The Barkers are shunned in this small Virginia town and try to live out a quiet existence in their mountain home. No one in town wants to associate with, touch or even look upon a Barker. Then Missy Campbell, a hopeful relgious leader, calls for the townspeople to forego the sineater tradition and to find another way to help the souls of the dead enter heaven. Thus begins a serious of deaths with dire warnings about ignoring tradition and turning away from God.
Joel, now in school despite the traditions, struggles to find his place in the world and to make contact with other humans, most of whom turn away from him. This is one of the most touching horror novels I've ever read. I truly felt compassion and hope for Joel, and I cared about what happened to the characters. The writing style is excellent, and the characters are well-developed. I don't always agree with the choices that award committees make for "best" novels, but in this case Massie deserves all the recognition and applause for her first novel.
I will definitely be reading her other books. This is an exceptionally well written horror novel and one of the best of its genre. This Bram Stoker Award winning novel is set in the backwoods of Virginia, and the author's talent as a writer gives the reader a real feeling for the place about which she is writing. It is a grim, gripping, and highly atmospheric horror novel about a backwoods town in which some of the residents practice an old time religious custom By custom, the Sineater is one who redeems the souls of the dead by eating food laid out on the bodies of the dead before they are buried.
In eating the food, the Sineater is symbolically redeeming their souls, as the food represents their sins. The living are forbidden to look upon the countenance of the Sineater. That taboo, however, has been violated, as the Sineater now has a wife and family, even though they, too, must avert their gaze. The family is also to be shunned by the people of the town. Yet, the youngest member of the family, Joel, attends school in town. Though his company is generally avoided by nearly all, he manages to touch some hearts, and some folks actually interact with the child much to their ultimate dismay, as someone appears to be very angry with this break in tradition.
The goodness and sensitivity innate in Joel, as well as his touching appreciation of friendly overtures by others, and the discovery of his own humanity, is a wonderful counterpoint to the evil let loose upon this backwoods town and the ignorance which fuels customs that are destructive and inhumane. This is a horror novel well worth reading. Latasha Nov 22, - PM the story is not that impressive and there is some really horrible animal cruelty in it the narrator for the audiobook wasn t that great either.
Kimberly Nov 22, - PM Very slow beginning, but once it started, the action was really on a role Knowing something about the origin of the sineater before I read this, probably helped my interest in the subject matter, and kept me reading on, even when I wasn t sure I would in the beginning 3.
Charles Dee Mitchell Nov 22, - PM I picked this up because it was on the Horror Writers Association list of horror must reads I have always been a pro horror film voice, but was never attracted to reading horror novels Movies are over in 90 minutes Novels takes hours and hours And I also had the not uncommon prejudice against the genre, or at least against anything written much later than the turn of the 20th century.
But I liked Sineater I guess it s a horror novel, although I wondered if Massie s publisher didn t promote it as [ Megan Nov 22, - PM By page out of this story had still not captured my interest so I ve decided to move on to better books The main reason I couldn t get into Sineater is the long descriptive passages Elizabeth Massie spends a lot of time describing the town, history, and people This would be okay if it happened in the unfolding of the story, but these are separate pages and paragraphs which interrupt the sequence of events It s great for an author to have so much background invented, but there are clever [ Scott Nov 22, - PM This was like reading about a town chock full of the moms from the movie Carrie A young boy is destined by his family ties to live within the shadow of the mythical Sineater who happens to be his father and shunned by an entire community out of fear of this lineage Though he tries to pave his own way through kindness and being earnest, he still stands alone There are some murderous scenes here that take your breath away in a four ticket haunted house ride kind of way Superbly dark and psychotic, [ William M.
Nov 22, - PM The Sineater is a stunning debut from an incredibly articulate, well rounded writer This is, without question, one of the best debut horror novels I ve ever read This original tale grips you and never lets go, having one of my favorite all time endings The world Elizabeth Massie creates is frighteningly real, populated with characters so believable that it sometimes feels like nonfiction I can t wait to dig into of her books Do yourself a favor and read The Sineater You won t be disappointed.
Anita Nov 22, - PM This is a very haunting story one I had a hard time letting go of It s based on a very old Christian custom that started in Europe and was brought over with the Scottish Irish immigrants that settled in the Appalachians It s grim it s dark, but surprisingly touching in places It s a story of a young boy living with the social stigma of having a father who is a souleater.
John Nov 22, - PM Overall 4. Livingdeadpunk Nov 22, - PM I somehow managed to overlook that this was a Stoker winner and went into it looking for cheap thrills and b movie level gore and cheese I didn t get what I was expecting, but what I got was so much better.
It does take a while to come to a good roiling boil, slowing down in early chapters to give you some town history and info on the different figures that populate the place, somewhat similar to the chapters in Salem s Lot that focus on The Lot itself That all pays off once things pick up and yo [ Jamie Henderson Nov 22, - PM The problem with genre fiction is that so much of it is cruft Sineater, however, is a daimond in the rough Massie s writing style is evocative and vivid without becoming florid Reading this novel I had a definite feel for exactly what things looked like, how they felt, and how they smelled The characterizations were strong and even her touches on the minor characters leave the reader feeling like they are actual people with full lives outside of their small parts in the unfolding story.
The plot [ Donald Nov 22, - PM Any good piece of literature will speak of characters of their faults and their redeeming qualities The reader will know of the characters in a way that convinces said reader to care what happens Elizabeth Massie does this masterfully in Sineater.
The rediculous notions of backwoods christianity are revealed in a way that is believable and at times even horrific Massie s descriptive powers are spot on and cringe worthy This one reads as a who dun it and a coming of age story It is at times touchi [ Francisca Nov 22, - PM It became a little obvious towards the last 2 3 of the book who the killer was It was well done though I enjoyed the story from the boy s perspective It added a creepier, tragic quality to the plot I enjoyed Joel s role and his thoughts on everything His friend , Dave or Burke, was way too creepy Everything that happened in the book was really messed up Also, I m going to assume that Petrie was pregnant and that s why she left However, it was never explained It was an interesting read and made y [ Consuelo Nov 22, - PM I read the whole book In my opinion, it was really dumb I thought the book was going to focus on the title of the book, but I can sum up this book with two words religion and hate There really wasn t much horror and the Sineater is briefly talked about randomly throughout the book Very disappointing book with no real storyline, just a bunch of people who are highly religious with hate in their heart.
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