The Open Curtain

by Brian Evenson

When Rudd, a troubled teenager, embarks on a school project, he runs across a series of articles from the 1902 New York Times chronicling a vicious murder committed by the grandson of Brigham Young. Delving deeply into the Mormon ritual of blood sacrifice used in the murders, Rudd, along with his newly discovered half-brother, Lael, becomes swept up in the psychological and atavistic effects of this violent, antique ritual.

As the past and the present become an increasingly tangled knot, Rudd is found at the scene of a multiple murder at a remote campsite with minor injuries and few memories. Lyndi, the daughter of the victims, tries to help Rudd recover his memory and, together, they find a strength unique to survivors of terrible tragedies. But Rudd, desperate to protect Lyndi and unable to let the past be still, tries to manipulate their Mormon wedding ceremony to trick the priests (and God) by giving himself and Lyndi new secret names-names that match the killer and the victim in the one hundred-year-old murder. The nightmare has just begun.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Mystery, Religion, Thriller, Crime, Literature

Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Brian Evenson is an American academic and writer of both literary fiction and popular fiction, some of the latter being published under B. K. Evenson.

Reviews

[Annet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wew, this is a dark book. I mean, dark black....
I read some reader's reviews, 'read with the light on' and one about a bad dream... yeah, I can see that this book does this to you.
But the thing is, this book is very well written, and the story just gruesomely fascinating and you keep wondering, what's going on, who is who now... etc.. I got to know this writer, Brian Evenson, through his apocalytic book Immobility (highly recommended) and now I know this writer is good, though with its dark sides...
This book is about Rudd, a troubled Mormon teenager, who runs across an article about a vicious, seemingly ritual murder by the grandson of Brigham Young, possibly a Mormon blood atonement doctrine.
He starts following up on this story together with his newly discovered half-brother Lael, and slowly but surely spirals down a road to madness and obsession.
More can not be said, it would be spoiling...

[Janie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was impossible for me to put down. Both an exploration of violent undercurrents in the Mormon belief system and an immersive psychological study of a mind in a chaotic downward spiral, Evenson's character study and its moral underpinnings build to a kaleidoscopic crescendo, tying shattered pieces together in a stunning finale. This affecting novel will remain with me for a long time to come.

[Panagiotis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ο Έβενσον είναι ένα μικρό μυστικό μεταξύ των βιβλιόφιλων. Από 'κείνους τους συγγραφείς που παρότι έχουν σπάνιες αρετές, όπως ξεχωριστό ύφος και προσωπικό όραμα, λίγοι τους γνωρίζουν. Εγώ έπεσα πάνω του τυχαία μια μέρα, έπιασα το The Last Days, σαγηνεύτηκα από τις νοσηρές εικόνες του και έκτοτε έχει μπει στη λίστα μου όλη του η εργογραφία.

Δεν είναι διασκεδαστικός ο Έβενσον. Στο πρώτο βιβλίο που διάβασα είχα ανάμεικτα συναισθήματα τα οποία εκφράστηκαν με τρία αστέρια. Κάτι όμως με μαγνήτισε στον τόνο του. Εδώ ένας νεαρός, από οικογένεια Μορμόνων, πέφτει πάνω σε μια παλιά εφημερίδα, όπου διαβάζει για έναν φόνο σχεδόν έναν αιώνα παλιόν, βασισμένο σε τελετουργικά των Μορμόνων. Θέλει να μάθει περισσότερα, κάτι μάλλον που δεν θα του βγει σε καλό, γιατί αυτό το περιστατικό τον καταλαμβάνει με έναν ανεξήγητο, τρομακτικό τρόπο.

Είναι το χρονικό της καταβύθισης στην παράνοια. Κάπου στο τέλος, στο τρίτο σημείο, ο αναγνώστης αποσυντονισμένος θα νιώσει πως τρελαίνεται και ο ίδιος. Υπάρχει κάτι ενοχλητικό σε αυτό το βιβλίο - μέ έναν τρόπο που για κάποιους μπορεί να είναι απωθητικό, για άλλους άκρως δημιουργικό. Όπως και να 'χει, νιώθεις άσχημα που διαβάζεις όλα αυτά τα πράματα. Γιατί ο κόσμος του Έβενσον είναι νοσηρός. Όχι με παιχνιδιάρικο ή γκροτέσκο τρόπου, αλλά με μια ηρεμία, σαν να είναι η μόνη ανθρώπινη πτυχή που γνωρίζει. Η εκκλησία των Μορμόνων λέει ο Έβενσον είναι βασισμένη στην βία. Το λέει με την ιστορία του, το λέει και στο σημείωμα στο τέλος του βιβλίου, όπου κάνει μια αναδρομή στο δικό του παρελθόν ως Μορμόνος και πως τελικά αποκήρυξε την πίστη του. Με αυτό το βιβλίο εξορκίζει τους δαίμονές του.

Δεν διασκέδασα με το βιβλίο. Σε μερικά σημεία δεν καταλάβαινα το τι συμβαίνει και γιατί συμβαίνει. Η κλιμακούμενη αίσθηση κινδύνου που μου δημιουργούταν όσο διάβαζα ηχούσε σαν καμπάνα μέσα στο κεφάλι μου, ήθελα να κλείσω το βιβλίο. Ξέρω όμως τι μ' αρέσει σε αυτό τον συγγραφέα. Έχει την φωνή που μ' αρέσει, προσεγγίζοντας την αφήγηση με έναν αφαιρετικό τρόπο. Οι πράξεις χαρακτηρίζουν τους χαρακτήρες του που φαντάζουν δυσεπίλυτα προβλήματα. Οι περιγραφές είναι ελάχιστες, το οποίο τελικά σημαίνει πως είναι οι περιγραφές που θα κάναμε όταν θα εξιστορούσαμε κι εμείς μια ιστορία που θέλουμε να βγάλουμε απο μέσα μας: μόνο τα βασικά και οτιδήποτε άλλο είναι κάτι που εμποδίζει τον ρου. Επιπλέον ο Έβενσον έχει εμμονές και όραμα, κάτι που γίνεται αντιληπτό από ένα και μόνο του βιβλίο και το οποίο είναι κατ' εξοχήν δείγμα σπουδαίου συγγραφέα.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brian Evenson is a writer I've been meaning to read for quite some time but who I never got around to buying a book of until this past weekend's book fair. I don't think they are all like this one. By the back cover one might think this is a horror novel, or apocalyptic based on the blurbs by Peter Straub and George Saunders, but I think those are blurbs for Evenson in general and not for this novel. Although there is something kind of psychologically horror like in this book. Normally in my reviews I make little or no reference to the actual plot of the books, and this review will not break that tradition. This time though instead of pushing the plot aside for my self-indulgent asides and not so clever novelty shit, I'm just going to add this to the small group of books reviewed that I'm consciously choosing not to say anything. Any kind of plot summation would give away something. What I can say is that if you like the idea of reading about Mormons and murder than you could have come to the right book.

"It's the fucking government and they are fucking with my balls." This has nothing to do with the book, but someone just said this while walking under my window, and I hope that the government stops fucking with his balls,and even more hope that the government never starts fucking with my balls. That must not be good.

Back to the review. A few blocks from where I'm typing this is a Mormon temple, and I've learned things about the Mormons in this book that makes me a little fearful, and also it's going to make for weird encounters the next time I'm behind some mormons on line at the post-office. I had no idea they had special undergarments. I'm going to be trying really hard to make them out under their clothes now. I do like the idea that God dwells in a little room only a few blocks from me though and that only a sheet hangs between him and me (well and the walls to the building, some other buildings, train tracks, and other shit, but I still feel pretty close to god now, something I'd been missing ever since the Pentecostals moved out from directly below my apartment, and I was living right in the trajectory of the holy spirit coming right from heaven and into their (heads? minds? lungs?) whatevers and letting them speak in tongues. I never heard speaking in tongues though, just a loud drum being played by someone with no sense of time, and a woman preaching / crying. I still felt very in with the big 3 though during my first year here when they lived below me.

Now you know very little about this book, but more about the religious geography of Woodside NY. Thank you for your time.

[S̶e̶a̶n̶ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Open Curtain is by far the most conventional work of fiction I've read by Brian Evenson. Of course, that may not sound like it's saying much for those who know Evenson's work, which typically dispenses with such narrative luxuries as plot, detailed settings, and character development. And to be fair, in its final section the novel does go off its otherwise more traditionally laid rails. Certainly there are also hints of off-kilter substance lurking in the background, building suspense throughout the book. But I found myself bored with expository detail for the first time ever while reading Evenson's fiction. And then I read the afterword and got the sense that Evenson had in part written this book for a wider audience than his usual following. So the stylistic shift may have had a specific purpose. It seems to be a very personal book for him, and I appreciate that, as well as the reasons why it's personal. My main objection to the book is that it felt too long. I wished for it to be told in the tighter, more clipped tone and style that I've come to expect from Evenson. But, alas, such was not the case. Still, it's a strong story and one that I can see drawing in readers less inclined toward Evenson's more stripped-down work. (3.5 stars)

[Benoit Lelièvre · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great.

THE OPEN CURTAIN is a horror novel, a literary novel about overbearing religious heritage and a mystery wrapped up in one. It is, first and foremost, a fictional exploration of the blood sacrifice ritual in the Mormon religionus, which Evenson was a part of when he started this book and that he was self-excommunicated from when he finished. The first two part are rather straightforward although extremely well executed, and the closing section of THE OPEN CURTAIN throws a mystical curveball into what would otherwise be a just a super cool horror novel.

Loved it. Not quite as much as LAST DAYS, but almost. Evenson is a master and I don't use this term lightly.

[Maciek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brian Evenson wrote the excellent Last Days which was my introduction to his work and became one of my favorite novels; I still think about it and will certainly re-read it. It's October, the time of the year to read spooky novels, and my first pick for the season had to be another of Evenson's novels, one which I haven't read yet - The Open Curtain.

Brian Evenson is not strictly a horror writer; his work defies categorization. Last Days is a detective novel, a story of religious obsession and a Kafkaesque dystopia; The Open Curtain is a much different book - one thing which connects both is religion. However the cult of Last Days was one which exists only in that book (at least I hope so), while The Open Curtain features a real church, and one of which Evenson himself was a longtime member - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The church and its doctrines and customs feature prominently throughout the book - the novel is set in Utah, the cradle of Mormonism, and oscillates around a real historical event: a murder committed by William Hooper Young, the grandson of Brigham Young, the legendary Mormon pioneer and successor of Joseph Smith.

The protagonist of The Open Curtain, Rudd, is a young Mormon living with his mother; Rudd is a disaffected teen, a loner without any real friends. One day, while rummaging through his late father's belongings, he finds letters he didn't know about - one of them is from a woman named Anne Korth, who claims that Rudd's father has fathered her child, a boy named Lael. The box also contained his father's reply where he denied fathering the child and claimed that the woman must be mistaken; Rudd's mother also insists that Anne Korth mistook Rudd's father for someone else and refuses to talk about the subject. In secret Rudd decides to track down Anne Korth and the boy who might or might not be his half-brother; he eventually finds out that she lives just a town away. Although she refuses to speak to him, he discovers that a teenager does live with her - one the same age as Rudd, named Lael, who becomes his only companion and allows Rudd to slowly slip away from the influence of his domineering mother.

At school, Rudd is asked to write a paper on his personal hero; during research he discovers the murder with which he slowly becomes obsessed. In 1902 William Young was tried and convicted for the murder of Anna Pulitzer, and because of his connection to the leader of the Mormon Church speculation surfaced that the murder was motivated by this religion. Young was to kill Pulitzer according to the Mormon doctrine of Blood Atonement, propagated by Brigham Young - where a murder is considered to be a crime which is so horrible that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ does not apply to the perpetrators, who must shed their own blood on the ground as sacrificial offering. Investigators found Young's notebook with his notes about scripture and the doctrine, but the actual motive for the murder was never determined.

Both Rudd and his newfound half-brother become consumed with Young and his bloody crime, and the horrifying antique doctrine that might have motivated it - and soon Rudd will himself witness a terrible murder and emerge as the only survivor. With his mind unclear and memories blank, he'll be approached by a 19 year old Lyndi - daughter of the victims, who wishes to help him get his memory back and with whom he'll develop an unique bond. Rudd hope that Lyndi will help him find peace, but this might not be the case - he can't remember details about the murder he witnessed, but the crime of William Hooper Young has never left his mind.

In the afterword Evenson writes that he started writing The Open Curtain as a younger writer, and when he was still a Mormon; he finished it as a much older one, and after his excommunication from the Church. This shows, as the opening part of the novel is well-written but much more straightforward and very different from the second part, where times and places mix fluently in a way similar to Evenson's later novels and stories. While Evenson has a history with the Mormon Church which is not pleasant, the book itself is not an attack on Mormonism and Mormons themselves - rather it uses the lesser-known doctrine and a forgotten murder to to create an uncompromising contemporary gothic novel of religious obsession and violence. This is a very dark and disturbing book, but like Evenson's other writing is also unique and very good and memorable. While Last Days might be a better introduction to the author, I doubt that anyone wishing to read a dark and brooding novel during these upcoming cold and somber months will be disappointed with The Open Curtain.

[Stephen M · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had some ideas about this book that I was pretty convinced were correct. Or as correct as an interpretation can be. That was until I read the author's afterword and sort of had the book spoiled for me. It was interesting to read the author's take on his own work but I felt let down that my way of seeing this book was not the way the author intended at all. In fact, it was the exact opposite. With friends, I've often discussed the significance of authorial intent in analyzing a novel. For us, it seems to mean practically bupkiss in the long run. But knowing that doesn't change how I felt when I read Evenson's afterword. I'm not going to go into much detail about my own interpretation versus Evenson's because in doing that would spoil the book. I will say that I was pining for a pro-religion reading (as crazy as that sounds to those of you who have read this book) but it was decidedly not a pro-religious book at all. Which on the surface makes sense, but upon closer analysis of the "Open Curtain" as a metaphor for divine inspiration, it makes sense to me. But again I am wrong and I officially hang my head in shame.

If you're wondering what this book is all about, I can't say much without spoiling a lot of it. All you need to know is that the book follows Rudd, a senior in high school, as he descends into madness. He becomes increasingly obsessed with some mormon murders that occur around the time of the early 1900's. As he investigates this murder and makes it the centerpiece for a high school essay, he starts his slow dissent into madness. That is only a small snippet of the first section. Two other sections follow and center on different characters; although the last section. . . well that's up for a bit of debate.

Overall I think that Evenson's handling of the story is impeccable. The glowing praise for his writing is no exaggeration. The dude can freaking write. But it was the story that I took issue with. I didn't like how depressing the whole story was. Which, I know is a bad reason not to like a piece of work but what I mean is that Evenson takes a myopic view of his own story. As in, there is little dynamic in the emotions and themes. Hell, even the love interest in this book is the most sad, stale and flaccid (pun very much intended) relationship. It is very important to keep a consistent tone throughout a story but come on! After reading this book, I felt like lighting a cigarette and reciting Nietzsche quotes. *puff puff* "All things are subject to interpretation whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth." *french inhales slowly*

Prose style: 4
Plot: 4
Depth of characters: 2
Overall sense of aesthetic: 3
Originality: 5
Entertaining: 2
Emotional Reaction: 1
Intellectual Stimulation: 5
Social Relevance: 2
Writerly Inspiration: 1

Average = 2.9
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[Stacia]

I'm not entirely sure how I stumbled across Evenson or his book. To be sure, Evenson is a very good writer. Excellent, really. This is a portrait of psychological disturbance & you, the reader, get dragged down with it. The last section is almost post-modern in style (which I very much liked); it offers insight into & the confusion of a cracked & (very) troubled mind. From The Believer magazine:

"The final fifty pages of Brian Evenson’s new novel, The Open Curtain, contain some of the most stunning and virtuosic fiction I have ever read. Seriously. The ending is so perfectly executed that I’m not even going to review it for you for fear of compromising your enjoyment of unforgettable artistic achievement."

I agree.

Even so, it's one of those books where you read some, think "I should probably just stop/walk away now," but then continue reading. I don't know which way to rate this. I can't unsee it (& I did choose to continue the book) & he is definitely a talented writer. But, other than the writing style of the last section, I can't really say I liked the book. I dreaded it. I read it anyway (in one afternoon). I can admire the work it takes for a writer to pull you along, even when you're not sure you want to be there. Am I now a part of the psychological twisting?

I know very little about Mormonism & this book revolves heavily on that, including focus on the real-life murder of Anna Pulitzer by William Hooper Young (grandson of Brigham Young). The idea of blood atonement also comes heavily into play. There is actually a postscript from the author where he talks about his upbringing in the Mormon Church, how he ended up leaving it, & eventually asked them to excommunicate him. I think this book may be part of the author's wrestling of the demons of strict religious belief & how that may affect an unspooling mind.

Gothic. Creepy. Disturbing.

I have a headache now.

[Lewis Housley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Brian Evenson's work. I love his work that talks about Mormons as well. I am from Utah and was raised in and around Mormonism. I also excommunicated myself in my 20s after some members showed up at my apartment and asked how my grandmother was doing and why I didn't attend the local meetings. This was weird because I didn't know how they knew where I lived and I hadn't attended a church meeting since I was about 10 or 11. Anyway...I love Evenson's work set in Utah because he perfectly captures the feel of the weirdness and the culture of the Mormons of the 70s through the 90s. And, he's right there is definitely a culture of Power, Conformity, and Violence engrained in the religion and yet...many Mormons are the kindest people I have ever met. Humans are weird.

[Jeff Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

'The Open Curtain' is a strong suspense novel, but given the rapturous praise it's received I was expecting a bit more. For the first two sections, the prose is a bit pedestrian and plodding. Also it's hardly a Spoiler Alert to say that you realize Rudd is schizophrenic early on and everything that follows is predictably the result of this condition. Throughout there are a number of creepy moments, haunting narrative ellipses, insightful and indelible descriptions. But the book really burst to life for me in the hallucinatory third and final section, offering an inventive narration of past and current events and raising the bar for the entire novel. Be interested to learn if there other Evenson books written more fully in the style of this remarkable last section...?

[Brian O'Connell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sunrise in hell. I’m very familiar with Brian Evenson’s ultra-controlled and supremely unsettling prose from his horror stories (the best of which are among the finest in the genre), but this novel finds him exploring some extremely harrowing emotional climes—grief, love, loneliness—in much greater depth than the short story form is usually able to encompass. Three parts, each fractured from one another and reset by some culminating terror: the first an elliptical and extremely menacing trajectory toward violence; the second a doomed romance worthy of comparison with Thomas Hardy in its abject sorrow and dread; the final an almost purely abstract, recursive immersion in a private hell of madness and isolation. Put together, the experience has all the fearsome majesty of a gathering storm. A wonderful, painful novel; definitely one of my favorite things I’ve read this year.

[pk · Rating 5 out of 5]

hellish masterpiece

[M. Sarki · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://rogueliterarysociety.com/f/th...

...sitting in a darkened theater having one’s nerves peeled is not my idea of pleasure...__Jim Harrison from The Beige Dolorisa

Brian Evenson continues writing important works often revealing what hides behind religion, specifically his own, or what used to be his own. Evenson has a riveting personal story himself, where he came from, what he left, and he uses his fiction to bring light to it. I would love to read his memoir. But not being a horror fan ( the genre scares me) I found this book extremely unsettling and not much fun to read. Well-written and challenging, Evenson kept me witnessing and unhappily complicit to the very last page. Not since Dostoevsky have I entered insanity to this degree, and that in fact is not my cup of tea. But hooray for Evenson and his staying power. He is a writer destined to be around for a very long time.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am going to straight-up admit that after reading this book, the Mormon church kind of freaks me out, more than it already did. Honestly, all religions freak me out but the amount of secrecy surrounding the Mormon church provides that extra shiver factor which I could do without. Not that this book paints a negative picture of the LDS. I think it paints an accurate picture, an important distinction, especially considering the author's experience. Evenson states in his afterward that this book was written over the course of his beliefs changing, which is reflected in the book, and ended with his self-requested excommunication. From the religious stand point alone, this book is incredibly interesting and informative, especially involving the LDS ceremonies for initiated members, something I knew next to nothing about, except for the requirement of the undergarments.

As for the book, I loved the character of Rudd but had some problems relating to Lyndi. Maybe this should have been reversed considering everything that happens, the fact that Lyndi is a woman feeling many things I have felt and Rudd is, well, not someone most people will be able to connect with, at least not later in the book. There are some seriously disturbing parts and the ending was a satisfactory culmination of events. Though I much prefer Evenson's Last Days, I think The Open Curtain will appeal to a greater number of readers. This book is more accesible. Evenson is a gifted writer, one of the few authors I have read who writes horrific literature, literature being the key word.

[hope h. · Rating 4 out of 5]

some solid brian evenson goodness but not quiiiite as polished as his other novels like Last Days or Father of Lies, which i would recommend reading first if you're into his religious cult horror style. however, this was definitely a solid entry in his bibliography with all of the tropes that i so dearly love: deconstruction of mormon rituals, body horror, gore, dissociation from self, temporal displacement, what more could you ask for? engrossing and fucked up and just tons of fun

[Charles Dee Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brian Evenson’s psychological horror story is a convincing and unnerving portrait of mental disintegration. He brings together the life of Rudd Theurer, a disaffected Morman teenaged boy; that boy’s fascination with a 1902 murder involving William Hooper Young, who was a grandson of Brigham Young; and a social setting that allows the boy’s growing madness to pass unnoticed in an atmosphere that combines neglect, abuse, and denial. The book skirts becoming overloaded with complications and references, but Evenson knows how to pay off plot twists and shock elements while maintaining the readers sympathy – up to a point – with his severely disturbed protagonist.

The title refers to Mormon ritual, and the violent undercurrents of Morman history inform the plot. In a afterward, Evenson reveals that during the writing of The Open Curtain he fully disengaged from the LDS Church and formally requested excommunication. His horror story is not an anti-Mormon diatribe, but he is unrelenting in his exploration of the corrosive effect of Morman theology on his mentally fragile protagonist.

[David Bridges · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished Brian Evenson's The Open Curtain and I can definitely say Evenson is one of my favorite writers period. This is the 5th book I've read by him and I can't really choose a favorite because I like them all. I have read Immobility, Last Days, Windeye, Baby Leg, and now The Open Curtain. I will say that if you want to read Evenson The Open Curtain would be a fine place to start. This book was apparently very personal to him and you can tell by how amazing the characters in this book are. Read Evenson!

[Jamie Grefe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review coming... as soon as I calm down from how good this book is.

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

what!!! what!!! i’m gonna be thinking about this book for the rest of my life.

[Wu Ming · Rating 5 out of 5]

WM2: E' molto difficile parlare di questo libro senza rovinare ai lettori il piacere della scoperta. Non perché la trama sia un susseguirsi di colpi di scena, un meccanismo perfetto che non bisogna svelare. Il fatto è che il racconto cambia pelle almeno cinque volte nel corso di 280 pagine e ogni volta ti ritrovi a pensare che il romanzo non è più come lo immaginavi, che le tue aspettative erano sbagliate e che dovrai fare i conti con qualcosa di diverso. Eppure, mentre superi lo choc, capisci che il racconto è sempre lo stesso, l'autore non ti ha ingannato, non sei vittima di un gioco di prestigio, messo in piedi per farti restare a bocca aperta e poi tutti a casa. Quando il protagonista è un adolescente come Rudd Theurer, la narrazione non può che essere mutante, la sua coerenza sta nel cambiamento, nel percorso di crescita contorto e allucinato di questo ragazzo dello Utah.
In principio, La Colpa è il romanzo di formazione di uno sfigato. Rudd è orfano di padre, non ha amici, sua madre lo opprime a colpi di buon senso e Libro di Mormon. E' timido, introverso e ha una spiccata attitudine per le ossessioni. Una frase, anche la più banale, può scavargli in testa per giorni.
Quando Rudd scopre di avere un fratellastro, Lael Korth, comincia a frequentarlo in maniera compulsiva, sebbene l'altro non gli dimostri la stessa dedizione e ammetta di essere suo fratello solo in maniera strumentale, per ottenere favori e complicità. Già qui il racconto ha fatto la prima svolta. Le disavventure sociali di Rudd passano in secondo piano e il suo rapporto ossessivo con Lael diventa il motore della narrazione. La colpa si trasforma in un romanzo sull'amicizia velenosa tra un ragazzo debole e affamato di conferme e un altro che si diverte a dominarlo.
Lael è un personaggio enigmatico, sua madre lo chiama Lyle e di lui non sappiamo nulla, se non quello che accade negli incontri con il (presunto) fratellastro. Rudd, al contrario, esiste anche al di fuori della coppia, sebbene in maniera sempre più faticosa, finché all'improvviso sembra trovarsi a un passo dal primo successo scolastico della sua carriera. Nel corso di un'attività didattica, sulle pagine del New York Times dei primi del Novecento, scopre una serie di articoli a proposito dell'assassinio di Anna Pulitzer. Accusato del delitto, un certo William Hooper Young, di religione mormone. Secondo una pista d'indagine, l'omicidio sarebbe da collegare al "sacrificio di sangue", un rito misterioso del quale i seguaci di Mormon hanno sempre negato l'esistenza. Rudd si lascia catturare dalla vicenda, la studia nei dettagli, la sogna. Coinvolge nella ricerca anche Lael, e per diverse pagine La Colpa cambia ancora aspetto, forse per la prima volta in maniera brusca e non del tutto riuscita, diventando un poliziesco sul caso Hooper Young.
Risultato: la professoressa chiede a Rudd di cambiare soggetto. Lui obbedisce e da quel momento comincia ad avere strane amnesie, vuoti di memoria, la sensazione di uscire dal proprio corpo.
Poi, quando le ossessioni di Rudd sembrano raggiungere l'apice, il romanzo scarta ancora. E' la seconda parte: cambia il punto di vista e la protagonista diventa Lyndi, una diciottenne appena investita da una terribile tragedia familiare. Sola al mondo, Lyndi conoscerà Rudd e inizierà a frequentarlo, fino alla decisione di sposarsi. In queste pagine La Colpa è il racconto implacabile di come una donna possa legarsi a un uomo per una sorta di crociata, contro i suoi fantasmi e contro la propria solitudine.
A proposito di fantasmi, Lael, Hooper Young e il suo complice Elling, sembrano scomparsi, dimenticati, ma la cerimonia nuziale nel tempio mormone li riporta in vita. Insieme a loro, emerge qui in maniera dirompente l'indagine filosofica che percorre tutto il libro: che legame esiste tra religione e violenza, tra fede e ossessione? Evenson risponde alla domanda riferendosi al culto che meglio conosce, per averlo professato, e descrive alcuni particolari del rito mormone: segni e simboli all'incrocio tra massoneria, cristianesimo e occultismo, considerati sacri dai praticanti, che giurano di non rivelarli mai, nemmeno sotto minaccia di morte.
Da questi gesti, intrisi di sangue e vendetta, si scatenano le ultime, allucinate follie di Rudd Theurer. E' la terza parte del romanzo, dove La colpa si trasforma in incubo. Un incubo alla Stephen King, talmente visionario e allo stesso tempo credibile da lasciare inquieti e nervosi oltre l'ultima pagina.
http://www.wumingfoundation.com/italiano/Giap/nandropau…

[meow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Horror: painful and intense fear, dread, or dismay
Terror: a state of intense fear
Sin: an offense against religious or moral law

I think I read Brian Evenson mentioning horror being about sin, in some interview somewhere, responding to his work in The Open Curtain. It makes sense, in the way that the plot will center around (1) anticipation surrounding something awful, (2) that awful thing, (3) and the response--it centers around this awful thing, though not necessarily made up wholly of it. I’m interested in this exact term though, sin. Evenson implicates a defining role of morality in horror in his idea.

I was interested in the book in the first case because of my own background in Mormonism I think, which is a heavy theme in the novel. Like go into the temple, get endowed and get married heavy. Evenson deals with fundamental Mormon ritual--from the very-culty temple rites to the complacent formulaic sunday school class to the near-strangers coming to your home trying to help you in your time of need. In fact, each of these things reflect in the novel their inherently violent aspect: the marriage ceremony explicitly seals the primary characters in the trauma of the murder that brought them together in the first place, teachers condemn their raucous students to hell, strangers enter and exit not to aid but to fulfill a reaction to the Bad.
The plot begins with Rudd Theurer looking around his “dead father’s dead things,” finding a letter addressing an illegitimate son named Lael Korth, and commentary on “blood atonement.” He gets in touch with this Lael, and they grow obsessed over the REAL murderer William Hooper Young, who killed a woman in New York in a similar way to how their father killed himself.

Part One (“Rudd, Parsed”) builds upon the guess that the terror and horror would be predictive and reactive of this murder. The sin becomes a fractured mind, an opaque epistemology. There’s definitely the initial (terror) build-up to something sinful (i.e. serial killing)...which slips immediately into horror, the reaction to a family slaughter. This traditional terror/horror ends by the time Part Three begins, when it’s very clear that there’s something wrong with interpretation of reality, and the “sin” of the story, the root of book’s horror overall, becomes the depths of this epistemological disparity, the degree of dimension.

The book’s good.

[Amanda Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

the writing is cold, plain, tense, clean, disturbing. a week after i read it, i had a bad dream. there is no bloat, nothing extra in the prose, nothing pretty. as i read it i felt that i was absorbing a lesson about how to write sparely.

i read the author's afterward, about how the novel investigates the integral relationship between mormonism and violence. this idea is dramatized in traumatizing detail. i'm interested in how evenson uses and questions religious symbolism on so many levels. marks on the sacred garmet become patterns of bodies laid out on the ground, or, later, the basis of a secret ritual. the curtain of the title refers to the veil separating god and people, or church insiders and outsiders, or the church's image of purity and its old rituals or intimations of violence for those who have soiled their purity; the final terms are those which evenson seems most interested in exposing. the final section brilliantly and disturbingly interweaves past and present into a scary denoument.

i also felt a tug of identification when i read, again in the afterward, that although he has left the church, evenson attributes his relationship with language to his religious upbringing. me too. i'll be reading more by this author, for sure.

http://www.bookslut.com/features/2005...

[Stan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best part of this book was the author's afterword, in which he discussed his upbringing in Mormonism and his eventually breaking with that religious group. He mentions an undercurrent of violence that he feels characterizes Mormonism. The story centers on a Mormon teen who, after doing a research paper on an old murder possibly motivated by a Mormon "blood atonement", gradually loses touch with reality, probably as a part of a more general psychosis. The first third of the book was creepy, mysterious,and well-written, as the boy develops a relationship with an "evil twin" half-brother whom the reader may suspect does not really exist. The rest of the book becomes first improbable and then absurd as the insanity becomes fully manifest. Initially fascinated with this book, I couldn't wait to be done with it. I should have put it down sooner, but I clung to hopes that the early promise of the story would be fulfilled.

[Brent Legault · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel disturbed me. But not in a good way.

Perhaps it's because I grew up among a passel of Morman sociopaths. Perhaps it's because I used to hear them howling in the hills behind my house, all the Morman he-wolves and she-wolves of my childhood.

It creeps me out just to think about it, about them. I often wonder how I made it out alive. And this book brought all of that back to me.

Thanks, book.

I gave up horror novels years ago and The Open Curtain, whether it means to or not, reads like a horror novel more times then not. I'd've preferred a more literary approach. Or maybe it was and I couldn't see it, due to all the horror I carry with me, that I put on the page.

Perhaps it's because the Mormans I remember were all so unreasonable, so quick to claw.

[T.J. Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought I knew what Evenson was doing, and settled in for the ride. All of his hallmarks are here: vague, threatening imagery; amorphous states of identity and being; unexplained and possibly pathological inclinations towards extreme behavior (obsession, violence); confusion & slippage.

I should've known better. Evenson pulls the rug out from underneath in a sudden upheaval of narrative, and it's here that the story really becomes something different.

I saw a lot of parallels to Evenson's Father of Lies in this, right down to the shifting of viewpoints and the casual relationship of perspective, identity, the gaze of others - and, in no small way - mental illness, explained or otherwise. They obviously also both share a backgrounding of Mormonism. Mormonism is not a religion I know much about, other than what I've heard and the scant bits of what I've read in Evenson's other books, but some of its bizarrities are depicted in this, and the alienness of its practice is what backgrounds most of the horror.

In addition, the story also concerns a real-life event in the annals of Mormonism: the murder of Anna Pulitzer by the grandson of Brigham Young in the early 1900s, which may or may not have been related to the disputed Mormon doctrine of "blood atonement." This bit of history becomes the linchpin around which the entire book spins, and its implications are far-ranging for everyone concerned.

This book is a fascinating study in layers. It reminds me of a pentimento: a work of art that is painted, and then painted over, and only under certain conditions can the original art be seen. But Evenson goes even further than that: it's as if a photograph could be a pentimento. One version of reality superimposed atop another, and then even another on top of that. Even when you think you're looking at the original photograph, the other layers are bleeding in, mixing with your perception.

As always, Evenson is a master of the unsaid, the unexplained, and the unresolved. Besides this being a fascinating glance at some of the stranger rites of a strange religion, this is also a deft and incisive study of an afflicted psyche. It would be easy to blame the latter on the former, but I don't think that's what Evenson is trying to do here. As in Father of Lies, it's almost as if one feeds on the other, but the other one feeds right back. It's a sick sort of symbiosis, and it cannot last. The tension there is backgrounded to a degree in this, whereas in Father of Lies it is foregrounded, but it's no less present.

Just when I thought I'd got the book figured out, thought I could see the end coming, there was another layer. And even after the story ended, I still felt there was more beneath even that, secretive and rustling, and I'm sure a second read in the future will show me much that I missed the first time around.

Besides, in this book, as it is often seen in Evenson's prose, it's less about looking directly at the horror and more about catching it out of the corner of your eye. Even when it moves to the front of your vision, you still can't be exactly sure what you're seeing, and by then, it's too late.

[Beth]

The Open Curtain is a Mormon horror book. Rudd needs to write a paper about his personal hero. He doesn't really have one but while scanning microfiche at the library, Rudd comes across NYT articles talking about the murder of Anna Pulitzer at the hands of William Hooper Young in 1902, who was the grandson of a former Mormon church president Brigham Young. Rudd kind of obsesses over this. It’s speculated Hooper Young’s motive came from blood atonement.

So, what is blood atonement? It’s a disavowed Mormon doctrine. Brigham Young, gave a sermon on September 21 1856 where he taught that certain sins were outside the scope of Jesus Christ’ atonement, so the sinner would voluntarily shed their blood. If it sounds familiar to you at all Jon Krakuer covered the murder of Brenda Lafferty and her daughter in his book Under the Banner of Heaven, which was made into a limited series. The Lafferty brothers get hung up on some teachings from the early Mormon church, including blood atonement.

I kind of have this fascination with which version of history you believe, what version does an organization teach, what happens when you try to hide history. As this kind of theme is a convention of horror, I have read more horror recently. Evenson ties the history and the present. Rudd ruminates over blood atonement at the same time he’s losing several hours a day from his memory. Waking up in strange places. Kind of coming to and not remembering how he got there. The Mormon church doesn’t really like to acknowledge its past or even explain why it’s changing a particular doctrine or practice. They take the Royal approach of never complain never explain.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since reading his short story collection A Collapse of Horses Brian Evenson has easily become one of my favourite authors. The Open Curtain starting off slow and intriguing but in classic Evenson fashion spiralled into madness and dark obsession. By the end of it, as with his other books I've read all I wanted to do was go back to the beginning and start unravelling the layers again. Evenson is incredibly talented with keeping you guessing at what is happening, the horror is not in your face - it slowly worms it's way into your brain, deeper and deeper till it's permanently made it's home and you're not living alone in there anymore. The dread has settled in and it's smiling at you while you're so uncomfortable and disturbed and screaming "WTF is going on, get the f*ck out!". But it's too late you can't stop reading!
If you haven't picked up an Evenson book yet - get on with it!
Absolutely Brilliant!

[Marla · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25/5. A scathing criticism of how mental health issues are waved off in Mormonism. Reminded me of the movie Excision as far as the messaging and some other factors. Also, I think this book has the best and more jarring description of severe mental health issues and reality confusion that I have ever read. The last 100 pages or so were so well done - I felt very very uncomfortable.

The plot was very predictable for me, but the character study aspect put it over the top and into the great (above 4 star) territory. If you're so-so about the book at the beginning and think you can predict the plot, you'd be sort of right, but should push through anyway - it's not about the plot but how well everything is written. Genuinely creepy.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a crazy read. I wish I would remember how this ended up on my the list because I went in blind. While I’m not sure I would call it horror it was incredible disorienting and dread-inducing. I really liked it but I imagine people would be pretty divided. I felt like I was descending into…something? Madness? Temporal anxiety? This book would be impossible to explain and I can only think of a couple people o could recommend it to, but I would say if you like psychological tension/thriller/horror, experimental structure, and/or Mormon lore (I feel like lord is the wrong word here though), you should definitely give it a try. I will for sure be reading more by this author.