LemmiSchmoeker reviewed Nazareth Hill by Ramsey Campbell
Review of 'Nazareth Hill' on 'Storygraph'
2 stars
There are many problems with this book, and neither the cruelty that pervades it nor the bleak ending are the worst. Slightly more importantly, it is strangely devoid of emotion, whether in its display of a romantic relationship without any sign of affection, the father and daughter that can only seem to have an empty and aimless anger between them, or the dialogues that can at best be called disapproving.
In fact, anger and disapproval appear to be the main traits of every character, without exception. The house where most of the story takes place, but also the whole town around it are filled with bitter people who don't have anything positive to say or, indeed, to think. From the very prologue, dialogue is used solely as a vehicle of transporting conflict, sometimes to an almost comic effect with exchanges like this: “I’ll be in my room.” – “To cleanse …
There are many problems with this book, and neither the cruelty that pervades it nor the bleak ending are the worst. Slightly more importantly, it is strangely devoid of emotion, whether in its display of a romantic relationship without any sign of affection, the father and daughter that can only seem to have an empty and aimless anger between them, or the dialogues that can at best be called disapproving.
In fact, anger and disapproval appear to be the main traits of every character, without exception. The house where most of the story takes place, but also the whole town around it are filled with bitter people who don't have anything positive to say or, indeed, to think. From the very prologue, dialogue is used solely as a vehicle of transporting conflict, sometimes to an almost comic effect with exchanges like this: “I’ll be in my room.” – “To cleanse it, I hope.” – “Reading.” – “May I ask what?” – “Would you believe a book?” – And that's the extent of it. When people talk, it's either to antagonise, or to express discontent with someone else.
But certainly the most irritating aspect of the book is its length: the story is not very complicated, and could be told in 200 pages, but for some reason Campbell has stretched this to more than 350 by having the characters perform the same actions over and over again, even though nothing about the reason they didn't work out before has changed. This can be extended to the central conflict: both opponents do the same things to each other again and again, to no avail, until the story resolves itself by matters only tangentially related to anything that has occurred before.
This equally applies to the impenetrable back story that comprises several unrelated elements, which are all mildly interesting on their own, but never really come together. They just pop up at opportune times to drive a tiny bit of the story forward, but are otherwise entirely unsatisfactory, as not a single one of them seems to have a reason to it, or a larger meaning, or even a connection to the rest of the story.
Ultimately, the book feels as if writing it was mostly a chore, and in reading it the same feeling is evoked in a quite unfavourable way.
