[BOTM - September] Off Season by Jack Ketchum

September's Book O' the Month is:



Off Season by Jack Ketchum

September. A beautiful New York Editor retreats to a lonely cabin on a hill in the quiet Maine beach town of Dead River--off season--awaiting her sister and friends. Nearby, a save human family with a taste for flesh lurks in the darkening woods, watching, waiting for the moon to rise and the night to fall...

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I want to keep this as casual as possible so let this thread be for an open discussion of the book-- Read and contribute at your own pace.

With that in mind, here are some very fluid deadlines:

* Part 1 ( 56 pages ) - 09/10/2012
* Part 2 ( 67 pages ) - 09/17/2012
* Part 3 - 10/01/2012

I am reading the Author's uncut version published by Leisure Books. It is preferred that you read an uncut version as the censored version really alters what I think is a major theme in this book.

I'll post some discussion points mid-week but please feel free to contribute before then

some random ramblings and potential discussion points:

I really like the opening chapters.

Conflict is established quickly and we get our first glance of the antagonists. In all the action of the opening, ketchum manages to squeeze in some decent details about the setting without slowing things down. His description of the forest she is running through really put me there.

There are a few themes introduced as well. Isolation, change, absurdity, it all seems rather existential. The character being chased. has a realization that she would 'die alone'. She "changes" from the victim to an aggressor. All these things happen after she made the decision to help someone, to be a 'Good Samaritan'

more to come, busy at work today but wanted to try and get some discussion going

Sarah1981 said:

She's important to the story, but we aren't going to follow her, or do much thinking about her, as she isn't one of the main characters.

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What I find ironic about this minor character is that the plot of the entire book is basically revealed through her experiences. She has the dual role of not only introducing the villians but I think there is a hint, maybe some foreshadowing, of what the main characters will experience.

Alrightee, so we were introduced to the monster right in the opening scenes. We know what's out there now.

We get the introduction of some of the characters: Carla ( a writer ), Peters ( a grizzled old cop just itchin' for retirement ), Marjorie ( Carla's sister), and a few other minor characters.

I must confess, I always snicker when a main character is a writer.

The pace has slowed considerably in these scenes, however, we know a threat is looming so there is still some tension maintained.

Carla has an encounter with a man with a red shirt and later the same man is watching her.

Remember, the comics in the attic and the strange pile of bones? Do they belong to the monstrous children from the beginning?

We get access to Carla's thoughts about her sister, Marjorie. It is established that Carla is the strong sister and Marj the weak.

Peters' scene sets up the town and adds some foreboding, he has a feeling that something is going to happen. He also gets the titular line We also meet shearing in this scene, the man Peters is trying to groom to take over the sherriff's office from him.

Finally, we get to one of my favorite sections of the book, the intro of Marj and the infodump that closes the chapter. I love the fact that the character is learning this at the same time we are. Also, take note in how he does this-- it doesn't seem tacked on and it would be quite natural for someone to read about where they are going, even somewhere as pedestrian as Dead River. I feel if this had of been at the beginning of the book as a prologue, I probably wouldn't have read it.

ok, so far in the first 56 pages:

* established a few of the the themes
* introduced the enemy and showed us what cruelty they are are capable off.
* gave us a pretty good intro to Carla, Peters, and Marj
* managed to squeeze in the backstory in about catbird island.

this has all happened within a 24 hour period. All the trains of this story are heading towards the same destination, I wonder when they are going to collide?

There is a chekhov's gun in part 1, can you find it?

soapdish said:

Hmm. I'm pretty sure I did find it.

Would it ruin it for those who haven't read the whole thing yet to guess in thread?

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Keep it to yourself for now

There is such heavy irony in this book.

In the close of Part 1, look at Marj's reaction to the headlines in the newspaper. She is deeply affected by the senseless violence that she usually doesn't read beyond the headlines.

NY is painted as dreary ( rainy and cold ) and violent. By morning, the storm will break and they will have clear skies for their journey to Maine-- but there is always a calm before the storm.

In a sense, she is leaving the violence of the city for the perceived peacefulness of the "country"

In Maine, she would not have the Post.


Anyway, part #2 discussion will start soon.

Hope everyone is enjoying the book so far.

soapdish said:

Anyway, I know we haven't moved onto the next discussion points officially yet,

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Feel free to open the discussion. I can fit in my stuff anywhere

I've been very slow this week, I hope to get something up later today out of my notes

Part #2 ( 2:15PM ) opens with the introduction of the rest of the characters connected to Carla. We meet Nick, Laura, Jim, and Dan for the first time and get a little bit more of insight into Marjie. This book ends the last scene of part 1 with Marj where we learned that she doesn't really like violence, Laura on the other hand 'Love that stuff'. Most of this scene is done from Marjie's pov and she gives us a very negative portrait of both Laura and Jim ( Carla's boyfriend ). we also get to see some more contrast between Carla & Marjie

* If Carla's problem was an excess of self-reliance, hers, she guessed, was that she was that she had too little.

The scene closes with another mention of how the country is "civilized". The characters are primed to feel absolutely safe where they're are going

more to come...

Part #2 - 2:55pm -

We get to see the aftermath of the events that opened the book. The woman did survive, however, her suffering did not end after she escaped from the children.

This brings me back to one of the themes I talked about earlier, absurdity. This character escaped one menace only to be left to another one. Ketchum can be cruel to his characters.

There are other important things in this section that help advance the story:

* we learn that there were other disappearances around catbird island.
* evidence was found of someone living on catbird island

The closing paragraph is particular poignant. Peters is talking about crabs but there is another level that this can be interpreted on. Think about it in terms of the children.

apologies for the scattershot approach and running beyond the deadlines. I will do my best to wrap up part #2 today and part #2 and beyond.

ugh, too much school work and work work has taken up my time that I can't contribute this ...

I'll probably come back to this in november but in the meantime, if anyone wants to continue the discussion, please feel free