The vampire genre suffers from two major problems: 1). There have been so many vampire books written that having anything original to say is becoming more difficult and 2). The entire genre has taken a turn into fluffiness and absurdity lately that is extremely distracting if not downright antithetical to many of the features that originally drew fans to it (yes Stephanie Myers, this means you). Let the Right One In is refreshing in that it does not try to rewrite vampire mythos, but rather uses vampires to explore some very human problems. The overall tone of the book is dark and even though the main characters are children, this is definitely not a children's book. The author's insights into human weakness are brutally honest. He develops characters that are authentic and imperfect and tells a compelling story that is suspenseful until the end.Read full review
The book, as the movie, is a "coming of age" story. The movie followed the book quite closely, as well as a movie can. Reading the book fills in a lot of detail that the movie is unable to provide and gives an interesting twist on the vampire legends that the movie left out. The translation from the original Swedish is probably the best language translations I've ever encountered. There was a couple of cultural references that didn't translate well, but all in all, very good. I'm not sure I want to see the American version of the movie (Let Me In) given our penchant for gore and special effects, but it might be interesting to see how much they stray from the book...
I saw the movie version back in 2009 and loved it. The movie made some references that I didn't quite get (such as Eli's gender and sexual identity). Upon looking on the internet I found out that the book went deeper. The book always goes deeper and for those of us that like books - we know they are always better than the film. In 2010 a friend of mine told me there was an American version of the film coming out. I decided to stop being lazy and finally pick up the book. I'm usually a slow reader but I consumed this book very fast. I recommend reading the book before seeing the film. But if it is too late for that and you've already seen the film, be prepared for the book to be more gruesome than the movie was. There are also more characters. The book jumps back and forth from different characters perspectives allowing you to explore each event of the story from different perspectives in a way that is easy to follow and very satisfying. Though I had already seen the wonderful film (and I encourage you to do that as well), I'm so glad I purchased the book as well. It is one I'll be sharing with as many friends as I can.Read full review
Having watched the original Swedish film, I decided to read the book also. I think maybe when watching horror films audiences are too accustomed to ridiculous over exaggerated use of blood and gore, or worse yet steamy shower scenes with chainsaw axe murders hiding behind the curtain. How the director of "Let the Right One In" portrayed was much more straightforward than sinister in that regard. It was a true story, simple horror-esque tragedy. In the book, John Ajvide Lindqvist delves us deeper into the mind of the characters. Although, I would say both pieces of work complement each other, but have their own peculiar differences. This is the kind of story that leaves you wondering. It doesn't tell you what to expect and explain clearly for you exactly what and why everything happens. There are merely things that happen, the characters witness and instigate them, but as the story develops all the events and props are interconnected. The more we learn about each character the more we wonder what lead them to be what they are, and there are no heroes and masked crusaders. I think the overall message of both being a statement in the human condition. Monsters pretend to be human to better get by - but sometimes to survive decent people need to become monsters.Read full review
If you like the movie Let Me In, make sure to read this book-the movie came from this book(and in turn the original Swedish movie). Certain expressions are a bit tough to understand due to the translation and the fact that I'm not Swedish but that doesn't take anything away from the story. Be advised that the story is quite a bit darker than either movie, and has some hard-to-read parts(as in, tough to stomach) but even those are necessary to the story. Vampires, love, blood and even a bit of fire. Violent, dark and gory, the way a vampire story should be.
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