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Forbidden Garden
Patrick Kaiser, a journalist, moves to Nantucket to forget his recent divorce, but becomes caught up in the plight of the mysterious Ferrare family next door, who live in fear of Julian Ferrare, a famous conductor, and his insane sister, Elise
Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 25, 2023
Why was this called FORBIDDEN GARDEN? There is not a garden in sight! Oh well.
I'm sure Guest is sick of the V. C. Andrews comparison, but if the shoe fits and all that. It's been a VERY LONG time since I read a V. C. Andrews book, but the cover and title alone immediately shunted me back (my cover is not this one, but a dark house with cutouts. Looking out of them are a woman and her terrified children, and a sinister older man glaring out...).
Featuring all the neo-gothic classics (was V.C. Andrews' writing neo-gothic?) Creepy house; lonely island; harried, haunted children; a beautiful, drugged wife. Madness and incest. An outsider who is recovering from his own loss and gets sucked into a bizarre situation.
This was a smorgasbord of tropes that could've lent for some truly heinous writing--so I was pleasantly surprised by how good the prose was, and how some issues were handled, despite the melodrama, with a touch of subtlety.
I'm sure Guest is sick of the V. C. Andrews comparison, but if the shoe fits and all that. It's been a VERY LONG time since I read a V. C. Andrews book, but the cover and title alone immediately shunted me back (my cover is not this one, but a dark house with cutouts. Looking out of them are a woman and her terrified children, and a sinister older man glaring out...).
Featuring all the neo-gothic classics (was V.C. Andrews' writing neo-gothic?) Creepy house; lonely island; harried, haunted children; a beautiful, drugged wife. Madness and incest. An outsider who is recovering from his own loss and gets sucked into a bizarre situation.
This was a smorgasbord of tropes that could've lent for some truly heinous writing--so I was pleasantly surprised by how good the prose was, and how some issues were handled, despite the melodrama, with a touch of subtlety.
December 21, 2025
Ensimmäinen lukemani Diane Guest ja voin hyvin lukea toisenkin, vaikka tämä välillä alkoi pahasti valumaan kohti nurkkaa, missä lukee "jää-kesken". Kuitenkin hyvä kerronta sekä muutamat todella isot yllätykset pitivät mukana loppuun asti.
December 3, 2019
Como siempre, la autora mantiene un ritmo vertiginoso con su narrativa y los temas que trata. Los giros serían inesperados si fuera el único libro que he leído de ella. Lo malo: que una vez leído uno de ellos, ya conoces su estilo y la clase de protagonistas que emplea siempre.
Entretenido sin más pretensiones.
Entretenido sin más pretensiones.
February 23, 2024
If you like the flowers in the attic series, even just the first book, you'll absolutely love "forbidden garden".
February 4, 2023
(Somewhere between a three and a four.)
Billed as horror fiction with somewhat ridiculous packaging, I passed this one up at the used book store 3 or 4 times before I finally threw it on the pile thanks to its 2.99 price tag. It just looked too ridiculous, like a cheap VC Andrews knockoff. And, while the book isn't really traditional horror, it's actually a pretty decent read.
My initial instinct was correct in one sense--this book does have a lot in common with VC Andrews and the genre of gothic fiction/psychological thrillers she dominated. An offshoot of the 80's horror boom, the genre is recognizable for its classic gothic tropes updated with all kinds of explicit and disturbing themes of incest and abuse, while still hewing to some of the hoary conventions of then-contemporary romance fiction.
Guest's novel fits right into this mold. Patrick Kaiser, a conventional horror novel protagonist (writer, dead kid, recent divorce) decamps to the wealthy Cape Cod community to lick his wounds and figure out his next steps. While staying at his brother's home, he's disturbed to hear sobbing emanating from the equally imposing old-school mansion next door. Kaiser makes discrete inquiries of the island residents and learns that the home is occupied by Julian Ferrare, a world-famous concert pianist renowned for his intense stage presence, his young wife Christina, and two children. A mystery is of course connected to the home--after the appearance and death of Christina's stepfather, Christina tries to drown herself and her two children. As a result, she is now watched over by Julian's disturbed sister, who (as we learn very soon after starting the book) is actually drugging Christina with her antipsychotics. Kaiser of course finds himself slowly drawn into this bizarre and almost comically-messed up family unit as we the reader slowly penetrate the extremely icky secrets at the heart of the novel.
Despite all of its trappings, the book never becomes comically over the top; Guest is a master of the frog in boiling water technique, where we are only slowly immersed in the insanity and find ourselves going with this narrative of incest, child abuse, and threatened child rape. The book is a real page turner and, despite its themes, never becomes explicit or overly voyeuristic, instead, we anxiously read on to see what will happen next before inevitably coming to a cliched happy ending.
Overall, I enjoyed this read, despite being fairly confident I would hate it. Guest impressed me with her writing and plotting, and I enjoyed the way that the lunatic goings-on were realistically presented. I also appreciated her characterization of Kaiser, a male hero who exhibits the rare "non-toxic" form of masculinity; instead, he's something of a feminist ally we love to root for. I'm sure we can all critique the book for its subject matter and ask ourselves to what extent escapist fiction ought to use such events for plot fodder, but I actually think there's something progressive about writing a horror novel where the monster is just male oppression.
I will definitely look into more Guest, who is yet another largely-forgotten author with no internet presence. While her books are a product of their era, this one remains a great example of the weird places the horror fiction boom allowed readers to go.
Billed as horror fiction with somewhat ridiculous packaging, I passed this one up at the used book store 3 or 4 times before I finally threw it on the pile thanks to its 2.99 price tag. It just looked too ridiculous, like a cheap VC Andrews knockoff. And, while the book isn't really traditional horror, it's actually a pretty decent read.
My initial instinct was correct in one sense--this book does have a lot in common with VC Andrews and the genre of gothic fiction/psychological thrillers she dominated. An offshoot of the 80's horror boom, the genre is recognizable for its classic gothic tropes updated with all kinds of explicit and disturbing themes of incest and abuse, while still hewing to some of the hoary conventions of then-contemporary romance fiction.
Guest's novel fits right into this mold. Patrick Kaiser, a conventional horror novel protagonist (writer, dead kid, recent divorce) decamps to the wealthy Cape Cod community to lick his wounds and figure out his next steps. While staying at his brother's home, he's disturbed to hear sobbing emanating from the equally imposing old-school mansion next door. Kaiser makes discrete inquiries of the island residents and learns that the home is occupied by Julian Ferrare, a world-famous concert pianist renowned for his intense stage presence, his young wife Christina, and two children. A mystery is of course connected to the home--after the appearance and death of Christina's stepfather, Christina tries to drown herself and her two children. As a result, she is now watched over by Julian's disturbed sister, who (as we learn very soon after starting the book) is actually drugging Christina with her antipsychotics. Kaiser of course finds himself slowly drawn into this bizarre and almost comically-messed up family unit as we the reader slowly penetrate the extremely icky secrets at the heart of the novel.
Despite all of its trappings, the book never becomes comically over the top; Guest is a master of the frog in boiling water technique, where we are only slowly immersed in the insanity and find ourselves going with this narrative of incest, child abuse, and threatened child rape. The book is a real page turner and, despite its themes, never becomes explicit or overly voyeuristic, instead, we anxiously read on to see what will happen next before inevitably coming to a cliched happy ending.
Overall, I enjoyed this read, despite being fairly confident I would hate it. Guest impressed me with her writing and plotting, and I enjoyed the way that the lunatic goings-on were realistically presented. I also appreciated her characterization of Kaiser, a male hero who exhibits the rare "non-toxic" form of masculinity; instead, he's something of a feminist ally we love to root for. I'm sure we can all critique the book for its subject matter and ask ourselves to what extent escapist fiction ought to use such events for plot fodder, but I actually think there's something progressive about writing a horror novel where the monster is just male oppression.
I will definitely look into more Guest, who is yet another largely-forgotten author with no internet presence. While her books are a product of their era, this one remains a great example of the weird places the horror fiction boom allowed readers to go.
July 8, 2021
This was a gross one, NGL. Was blindsided by a few things. Ew.
April 9, 2022
el drama?? menudo chou me quedé a cuadros
December 10, 2024
Tän kirjan loppu oli shokeeraava
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews