Title:
Lucretia and the Kroons
Author:
Victor LaValle
Publisher:
Random House Publishing Group (July 23, 2012)
Format:
eARC Novella
Source:
NetGalley
Genre:
Horror
Lucretia’s
best friend and upstairs neighbor Sunny—a sweet pitbull of a kid, even as she
struggles with a mysterious illness—has gone missing. The only way to get her
back is for Lucretia to climb the rickety fire escape of their Queens tenement
and crawl through the window of apartment 6D, portal to a vast shadowland of
missing kids ruled by a nightmarish family of mutants whose designs on the
children are unknown. Her search for Sunny takes Lucretia through a dark
fantasyland where she finds lush forests growing from concrete, pigeon-winged
rodents, and haunted playgrounds. Her quest ultimately forces her to confront
the most frightening specter of all: losing, forever, the thing you love the
most.
Lucretia and the Kroons is a dazzlingly imaginative adventure story and a moving exploration of the power of friendship and the terror of loss. This all-new novella serves as the perfect companion piece to The Devil in Silver, a thrillingly suspenseful work of literary horror that continues the story of Lucretia.
Lucretia and the Kroons is a dazzlingly imaginative adventure story and a moving exploration of the power of friendship and the terror of loss. This all-new novella serves as the perfect companion piece to The Devil in Silver, a thrillingly suspenseful work of literary horror that continues the story of Lucretia.
Review:
A strange tale of friendship and loss, Lucretia
and the Kroons by Victor LaValle is a trippy novella at times reminiscent of
Alice in Wonderland.
Lucretia just wants her best friend
Sunny at her birthday party, but Sunny has cancer and is receiving treatments
too far away. A day comes when Sunny can finally come to play, but she’s disappeared,
and it’s up to Lucretia, also known as Loochie, to find her. She is certain the
Kroons in 6D have taken her friend, and she climbs up the fire escape to find a
nightmarish world where children are lost forever. But will she be too late to
save her friend and herself?
Lucretia
and the Kroons is odd, quirky, and at times very touching. Lucretia is at
that awkward stage between childhood and being a teenager. Her old friends seem
to be growing up without her. Her actions were believable. The dialogue stands
out in this novella. The relationships between the characters were a highlight
of this novella. Then we came to the Kroons’ apartment, and at times, I was
wondering what was in those Chinese cigarettes Loochie smoked. That section had
a very Alice in Wonderland feel but
not nearly as magical as what Carroll created. I found the horror lacking and
forced with too many descriptions of the Kroons’ world. I have to admit I found
myself skimming too much in a sagging middle. I wanted to learn more about
Sunny and Loochie’s friendship, but it never really happened.
In the end, I was a bit disappointed
with Lucretia and the Kroons by
Victor LaValle, although I did really enjoy the beginning and end. I wished it
focused more on the touching relationship and loss of friendship between
Loochie and Sunny.
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| Three Bookworms = I liked it! |
