Deborah Woehr

I read the book when it came out sometime in the mid to late ’90s. It was a deeply disturbing portrait of severe child abuse, inflicted on a 13 year-old. Ketchum did an awesome job of portraying the psychologies of the victim and the abuse, as well as the nightmarish descriptions of the incidents as they escalated. The Girl Next Door not only hit home, but left a lasting impression on me. Ketchum is a great writer who knows how to make readers squirm. But I’m surprised that this book didn’t get banned because it was so controversial.

Yesterday, I found the movie in my local Best Buy. I found myself both surprised and curious to know if this was an adaptation of the book. It was. I set the DVD back on the shelf without a second thought or regret. I’d read the book. That was enough.

Curiosity sent me to Amazon, however, to see what viewers had to say about the film. As it turns out, my instinct was correct. The movie is just as disturbing as the book. This is one instance where I’ll pass.

I have a confession to make. This book has sat on my “To Read” pile for about a decade because I couldn’t get myself to read a vampire story. I felt the genre was too trendy when it began to boom in the 90’s, and I don’t like to follow trends. I bought the book because it was written by Richard Matheson, an author I enjoy reading.

When my husband and I saw the preview for the movie on TV two weeks ago, I remembered the book sitting on my shelf. I picked it up on Sunday and am over halfway through right now. My goal is to finish it by Saturday, when we go see the movie. So far, the book is great. I’m actually disappointed with myself for being so stubborn.

Moving on, I’ve been talking about seeing this movie at work. One of my colleagues said that the show sold out last weekend, which means that I’d better check Fandango to see if I can still order tickets. That same colleague and I had a discussion about whether it’s good to read the book before you see the movie. I like to compare the two to see how close the screenwriters were able to stick to the original plot. He feels that reading the book beforehand sets himself up for disappointment in the movie, which in many cases he is right. You can only do so much with a screenplay.

Have any of you seen this movie or read the book? What are your thoughts on either?

Update: I finished the book on Thursday and saw the movie yesterday. Both were excellent. If you’d like to read my detailed review, visit the Supernatural blog.

I’ve added a new link category as well as a very interesting blog on the subject of horror writing and writers. Guy Adams, the author of The Dark Room, is a published author and Senior Editor of Humdrumming Publishers. For those of you who are interested in this genre (thinking of you, Ben and Fred), it’s definitely worth a look.