Hell's Waiting Room

by C.V. Hunt

A reclusive couple's power goes out and they are forced to use their scarce survivalist supplies to live off the grid.

Genres: Bizarro Fiction, Horror, Fiction, Ebooks

122 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

C.V. Hunt lives in Yellow Springs, Ohio, is the owner of Grindhouse Press, and writes unpopular fiction.

Reviews

[Trudi · Rating 2 out of 5]

A reclusive couple's power goes out and they are forced to use their scarce survivalist supplies to live off the grid.

Sometimes I can be too damn literal for my own good -- and resistant to anything mind-bendy, trippy, weird, or otherwise Weird. That one sentence plot summary above (not to mention the snappy title and awesome cover art) had me salivating to get my hands on this Grindhouse novella. I love any kind of a survival story, especially if you throw in off the grid and possibly end of the world elements.

Survival makes strange bedfellows of us all. It brings out the best (and worst) in us. It makes allies of enemies and makes us kill (and sometimes possibly eat) our allies. For dramatic purposes, survival stories are the sweet sweet siren song in my wheelhouse.

This story? Well, it's kind of false advertising in a way. It *is* a story about a couple losing their power, and it is *sort of* about a couple trying to live "off the grid" but it is in no way a literal interpretation of these things. This is not a survival story.





If anything, it is much more a dark, grotesque psychological exploration of paranoia and our often tenuous relationship with reality and our construction of it. Any other time, and *that* could have been in my wheelhouse too, it's just I was expecting (due to my own penchant for literalness) a grabby, clawing "oh my god the water's turned off and our cupboards are bare" survival story and what I got was an unsettling, weird, examination of one couple's descent into Hell? madness? bad hygiene? a horrible toxic marriage? a fifth dimension?





Normally, I love it in the shadowy, shaky corners of The Twilight Zone, it just didn't work for me here. Effective, evocative writing though!!! Kudos for that. And some fairly, squishy, glucky, squirmy scenes for those who appreciate things of an effluvium nature.

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A power outage sets off a strange chain of events in the lives of an unhappy couple. Convinced that it's the end of the world, the husband goes into survivalist mode while the wife begins to see her dead parents and skeletons stealing the garden vegetables. Just as she did in Thanks For Ruining My Life, Hunt paints her main character as a woman who has trouble differentiating between fantasy and reality. This leaves the reader with a remarkably similar dilemma and makes for a disconcerting, yet fascinating read.

[Nefariousbig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Instant gratification of vile, disturbing bizarro awesomeness. Hunt is a talented writer who takes you on a nice bizarre trip to debasement (see what I did there...trip to "de-basement"..."the basement".) Surprising and funny and yucky at times. Loved it.

[Marvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

While reading Hell's Waiting Room by C. V. Hunt, I often found myself thinking of two things: Domestic violence and Jean Paul Sartre. There are actually three things but the third one would give away too much of a disturbing but riveting plot.

Greg and his wife live a reclusive life in an isolated house. Greg is none other than bat shit crazy; a survivalist who grows his own food less he is poisoned by the government and rants about the coming invasion. Greg's wife, whose name is part of the mystery of this book, lives in a loveless union in which Greg is at the very least verbally abusive and constantly on the brink of flying into rages. When they experience a power outage, Greg is certain that this is the start of the apocalypse. Almost immediately after, his wife starts to experience strange and terrifying events involving skeletons, her dead parents, and a basement harboring living fetus-like creatures in mason jars. How much of this is really happening in the author's bizarro world and how much is the hallucination and delusions of two dysfunctional people is very much the question. C. V. Hunts leaves us hints throughout and she does a masterful job at feeding us those hints until we reach the satisfying ending.

While Greg is immediately despicable, his wife is an enigma. Not all that likable herself, She seems cowered by him, at first bursting into defiance for moments then falling back in step with his paranoid and verbally abusive demeanor. She seems willing to go along with his most odd demands, like cutting her hair to save on shampoo. Like many dysfunctional relationships, she walks a tight-wire of hate and loyalty. The wife reminds me of many domestic violence victims I have worked with, both aware of the danger of their situation yet invested in the illusion of safety and actually seeking isolation to preserve that illusion. Greg's wife's own experiences strengthens that bizarre "universe" she is trapped in. I can't help comparing this a little to the predicament that the protagonist of The Yellow Wallpaper finds herself in.

Then there is Jean Paul Sartre. The title, Hell's Waiting Room screams No Exit even though the plots are not the same, at least not directly. But there is a clear echo of Sartre's famous warning that "Hell is other people" and maybe, sometimes, hell is ourselves. In some ways, Hell's Waiting Room feels like existentialism gone bad. A world where no real meaning exists except that which you give it yourselves. And if you have a hellish interpretation then reality will be hellish.

I must confess I allowed myself to wander in the abyss of my own interpretation. This has become more of an analysis than a review. Yet that seems to be what Hunt's strange novella is all about. She sets the reader precariously between hallucination and actual disaster and dares us to decide which one it is. Hell's Waiting Room is not a hard read but often an uncomfortable one. I would set it firmly on the shelf that reads "Books I love and hate at the same time" sharing a tenuous friendship with books like American Psycho and We Need to Talk About Kevin. While these books feature unpalatable characters, they speak to our own uncertain grip on reality that can fall apart at any moment. Hell's Waitng Room is that kind of book.

[Vincenzo Bilof · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the things that I enjoyed about watching David Lynch’s Eraserhead is the subtle way it used images to convey a sense of visceralism and surreality without expository information. CV Hunt’s Hell’s Waiting Room features the craftsmanship of a writer whose ability to go beyond the constrictions of plot and exposition and use the style-subtlety to convey and interesting story. I strongly feel that any plot characteristic I might reveal would ruin aspects of the narrative. Hunt did not have to resort to heavy vocabulary usage, but rather, allowed the main character’s voice to tell us what was happening without really telling us what was happening—Hunt used the power of inference to good effect, which rewards the reader in the end. The dedication page is actually an important fragment of the entire piece—without knowing the author personally, I could connect that the Hell’s Waiting Room is a sort of reflection upon a personal experience, one that I can readily identify as the “I’m Right About Everything” mentality that pervades social media in paranoiac ramblings. An excellent read. This is my first experience with Hunt’s work, and I am intrigued by her other offerings.

[Auntie Raye-Raye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most anything I say about this book would be a spoiler. I don't want to do that. CV Hunt captures paranoia, long term relationships, weirdness that is just strangely accepted, and mental illness in a most excellent way.

I never quite knew what was real and what was not quite real, while I read this.

[Shannon Yarbrough · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn't my favorite C.V. Hunt read. And actually, I was debating on how many stars to give it until I reached the last few pages where I was actually blown away.

We meet Greg and his wife. Greg is a prepper nut, and their relationship suffers from his vocal abuse and obsessions with the world falling apart. When the electricity goes out, Greg goes into survivalist mode and his wife starts seeing strange things...skeletons, pirates, guitar playing men in her closet to name a few. When the two start eating their canned foods, things go really sour and Greg's wife must seek help from a neighbor who is just as loony as Greg.

No doubt C.V. Hunt knows how to make her reader feel uncomfortable while she also addresses everyday problems in today's popular culture. But while reading it, I just knew there was a deeper hidden meaning coming, and indeed there was in the last few pages which turned the entire book around for me.

Hunt has never held back and I think that's why I envy her so much as a writer. She really puts it out there. And like I said, this wasn't my favorite but I'm still glad I read it.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This little novella is such a head trip. The two main characters are survivalists (for lack of a better word at the moment) and while I liked the main female character, the man in this one is a disgusting pig and I failed to see why she stayed with him. The power goes out, the temps heat up, and things get weird. Very weird. I have read a few from Hunt and I enjoy her writing, but this story just left me all sorts of confused. I'm willing to admit that that may be a fault of my own. I recently read another title by this author and I'm very much looking forward to Cockblock and forthcoming titles of hers as well.

[Donald Armfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hallucinogenic wandering mind strives to make sense of everything going on in the world outside. Her husband spoon feeds her mind with outlandish conspiracies that only fuels her brain to believe it.
Hunt explains sickness as if she was the virus herself.
Well done!

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hell's Waiting Room.

A great little story involving isolation, bad mental health issues and a damaging 'end of the world' conspiracy.

Yep, I would strongly advise readers to go visit this dysfunctional, reclusive couple who plan to thrive and survive, no matter what the government and society plan to throw at them.

Dark and disturbing - loved it - just my cup of tea!

Recommended for disciples looking for something just a little bit different in the big bad world of truly deranged, deadly horror.

Highly recommended.

Rating: 4.5 stars

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would recommend.

Of note: less feces than "Ritualistic Human Sacrifice."

[Katey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been reading so much bizarro and strange fiction that the 'sensible' conclusion escaped me until almost the very end.

[Xian Xian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally posted here: http://wordsnotesandfiction.blogspot....

This was supposed to be my Halloween read. I read it in a span of maybe four or five days. Hell's Waiting Room is a novella filled with enough oddities to make another novel. I actually thought this was going to be a post-apocalyptic novel, I though that this was going to be C.V. Hunt's California. Which was probably a silly thing to compare it to. I haven't even read it yet, but the novella consists of a married couple in an apparently collapsed world. But you would discover sometime soon that it's something more.

Everything falls down and gets worse when the electricity goes out.The main character, who remains nameless for most of the novella, is a woman who seems to show no value for herself. She lets her husband verbally abuse her and fights back sometimes, but still ends up falling under his rule. But the husband is kind of a loser, dysfunctional himself, he is overweight and insults the main character, calling her "fat" and basically telling her that she is useless, weak, and ugly. He spends most of the novel masturbating in his room alone and verbally abusing her. The main character is trapped in a sort of hell, where she hallucinates walking skeletons, fetuses in baby jars, and her dead parents. Until she escapes and experiences more. What's outside of the house is no different. The neighbors are freaks and she almost gets sexually assaulted by one of them, and his mother is some weirdo hippie that makes medical herbal concoctions that help nobody.

As you can see this novella is definitely hell. People are hell, pleasure is hell, home is hell. To be honest, I read this book a few weeks ago, a day after Halloween I think, so unfortunately my memory is a little foggy. I remember what happened, but I can't really talk about it, you know what I mean?

C.V. Hunt doesn't play around, she doesn't polish her writing to make it look pretty or poetic. She tells it as it is, there are dead babies here, come on. But she is still able to contain the magical realism and the fantasy in her little words. She manages to write simply without it being too stale and blank. I keep wanting to read more of this woman's books because they're bizzaro and they seem to have more of a personal level to it. Hell's Waiting Room felt like a long metaphor of a woman who is sick of it all, who feels that she is inadequate, and because of this, it feels like the world is against her, the world is out to get her. Hell wants to leave her in its depths and it drives her crazy, it has gone on since she was young. Because even the youngest know the world is pretty fucked up and then they go nuts too.

You can tell right away that this hell was produced by the main character herself, because sometimes people make their own hell. If I go any further, then I will ruin it for ya. So read it, it's not that long.

But what else can I say? This book is some pretty darn good stuff. it's dark and thrilling, it has the perfect elements of a thriller. It's not some cheesy detective story or BOO! stuff, it's odd and unnerving and I like that. I also love the book cover, it fits the story quite well.

Rating: 5/5

[Vi Reaper · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that nimbly traverses many genres. Part horror, part bizarro, part conspiracy thriller, I believe that this is one of those rare stories where every reader could take away from it a completely different conclusion. It does not lead you by the the hand, it throws you into chaos and leaves you there.
Greg and his wife live in a remote farmhouse. 'Off the grid', they grow their own food and are almost completely self-sustained. Positive that the government are constantly watching and experimenting with society, the couple do not have any contact with the outside world. But years of this solitary lifestyle has taken it's toll on the relationship and mental state of the couple. Constantly aggravating each other, their lives are further thrown into turmoil when the lights go out, illness hits and the wife starts witnessing increasingly bizarre things occurring around the property.
I really enjoyed the tension in this book. It boils and boils, never giving the reader a moments peace up into the inevitable but completely surprising and shocking conclusion. As I mentioned, this is not in my estimation an out and out horror, but it does trouble you and in parts disgust. It's creepy and weird with some terrifyingly well written imagery that will surely stay with the reader long after the book is finished. A classy, shocking read.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hell's Waiting Room is a fascinating book that uses the bizarro genre to C.V. Hunt's advantage and manages to create a book that is truly brilliant. Without a doubt this is Hunt's best book and the bizarro nature of what the title character is experiencing forces you to read along until the book's conclusion.

It's the kind of book that allows you to draw your own conclusion but it's really just a giant puzzle that when put together really brings the novel's point across. I can't begin to tell you what this is about because Hell's Waiting Room is a book that you have to experience for yourself.

I can tell you that this book shows just how good C.V. can be. A great book will hook you with the opening paragraph and creates a story that you have to finish. That's exactly what this is. It's a great story that does contain elements of bizarro fiction but there's a reason for that. I'm glad I preordered this and look forward to reading it again.

[Ken Sodemann · Rating 4 out of 5]

The characters and plot were far more developed in this book than in the last CV Hunt book I read, which was a collection of very abrupt and plain short stories.

The writing style is a bit blunt for my taste, almost as if I would have written it. On the other hand it is note overly wordy and the story moves along nicely. As it moves along, clues to what is really going on make the story behind the story start to materialize in your mind before it is revealed in the final chapter.

All in all a fun and interesting read.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first time I read Hunt and I was not disappointed. The story was strange and surreal, graphic and nauseating. I loved it. Will definitely read more of her work.

[J. Peter W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite C. V. Hunt book.

[Melanie Catchpole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed reading this. Held my attention all the way through :)
I cannot think of anything I disliked about the story... 5 stars!

[KnNaRfF · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was very well written with good pace, and some good comic moments, but ultimately it was a sad story which will stay with me for a long time.