The Ruins

by Scott Smith

AS mentioned previously, I picked this up because of Stephen King's very strong recommendation. (I think he mentioned it in one of his columns for Entertainment Weekly--one of the top ten books of 2006?)

I read this more than a month ago and given that my memory's like fishnet stockings, I don't remember the characters' names. (Four recent American college grads, 2 girls who are best friends and their boyfriends. A German guy, a Greek guy.) Or where in Mexico the story takes place. But so much of what actually happens to the 6 has actually stayed with me, and I think that's a good sign that the book made a strong impression, right?

I'm not keen on making comparisons, especially since I'm not very good at it. But I compare reading this book to watching "The Talented Mr. Ripley." That was just a beautiful, compelling movie; superbly acted and staged and whatnot--but it just wore me out and I left the theater feeling like I'd never feel happy or hopeful again. And I was pretty sure I would never, ever want to see the movie again either.

For starters, this book has no chapters. No breaks, so you can safely say, ok, I can stop at this point, take a pee, whatever. That's one of its genius methods--you feel you have to keep reading on. Actually, worse--you feel like you're one of the six characters, and you can't take a break from the shit that keeps flying at them, either.

The 4 Americans hook up with the German guy because his brother left their beach resort a few days before to go on a dig, and he was worried. The Greek guy came along for the fun, probably because he was drunk, out for more good times, and not aware of what he was getting himself into, since he didn't speak their languages.

Their arrival at the purported dig quickly serves up one horror after another. As I read the book, I was pretty sure there would be only unhappy endings, but until the last 15 pages of so I still kept hoping that something good would happen. I turned out to be right (so don't read this book unless you like horror with unhappy endings), but since I've since recovered from the fear and anxiety.

I'm never going to read this book again, but I enjoyed myself enough for the one-time trip I took in it, and that's clearly a sign that this book was written by a very gifted writer. (It'll be a while though before I feel I can pick up his first book.)