's just good enough to be a bit entertaining and it has a charm all of it's own. The 'it's so bad it's good' syndrome.

I wouldn't say
Once is actually a bad novel because I did read it to the end and I did want to keep reading it. I was incredibly irritated by the misuse of the word Wicca but also kept reminding myself that this was a novel not a 'how-to' non-fiction book on the Craft - plus it doesn't do to take oneself or ones spiritual path so seriously! By half-way through the book I finally accepted the characters as they were and stopped waiting for some unusual twist in the tale or some character depth to show and enjoyed it all the more for that general 'giving-in'.

Herbert's finest quality in my opinion is his powers of description. He really does have a way with words when he describes the forest and the fey folk. His language is rich and colourful (not the swearing kind!) and is very much like watching a painting unfold. It is perhaps this more than anything else that kept me reading because such passages were a joy.

Personally I think his editor could have done with reading the book a bit more closely as there are a couple of changes of character point of view that are utterly clumsy not to mention occasional repetitions of phrase that I think should have been changed. Plus there was a partially unexplained thread early on that left me still wondering and waiting for a resolution at the end.

Overall this is an enjoyable book if you are not expecting anything too original. I pre-empted all the plot twists and characters fall neatly into good, bad and stupid not to mention good old fashioned stereotyped witches and 'facing your darkest nightmare' stuff. It does have a charm perhaps simply because it doesn't require too much brain work - it's easy reading and the author doesn't try to stretch your imagination too far. Plus the landscape and tone of the book has a typically 'English' feel which I rather like and is perhaps intentionally reminiscent of the great gothic novels.

Personally I thought Fluke
was a far superior book but then I haven't read any other novels by Herbert (and I adore dogs!). This hasn't put me off reading his other works and I shall endeavour to examine his other tales to see how they fair against Once. After
all, having sold over 40 million books and written 20 novels this is a man not short on imagination and the love of storytelling and for that I can only have respect.

For more information about the man and his work go to
http://www.james-herbert.co.uk/titles.htm

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