Two things that you should know about me…I’m a 90s kid and I have loved to read ever since I learned how. One of the things on my “After Grad School” to-do list is “read more books” and I must say, I’m knocking that one out of the park. I already had quite a collection of books waiting to be read, but I have also been continually buying more that interest me because now I have time to actually read them.
One of my favorite authors growing up was R. L. Stine. He wrote horror novels for young adults, many of them within a series called “Fear Street”. Eventually he started a new series for younger audiences. Even though I was too old for “Goosebumps” books, I still read them because I was a die hard fan of his. I still have many of my old “Goosebumps” books. I used them in my classroom library for many years. That is until the covers started coming off from use and I brought them home to preserve them from any more damage. I regret that I didn’t keep all of his other books that I had. My collection was massive! Literally over 100 books of his. I kept count and always knew how many I had.
With that said, several years ago I came across a book of his in a store that was clearly written for adults. I bought it without hesitation because this was amazing for my 90s girl heart. A book from my favorite author that was geared for my adult self. I only just now picked it off my shelf to be the next book I read. Given that spooky season is pretty much here, I read it a few weeks ago and it got me thinking about the books of his I read when I was a teenager. I remember how much I loved them but 30 years later, I honestly couldn’t remember the plot of a single one of the “Fear Street” books. They couldn’t possibly all be about serial killers, which is what I had in mind. So after I read the adult R. L. Stine book, Red Rain is the title, I decided to see if I could buy a copy of one of the original “Fear Street” books that I had read back then. By the way, Red Rain was a decent book. It felt like nostalgia reading it. Classic R. L. Stine, but with obvious adult themes in places, in addition to the adults being the main characters rather than the teens.
Fast forward to today, when I just finished re-reading an original “Fear Street” book that I luckily found on Amazon. 99 Fear Street: The House of Evil, The First Horror was the one I chose to buy. I distinctly remember that this was the book that terrified me the most and it was the one that prompted me to write him a fan letter immediately after I finished it. As I got close to the end of the book today, I got to thinking about why this book terrified me back then but had no effect on me now. I have some thoughts. And just to warn you, these are some geeky, way more analytic thoughts than I think are necessary, but, it’s what I’ve got.
At the same age that I was reading R. L. Stine books, I had already been exposed to Stephen King and had read a book or two of his. Admittedly, I haven’t read many Stephen King books, but I’m trying to rectify that. Back then, I was also a fan of horror movies. Nightmare on Elm Street was my favorite (I read Robert Englund’s autobiography by the way. Did you know that he—the actor who played Freddy Krueger so well—is a classically trained Shakespearean actor?) Without remembering what the other R. L. Stine books were about, I’m guessing that this particular book I just re-read had more intensity to the evil, haunted house story than his other books. It did what any typical horror story does…starts out with small things happening and continually increases the scare factor until the climax of terror at the end. It certainly did that, and it even ended in a not-so-typical way. Spoiler alert warning for a book from the 90s—the main character dies at the end and turns into an evil ghost that stays in the house and watches her grieving family move out. Of course this leads into the other books that follow in the series.
I first wondered why it didn’t make me feel anything now to read it and I thought maybe it was because the book is written for younger readers so the writing style is much more simplistic, not as wordy and not as detailed, which as an adult, more details would help build the suspense I think. In comparison, this book is much shorter than Red Rain. With that book being geared for adults, it was probably three times as long and I did feel something suspense related as I read it. I think I could do an even deeper analysis comparing the storytelling in each of these books, but I won’t.
Another thought I had about why this book didn’t do anything for me the way it did 30 years ago is that over those 30 years, I have probably become desensitized to ghost stories like the one told in this book. After all, my husband and I were once devoted fans of shows like ‘Ghost Hunters’ and ‘Ghost Adventures’. Seeing actual evidence of paranormal activity happening in real life (if only on t.v.) scares me plenty. Those shows are the only ones I watch that are of the horror genre. For whatever reason, I stopped liking horror movies. I just stopped watching them and really don’t care to see any of them, of which there are always new ones coming out (and why is there always one that comes out around Christmas?!)
Interesting thoughts I had as I finished the book today. I’m glad I ordered it. It didn’t take me very long at all to read it and it was kind of fun to re-read a book that had me so captivated as a teen. The next book I read is going to be a non-fiction book because I’ve been alternating fiction and non. After that though, I’m thinking about reading Stephen Kings’ The Stand. Haven’t ever read it, but I’ve heard that it’s a classic and one of his best. We’ll see…
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