Come Closer.

- Come Closer. Sara Gran. 

Amanda has the perfect life, or so she believes: A six-year marriage, a loft, a good job as an architect, about everything a thirty-something might want. Despite the inexplicable bursts of violence, like the time she smashed a cigarette into her husband’s bare knee. Or that strange tap-tap that seems to follow her now and then. She is openminded, despite her views on minorities —but surely she can’t really be possessed! Surely it’s just coincidence that she’s been dreaming of that imaginary friend she used to have as a child, the one who sometimes felt all too real, all too physical…

An intriguing horror short novel (about 196 pages long) that draws from the subtler examples of classic horror. Charlotte Perkins Gilman (The yellow wallpaper) and Ira Levin (Rosemary’s baby) first and foremost. A dab of Henry James (The turn of the screw) and Shirley Jackson (The haunting of Hill house) as well, perhaps even a very lite bit of Richard Matheson (Hell house) or Daphne du Maurier (Don’t look now). Draws from those venerable sources and delivers a story that is only simple at first glance, with so much suggested rather than being delivered in-your-face. 

Much has been made about if the haunting here is literal or psychological. Is the demon Naamah, second wife of Adam between Lilith and Eve real or is it Amanda’s heavily repressed hate bubbling to the surface? The supposed spiritual experts Amanda visits feel more like charlatans —even if they DO recognize Something besides her, as a child does. Some of Amanda’s acts of violence seem that they would require more strength than she could possibly have… Except, Amanda is in blackout for the most extreme of them. And when she is conscious she details perfectly plausible cruelties (near-drowning a child and in such a way that nobody would believe said child if she told about it. Throwing homophobic slurs at her boss in a way that can easily be blamed on a faulty photocopy). 

Except, even before the possession, Amanda’s life is anything but perfect. She tells of her mother dying when she was three, her stepmother being a woman who never wanted children, herself keeping an imaginary friend based on a sexually liberated neighbor —and keeping this friend until Amanda was nine, and then father and stepmother dying and leaving her with nothing at all. She talks of her husband, who lifted her up… while also demanding she do things exactly as he likes it and to get rid of any habit he dislikes. She gushes about her beautiful loft… that is placed in an area so desolate even thieves don’t bother with it. 

And then there is Amanda’s casual bigotry, up to classifying a middle Eastern man as a woman-hater (and possibly murdering him) or her description of a Brazilian salesman as a “flaming homosexual” —balanced with her dislike of husband Ed’s posh friends. Pointed details for a 2003 novel. 

…and on the other side there is the disturbing intimacy that several people around her —physician, psychologist, colleagues, strangers, Ed’s possible mistress —all are already possessed themselves. And all, we are told, invited and indeed welcomed demons. Why not? Somebody who says they love you and will never leave you alone —who will let you do whatever you want. 

An intriguing, thought-provoking short novel that is slightly marred by its reputation as a “Super scary novel” or a “Surprisingly literate possession tale” (no doubt from critics quite unfamiliar with horror history proper). A better method is —read and decide for yourself. 

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