The Seventh Mansion

A must read for anyone really.

I received an e-book ARC of The Seventh Mansion from NetGalley and the publisher, FSG Originals, in exchange for my honest review, which follows below. I thank both for this opportunity.

I rated this 5 stars.
This is not the usual read, where checking off what I personally require to meet a certain star rating can be easily done; my attempt to help any readers of my review make their own decision regarding the material in question. I still felt a 5 star rating was easily given, partly due to how unique a read this was. Some things should be experienced large scale ( in this case by the horror community ); even if the individual reactions will differ, possibly wildly.

Mine was dappled with nostalgia. It opened in me a memory of yearning, from when I was just starting to figure out who I was underneath all the layers used to hide myself; wondering if connecting to someone was beyond me. The author captures that trembling balance between absolute certainty and grasping at answers every person goes through. I thought this was a very complex novel, and that some may have trouble reading it; expecting everything to wrap up nicely will lead to disappointment. It struck me somewhat similar to Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones, which also has a narrator that you are unsure of; either he is unreliable or there are fantastical things happening in this story, shaping his choices irrevocably. And like with that novel, releasing on the same day I believe, each reading may give me a different outcome; my decisions not set in stone, more like drawn in sand with the tide coming in. But that is part of what excites me about this, because what if I missed the way a sentence may have been interpreted; unlocking a whole perspective I've never considered?

The writing can be disjointed, the punctuation and sentence structure off; it reads like a person's thoughts. I'll admit it took a bit before I could read it smoothly, but it kept you right where the author wanted you; focused in the moment.

Xie is returning to school after summer break; where he was once able to move about invisible, now he has a target on his back from a failed attempt at activism. Years before, aged twelve and still living in California, the damage of an oil spill to the sea life and creatures living on the beaches he loved caused him to dramatically change his world view. Now he is trying a new fit in another city, fanatically vegan, riding his bike everywhere, and until last summer staying under the radar of pretty much everyone. He has friends that feel the same way, just not as strict or disciplined as him. They were with him over the summer, when he tried to free all the minks from a farms property; but only he was caught, only his family has to pay back monetary loss to the mink farmers.

He walks through the wooded areas by his home constantly; the more comfortable he is with the land the more proprietary I think he feels towards it. He collects objects, mainly animal bone, from his walks, and keeps them in his bedroom. You're given this overall sense that he is more comfortable the closer to nature he can be, even falling asleep on mossy ground is preferable to laying on a mattress. One night he walks in a direction he rarely travels and finds a church that houses the armored remains of the Saint Pancratius. There are some sexual feelings in Xie that are growing wrapped/warped in his obsession in a world of no waste. Or, he dislikes the idea of someone else touching him; the cleanliness of bone is sensual to him. He has a fascination with bone, the idea of holding someone made of bone. And then he sees this full skeleton locked in a glass case; he is called beloved.

This is where the reader will begin to wonder; do I trust what the narrator is telling me? Is the reader to believe that a Saint wanted a teenager to take its body and hide it away in the attic of his family home; under cover of darkness and his father's nose? Are we, the readers, to be comfortable with the idea that a long dead boy, who would not slay the lamb, would now be having an impossible sexual relationship with Xie, in almost any location he chooses?

But if P, as Xie refers to him, is all in Xie's mind, then wouldn't their conversations always be exactly how Xie wants them to be? They wouldn't have miscommunication if P were just a part of Xie's mind filling an emptiness, right? There are also moments where the reader is not completely sure that the environment is not affected by P, and if he is able to change something physically then isn't he by definition real?

Through this almost idyllic period for Xie, all I can see is how much the people around him are straining for a way to connect and get him to open up. How much freedom do you offer a child, hoping that they will bloom; how much privacy do you give them, on the off chance they will trust you with any small fact? Is it always like taming a wild beast, balancing between breaking them enough so you can guide them, but not enough that their spirit flags and they whither, die? Xie's father, Erik, honestly comes across like he is trying his best. They are the two characters in this novel I felt for the most; but all the characters were human, there were flaws and quirks special to each one. There is so much that I am staying purposely vague about, you have to if you want to stay spoiler free. And this novel is one that almost can not end any other way, minus whether or not you have the religious experience happening to Xie; if you call it that, or maybe spiritual coupling?

The parts of the novel that we can agree happen in reality, there is no other way for the story to unravel. But you the reader will wish it with all your might; that you could change it. This is a horror that builds, it creeps, and it infiltrates the parts of you that you thought were well protected. Like I said at the beginning, this is not a usual read. I thought it was an achingly beautiful read, it's almost like a bruise; I can't stop poking at it, even though it hurts.