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The Book of the Juke #1
Eutopia
The year is 1911.
In Cold Spring Harbour, New York, the newly formed Eugenics Records Office is sending its agents to catalogue the infirm, the insane, and the criminal—with an eye to a cull, for the betterment of all.
Near Cracked Wheel, Montana, a terrible illness leaves Jason Thistledown an orphan, stranded in his dead mother’s cabin until the spring thaw shows him the true meaning of devastation—and the barest thread of hope.
At the edge of the utopian mill town of Eliada, Idaho, Doctor Andrew Waggoner faces a Klansman’s noose and glimpses wonder in the twisting face of the patient known only as Mister Juke.
And deep in a mountain lake overlooking that town, something stirs, and thinks, in its
Things are looking up.
Eutopia follows Jason and Andrew as together and alone, they delve into the secrets of Eliada—industrialist Garrison Harper's attempt to incubate a perfect community on the edge of the dark woods and mountains of northern Idaho. What they find reveals the true, terrible cost of perfection—the cruelty of the surgeon's knife—the folly of the cull—and a monstrous pact with beings that use perfection as a weapon, and faith as a trap.
“Toronto author David Nickle's debut novel, the followup to his brilliantly wicked collection of horror stories Monstrous Affections, establishes him as a worthy heir to the mantle of Stephen King.”
–Alex Good, The National Post
“Nickle's bleak debut novel mixes utopian vision, rustic Americana, and pure creepiness.”
–Publishers Weekly
“A dark, complicated and frequently harrowing read . . . . Eutopia is a compelling exploration of the horror of good intentions.”
–—Locus Magazine
“(Eutopia) is immensely a quick-paced mountain stream of a novel, cool and sharp and intense, and terrifically adept at drawing a reader in . . . . Eutopia accomplishes what the best horror fiction strives gives us characters we can care about and hope for, and then inflicts on them the kind of realistic, inescapable, logical sufferings that make us close our eyes a little at the unfairness of not the author, but the world—and all the while with something more to say for itself than the world is a very bad place. Thoughtful, accomplished, and recommended.”
–Leah Bobet, Ideomancer
“Eutopia sucked me right in. The writing in this book is exquisite, perfectly suited to its setting and characters . . . . This is just all-around great work, and I look forward to reading more of Nickle’s work in the future.”
–The (Hopeful) Librarian
“. . . Eutopia is the kind of book I'd recommend to literary snobs who badmouth the horror genre while completely ignoring the multitudes of splendid books on the shelves. Nickle comes from a different cut of cloth than a lot of current horror authors. He’s created a unique world that’s a far cry from any of the current trends in horror fiction. In fact, his style seems generations removed from all the apocalyptic zombie and vampire novels on the market. Thankfully, he understands that the most important ingredients are strong characters, originality, and a compelling story. That his novel is also dark, frightening, and beautifully written is just icing on the cake.”
–Chris Hallock, All Things Horror
“I’m not the best judge of horror, but I’ve read Lovecraft, Poe, King, and good writing is good writing. Good writing carries over to a book regardless of genre. And there’s plenty of good writing in David Nickle’s Eutopia.
In Cold Spring Harbour, New York, the newly formed Eugenics Records Office is sending its agents to catalogue the infirm, the insane, and the criminal—with an eye to a cull, for the betterment of all.
Near Cracked Wheel, Montana, a terrible illness leaves Jason Thistledown an orphan, stranded in his dead mother’s cabin until the spring thaw shows him the true meaning of devastation—and the barest thread of hope.
At the edge of the utopian mill town of Eliada, Idaho, Doctor Andrew Waggoner faces a Klansman’s noose and glimpses wonder in the twisting face of the patient known only as Mister Juke.
And deep in a mountain lake overlooking that town, something stirs, and thinks, in its
Things are looking up.
Eutopia follows Jason and Andrew as together and alone, they delve into the secrets of Eliada—industrialist Garrison Harper's attempt to incubate a perfect community on the edge of the dark woods and mountains of northern Idaho. What they find reveals the true, terrible cost of perfection—the cruelty of the surgeon's knife—the folly of the cull—and a monstrous pact with beings that use perfection as a weapon, and faith as a trap.
“Toronto author David Nickle's debut novel, the followup to his brilliantly wicked collection of horror stories Monstrous Affections, establishes him as a worthy heir to the mantle of Stephen King.”
–Alex Good, The National Post
“Nickle's bleak debut novel mixes utopian vision, rustic Americana, and pure creepiness.”
–Publishers Weekly
“A dark, complicated and frequently harrowing read . . . . Eutopia is a compelling exploration of the horror of good intentions.”
–—Locus Magazine
“(Eutopia) is immensely a quick-paced mountain stream of a novel, cool and sharp and intense, and terrifically adept at drawing a reader in . . . . Eutopia accomplishes what the best horror fiction strives gives us characters we can care about and hope for, and then inflicts on them the kind of realistic, inescapable, logical sufferings that make us close our eyes a little at the unfairness of not the author, but the world—and all the while with something more to say for itself than the world is a very bad place. Thoughtful, accomplished, and recommended.”
–Leah Bobet, Ideomancer
“Eutopia sucked me right in. The writing in this book is exquisite, perfectly suited to its setting and characters . . . . This is just all-around great work, and I look forward to reading more of Nickle’s work in the future.”
–The (Hopeful) Librarian
“. . . Eutopia is the kind of book I'd recommend to literary snobs who badmouth the horror genre while completely ignoring the multitudes of splendid books on the shelves. Nickle comes from a different cut of cloth than a lot of current horror authors. He’s created a unique world that’s a far cry from any of the current trends in horror fiction. In fact, his style seems generations removed from all the apocalyptic zombie and vampire novels on the market. Thankfully, he understands that the most important ingredients are strong characters, originality, and a compelling story. That his novel is also dark, frightening, and beautifully written is just icing on the cake.”
–Chris Hallock, All Things Horror
“I’m not the best judge of horror, but I’ve read Lovecraft, Poe, King, and good writing is good writing. Good writing carries over to a book regardless of genre. And there’s plenty of good writing in David Nickle’s Eutopia.
332 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2011
60 people are currently reading
2947 people want to read
About the author
David Nickle
65 books173 followersDavid Nickle is the author of several novels and numerous short stories. His latest novel is VOLK: A Novel of Radiant Abomination. His novel Eutopia: A Novel of Terrible Optimism (to which VOLK is a sequel) was a finalist for the Aurora Award, the Sunburst Award and the Compton Crook Award. His story collection Monstrous Affections won the 2009 Black Quill Reader's Choice Award. He's a past winner of the Bram Stoker Award and Aurora Award. He lives and works in Toronto.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 165 reviews
June 25, 2018
reading the sequel/bumping the first one - READ IT!
like deliverance...with monsters!
CZP is three for three!!
i love this book. i always ask people to recommend me some good horror books because i just can't get scared by books, and i want to feel that lovely shivery feeling of "what's that noise!!??" "what is that shadow doing?? ahhhhhh!!" and while it's true i slept fine after reading this - i wasn't cowering in my bed with the blankets pulled up over my face for protection, there were several scenes where i felt my skin crawling, and i actually leaned forward into the book, the way you would if you were psyching yourself up to poke a sleeping lion with a broomstick.
this man knows how to write creepy and atmospheric scenes. they are great.this is a very literary horror novel, but it still fulfills its role of being effective in its horror-mode, i would not call it cerebral horror, like in a henry james manner, which is intense and foreboding; he is in-the-head-intense, whereas this is the good primeval gut-fear i crave.
it is hard to talk about the plot of this one - i was telling dana about how much i was enjoying it on the subway home last week and i was getting more and more animated, with my hands flailing and saying "and then this and then that and oh! then this and but then" and her eyes just sort of glazed over while she thought about college basketball and M/M fiction... and that's fine - this is definitely not the book for her, and i probably overcomplicated the plot in my excitement. but if you like a narrative that unspools slowly and has great characterization and creepy undertones and then explodes into a scene of ensemble horror in a very traditional or classic way... does this make sense?? because the ending, or the climax anyway, seems like a callback to really great traditional horror or sci-fi films of a certain era. so it is familiar in a way, but not exhausted. it is like the way i can watch certain twilight zone or x-files episodes a million times and still get excited by them.
this begins as a historical piece: 1911; a black doctor experiences a lynching attempt by the KKK during which something very odd and spooky occurs. meanwhile, a young boy outlives everyone in his town, seemingly immune to the plague that has killed everyone else.
dun dun dun....
but then it spirals out to include a million different things: eugenics (hence the clever title), an amazing collection of hill-people, some really gross breeding and birthing situations... i just loved it.
this was his first book with CZP:
i love this cover and even though i have never read it because i still feel like i am not a fan of short stories even with the written review-proof that i frequently am, i always have it on the table at work because it is eye-catching and for some reason customers like to hold it up over their face as if it was a mask. and they always think they are being very original, like when they, separated from their friends or mate, yell "marco!!" sigh.
but - great story about this book that was told to me by brett, the co-publisher from CZP: apparently, a friend of his was reading it at LAX, and so many people complained to airport security that the cover was "disturbing them", that they made him put it away. hahhaah love it!! book cover - you are a winner!! this book and snow globes are not allowed onboard!!
i feel i have strayed from the matter at hand.
this book = very good.
it will be out in may.
write it down so you don't forget.
come to my blog!
like deliverance...with monsters!
CZP is three for three!!
i love this book. i always ask people to recommend me some good horror books because i just can't get scared by books, and i want to feel that lovely shivery feeling of "what's that noise!!??" "what is that shadow doing?? ahhhhhh!!" and while it's true i slept fine after reading this - i wasn't cowering in my bed with the blankets pulled up over my face for protection, there were several scenes where i felt my skin crawling, and i actually leaned forward into the book, the way you would if you were psyching yourself up to poke a sleeping lion with a broomstick.
this man knows how to write creepy and atmospheric scenes. they are great.this is a very literary horror novel, but it still fulfills its role of being effective in its horror-mode, i would not call it cerebral horror, like in a henry james manner, which is intense and foreboding; he is in-the-head-intense, whereas this is the good primeval gut-fear i crave.
it is hard to talk about the plot of this one - i was telling dana about how much i was enjoying it on the subway home last week and i was getting more and more animated, with my hands flailing and saying "and then this and then that and oh! then this and but then" and her eyes just sort of glazed over while she thought about college basketball and M/M fiction... and that's fine - this is definitely not the book for her, and i probably overcomplicated the plot in my excitement. but if you like a narrative that unspools slowly and has great characterization and creepy undertones and then explodes into a scene of ensemble horror in a very traditional or classic way... does this make sense?? because the ending, or the climax anyway, seems like a callback to really great traditional horror or sci-fi films of a certain era. so it is familiar in a way, but not exhausted. it is like the way i can watch certain twilight zone or x-files episodes a million times and still get excited by them.
this begins as a historical piece: 1911; a black doctor experiences a lynching attempt by the KKK during which something very odd and spooky occurs. meanwhile, a young boy outlives everyone in his town, seemingly immune to the plague that has killed everyone else.
dun dun dun....
but then it spirals out to include a million different things: eugenics (hence the clever title), an amazing collection of hill-people, some really gross breeding and birthing situations... i just loved it.
this was his first book with CZP:
i love this cover and even though i have never read it because i still feel like i am not a fan of short stories even with the written review-proof that i frequently am, i always have it on the table at work because it is eye-catching and for some reason customers like to hold it up over their face as if it was a mask. and they always think they are being very original, like when they, separated from their friends or mate, yell "marco!!" sigh.
but - great story about this book that was told to me by brett, the co-publisher from CZP: apparently, a friend of his was reading it at LAX, and so many people complained to airport security that the cover was "disturbing them", that they made him put it away. hahhaah love it!! book cover - you are a winner!! this book and snow globes are not allowed onboard!!
i feel i have strayed from the matter at hand.
this book = very good.
it will be out in may.
write it down so you don't forget.
come to my blog!
February 4, 2022
Yuck!
After reading the description of “The Juke,” the name of the monsters in this story, yuck is all that I can say.
Seventeen-year-old Jason Thistledown is the lone survivor in the town of Cracked Wheel. Right after his mother dies, his “unknown aunt” comes and takes him away.
They travel together until they reach the utopian village called Eliada, where “perfection” is the rule of the day.
The “negro” doctor, Andrew Waggoner is being lynched with a strange creature, but the unknown creature doesn’t die.
The town is filled with so much strangeness, which only Dr. Waggoner and Jason appear to notice.
Who are the Feegers? What is a Juke? Why is there eugenics? How is this happening? When is the Devil coming? Where is the Lord when needed?
Stay tuned for the sequel…
After reading the description of “The Juke,” the name of the monsters in this story, yuck is all that I can say.
Seventeen-year-old Jason Thistledown is the lone survivor in the town of Cracked Wheel. Right after his mother dies, his “unknown aunt” comes and takes him away.
They travel together until they reach the utopian village called Eliada, where “perfection” is the rule of the day.
The “negro” doctor, Andrew Waggoner is being lynched with a strange creature, but the unknown creature doesn’t die.
The town is filled with so much strangeness, which only Dr. Waggoner and Jason appear to notice.
Who are the Feegers? What is a Juke? Why is there eugenics? How is this happening? When is the Devil coming? Where is the Lord when needed?
Stay tuned for the sequel…
December 19, 2012
Yes oh all right huh no...no, surely - oh I see, no I don't see – what? All of them? Who's – oh yes. No! he would not do that. Ow, that must have – get him! No, her, not him. Ulp ergh. Too gynaecological! Dead Ringers meets Deliverance meets The Thing? Ha ha. What's this? God? God? Ridiculous. Author gone mad. This is the perfect Christmas present for your maiden aunt – the one you hope will die soon and leave you her house. Might speed up the process. Eurgh, I did not need that. Oh – aargh – maaa urgh. Ulp ulp mulp pulp gulp. Funny how they often have spindly little legs. I just ate dinner. Yech yech. Still God. Amazing gross, how sweet the sound that saved a retch like me. Ha ha, this is mad. It's driving me mad. Does this make any sense? At all? Oh yeah like that would happen. Enter a crowd of peasants. Christmas peasants! I've seen episodes of Tellytubbies that had more comprehensible plots. Come on, where's the spaceship? Get outta here. This is just like a Doctor Who story with no Doctor Who and a lot more ick. Get me outta here. Preposterous! Poppycock! Creepy preposterous gynaecological poppycock with reeking fluids that is. Correct name for this novel :
EWWWTOPIA
April 10, 2020
"There's no such thing as Utopia, really. Not on earth."
Nickle deftly takes things we should all fear: ignorance, prejudice, a deadly plague, forced sterilization, and religious fervor, then twists them together with some creepy, supernatural goings-on to create this unique, literary horror novel.
The tugging pulled the sheet tight over his ankles and his toes and sent a chill up Jason's back. Something - the thing from the window - was climbing up from the base of his bed.
Shiver.
Chilling moments, PLUS, issues to ponder . . . as far as I'm concerned - this is horror done right!
Nickle deftly takes things we should all fear: ignorance, prejudice, a deadly plague, forced sterilization, and religious fervor, then twists them together with some creepy, supernatural goings-on to create this unique, literary horror novel.
The tugging pulled the sheet tight over his ankles and his toes and sent a chill up Jason's back. Something - the thing from the window - was climbing up from the base of his bed.
Shiver.
Chilling moments, PLUS, issues to ponder . . . as far as I'm concerned - this is horror done right!
September 25, 2015
I really wanted to give this book 5 stars, but the last 1/4 of the story was a little underwhelming. The story of Jason Thistledown and the peculiar town of Eliada, Idaho is for the most part an intriguing tale; the extraordinary and transcendental happenings of a small mid-western town in the early 20th century which include KKK clansmen, degenerate hill folk, and an African Cave Germ provide enough mystery to keep the reader interested. When you tie in Nazi eugenics experiments, divine visions, and the unearthly Jukes, the story becomes altogether compelling.
Though the town's founder, Mr. Garrison Harper, intends to create a veritable "heaven on earth," Eliada, as with most utopias, proves to possess more than its fair share of fundamental complications. When the town's doctor, Nils Bergstrom, abandons God in his search for genetic perfection, his faith soon becomes deeply misplaced. As Bergstrom leads the town further into derangement, Jason and Andrew Waggoner, an out of place colored doctor who finds himself at the heart of Eliada's difficulties, must overcome the metaphysical influence of the Jukes in order to shield all of Eliada from the creatures' congenital and perverse power.
Though the town's founder, Mr. Garrison Harper, intends to create a veritable "heaven on earth," Eliada, as with most utopias, proves to possess more than its fair share of fundamental complications. When the town's doctor, Nils Bergstrom, abandons God in his search for genetic perfection, his faith soon becomes deeply misplaced. As Bergstrom leads the town further into derangement, Jason and Andrew Waggoner, an out of place colored doctor who finds himself at the heart of Eliada's difficulties, must overcome the metaphysical influence of the Jukes in order to shield all of Eliada from the creatures' congenital and perverse power.
September 29, 2018
Definitely in the running for the weirdest book I've ever come across. It reads like a science fiction-y story mixed with horror/medical thriller stuff but it takes place in the early 1900s and it has gunslingers, the KKK, mad doctors, really cool women, redneck-angel-messiahs, and a substance that is kind of like a hallucinogenic out-of-control germ that likes to kill large swaths of the population all at once. This was weird without being stupid or gratuitously esoteric and I have to say that popular fiction needs more genre defying novels like this one that are sincerely unlike most everything else out there. Five stars for overall originality, big-time entertainment value, and a unique story that did not insult my intelligence.
April 4, 2017
An early (2011) entry in the Lovecraftian-but-confronting-Lovecraft's-awful-worldview genre, which is probably reaching its saturation point these days. Unlike the more recent examples, this one isn't explicitly a Mythos tale, but does take place in 1911, and features not-so-eldritch creatures and backwoods cultists, but also "rational" eugenicists (hence the titular wordplay).
We have two protagonists here - Andrew Waggoner, a black doctor, and Jason Thistledown, a white country boy who just lost his family and town to a mysterious plague, only to be picked up soon after by a conveniently-arriving aunt. Both find themselves in Eliada, Idaho, a planned Utopian community that is, surprisingly enough, hiding a Dark Secret (or two).
Nickle, I believe, is most well-known as a short story writer, and everything here works well on a micro level - there are some super creepy scenes, the dialogue mostly rings true, the prose is solid, etc. I'm not sure that I was convinced on a macro level, though. My chief problem is that, for this to be the rejoinder to Lovecraft that I (and presumably Nickle) wanted it to be, then there would have to be at least the illusion of eugenics as a viable ideology, some sort of real attraction either on the part of the characters or the readers. Thistledown doesn't push back too hard against his eugenicist aunt at first, but he doesn't much care for what she she's preaching, either.
Nickle is more successful when tackling religion, an outgrowth of the narcotic hallucinogen produced by the monsters. A large part of this is due to the fact that this part is Waggoner's story, and he's a much more interesting character than Thistledown. I loved the fact that his visions of "Heaven" were as much about his (relatively) racially-peaceful time in med school in Paris as they are religion. Both eugenics and religion are about better worlds than this one in the hereafter, but it felt at times as if Nickle couldn't decide which he was more interested in tackling.
There are, further, some moral inconsistencies at the heart of the novel that just don't ring true. Thistledown, inheritor of his father's "gunfighter" genes, is noted by the central eugenicist as a heroic specimen of humanity (and don't get me started on her criteria). The monsters, meanwhile, are succored and worshiped by inbred, backwoods mountain folk, an unwashed horde straight out of Lovecraft, who are not exactly striking any blows against eugenicist technocratic ideals. There's a lot of female suffering, but the book is entirely centered on male characters (this culminates in a truly ludicrous sex scene, which itself leads to the even-more ludicrous realization, days later, that the woman in question is now pregnant).
I also wish the monsters hadn't been quite so rationalized. They aren't a million miles off from the xenomorphs from the Alien films (with more hallucinations). This suits a novel about birth and breeding and sterilization and body horror, but if we're setting out to critique an overly-rationalized post-Enlightenment worldview, maybe our monsters should sit outside of it? The only thing not fully spelled out are their origins, which one assumes will be filled by the sequel left quite obviously looming by the end of this one. Of course, Waggoner's medical training is what allows him to understand what the creatures are doing, so maybe anti-positivism was an unfair expectation on my part.
All that said, again, I have to emphasize that a lot of the set pieces worked quite well, and Nickle is masterful at using sound to set a creepy mood, which is an uncommon skill. Overall, I think this was a missed opportunity, but parts of it did work well enough that I remain intrigued by Nickle's other work.
We have two protagonists here - Andrew Waggoner, a black doctor, and Jason Thistledown, a white country boy who just lost his family and town to a mysterious plague, only to be picked up soon after by a conveniently-arriving aunt. Both find themselves in Eliada, Idaho, a planned Utopian community that is, surprisingly enough, hiding a Dark Secret (or two).
Nickle, I believe, is most well-known as a short story writer, and everything here works well on a micro level - there are some super creepy scenes, the dialogue mostly rings true, the prose is solid, etc. I'm not sure that I was convinced on a macro level, though. My chief problem is that, for this to be the rejoinder to Lovecraft that I (and presumably Nickle) wanted it to be, then there would have to be at least the illusion of eugenics as a viable ideology, some sort of real attraction either on the part of the characters or the readers. Thistledown doesn't push back too hard against his eugenicist aunt at first, but he doesn't much care for what she she's preaching, either.
Nickle is more successful when tackling religion, an outgrowth of the narcotic hallucinogen produced by the monsters. A large part of this is due to the fact that this part is Waggoner's story, and he's a much more interesting character than Thistledown. I loved the fact that his visions of "Heaven" were as much about his (relatively) racially-peaceful time in med school in Paris as they are religion. Both eugenics and religion are about better worlds than this one in the hereafter, but it felt at times as if Nickle couldn't decide which he was more interested in tackling.
There are, further, some moral inconsistencies at the heart of the novel that just don't ring true. Thistledown, inheritor of his father's "gunfighter" genes, is noted by the central eugenicist as a heroic specimen of humanity (and don't get me started on her criteria). The monsters, meanwhile, are succored and worshiped by inbred, backwoods mountain folk, an unwashed horde straight out of Lovecraft, who are not exactly striking any blows against eugenicist technocratic ideals. There's a lot of female suffering, but the book is entirely centered on male characters (this culminates in a truly ludicrous sex scene, which itself leads to the even-more ludicrous realization, days later, that the woman in question is now pregnant).
I also wish the monsters hadn't been quite so rationalized. They aren't a million miles off from the xenomorphs from the Alien films (with more hallucinations). This suits a novel about birth and breeding and sterilization and body horror, but if we're setting out to critique an overly-rationalized post-Enlightenment worldview, maybe our monsters should sit outside of it? The only thing not fully spelled out are their origins, which one assumes will be filled by the sequel left quite obviously looming by the end of this one. Of course, Waggoner's medical training is what allows him to understand what the creatures are doing, so maybe anti-positivism was an unfair expectation on my part.
All that said, again, I have to emphasize that a lot of the set pieces worked quite well, and Nickle is masterful at using sound to set a creepy mood, which is an uncommon skill. Overall, I think this was a missed opportunity, but parts of it did work well enough that I remain intrigued by Nickle's other work.
September 29, 2017
I was expecting this to be a story about the horrors of eugenics, but the whole eugenics aspect is more of a background thing. It gives the main character believable motivation, but other than that, the plot is a pretty run-of-the-mill monster story. It was creepy and well-written, sure. And the author gets bonus points for leaving some questions unanswered - horror is always scarier this way. I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure I enjoyed it enough to bother with the sequel anytime soon.
May 26, 2011
So this book is Karen's staff rec. and I think on her staff rec thingy she described it as "deliverance with monsters", but I had it before then when what stuck out from her review was plague, hill people, and eugenics. So when I started reading this and it as clearly about monsters I was more than a little confused. When David asked me yesterday what I was reading, I told him something about monsters, he responded "the drug addict aliens" and of course I had to say no that was another book. Which caused the follow up question what's this book about? I had then and have now no response. There is nothing I could say to anyone short of reading the entire book to them that would be an appropriate indicator of what this book is about. I can't justify the relevance of any of the characters. I mean there is really nothing I can say.
the book is well written and interesting, it's definitely worth a read, but um you just have to trust me and go read it, because there isn't anything I can say that would have any relevance once you'd actually started the book.
the book is well written and interesting, it's definitely worth a read, but um you just have to trust me and go read it, because there isn't anything I can say that would have any relevance once you'd actually started the book.
Want to read
March 28, 2015This is copy 4 of 41 signed numbered copies.
April 21, 2011
First published in April 2011 by ChiZine Publications, David Nickle’s novel of eerie horror entitled ‘Eutopia’ sets down a firm and establishing platform for the Canadian author to show the world his dark and imaginative capabilities.
DLS Synopsis:
Set in the bygone year of 1911, Jason Thistledown lays down his deceased mother in their nearby barn, leaving the seventeen-year-old alone in the world once and for all. With spring on its way and the unforgiving snow finally thawing, Jason sets his mind to finally burying his mother. But with the sudden arrival of a long-lost and never-before-heard-of Aunt Germaine, Jason learns that not only did his blessed mother die from a lethal dose of an unknown illness, but so has the entire town of Cracked Wheel of which they resided. Together, Jason and his newly-acquainted Aunt leave the now silent town of Cracked Wheel for the utopian mill town of Eliada, nestled in the picturesque mountainside of Idaho.
Meanwhile, things in Eliada aren’t going quite as peacefully as the town’s founder, Garrison Harper, would have liked. A band of Klu Klux Klan members ambush the negro doctor Andrew Waggoner for hanging; but first, they have their cruel eyes set on the deformed hospital resident known to those that are aware of his presence as ‘Mr Juke’. However their attempt at hanging this strange mute mysteriously fails and their follow-up lynching of the doctor is halted with the gallant arrival of the local Sam Green.
Upon arriving at this recently troubled but supposedly utopian town, Jason is thrust into near madness when he is suddenly tied down to be left overnight in the darkened confines of the strangely elaborate ‘quarantine’ section of the hospital. There he witnesses ungodly miniature demons and a haunting figure lording over the hideous creatures. How can he tell anyone of what he witnessed that night? And who indeed would even believe him? For is his own sanity actually what is now in question?
Somewhere in the middle of it all is a dark and tangled web of corruption, set about by the hospital’s lead practitioner Nell Bergstrom and his connection with Aunt Germaine Frost and their questionable work with eugenics. There are strange forces at work here and Jason Thistledown, together with the help of Dr Waggoner, are suddenly in the thick of it all. But the secrets that inhabit the serene setting of Eliada are far darker and more terrifying than either of them would ever have imagined. For Eliada is a far cry from anything that should ever be called utopia…
DLS Review:
Nickle sets off the tale with a quietly cautious undertone of unseen terror, gradually grinding in an almost overwhelming feeling of clinging tension to the hidden core of the story. As the plot slowly peels away its layers, with the characterisation of our two principal protagonists already masterfully established, the haunting visions of this dark secret begin to emerge with the staggering impact of a charging leviathan.
Where the novel really succeeds above all else is the almost palpable and oppressive atmosphere that lingers over every page; saturating each and every word with its clinging and unrelenting gloominess. The reader quickly becomes swallowed up in this haunting cloud of constant impending doom, which allows Nickle, when the time is right and the reader is truly on edge with the tale, to suddenly delve deep into his twisted imagination, bringing forth monumental visions that haunt, terrify and chill to the bone.
Gratuitous and explicit images of the horror on hand is never overly thrust into the face of the reader, but instead is allowed to become exposed during gut-wrenching snippets of terrifying action, then laid low to smoulder in the readers mind until the next exposure to the true horror of the novel is unleashed.
With that said, one particular scene does hail further into the horrific and downright disturbing than the majority of the book purposefully participates in. Here instead, Nickle wreaks havoc with the reader’s senses, as he carves out a grotesque and painstakingly descriptive scene detailing the appalling labour and birth of one of the demon-like creatures unto the ravaged form of a young girl.
‘Eutopia’ is an elaborate novel, pulling together intricate interwoven subplots, with a dark and eerie mystery constantly behind it all. Mark Morris’s forceful but swift visions of the grotesque, mixed with elements of early Clive Barker dark fiction, with the final all-encompassing visionary of Lovecraft knitted in for good measure.
The novel is as chaotic as it is inspired. The levels and layers that form the crux of the plot are ingenious in their creation. The delivery is gripping, enthralling and utterly engaging from the outset to the near-epic finale. Nickle never once backs away from taking on the darker route. Instead he embraces the numerous twists and turns that see the storyline fall deeper and deeper into an abyss of abominable corruption.
David Nickle has reincarnated Lovecraft and spun a new direction for the terror that is to follow. This is certainly not the last we will have heard from this talented new face in horror.
DLS Synopsis:
Set in the bygone year of 1911, Jason Thistledown lays down his deceased mother in their nearby barn, leaving the seventeen-year-old alone in the world once and for all. With spring on its way and the unforgiving snow finally thawing, Jason sets his mind to finally burying his mother. But with the sudden arrival of a long-lost and never-before-heard-of Aunt Germaine, Jason learns that not only did his blessed mother die from a lethal dose of an unknown illness, but so has the entire town of Cracked Wheel of which they resided. Together, Jason and his newly-acquainted Aunt leave the now silent town of Cracked Wheel for the utopian mill town of Eliada, nestled in the picturesque mountainside of Idaho.
Meanwhile, things in Eliada aren’t going quite as peacefully as the town’s founder, Garrison Harper, would have liked. A band of Klu Klux Klan members ambush the negro doctor Andrew Waggoner for hanging; but first, they have their cruel eyes set on the deformed hospital resident known to those that are aware of his presence as ‘Mr Juke’. However their attempt at hanging this strange mute mysteriously fails and their follow-up lynching of the doctor is halted with the gallant arrival of the local Sam Green.
Upon arriving at this recently troubled but supposedly utopian town, Jason is thrust into near madness when he is suddenly tied down to be left overnight in the darkened confines of the strangely elaborate ‘quarantine’ section of the hospital. There he witnesses ungodly miniature demons and a haunting figure lording over the hideous creatures. How can he tell anyone of what he witnessed that night? And who indeed would even believe him? For is his own sanity actually what is now in question?
Somewhere in the middle of it all is a dark and tangled web of corruption, set about by the hospital’s lead practitioner Nell Bergstrom and his connection with Aunt Germaine Frost and their questionable work with eugenics. There are strange forces at work here and Jason Thistledown, together with the help of Dr Waggoner, are suddenly in the thick of it all. But the secrets that inhabit the serene setting of Eliada are far darker and more terrifying than either of them would ever have imagined. For Eliada is a far cry from anything that should ever be called utopia…
DLS Review:
Nickle sets off the tale with a quietly cautious undertone of unseen terror, gradually grinding in an almost overwhelming feeling of clinging tension to the hidden core of the story. As the plot slowly peels away its layers, with the characterisation of our two principal protagonists already masterfully established, the haunting visions of this dark secret begin to emerge with the staggering impact of a charging leviathan.
Where the novel really succeeds above all else is the almost palpable and oppressive atmosphere that lingers over every page; saturating each and every word with its clinging and unrelenting gloominess. The reader quickly becomes swallowed up in this haunting cloud of constant impending doom, which allows Nickle, when the time is right and the reader is truly on edge with the tale, to suddenly delve deep into his twisted imagination, bringing forth monumental visions that haunt, terrify and chill to the bone.
Gratuitous and explicit images of the horror on hand is never overly thrust into the face of the reader, but instead is allowed to become exposed during gut-wrenching snippets of terrifying action, then laid low to smoulder in the readers mind until the next exposure to the true horror of the novel is unleashed.
With that said, one particular scene does hail further into the horrific and downright disturbing than the majority of the book purposefully participates in. Here instead, Nickle wreaks havoc with the reader’s senses, as he carves out a grotesque and painstakingly descriptive scene detailing the appalling labour and birth of one of the demon-like creatures unto the ravaged form of a young girl.
‘Eutopia’ is an elaborate novel, pulling together intricate interwoven subplots, with a dark and eerie mystery constantly behind it all. Mark Morris’s forceful but swift visions of the grotesque, mixed with elements of early Clive Barker dark fiction, with the final all-encompassing visionary of Lovecraft knitted in for good measure.
The novel is as chaotic as it is inspired. The levels and layers that form the crux of the plot are ingenious in their creation. The delivery is gripping, enthralling and utterly engaging from the outset to the near-epic finale. Nickle never once backs away from taking on the darker route. Instead he embraces the numerous twists and turns that see the storyline fall deeper and deeper into an abyss of abominable corruption.
David Nickle has reincarnated Lovecraft and spun a new direction for the terror that is to follow. This is certainly not the last we will have heard from this talented new face in horror.
January 24, 2011
I’m not the best judge of horror, but I’ve read Lovecraft, Poe, King, and good writing is good writing. Good writing carries over to a book regardless of genre. And there’s plenty of good writing in David Nickle’s “Eutopia.”
“Eutopia” is set in the early 20th century and explores the world of American utopian movements, and the almost instantly corruptible science of Eugenics, how easily our desires for a utopian society can be exploited and corrupted no matter how idealistic the original intent.
The story is told from the point of view of two protagonists. The first is Dr. Andrew Waggoner a negro doctor in the frontier town of Eliada, Idaho in 1911. Eliada is a town set up by idealistic and charismatic leader Garrison Harper, a city that he’s built out of the wilderness on the principles of Compassion, Community, and Hygiene. As we meet Waggoner he’s about to be lynched by the local Ku Klux Klan. But first they hang a mysterious figure known as “Mr. Juke” for the rape and murder of a young woman. As Juke is being hanged, Waggoner has a vision of Juke either being a monster or beautiful. Just as the Klan is about to lynch Waggoner he’s rescued by Sam Green, one of the Pinkerton men hired by Harper. As Waggoner recuperates in Eliada’s hospital he learns “Mr. Juke” had survived hanging, although Waggoner doesn’t see how that is possible. But there isn’t time for Waggoner to investigate as a plot is discovered that the Klan wants to finish their job on Dr. Waggoner.
The second protagonist is Jason Thistledown, a lad of sixteen whose mother has died of disease. He discovers the rest of the town has been killed by the disease and, he’s the sole survivor. As Jason waits out the winter on the farm and is unsure about what to do with his mother’s body his previously unknown Aunt Germaine appears. Aunt Germaine is on her way to Eliada having recently been in New York gathering Eugenics information in prisons. After Jason and Aunt Germaine arrive in Eliada her motives for bringing Jason there become suspect as she allows Jason to be put overnight in “quarantine” with “Mr. Juke” and the secret that town harbors reveals itself and spreads throughout the populace.
At first I had a difficult time figuring out what, if any genre “Eutopia” fell into. Was it going to be a novel with a science fiction twist? Steampunk? Or something else entirely? Nickle takes his time setting everything up, and soon, “Eutopia” revealed itself to be of the horror genre. Nickle lets the novel reveal itself through the characters and the events that befall them. The narrative moves with a Lovecraftian twist, a little Greek mythology and hillbilly lore thrown in. Nickle lays out these strings and neatly weaves them into the thread of his story and keeps the tension going and the reader wanting to see what will happen next. Set in the early 20th century, Nickle has the voice of the people and the manner of the times down.
The horror is more implicit than explicit, there’s no big ’reveal’ scene where a monstrous nightmare vision is thrown at the reader for shock or a visceral reaction. Nickle sets the tone at early 20th century creepy. The tone is more of a pins under your skin feeling, or the feeling of a spider walking across your hand, that keeps you in a state of ecstatic uncomfortableness. The closer I got towards the end, the more it kept me reading to see how this could possibly be resolved. What higher praise or expectations can you have for a book?
“Eutopia” is set in the early 20th century and explores the world of American utopian movements, and the almost instantly corruptible science of Eugenics, how easily our desires for a utopian society can be exploited and corrupted no matter how idealistic the original intent.
The story is told from the point of view of two protagonists. The first is Dr. Andrew Waggoner a negro doctor in the frontier town of Eliada, Idaho in 1911. Eliada is a town set up by idealistic and charismatic leader Garrison Harper, a city that he’s built out of the wilderness on the principles of Compassion, Community, and Hygiene. As we meet Waggoner he’s about to be lynched by the local Ku Klux Klan. But first they hang a mysterious figure known as “Mr. Juke” for the rape and murder of a young woman. As Juke is being hanged, Waggoner has a vision of Juke either being a monster or beautiful. Just as the Klan is about to lynch Waggoner he’s rescued by Sam Green, one of the Pinkerton men hired by Harper. As Waggoner recuperates in Eliada’s hospital he learns “Mr. Juke” had survived hanging, although Waggoner doesn’t see how that is possible. But there isn’t time for Waggoner to investigate as a plot is discovered that the Klan wants to finish their job on Dr. Waggoner.
The second protagonist is Jason Thistledown, a lad of sixteen whose mother has died of disease. He discovers the rest of the town has been killed by the disease and, he’s the sole survivor. As Jason waits out the winter on the farm and is unsure about what to do with his mother’s body his previously unknown Aunt Germaine appears. Aunt Germaine is on her way to Eliada having recently been in New York gathering Eugenics information in prisons. After Jason and Aunt Germaine arrive in Eliada her motives for bringing Jason there become suspect as she allows Jason to be put overnight in “quarantine” with “Mr. Juke” and the secret that town harbors reveals itself and spreads throughout the populace.
At first I had a difficult time figuring out what, if any genre “Eutopia” fell into. Was it going to be a novel with a science fiction twist? Steampunk? Or something else entirely? Nickle takes his time setting everything up, and soon, “Eutopia” revealed itself to be of the horror genre. Nickle lets the novel reveal itself through the characters and the events that befall them. The narrative moves with a Lovecraftian twist, a little Greek mythology and hillbilly lore thrown in. Nickle lays out these strings and neatly weaves them into the thread of his story and keeps the tension going and the reader wanting to see what will happen next. Set in the early 20th century, Nickle has the voice of the people and the manner of the times down.
The horror is more implicit than explicit, there’s no big ’reveal’ scene where a monstrous nightmare vision is thrown at the reader for shock or a visceral reaction. Nickle sets the tone at early 20th century creepy. The tone is more of a pins under your skin feeling, or the feeling of a spider walking across your hand, that keeps you in a state of ecstatic uncomfortableness. The closer I got towards the end, the more it kept me reading to see how this could possibly be resolved. What higher praise or expectations can you have for a book?
August 11, 2011
Pros: excellent writing, courageous, tight ending/
Cons: the supernatural aspect isn't as scary as the historically accurate parts/
Eutopia takes place in the early 1900's when the eugenics movement was becoming popular with a certain type of people. Mrs Frost, an agent of the Eugenics Records Office finds her nephew is the sole survivor of a plague ravaged frontier town. She brings him with her to Eilada, Idaho, where an industrialist has started what he intends to be a utopic community./
But not everything's rosy in paradise. The town's black doctor, Andrew Waggoner, has had a run in with the Ku Klux Klan and discovered that his colleague, Dr. Bergstrom has been keeping a 'Mr. Juke' in quarantine. The more Dr. Waggoner learns of Dr. Bergstrom's actions and who, or what, Mr. Juke is, the more imperiled his life becomes./
Because Mr. Juke's family is coming to get him back./
For a novel that has such a horrifying supernatural creature at the heart of it, the true terror of the book was contained in the historically accurate parts. It's hard to be afraid of made up monsters when the Klan and practicing eugenicists show up. Indeed, when you see the unrepentant Mrs. Frost and delusional Dr. Bergstrom own up to their crimes, no fictional monster could possibly stand up to the horrors humans are willing to perpetrate on each other./
I call this novel courageous because Mr. Nickle focuses on a period of history most people pretend didn't exist. The eugenics movement died after the holocaust showed the end result of such thinking. But denying that sterilization happened in other nations (including Canada and the U.S.), as painful as it is to admit, denies the injustices done to people in the past due to racism and elitist thinking. And allows the possibility of repeating such things. Fiction allows us to examine issues we'd rather not, in the safety of the present, when we hope such occurrences will never be allowed to happen again. In this way it reminds me of Blonde Roots, by Bernardine Evaristo, which flips history so Europeans are enslaved by Afrikaans. It shows how racism can go both ways and only the conquerors decide what is right and who are the elite./
People will find reading this book uncomfortable, for the subject matter and the liberal use of the 'n' word. We have whitewashed our history and no longer want to acknowledge the attitudes and language of the past. Even the subtle put downs black men faced, like using Dr. Waggoner's Christian name when addressing him, rather than his title, are accurately represented in this book./
The ending is tight, bringing all three plot lines together in surprising ways. It's an ending that is both satisfying, and thought provoking.
Cons: the supernatural aspect isn't as scary as the historically accurate parts/
Eutopia takes place in the early 1900's when the eugenics movement was becoming popular with a certain type of people. Mrs Frost, an agent of the Eugenics Records Office finds her nephew is the sole survivor of a plague ravaged frontier town. She brings him with her to Eilada, Idaho, where an industrialist has started what he intends to be a utopic community./
But not everything's rosy in paradise. The town's black doctor, Andrew Waggoner, has had a run in with the Ku Klux Klan and discovered that his colleague, Dr. Bergstrom has been keeping a 'Mr. Juke' in quarantine. The more Dr. Waggoner learns of Dr. Bergstrom's actions and who, or what, Mr. Juke is, the more imperiled his life becomes./
Because Mr. Juke's family is coming to get him back./
For a novel that has such a horrifying supernatural creature at the heart of it, the true terror of the book was contained in the historically accurate parts. It's hard to be afraid of made up monsters when the Klan and practicing eugenicists show up. Indeed, when you see the unrepentant Mrs. Frost and delusional Dr. Bergstrom own up to their crimes, no fictional monster could possibly stand up to the horrors humans are willing to perpetrate on each other./
I call this novel courageous because Mr. Nickle focuses on a period of history most people pretend didn't exist. The eugenics movement died after the holocaust showed the end result of such thinking. But denying that sterilization happened in other nations (including Canada and the U.S.), as painful as it is to admit, denies the injustices done to people in the past due to racism and elitist thinking. And allows the possibility of repeating such things. Fiction allows us to examine issues we'd rather not, in the safety of the present, when we hope such occurrences will never be allowed to happen again. In this way it reminds me of Blonde Roots, by Bernardine Evaristo, which flips history so Europeans are enslaved by Afrikaans. It shows how racism can go both ways and only the conquerors decide what is right and who are the elite./
People will find reading this book uncomfortable, for the subject matter and the liberal use of the 'n' word. We have whitewashed our history and no longer want to acknowledge the attitudes and language of the past. Even the subtle put downs black men faced, like using Dr. Waggoner's Christian name when addressing him, rather than his title, are accurately represented in this book./
The ending is tight, bringing all three plot lines together in surprising ways. It's an ending that is both satisfying, and thought provoking.
September 17, 2017
2.5 stars
This started out as a 4 star read for me. The beginning had mysteries and then a few very creepy scenes. Unfortunately as I learned more of what were behind the mysteries, the story had less of a creepy atmosphere and contained more icky scenes instead. On top of that, I felt like there were too many various elements thrown into the story that all were supposed to mesh together. It was just a bit over the top to me. The last 40 pages or so was a 1-2 star read.
Overall, I give this book a 2.5 stars. Started out strong, but just ended up not being my sort of book from the halfway point to the end.
This started out as a 4 star read for me. The beginning had mysteries and then a few very creepy scenes. Unfortunately as I learned more of what were behind the mysteries, the story had less of a creepy atmosphere and contained more icky scenes instead. On top of that, I felt like there were too many various elements thrown into the story that all were supposed to mesh together. It was just a bit over the top to me. The last 40 pages or so was a 1-2 star read.
Overall, I give this book a 2.5 stars. Started out strong, but just ended up not being my sort of book from the halfway point to the end.
April 1, 2019
Noting special here. I felt that something was missing and in truth I wasn`t so captivated by the story or the characters, so this was just an two stars read.
Not my cup of tea.
Not my cup of tea.
July 3, 2012
I had a really hard time getting through this book; I was interested for the first 24 pages.
The year is 1911; however, apart from the use of "lanterns" and ...more lanterns, the year could have been 2010 and set in an isolated town. I found the book poorly depicted the setting for most of the story.
I found the mix of eugenics, Feegers, Jukes, and believers a little much. I think the story could have been more developed and focused if only one of these was discussed. Instead, it focused on these Jukes and tied in small elements from eugenics, a plague, people involved in these conspiracies and a slew of other things the story could have done without. As a result, I found there was things I would have liked to learn more about, like these index cards and how they came up with ranking people, etc... but again, that didn't go far. The whole "magic-herbal-tea-to-the-rescue" was a total cliche which came from yet another group of people tied into the storyline.
The characters descriptions and their relationships were terrible. I initially thought that Jason was some 10 year-old boy by the way he was introduced, yet later found out he was 17. In addition, I really couldn't get a mental picture of the physical appearances or their personalities which made it really hard to establish a connection. I found the relationship between Jason and Ruth Harper completely ridiculous. Jason decides to spill his guts to Ruth after knowing nothing about her, except who her father is! - how stupid. Then raging teenage hormones (or perhaps not, I have not idea how old Ruth is supposed to be) kick in while her friend is laying ill.
The Juke, the Old Man, Him, Dauphin, the Son, some dude that dug up some clay jars, Charles Davenport ... I could go on, but you get the point.
Also, why is the title of the book "Eutopia" and within the text it's referred to as "Utopia" ? As far as I know, the two are interchangeable ?? Ugh.
You don't have to be George R R Martin or Ken Follett to be good at character or plot development, you just have to think about it. There are great books that have a great plot, characters, and manage to captivate the reader from the beginning to end (i.e. A Thousand Splendid Suns). This is by far the worst I have read.
High-five if you liked it.
The year is 1911; however, apart from the use of "lanterns" and ...more lanterns, the year could have been 2010 and set in an isolated town. I found the book poorly depicted the setting for most of the story.
I found the mix of eugenics, Feegers, Jukes, and believers a little much. I think the story could have been more developed and focused if only one of these was discussed. Instead, it focused on these Jukes and tied in small elements from eugenics, a plague, people involved in these conspiracies and a slew of other things the story could have done without. As a result, I found there was things I would have liked to learn more about, like these index cards and how they came up with ranking people, etc... but again, that didn't go far. The whole "magic-herbal-tea-to-the-rescue" was a total cliche which came from yet another group of people tied into the storyline.
The characters descriptions and their relationships were terrible. I initially thought that Jason was some 10 year-old boy by the way he was introduced, yet later found out he was 17. In addition, I really couldn't get a mental picture of the physical appearances or their personalities which made it really hard to establish a connection. I found the relationship between Jason and Ruth Harper completely ridiculous. Jason decides to spill his guts to Ruth after knowing nothing about her, except who her father is! - how stupid. Then raging teenage hormones (or perhaps not, I have not idea how old Ruth is supposed to be) kick in while her friend is laying ill.
The Juke, the Old Man, Him, Dauphin, the Son, some dude that dug up some clay jars, Charles Davenport ... I could go on, but you get the point.
Also, why is the title of the book "Eutopia" and within the text it's referred to as "Utopia" ? As far as I know, the two are interchangeable ?? Ugh.
You don't have to be George R R Martin or Ken Follett to be good at character or plot development, you just have to think about it. There are great books that have a great plot, characters, and manage to captivate the reader from the beginning to end (i.e. A Thousand Splendid Suns). This is by far the worst I have read.
High-five if you liked it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 11, 2011
Eutopia was the kind of book that got into my head, seriously, I've been dreaming about it.
The writing is very tight but descriptive and honest enough that it felt like I was diving into a Nickle's recreation of Idaho in 1911 every time that I picked it up. So much so that it was very jarring to return back to the "real" world when I had to put it down. Despite that, I read it in a little over two days and am still thinking about the historical and supernatural aspects.
There was enough description of the nasty deaths, murderous humans and supernatural creatures that made me understand the logistics of every scene, but there was enough left to the reader's mind's eye, that I was more creeped out by the details my own imagination included, than the ones the words on the pages did.
I would recommend this to any fan of historical or horror fiction because it definitely is a blended genre work. Good but intense read for someone willing to be surprised.
The writing is very tight but descriptive and honest enough that it felt like I was diving into a Nickle's recreation of Idaho in 1911 every time that I picked it up. So much so that it was very jarring to return back to the "real" world when I had to put it down. Despite that, I read it in a little over two days and am still thinking about the historical and supernatural aspects.
There was enough description of the nasty deaths, murderous humans and supernatural creatures that made me understand the logistics of every scene, but there was enough left to the reader's mind's eye, that I was more creeped out by the details my own imagination included, than the ones the words on the pages did.
I would recommend this to any fan of historical or horror fiction because it definitely is a blended genre work. Good but intense read for someone willing to be surprised.
July 20, 2012
Very disappointed by this one. The promise of an organized human experiment gone horribly wrong was enticing but the truth behind this part of the plot was a massive letdown. I was hoping for a purely scientific story of the blurry line between ambition and evil but the eugenical element of the story is simply crossbreeding between humans and fantastic creatures "discovered" in the wilderness of Idaho. I don't necessarily consider this a flaw but for those of you (like me) hoping for a purely human story may be disappointed. The one redeeming quality I found in this story was the character of Andrew Waggoner. He was a very interesting and sympathetic figure that the author wrote very well.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 31, 2017
I was going to give this book 5 stars, right up until the end, where it became unclear what was going on. Up to that point, the author managed to maintain a clarity of language, and create a weird and disorienting setting, but then about the last 50 pages or so, shit stopped making sense. I found the use of the n-word to be uncomfortable, crossing from portrayal of the time into excess where it might be rightly called out as endorsement, even though I don't think that was the intent. The treatment of eugenics as a source of horror was a useful premise on which to hang a violent and horrific tale, and there was plenty of gore and suspense.
May 17, 2015
A friend's grandmother once commented on her granddaughter's love of horror films featuring "stuff coming out the woods people ain't never even heard of." Well, Eutopia fits into that... uh, genre. It's billed as Lovecraftian, but the real horror of this novel is mankind's hubris. Highly recommended; super-duper gross.
I read it in one sitting. True, it was my entertainment during a 12-hour travel day, but it kept me less resentful of that!
I read it in one sitting. True, it was my entertainment during a 12-hour travel day, but it kept me less resentful of that!
December 14, 2012
What an odd book. Reading it felt like listening to someone try to tell you about a dream they had: full of powerful images and gripping stories, all of which fail, by just a very little bit, to quite get across or make complete sense.
I'm just the sort of terrible human being who can say, from experience, that there are MUCH better books about eugenics out there.
I'm just the sort of terrible human being who can say, from experience, that there are MUCH better books about eugenics out there.
October 20, 2017
This is a top runner for weirdest book I have ever read. I need to think about it for a bit before I do a full review. I honestly don't even know what I would say in a review about it right now other than so weird and disturbing at parts (many parts).
May 18, 2011
It's 1911. Underneath the idyllic surface of small town Eliada, eugenics is being studied and the town may have reasons for its seemingly perfect inhabitants. I first read about the American eugenics program in Jodi Picoult's Second Glance and it was that subject that made me want to read Eutopia. It's a part of American history that has been swept under the carpet, for understandable reasons. However, eugenics is used as a vehicle for the plot here and I didn't learn much more than I already knew.
If eugenics isn't scary enough for you, there's something not right in the quarantine shed. Dr Waggoner is a black doctor who happens to be available when a young woman has been butchered during what looks like outhouse abortion. Now in a town practising eugenics, you can tell that a black doctor is going to be in for a tough time and an attempted lynching is just the start of it. It turns out that women are being raped and the person being kept in quarantine is suspected of being involved.
This novel is seriously creepy. Do not read it on your own, at night, with the bedroom window open. I ended up jumpy and paranoid and then had to sleep with the window closed even though it was muggy and uncomfortable. Now, when it comes to films, I'm a big girlie wuss but not so much with horror novels. I find the scariest things are often the stuff that can really happen and horror writers can kill the suspense with excessive description. But not here.
There are a lot of big ideas in Eutopia and I think maybe there are too many to do them all justice. Not only are there the real life horrors of practising eugenics on a community, biological warfare and an element of the supernatural but also questions of religion. It did seem a bit disjointed at times and the end seemed a little anti-climatic after all the good stuff that came before but the creep factor gives it an extra star.
If eugenics isn't scary enough for you, there's something not right in the quarantine shed. Dr Waggoner is a black doctor who happens to be available when a young woman has been butchered during what looks like outhouse abortion. Now in a town practising eugenics, you can tell that a black doctor is going to be in for a tough time and an attempted lynching is just the start of it. It turns out that women are being raped and the person being kept in quarantine is suspected of being involved.
This novel is seriously creepy. Do not read it on your own, at night, with the bedroom window open. I ended up jumpy and paranoid and then had to sleep with the window closed even though it was muggy and uncomfortable. Now, when it comes to films, I'm a big girlie wuss but not so much with horror novels. I find the scariest things are often the stuff that can really happen and horror writers can kill the suspense with excessive description. But not here.
There are a lot of big ideas in Eutopia and I think maybe there are too many to do them all justice. Not only are there the real life horrors of practising eugenics on a community, biological warfare and an element of the supernatural but also questions of religion. It did seem a bit disjointed at times and the end seemed a little anti-climatic after all the good stuff that came before but the creep factor gives it an extra star.
June 9, 2011
I think Eugenics, without any help or added extras, is a creepy subject to begin with; practice of it is a horror in itself. Human beings are usually influenced by their emotions and their belief systems, and I think Eugenics gives a human being too much capability, and excuse, to be a bigot. In my opinion, Eugenics can never be a practice without prejudice, and the idea of people in power practicing it is horrifying (Hitler is a great example of this). Eugenics is a great format to delve into issues of racism, ethics, morals, and belief systems, but the use of it as a horror story has been really well presented by Nickle. It’s been awhile since I have read a book at night time, which has left me feeling unsettled when I’m trying to go to sleep afterwards. Eutopia unsettled me whilst also wrapping me up in its story and having me enjoy it.
It’s set in the early 1900s when Eugenics was a favoured ideal at the time and I think the place and time is captured and conveyed really well via the way the characters interact and share their thoughts with us. And unlike other stories set in that time, it is not convoluted with the language of Victoriana. Don’t get me wrong, I adore Victorian settings and stories written and based in that time, but there are times when the language of it can come across as being a little too up itself and hard to digest. How easy it is to digest can have an impact on the pace of it. Eutopia, whilst still keeping in with Victorian language, isn’t overly verbose about it. I found this helped keep up the pace and suspense, a suspense that is subtle and smart, but not pretentious, in its delivery.
Please visit my blog for the rest of my review.
It’s set in the early 1900s when Eugenics was a favoured ideal at the time and I think the place and time is captured and conveyed really well via the way the characters interact and share their thoughts with us. And unlike other stories set in that time, it is not convoluted with the language of Victoriana. Don’t get me wrong, I adore Victorian settings and stories written and based in that time, but there are times when the language of it can come across as being a little too up itself and hard to digest. How easy it is to digest can have an impact on the pace of it. Eutopia, whilst still keeping in with Victorian language, isn’t overly verbose about it. I found this helped keep up the pace and suspense, a suspense that is subtle and smart, but not pretentious, in its delivery.
Please visit my blog for the rest of my review.
March 19, 2018
probably a 3.5-ish...
the first half of the book was amazing... just enough hints that things were a bit off, OK, way off... still, vague enough to make you wonder, but obviously there was more to the story than some crackpots forming some sort of eugenics-fed utopia whilst battling the locals ingrates for territorial supremacy... a couple well-placed words, known to those who read amidst the dark side, left little doubt something nightmarish was afoot... but then the tale just gets really dialogue heavy, and i'm not fan of dialogue to drive a story, no, not at all... turns the story into this back-and-forth conversation that just kills momentum and dread and energy and awful goings-on, and quickly... the dual protagonist part went south somewhere too, not sure exactly when but eventually it seemed unnecessary and confusing... the "creepy backwoods clan communing with the beast" just never got off the ground in a horrific enough manner... sometimes elision works, not here... by the middle of the book the "what the hell is REALLY going on here?!?" turned into "just get this over with, 'cuz i can see the end and it says SEQUEL", and i hate books that aren't self-contained enough, even if a following book is planned/expected/possible... the concept was ace, but nowhere near enough time spent on it, and way too much on the 'dreamscapes' silliness... could have been much more nasty and grabby and terrifying and flaying, and if you miss that stuff, you better have quality narrative chops, which here were more like narrative nips, or gummings... "Volk" better get gross...
the first half of the book was amazing... just enough hints that things were a bit off, OK, way off... still, vague enough to make you wonder, but obviously there was more to the story than some crackpots forming some sort of eugenics-fed utopia whilst battling the locals ingrates for territorial supremacy... a couple well-placed words, known to those who read amidst the dark side, left little doubt something nightmarish was afoot... but then the tale just gets really dialogue heavy, and i'm not fan of dialogue to drive a story, no, not at all... turns the story into this back-and-forth conversation that just kills momentum and dread and energy and awful goings-on, and quickly... the dual protagonist part went south somewhere too, not sure exactly when but eventually it seemed unnecessary and confusing... the "creepy backwoods clan communing with the beast" just never got off the ground in a horrific enough manner... sometimes elision works, not here... by the middle of the book the "what the hell is REALLY going on here?!?" turned into "just get this over with, 'cuz i can see the end and it says SEQUEL", and i hate books that aren't self-contained enough, even if a following book is planned/expected/possible... the concept was ace, but nowhere near enough time spent on it, and way too much on the 'dreamscapes' silliness... could have been much more nasty and grabby and terrifying and flaying, and if you miss that stuff, you better have quality narrative chops, which here were more like narrative nips, or gummings... "Volk" better get gross...
December 22, 2016
DNF at 52%. This novel started very well, with very good writing and a strong first chapter. It promised a story about racism, at the time that eugenics ideas were becoming accepted by science and even practiced on some level. The characters were good and interesting, and the plot moved along in a pace that kept my interest and made me care what happens next. And then things started going very wrong. Instead of exposing the terrors of eugenics and saying something new about racism and how degenerate it is, we get a semi-supernatural tale about beings that rape and plant themselves inside women's wombs and then tear them getting out of them. The book became more and more unbearable to read, with really gruesome and sick scenes, vivid violence and very unpleasant sexuality, revolving around what is supposed to be a kind of metaphor to how racism eats us from within or something of the sort. I'm so disappointed, because Nickle is a superb writer with a lot going for him and he can do better than this. I can't go on reading a book that makes me feel physically nauseous and from which I'm getting nothing more than cheap metaphors.
February 20, 2012
It was interesting to read this book immediately after reading The White Devil because the only thing that Justin Evan's novel does completely and absolutely right is the only beef I could conceivably have with what's wrong about Eutopia. I'm talking about the sense of place, the descriptives that place a reader in the era that a story is meant to take place. Ostensibly, Eutopia takes place in 1911, but nothing in the book really made me think "Oh yeah, 1911".
References to the Ku Kluz Klan? Yes, they denote a particular time and place, but not necessarily the time intended. Some of the dialogue seems authentically 1911 (use of words like "mayhap", for example) but not, at the same time, really.
It's a small complaint, to be sure. But it is one that causes a separation between being merely impressed with Nickle's novel and running out to find another one right now! Genuinely creepy in parts, Eutopia is worth reading, but I don't see myself coming back to it again and again and again.
References to the Ku Kluz Klan? Yes, they denote a particular time and place, but not necessarily the time intended. Some of the dialogue seems authentically 1911 (use of words like "mayhap", for example) but not, at the same time, really.
It's a small complaint, to be sure. But it is one that causes a separation between being merely impressed with Nickle's novel and running out to find another one right now! Genuinely creepy in parts, Eutopia is worth reading, but I don't see myself coming back to it again and again and again.
December 29, 2012
Finally, a horror novel that is actually scary! "Eutopia" is unsettling in many ways. Eugenics is a terrifying concept, as is the particularly vile racism displayed by some (fairly incompetent) Klansmen in this novel. Then there is the thrilling horror envoked by the very unpleasant mutant monsters that scurry around the town of Eliada, which is the utopian community run by some very misguided gents, who are trying to improve humanity by breeding experiments because those always work out so well. Then there's young Jason, who comes to Eliada after his small village is wiped out by a sort of plague, and is immediately drugged, strapped to a gurney and put in quarantine, where he encounters one of the - well, you get the point. There's a lot going on here, and the end is a bit hurried, but considering that quality horror is so hard to find I'm happily giving this one a top rating.
July 20, 2012
The premise of this book sounded so interesting, and I couldn't wait to start it. It started off with promise, but then the story began to unravel and ultimately I found myself disappointed. When the story took a turn I didn't quite expect, I went with it, but in the end felt the it should have stayed more focused on the concept of Eugenics and not strayed to the supernatural. To me, the idea of a group trying to "cleanse" society is far more frightening than some backwoods monsters.
May 1, 2015
Brilliant writing. Once I got past the first five pages, I couldn't put the novel down. The author's style is very low-key, and that makes the story even more terrifying. I want to read everything David Nickle writes.
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