Rebecca Gransden's Reviews > The House on the Borderland

The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson

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The House on the Borderland
by

William Hope Hodgson

Rebecca Gransden's review

Jan 25, 2015

it was amazing

I can see why this was taken up by the psychotropic vanguards/bores but don't let that put you off. This is a borderland experience that dismisses any self-conscious aggrandising notions of bursting though those doors of perception. Indeed, any doors are, as someone else said about this, representations in allegiance with Platonic Form.

The plot bookends the central bulk of the narrative; a manuscript relayed through a mystery editor. The manuscript is found by two Victorian guys on a fishing trip, in the ruins of a house that are placed on a craggy outcrop, overseeing an abyss. One reads the manuscript to the other. Then the transreal fun begins.

Things happen, many of them spooky and beholden to classic horror, some swine flavoured and raging with terror and absurdity, but mostly the preternaturally cosmological drifting of the senses which is a pleasure to fathom and glide alongside. For those willing to invest their space and time in a ride through pure imagery as the outpourings of a recluse's soul, this is it. The vistas on offer, if you wish to surrender, transcend the surreal, pulling this away from its horror roots and into the realm of slipstream fiction.

This is the first book in a long time that I've wanted to turn back to Chapter One and start all over again as soon as I'd finished.

Grand.

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Reading Progress

January 25, 2015 – Shelved as: to-read

January 25, 2015 – Shelved

March 6, 2015 – Started Reading

March 6, 2015 –

page 36

19.15% "'Beneath me, the spot that I had just left, was occupied by the foul Swine-creature. It had gone down on all fours, and was snuffing and rooting, like a veritable hog, at the surface of the arena. A moment, and it rose to its feet, clutching upwards, with an expression of desire upon its face, such as I have never seen in this world.'"

March 7, 2015 –

page 70

37.23% "Straw Pigs"

March 8, 2015 –

page 118

62.77%

March 9, 2015 –

page 156

82.98% "'About this time, I became aware, in an indifferent sort of way, of a growing sense of numbness, that robbed me of the fear, which I should otherwise have felt, on approaching that awesome Pile. As it was, I viewed it, calmly - much as a man views calamity through the haze of his tobacco smoke.'"

March 9, 2015 – Finished Reading