The Girl From The Well by Rin Chupeco Book Review
Ever wondered what goes through the minds of the spirits that haunt the unsuspecting victims of classic Japanese inspired horror films such as
The Ring or The Grudge? Well now you can find out in Rin Chupeco’s The Girl from the Well, a thrilling horror story that follows an ancient spirit
who’s spent hundreds of years exacting revenge on child killers, much like the man who killed her. One day however, she comes across a young boy,
strange tattoos scattered across his body and an air of mystery that draws the ancient spirit ever closer to him. Soon they are both sent spiraling
into a world filled with strange dolls, dark entities and ancient Shinto exorcisms that will take them from American suburbia to the remote
valley’s of Aomori, Japan.
The interesting thing that drew me into this story was the intricate attention to detail concerning the Japanese culture and the characterization
of the spirit associated with the lore. So often when you see films concerning ancient Japanese horror stories the spirit is just this menacing
figure, but in this book the spirit is given such a humanized backstory and the reader is immediately drawn into their story. The introduction
of this young boy and his family gives the spirit a connection to the human world that has not been seen often in ghost stories, and while I found
this book in the YA section of a store, this tale had a real maturity to it, in terms of spine-tingling horror with adult language and violence
that echoes the brutality and realistic nature of this kind of story if it were to occur in real life.
Overall, the fantastic characters, the vivid imagery used and the intricate backstory make this one of the best ghost stories I’ve read in years,
and if you like revenge stories that combine with Japanese horror tales, then The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco is for you. Be sure to pick
up your copies today!