1st-person-narrative
dog
dog-pov
available at: - https://archive.org/details/nightinlonesomeo00zela/mode/2up
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANightintheLonesome_October
this book is well talked online, rumored to have won or been nominated to some award? well its not aaalll that.
the premise is interesting: a chapter per day all through october, culminating on halloween, october 31st. there is a misterious ritual to take place in the aforementioned date, and interested take residence in close proximity to the epicenter of the ritual. these parties are all inspired in famous horror characters. a werewolf, a vampire, a detective, a doctor, a witch, etc.
the book does keep you engaged throughout the chapters, wanting for the misteries to unravel, to discover the participants and their take on the thing that's supposed to happen on halloween.
it is well written. the main character is a dog, the companion to one of the participants. I thought that to be a refreshing take, most of the narrative happens through the eyes of the animal companions, that are inteligent and have agency to take action, as a team with their human companion. also this pov generates narrative opportunities that zelasny does take. maybe this is the best part of the book, how he gives personality to the animal characters and counts on what we would expect of them and the interplay between them.
the problem with the book is: you're left hanging for most of it, and then it ends abruptly. I'm not against abrupt endings, but I'm also not interested in being left in the edge of the seat, to spend so many chapters half understanding a secretive ritual for it to end in a fizzle instead of a bang. I think a better ending could explore a bit more of the other characters motivations, and simply develop the misteries a bit more, clear some out, leave some to the imagination. would be cool. I like that the author stuck to the premise, and it ends on oct31st, no epilogue, but the ending could be less abrupt and still stick to the date. My quarrel is only that it felt underwhelming narratively, but I agree with the resolution, and it makes a lot of sense for the ritual to end the way it did, etc.
no regrets in having read it. had fun, probably won't read again by myself. I still believe this could be a fun read with kids, I see myself reading this book to my nephews if they are into the subject and would recommend to be read in that context.
below unfiltered notes taken as I read the book. SPOILERS.
snuff is a watchdog. his master is jack.
thing in the circle
thing in the wardrobe
thing in the steamer trunk
things in the mirror
snuff and jack go graverobbing
snuff talks with the thing in the wardrobe
graymalk, cat
nightwind, owl
quicklime, snake
livro do ponto de vista do cachorro, snuff, em primeira pessoa. o humano de snuff é jack, o mes é outubro e cada dia eles devem fazer preparativos para algo que vai acontecer no dia 31, “the Great Work”
snuff vai conhecendo os familiares, ou companions, de outros participantes do “the Game”. sao um gato, uma coruja, uma cobra, um morcego, um rato, etc. cada um tem forças e fraquezas tipicas de seu arquétipo e eles acabam se ajudando e complementando o conhecimento e habilidades um do outro em parcerias não oficiais.
quando toca meia noite snuff ganha a habilidade da fala
encontro com "the great detective"
alguem mata um policial
snuff arrasta o corpo ate o rio por varios dias.
soon “it” begins. in the new moon. the participants seem to be either openers or closers.
larry é lobisomem.
the vicar é um seguidor secreto de nyarlatothep
up to here the chapters were loosely conected but now a thread clearly develops, as snuff has need to understand and calculate the location of all participants residence and with that identify the place where the ritual will happen. the uncertanties make it hard and the main concern for snuff. uncertainties are around who are the participants and where they live as it becomes clear that some participants hide their participation and other hide where they live.
snuff follows gypsies that are in cahoots with the count to no avail.
sees carriage arrive at larry’s. linda enderby. resident of the old manse snuff thinks to be the geometry center.
linda is the detective in disguise.
first time snuff doesn’t tell a “secret “ food trade or straight up lies. he covered talbots werewolf secret.
o ritual so esta acontecendo por que a lua cheia cai no halloween nessa ocasião e isso é um evento raro.
the good doctor é frankenstein
a cobra quick lime embebedou o morcego ensinando a ele que as frutas no chão tem um que especial que toca o espírito. e ai o morcego desembuchou que o conde tem mais de um resting place. kkkk
snuff descobre que os túmulos do conde foram preparados before the dark of the moon, então isso altera os cálculos dele.
rastov
alhazred icon
someone staked the count through the heart.
the things in things are growing stronger
snuff tá crescendo como personagem. sabemos que ele e jack estão amaldiçoados, devem ser extremamente vê-los e já participaram do game outras vezes.
between our place and the dreamworld
point up porque falou mal dos elder gods
profligacy
some one suicided rastov, the snake went back to animal life
snuff and gray go check to see if lynette is alive. well ocked jn the vicars place. there is a fight and both are lightly hurt but escape. the albino crow(?) tekela keeps following them afterwards for a while.
their masters have a plan to spend some time out shopping in the city, with a warding spell in the houses so they will know if someone tried invading their places.
they are ambushed by the vicar with tekela on his shoulder. snuff is hit and loses consciousness, waking up imprisoned along with other animals in what he believes to be a vivisectionist’s place. graymalk escaped arrest.
jack saves snuff from being vivisected alive, with help from gray and the witch.
the mirror breaks, the thing gets free
a storm runs in parallel to r the fight with all the things, snuff concludes the storm is a magical attack. they kill some of the things i guess which is bad because they were going to use them later.
someone kills owen
the companion, cheeter wants animal life back, snuff and graymalk help with a ritual to give ot back its shadow.
one of the things was locked in a bottle of port.
another were wolf, besides larry, appears and asks snuff if the place is safe.
this werewolf or big wolf knew snuffs name we don’t know how.
besides that a quiet day
graymalk says last night the good doctors place caught fire. hes considered dead. bubo the rat reveals he faked being part of the game because of the status among the other members. this means the good doctor was not a player and was affecting the calculations.
bubo is invited to live at jacks and accepts
“And he proceeded to tell me the story of how a number of the proper people are attracted to the proper place in the proper year on a night in the lonesome October when the moon shines full on Halloween and the way may be opened for the return of the Elder Gods to Earth, and of how some of these people would assist in the opening of the way for them while others would strive to keep the way closed. For ages, the closers have won—often just barely—and there were stories of a shadowy man, half-mad, a killer, a wanderer, and his dog, who always showed up to attempt the closing. Some said that he was Cain himself, doomed to walk the Earth, marked; others said he’d a pact with one of the Elders who secretly wished to thwart the others; none really knew. And the people would acquire certain tools and other objects of power, meet together at the designated spot and attempt to work their wills. The winners walked away, the losers suffered for their presumption by a reaction from the cosmic principles involved in the attempt. Then he named the players and[…]”
Excerpt From
A Night in the Lonesome October
Roger Zelazny
This material may be protected by copyright.
snuff re calculates removing the good doctor and finds the right place. goes tell jack
the right place os exactly atop snuffs hill where he placed his dog nest and did his calculations
the bat is still in the game even if the vamp was staked. vicar tries killing them again. detective saves him, talks the vicar away, they have a chat about collab. snuff shows the dogs nest.
explains what will happen next day at night
snuff tries to warn larry about the vicars silver bullet and the detectives plan and disguise but larry is in a trance and doesn’t wake up.
jack and jill are friends as much as snuff and graymalk but they are in opposing sides. jack is a closer and jill an opener. gray warns snuff that they will be the only closers that night.
during the ritual the count declares as closer. larry tries to remove lynette , the sacrifice from the altar, drags her a few paces but is shot by the vicar. morris and mccab try to put lynette back at the altar but the count says its not allowed after the ceremony begins and is the allowed to resist the dessecration, by attacking them and leaving them lying at odd angles in the floor, dead. the stranger wolf stealthly appears and takes lynette while the vicar and the count battle. the stranger wolf was the great detective using a dosage of something learned from larry. the experiment man appears, takes gray to pet her a little ways from the banefire.
jack and jill have opposing wands, they direct its power to close / open the gate.
a tentacles comes form the gate , takes morris and then mccab.
bubo was hiding in jacks pocket, tells snuff he chamged the wands. snuff understands a profecy told to him in the dream world and catches the wand in jacks hand, the gate starts to shrink.
ends abruptly with cat and dog leaving as the gate is closing.