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The Sharing
The pact that Bryna, the ugly and lame little girl, had made with Goldie, her enchanted doll, was very simple: she let Goldie live in her, and for her part she would become like Goldie, beautiful, learned, powerful thanks to a extraordinary gift.
The little girl grows, beautifies and becomes a famous medium. Her wildest desires are thus fulfilled. But the time to pay arrives: in exchange for her beauty and her gifts, Bryna has to let her body bow to "Sabra's" wishes. And when "Sabra" possesses the body, she prostitutes it and offers it to the first comer...
Bryna resists, but "Sabra's" revenge turns out to be even more cruel and implacable. What good is this gift of clairvoyance if it cannot stop this succession of sadistic murders?
The little girl grows, beautifies and becomes a famous medium. Her wildest desires are thus fulfilled. But the time to pay arrives: in exchange for her beauty and her gifts, Bryna has to let her body bow to "Sabra's" wishes. And when "Sabra" possesses the body, she prostitutes it and offers it to the first comer...
Bryna resists, but "Sabra's" revenge turns out to be even more cruel and implacable. What good is this gift of clairvoyance if it cannot stop this succession of sadistic murders?
- GenresHorror
287 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
29 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 4, 2025
"Until you've been a monster, you can never be a star."
I discovered this book in a pile at the local recycling center in my area. I love horror novels so naturally this interested me based on the description and cover art. What we have here is a fantastically written, dark and witty book about a possession between a monster / demon named Sabra and a young girl named Bryna where the demon lives inside of her, throughout her life, abusing her and gaslighting her in order to obtain full control and steal her body. The book is split up into a three act structure detailing Bryna as she grows up with this demon living inside of her, taking control to give into her hidden desires. The book makes the reader question what the true motives are for Sabra and constantly throws in fun plot twists and shocks to keep the thrills going. Every time I felt like I needed an explanation on something, the book would always give me an answer that I wasn't expecting.
The horror is terrific, shown in full creative and graphic detail and the writing is smart and witty. It's a shame that the author never created more horror novels as this book is one of my favorites of the genre. The third part of the story is a fun murder mystery plot with more characters and depth to keep the story interesting and evolving so that Sabra can gaslight and manipulate Bryna in order to achieve her goal of a permanent possession. It's legitimately one of the coolest and most unique horror novels I've ever read, I'm extremely happy and bewildered how I found it in a random recycling book pile. I was fated to find this book, I think. It's dark, nihilistic, but still witty and clever enough to be fun as hell. The sexual atmosphere blends perfect with the gory, bloody horror and it tackles tons of extremely dark themes in a way that doesn't feel like shock value. The scenes are described in vivid detail that allow you to fully visualize the imagery, even down to the lighting and shadows. It's so atmospheric and full of hypnotic syntax and imagery.
For an obscure 1982 novel, I'm legitimately shocked that this has never been adapted into a series or movie and I think a director like Mike Flanagan would legitimately eat this up and deliver a faithful adaptation of this story. It's bittersweet discovering something you truly love just to find out it's super obscure and doesn't have a following. It sucks that I can't really discuss this with others. This is always going to be one of the most unique book discoveries in my life and I'll always treasure my time spent reading it. Definitely one I'll share with others and re-read again in the future. Instant favorite for me, I have no idea why the other Goodreads ratings are so low for this book, it's literally a perfect horror story full of rich themes and darkness that stick with you. Definitely a must read for horror fans if you can find a copy online somewhere. It also had a re-release under the name "Sabra", so I might track down a copy of that version as well just for the sake of owning it. Loved it that much
I discovered this book in a pile at the local recycling center in my area. I love horror novels so naturally this interested me based on the description and cover art. What we have here is a fantastically written, dark and witty book about a possession between a monster / demon named Sabra and a young girl named Bryna where the demon lives inside of her, throughout her life, abusing her and gaslighting her in order to obtain full control and steal her body. The book is split up into a three act structure detailing Bryna as she grows up with this demon living inside of her, taking control to give into her hidden desires. The book makes the reader question what the true motives are for Sabra and constantly throws in fun plot twists and shocks to keep the thrills going. Every time I felt like I needed an explanation on something, the book would always give me an answer that I wasn't expecting.
The horror is terrific, shown in full creative and graphic detail and the writing is smart and witty. It's a shame that the author never created more horror novels as this book is one of my favorites of the genre. The third part of the story is a fun murder mystery plot with more characters and depth to keep the story interesting and evolving so that Sabra can gaslight and manipulate Bryna in order to achieve her goal of a permanent possession. It's legitimately one of the coolest and most unique horror novels I've ever read, I'm extremely happy and bewildered how I found it in a random recycling book pile. I was fated to find this book, I think. It's dark, nihilistic, but still witty and clever enough to be fun as hell. The sexual atmosphere blends perfect with the gory, bloody horror and it tackles tons of extremely dark themes in a way that doesn't feel like shock value. The scenes are described in vivid detail that allow you to fully visualize the imagery, even down to the lighting and shadows. It's so atmospheric and full of hypnotic syntax and imagery.
For an obscure 1982 novel, I'm legitimately shocked that this has never been adapted into a series or movie and I think a director like Mike Flanagan would legitimately eat this up and deliver a faithful adaptation of this story. It's bittersweet discovering something you truly love just to find out it's super obscure and doesn't have a following. It sucks that I can't really discuss this with others. This is always going to be one of the most unique book discoveries in my life and I'll always treasure my time spent reading it. Definitely one I'll share with others and re-read again in the future. Instant favorite for me, I have no idea why the other Goodreads ratings are so low for this book, it's literally a perfect horror story full of rich themes and darkness that stick with you. Definitely a must read for horror fans if you can find a copy online somewhere. It also had a re-release under the name "Sabra", so I might track down a copy of that version as well just for the sake of owning it. Loved it that much
April 2, 2013
Disappointing. Blurb on cover is a little misleading and it's long and drags on. The doll is Goldie, not Sabra, and Goldie disappears early on. Not "really" about a possessed doll as such, which was actually what appealed to me about it. Also gets way more detailed and complicated than is strictly necessary for this type of story.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews