What do you think?
Rate this book
The Glister
Acclaimed author John Burnside delivers a profound, page-turning novel about innocence, evil, morality, and the dark corners of the human psyche.
Mysterious illnesses affect the inhabitants of the post-industrial village of Innertown, and a pervasive sense of malaise hangs everywhere. So when teenage boys disappear into the poisoned woods surrounding the village’s abandoned chemical plant, no one notices, or if they do, they don’t say a thing. Not even the town’s only cop, whose leads have long since died. To one boy, however, the chemical plant is beautiful, and it is there he will enact a plan to change the fate of the children of Innertown. To do so he will have to confront the blinding reality that burns in the chemical plant’s cavernous center.
Mysterious illnesses affect the inhabitants of the post-industrial village of Innertown, and a pervasive sense of malaise hangs everywhere. So when teenage boys disappear into the poisoned woods surrounding the village’s abandoned chemical plant, no one notices, or if they do, they don’t say a thing. Not even the town’s only cop, whose leads have long since died. To one boy, however, the chemical plant is beautiful, and it is there he will enact a plan to change the fate of the children of Innertown. To do so he will have to confront the blinding reality that burns in the chemical plant’s cavernous center.
272 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2008
40 people are currently reading
1198 people want to read
About the author
John Burnside
96 books277 followersJohn Burnside was a Scottish writer. He was the author of nine collections of poetry and five works of fiction. Burnside achieved wide critical acclaim, winning the Whitbread Poetry Award in 2000 for The Asylum Dance which was also shortlisted for the Forward and T.S. Eliot prizes. He left Scotland in 1965, returning to settle there in 1995. In the intervening period he worked as a factory hand, a labourer, a gardener and, for ten years, as a computer systems designer. Laterly, he lived in Fife with his wife and children and taught Creative Writing, Literature and Ecology courses at the University of St. Andrews.
[Author photo © Norman McBeath]
[Author photo © Norman McBeath]
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 178 reviews
January 3, 2017
An average of 3.05? Did we read the same novel?!
I've taken a few days since finishing The Glister to think about it and come down from my excitable state, so that this review didn't read like an incomprehensible smattering of "oh wow!" and "brilliant!". This was only my second Burnside novel, but I feel confident in saying that he is one of my favourite contemporary authors. He writes with such mastery, and the way that he illustrates Innertown and its ghostly, menacing atmosphere is distinct and chilling. I adore how this is written, switching from third person to first and providing the reader with glimpses from different characters but propelling the tale through Leonard's narrative. In the same way that I got anxious as I neared the end of The Dumb House and nothing had been resolved, I was intensely curious when I got to the final 30 pages of The Glister and there was no resolution in sight. Just as the town is depicted as bleak, murky, and mysterious, we become implicated through our own confusion at what is going on. Burnside doesn't provide any conclusive answers. I thought that this novel was brilliant before I got to the ending, but once I read the final page, I was in absolute awe. If you're interested in an atmospheric, grey haze type of novel, a Holden Caulfield-type narrator, the familiarity of Lepidoptera in disturbing texts but with a distinctive and sacred twist, you will enjoy this.
I've taken a few days since finishing The Glister to think about it and come down from my excitable state, so that this review didn't read like an incomprehensible smattering of "oh wow!" and "brilliant!". This was only my second Burnside novel, but I feel confident in saying that he is one of my favourite contemporary authors. He writes with such mastery, and the way that he illustrates Innertown and its ghostly, menacing atmosphere is distinct and chilling. I adore how this is written, switching from third person to first and providing the reader with glimpses from different characters but propelling the tale through Leonard's narrative. In the same way that I got anxious as I neared the end of The Dumb House and nothing had been resolved, I was intensely curious when I got to the final 30 pages of The Glister and there was no resolution in sight. Just as the town is depicted as bleak, murky, and mysterious, we become implicated through our own confusion at what is going on. Burnside doesn't provide any conclusive answers. I thought that this novel was brilliant before I got to the ending, but once I read the final page, I was in absolute awe. If you're interested in an atmospheric, grey haze type of novel, a Holden Caulfield-type narrator, the familiarity of Lepidoptera in disturbing texts but with a distinctive and sacred twist, you will enjoy this.
June 6, 2021
Im Gegensatz zu den anderen drei Romanen, die ich von Burnside gelesen habe, wird hier nicht alles aus Sicht einer einzigen, recht zurückgezogen lebenden Person erzählt. Stattdessen wird die Geschichte, die sich zu einer Art Ökothriller zu entwickeln scheint, aus der Perspektive verschiedener Personen erzählt.
Zentral ist aber die Perspektive des Jungen Leonard Wilson, der als Erzähler bereits im Prolog erscheint. Dort behauptet er, in dieser Geschichte Leonard zu heißen. Da beide Motti, die dem Prolog vorausgehen, aus Moby-Dick stammen, fühlt man sich an den ersten Satz dieses Romans erinnert: „Nennt mich Ismael.“
In dem Abschnitt, in dem Leonard seine Begeisterung für Bücher und damit seine Verbindung zur örtlichen Bibliothek und dem Bibliothekaren beschreibt, wird die Verbindung zu Melvilles Roman noch einmal hervorgehoben: „Niemand sollte je den ewigen Dank vergessen, den er jenem Menschen schuldet, der ihn zum ersten Mal dazu bringt, den wahren Herman Melville zu lesen.“ (S. 100f). Die religiösen Anspielungen tun ihr Übriges, um die Verbindung zu Moby Dick herzustellen. Der erste Teil des Buches heißt „Das Buch Hiob“ (über dieses Buch wird dann auch später im Roman unter Schülern diskutiert) und knüpft damit an die vielen religiösen, alttestamentarischen Anspielungen bei Melville an.
Bevor Leonard die Bücher nennt, die ihn bewegen (sehr lesenswert), lamentiert er: „Ist doch mal wieder typisch dafür, wie es auf der Welt zugeht: Die Leute, die Bücher lieben, können sie sich nicht leisten, während die Leute, die genügend Geld haben, Betriebswirtschaft studieren, damit sie noch mehr Geld einsacken und dafür sorgen können, dass die Buchleser auch in Zukunft machtlos bleiben. Dem armen Volk bleibt nur die öffentliche Bibliothek.“ (S. 95)
Über den Bibliothekar sagt er: „Denn das ist ja das Wunderbare an Eigenbrötlern: Sie sind Enthusiasten. Wer selbst kein Leben hat, kann irgendwas leidenschaftlich lieben, und kein Mensch macht einem deshalb Vorhaltungen. Hin und wieder kann man das eine oder andere sogar weitergeben.“ (S. 99)
Neben den darüber hinaus zahlreichen Erwähnungen von Büchern, gibt es aber auch viele Erwähnungen von Filmen, zum Beispiel den Hinweis auf den Fernsehfilm „...und das Leben geht weiter“.
Der Ort, in dem die Geschichte spielt, ist fiktiv, erinnert manchmal fast an einen utopischen Ort und heißt Innertown, doch scheint es Parallelen zu Burnsides Geburtsort Dunfermline zu geben, denn auch dort gab/gibt es viel Industrie und als Leonard einen Aufsatz über Philanthropen schreiben muss, fällt ihm sofort der dort geborene Andrew Carnegie ein.
Aber wovon handelt der Roman? Von verzweifelten, verloren wirkenden Jugendlichen und Erwachsenen, die entweder schwach, einsam oder korrupt sind? Von skrupellosem Kapitalismus, der sich nicht scheut, die Welt und die Menschen, die in ihr leben, zu zerstören? Von grausam-schönen Menschenopfer-Ritualen?
Erst am Ende erfährt, was Glister ist und versteht es doch nicht so ganz.
Zentral ist aber die Perspektive des Jungen Leonard Wilson, der als Erzähler bereits im Prolog erscheint. Dort behauptet er, in dieser Geschichte Leonard zu heißen. Da beide Motti, die dem Prolog vorausgehen, aus Moby-Dick stammen, fühlt man sich an den ersten Satz dieses Romans erinnert: „Nennt mich Ismael.“
In dem Abschnitt, in dem Leonard seine Begeisterung für Bücher und damit seine Verbindung zur örtlichen Bibliothek und dem Bibliothekaren beschreibt, wird die Verbindung zu Melvilles Roman noch einmal hervorgehoben: „Niemand sollte je den ewigen Dank vergessen, den er jenem Menschen schuldet, der ihn zum ersten Mal dazu bringt, den wahren Herman Melville zu lesen.“ (S. 100f). Die religiösen Anspielungen tun ihr Übriges, um die Verbindung zu Moby Dick herzustellen. Der erste Teil des Buches heißt „Das Buch Hiob“ (über dieses Buch wird dann auch später im Roman unter Schülern diskutiert) und knüpft damit an die vielen religiösen, alttestamentarischen Anspielungen bei Melville an.
Bevor Leonard die Bücher nennt, die ihn bewegen (sehr lesenswert), lamentiert er: „Ist doch mal wieder typisch dafür, wie es auf der Welt zugeht: Die Leute, die Bücher lieben, können sie sich nicht leisten, während die Leute, die genügend Geld haben, Betriebswirtschaft studieren, damit sie noch mehr Geld einsacken und dafür sorgen können, dass die Buchleser auch in Zukunft machtlos bleiben. Dem armen Volk bleibt nur die öffentliche Bibliothek.“ (S. 95)
Über den Bibliothekar sagt er: „Denn das ist ja das Wunderbare an Eigenbrötlern: Sie sind Enthusiasten. Wer selbst kein Leben hat, kann irgendwas leidenschaftlich lieben, und kein Mensch macht einem deshalb Vorhaltungen. Hin und wieder kann man das eine oder andere sogar weitergeben.“ (S. 99)
Neben den darüber hinaus zahlreichen Erwähnungen von Büchern, gibt es aber auch viele Erwähnungen von Filmen, zum Beispiel den Hinweis auf den Fernsehfilm „...und das Leben geht weiter“.
Der Ort, in dem die Geschichte spielt, ist fiktiv, erinnert manchmal fast an einen utopischen Ort und heißt Innertown, doch scheint es Parallelen zu Burnsides Geburtsort Dunfermline zu geben, denn auch dort gab/gibt es viel Industrie und als Leonard einen Aufsatz über Philanthropen schreiben muss, fällt ihm sofort der dort geborene Andrew Carnegie ein.
Aber wovon handelt der Roman? Von verzweifelten, verloren wirkenden Jugendlichen und Erwachsenen, die entweder schwach, einsam oder korrupt sind? Von skrupellosem Kapitalismus, der sich nicht scheut, die Welt und die Menschen, die in ihr leben, zu zerstören? Von grausam-schönen Menschenopfer-Ritualen?
Erst am Ende erfährt, was Glister ist und versteht es doch nicht so ganz.
October 12, 2016
I feel pretty much slap bang in the middle with this one, and that's a bit disappointing if I'm honest. My second foray into Burnside's work was almost a year in the making, and I had high hopes for Glister as apparently it's the writer's favourite of the books he's written. I just found it ultimately to be a bit of a let down.
I'm not sure how to summarize the story, because I didn't really feel like there was much of one really. We follow a couple of different people's perspectives, but for the most part the story is told by a teenage boy named Leonard. He lives in an isolated place called Innertown, overshadowed by a shut-down power plant that has made the population of the town ill. He has a dying father, an unsatisfactory relationship with his girlfriend - and other boys his age have been slowly disappearing over the years. Only the local policeman Morrison seems to know anything about it.
One thing that I think Burnside does incredibly well is atmosphere. From the very beginning, he created a creepy, eerie world for the reader to inhabit - although I believe the town is meant to be set somewhere in Scotland, it feels almost otherwordly and fantastical. The people are all quite odd and/or reclusive, the weather is dark and dreary, and the ominous presence of the now defunct power plant is a brilliant addition, making it very easily for me to imagine myself in its shadow at all times.
There are also a couple of points in this book where the events are quite shocking. Burnside can quickly move events on from being bearable to alarmingly violent at the drop of a hat, almost out of nowhere. Some of the images are maybe not for the faint-hearted, but I wouldn't say they were quite as shocking as moments in The Dumb House. Still, I can see parts of this book being quite disturbing for readers less inclined to read horror/thrillers.
What in the end let me down was the ending though. It made absolutely no sense, left absolutely no resolution, and was just plain bizarre. Not in a good way either. Although I don't need some massive revelation at the end of the book, it would have been nice to feel like there was some sort of point to the events depicted in earlier pages. Although again the imagery was intriguing, odd, and gruesome at times, it just made the book fall flat in the end, because I felt like Burnside had an idea for a story but never fully worked it out. Disappointing to say the least.
I would recommend trying this book if you like creepy atmospheric reads, but if you're the kind of person who likes a strong plot then this definitely isn't one for you. I will still be reading more of Burnside's work though, as his style is something I really enjoy.
I'm not sure how to summarize the story, because I didn't really feel like there was much of one really. We follow a couple of different people's perspectives, but for the most part the story is told by a teenage boy named Leonard. He lives in an isolated place called Innertown, overshadowed by a shut-down power plant that has made the population of the town ill. He has a dying father, an unsatisfactory relationship with his girlfriend - and other boys his age have been slowly disappearing over the years. Only the local policeman Morrison seems to know anything about it.
One thing that I think Burnside does incredibly well is atmosphere. From the very beginning, he created a creepy, eerie world for the reader to inhabit - although I believe the town is meant to be set somewhere in Scotland, it feels almost otherwordly and fantastical. The people are all quite odd and/or reclusive, the weather is dark and dreary, and the ominous presence of the now defunct power plant is a brilliant addition, making it very easily for me to imagine myself in its shadow at all times.
There are also a couple of points in this book where the events are quite shocking. Burnside can quickly move events on from being bearable to alarmingly violent at the drop of a hat, almost out of nowhere. Some of the images are maybe not for the faint-hearted, but I wouldn't say they were quite as shocking as moments in The Dumb House. Still, I can see parts of this book being quite disturbing for readers less inclined to read horror/thrillers.
What in the end let me down was the ending though. It made absolutely no sense, left absolutely no resolution, and was just plain bizarre. Not in a good way either. Although I don't need some massive revelation at the end of the book, it would have been nice to feel like there was some sort of point to the events depicted in earlier pages. Although again the imagery was intriguing, odd, and gruesome at times, it just made the book fall flat in the end, because I felt like Burnside had an idea for a story but never fully worked it out. Disappointing to say the least.
I would recommend trying this book if you like creepy atmospheric reads, but if you're the kind of person who likes a strong plot then this definitely isn't one for you. I will still be reading more of Burnside's work though, as his style is something I really enjoy.
March 10, 2009
John Burnside’s The Glister opens in a modern day ghost town. The chemical plant that once fused the city with life and prosperity has been closed and left to rot. Everything in the town can be described as dead and deformed. The town’s adults are apathetic, depressed and diseased. The children are violent, promiscuous, and haunted. But no one ever leaves the town, unless of course, they disappear.
This book is not a typical horror or mystery novel. It’s more of a very long dark fable complete with an abstract ending and an obscure moral. This is not an easy read; it can best be described as uncomfortable and difficult. Burnside manages to infuse every aspect of his tales with menace, down to the last comma. There is sex, violence and adult language—the majority of it committed by young adults. It’s also the kind of book that may torment it’s readers for months. If there is a more terrifying or disturbing novel out there, I have yet to read it. I’d warn anyone considering the novel that it is scary and edgy. You may not like it, but you should definitely read it.
This book is not a typical horror or mystery novel. It’s more of a very long dark fable complete with an abstract ending and an obscure moral. This is not an easy read; it can best be described as uncomfortable and difficult. Burnside manages to infuse every aspect of his tales with menace, down to the last comma. There is sex, violence and adult language—the majority of it committed by young adults. It’s also the kind of book that may torment it’s readers for months. If there is a more terrifying or disturbing novel out there, I have yet to read it. I’d warn anyone considering the novel that it is scary and edgy. You may not like it, but you should definitely read it.
June 29, 2009
I thought it was well written, but at the same time it is a short story that is about 150 pages too long. I kept reading, hoping that something would happen, something related to the premise of the story. When it finally did I was unimpressed and very disappointed. I wish I had followed my gut feeling about this one and stopped after the first 50 pages.
July 22, 2024
Kann man lesen, Burnside ist ein großartiger Schriftsteller, Glister ist spannend, und vielleicht sogar sein bester; ich muss aber zugeben, irgendwann hat sich meine Begeisterung für seine Romane erschöpft; Ashland & Vine liegt schon lange ungelesen bei mir rum, mehrfach angefangen und wieder schnell weggelegt.
October 21, 2010
The Glister is a story about a once-industrial town, specializing in chemical production, known as Innertown. Now, Innertown is not a place anyone with a right mind would want to live in; the kids are violent with practically no morals, and the adults are either too sick from unknown illnesses or too tired of life to care. And not to mention, approximately every year or so, a boy disappears. Authorities turn a blind eye to this, as does the town’s only policeman, and the inhabitants are fed transparent lies about the fate of these boys. Thus, The Glister focuses on a boy called Leonard, whose quest is to find how to survive in a decaying town that is filled with corruption, evil and sickness.
When I first picked up this book, I was immediately captivated by its storyline. I expected dark, twisted tale with a solid plot and a powerful meaning. Unfortunately, I would be a liar if I did not say I was sorely disappointed. What seemed to be an intriguing plot turned out to be half-cooked: unsatisfying and irresolute. The main character, Leonard, who immediately draws pathos from the loss of his best friend, does not act on his own will most of the time, and seems to follow the whims of others instead. He dates a girl he does not like, and he takes part in a gang’s activities though he would much rather be far somewhere else. This is not like the boy the book summary described to be, just like how this story isn’t. I felt deceived, upon finishing this novel, since the actual plot of this novel had almost no connection to the book’s summary, which was what had attracted this novel to me in the first place. The only thing that the summary promised that did take place was that we could see exactly how dysfunctional Innertown was. Other than that, I was let down by what the novel turned out to be.
Though I did not enjoy the plot, I must admit that the mood and atmosphere of this novel was well executed. There was an air of horror and darkness throughout the novel that ensnared readers. The only fault in this is that there was no sense of resolution to balance this. The ending, much to my surprise, was so hazy and confusing. I felt no sense of satisfaction after I finished reading this novel, as there were still so many unanswered questions. So it was a bit of a pity, that such a fine skill of mood setting was not done justice.
The Glister is not a bad book; it is just unsatisfying. The language and style of writing are effective, but the weak plot and ending damages it. Some people will love it for its abstractness and need for the reader to infer things, but for the others, it will only leave them discontent.
When I first picked up this book, I was immediately captivated by its storyline. I expected dark, twisted tale with a solid plot and a powerful meaning. Unfortunately, I would be a liar if I did not say I was sorely disappointed. What seemed to be an intriguing plot turned out to be half-cooked: unsatisfying and irresolute. The main character, Leonard, who immediately draws pathos from the loss of his best friend, does not act on his own will most of the time, and seems to follow the whims of others instead. He dates a girl he does not like, and he takes part in a gang’s activities though he would much rather be far somewhere else. This is not like the boy the book summary described to be, just like how this story isn’t. I felt deceived, upon finishing this novel, since the actual plot of this novel had almost no connection to the book’s summary, which was what had attracted this novel to me in the first place. The only thing that the summary promised that did take place was that we could see exactly how dysfunctional Innertown was. Other than that, I was let down by what the novel turned out to be.
Though I did not enjoy the plot, I must admit that the mood and atmosphere of this novel was well executed. There was an air of horror and darkness throughout the novel that ensnared readers. The only fault in this is that there was no sense of resolution to balance this. The ending, much to my surprise, was so hazy and confusing. I felt no sense of satisfaction after I finished reading this novel, as there were still so many unanswered questions. So it was a bit of a pity, that such a fine skill of mood setting was not done justice.
The Glister is not a bad book; it is just unsatisfying. The language and style of writing are effective, but the weak plot and ending damages it. Some people will love it for its abstractness and need for the reader to infer things, but for the others, it will only leave them discontent.
April 1, 2009
Billed as a horror novel, this bizarre novel goes nowhere frightening or even ... coherent. Trying to be "abstract" it succeeds only in revealing there are no ideas at the core of this "story."
August 29, 2021
To be honest, I expected a lot more from the author of 'The Dumb House'. Glister is frightening, but with no underlying message. It is vividly cruel and wild, like life, but the feeling that the town described and its inhabitants are makeshift fakes never left me. I also did not particularly enjoy the focus on guilt and despair over the past that most characters stressed.
May 13, 2009
This is one of those books that I want to rank on two completely different scales - one for atmosphere and one for story.
On the former, The Glister gets a fantastic score, 4 or even 5. A sort of literary horror, the whole work is laid over with a subtle, sinister edge. The nearly feral teenagers, the remains of the chemical plant poisoning not only the land but the people, physically and psychologically was done with sinister and often subtle edge and a dreamlike quality.
The initial set-up was also brilliant. The shifting narration is well done and I was hit with immediate empathy toward Morrison, Laurence and the desperate sadness of Andrew's life (and how all three seem to be a twisted reflection of each other.) I wanted to know what was happening in the town, the motivations of the murders and of the cover-up. If anybody would escape the town and the dying fathers.
And then it never came through - the story never really went anywhere. Entire lines seemed to drop from the author's radar and it became increasingly dreamlike - but rather than making it feel more sinister it just became bland. The ending was an absolute disappointment and I feel very flat...I could sense that there wasn't going to be a real resolution by the last quarter but I was hoping that there would at least be an emotional one. Sadly, it didn't come through.
On the former, The Glister gets a fantastic score, 4 or even 5. A sort of literary horror, the whole work is laid over with a subtle, sinister edge. The nearly feral teenagers, the remains of the chemical plant poisoning not only the land but the people, physically and psychologically was done with sinister and often subtle edge and a dreamlike quality.
The initial set-up was also brilliant. The shifting narration is well done and I was hit with immediate empathy toward Morrison, Laurence and the desperate sadness of Andrew's life (and how all three seem to be a twisted reflection of each other.) I wanted to know what was happening in the town, the motivations of the murders and of the cover-up. If anybody would escape the town and the dying fathers.
And then it never came through - the story never really went anywhere. Entire lines seemed to drop from the author's radar and it became increasingly dreamlike - but rather than making it feel more sinister it just became bland. The ending was an absolute disappointment and I feel very flat...I could sense that there wasn't going to be a real resolution by the last quarter but I was hoping that there would at least be an emotional one. Sadly, it didn't come through.
January 5, 2009
There are moments of recognition, when I turned a page in "The Glister" and had the sense of reading this in a book or seeing this on the big screen before. I felt that "ah ha" moment when a murder scene had elements of "Blair Witch Project" or when a pack of children went all "Lord of the Flies" in the black and poisoned forest of Innertown. I may not be a big fan of this sort of novel but "The Glister" pulled me in with the surprise of great dialogue, a strong central character and depth of story. For all of the surface ugliness of the setting and unsettling plot about disappearing boys, there were fleshed out characters of worth that I rooted for and ultimately made me rush to the very end.
November 3, 2018
A disappointment overall, but only because I was expecting it to be a little... more?
I'm straight down the middle with it, from a rating perspective. There were some amazing and highly quotable lines, so I was able to up my kindle-highlight game a bit since I was reading the mobi version. (sidenote: thank GOD I picked up the kindle version for cheap when it went up on sale.) And the book maintained most of its creepy nature, though at a terribly slow, plodding pace. I was extremely careful when choosing when to stop reading- I pushed through the really slow parts and would put the book down only when I reached a place in which it re-grabbed my attention, knowing that would entice me to pick it back up again, because honestly, there were moments where I was THIS CLOSE to chucking it out of sheer whothefuckcaresness.
I'm straight down the middle with it, from a rating perspective. There were some amazing and highly quotable lines, so I was able to up my kindle-highlight game a bit since I was reading the mobi version. (sidenote: thank GOD I picked up the kindle version for cheap when it went up on sale.) And the book maintained most of its creepy nature, though at a terribly slow, plodding pace. I was extremely careful when choosing when to stop reading- I pushed through the really slow parts and would put the book down only when I reached a place in which it re-grabbed my attention, knowing that would entice me to pick it back up again, because honestly, there were moments where I was THIS CLOSE to chucking it out of sheer whothefuckcaresness.
December 26, 2016
Blisteringly disturbing, creepy, and sometimes shocking: it made me twitch mentally, and once or twice a bit physically too.
February 13, 2019
At first, I was confused why this book has such a LOW rating. I really liked the first 50 or so pages! However, as I got more and more into the book, I realized why people rated it so low. While it's not AWFUL, it definitely is NOT good. It pretty much is John Burnside starting a story and then him just enjoying his gift at writing for 150 or so pages. While it's not as bad as the ratings might suggest, it still is not that good. Let's just say that I'm worried that Burnside will be a one hit wonder with "The Dumb House." I'm dead serious about that assumption. I would recommend skipping this one.
I am giving this one a 2.5 out of 5 stars.
I am giving this one a 2.5 out of 5 stars.
August 1, 2024
Burnside schreibt genial. Allerdings ist "Glister" so düster, stellenweise brutal und am Ende verrätselt, dass ich nicht gerade von einer entspannten, wohltuenden Lektüre sprechen kann. Hohe Qualität, aber man muss in Stimmung dafür sein.
May 16, 2010
A richly populated, flawlessly descriptive story, The Glister is a slow-moving but fascinating (and repeatedly hilarious) novel that tells the story of broken Innertown, a working-class area where the town's only business, a chemical plant with a dubious environmental record, has long shut down and plunged the town into darkness.
The Glister is neither a traditional horror story or mystery novel, although there's plenty of horror and mystery to it. Burnside creates a Hitchcockian atmosphere of suspense, though the real horror is that none of Innertown's defeated residents seems to notice it. The ravages of the closed down chemical plants aren't just the cancer clusters or mental illness that seem to leave a dying or sick family member in every household; the town has also sunken into a collective hopelessness. No one gets out of Innertown, no one bothers to figure out exactly what the toxic chemicals that have poisoned everyone at the plant are, no one gets particularly agitated when boys of Innertown mysteriously disappear.
The Glister is neither a traditional horror story or mystery novel, although there's plenty of horror and mystery to it. Burnside creates a Hitchcockian atmosphere of suspense, though the real horror is that none of Innertown's defeated residents seems to notice it. The ravages of the closed down chemical plants aren't just the cancer clusters or mental illness that seem to leave a dying or sick family member in every household; the town has also sunken into a collective hopelessness. No one gets out of Innertown, no one bothers to figure out exactly what the toxic chemicals that have poisoned everyone at the plant are, no one gets particularly agitated when boys of Innertown mysteriously disappear.
February 23, 2020
I didn’t know what to expect when I picked up this read, as it was a spur of the moment gamble in the bookshop but it’s definitely paid off.
I can understand why there are a lot of middling reviews for this book, as plot-wise you’re not going to get a neatly concluded story with all the loose ends tied together. The blurb on the back of the book reads like a crime novel, but you’re getting something else completely.
Glister is unsettling, darkly atmospheric and dreamlike. This world is a horrible place you know and have passed through on the way to somewhere else, but it’s that horrible place on steroids, its nastiness heightened and elevated.
This book feels distinctly Scottish; it reminded of The Wasp Factory, mixed in with a dash of The Wicker Man, Lord of the Flies and a few other delightfully gruesome references. Would absolutely read more of this author’s work - not sure he will be able to top this one, though.
I can understand why there are a lot of middling reviews for this book, as plot-wise you’re not going to get a neatly concluded story with all the loose ends tied together. The blurb on the back of the book reads like a crime novel, but you’re getting something else completely.
Glister is unsettling, darkly atmospheric and dreamlike. This world is a horrible place you know and have passed through on the way to somewhere else, but it’s that horrible place on steroids, its nastiness heightened and elevated.
This book feels distinctly Scottish; it reminded of The Wasp Factory, mixed in with a dash of The Wicker Man, Lord of the Flies and a few other delightfully gruesome references. Would absolutely read more of this author’s work - not sure he will be able to top this one, though.
June 24, 2009
I'm a fan of John Burnside's writing. I enjoy his pieces in the LRB and recall enjoying his novel 'The Dumb House' when I read it a few years ago.
I had high hopes for this novel. And I did enjoy it a lot. I liked the creepy otherworldlyness of the setting. It felt normal and yet also very strange. It reminded me a bit of Michael Faber's 'Under the Skin'. You recognise the place and the people but something doesn't feel quite right.
I like the ever present tension. But I found myself getting frustrated by the jumping perspective. I would have preferred to stick with one character and to really get to know them and their voice. I also felt the ending spiralled out of control a bit. That was probably the intention, but it felt so tight and restrained throughout that I felt a little let down by it.
One of those books where the writing was superior to the story it carried.
I had high hopes for this novel. And I did enjoy it a lot. I liked the creepy otherworldlyness of the setting. It felt normal and yet also very strange. It reminded me a bit of Michael Faber's 'Under the Skin'. You recognise the place and the people but something doesn't feel quite right.
I like the ever present tension. But I found myself getting frustrated by the jumping perspective. I would have preferred to stick with one character and to really get to know them and their voice. I also felt the ending spiralled out of control a bit. That was probably the intention, but it felt so tight and restrained throughout that I felt a little let down by it.
One of those books where the writing was superior to the story it carried.
Read
November 9, 2009I am of two minds about this book. First of all, the story is disturbing: teenage boys keep disappearing from a forsaken Scottish town, and the town's only constable is involved in a cover up of the first boy's cult-like ritualistic murder. I stopped reading, though, when the latest victim's friends start to take matters into their own hands and brutally beat to death the innocent but creepy loner on who lives on the edge of the forest.
But the English major in me was drawn to the charactarization and the recurring themes of isolation and connectedness. I wanted to see how those themes played out, but the part of me that just wanted an entertaining read didn't want to trudge through the violence and learn all the gory details behind the murders.
But the English major in me was drawn to the charactarization and the recurring themes of isolation and connectedness. I wanted to see how those themes played out, but the part of me that just wanted an entertaining read didn't want to trudge through the violence and learn all the gory details behind the murders.
September 8, 2011
A short, bizarre fable of urban decay, lifting elements from the supernatural horror and murder mystery genres without fully committing to either. There's not much of a plot to speak of at all, and what storyline there is wanders off into a long digression about disaffected teenage sex and violence before coming back around in the last thirty pages to a highly symbolic and frankly pretty baffling ending. As a sort of literary experiment in writing beautifully and poetically about the bleak, dirty, diseased side of modern life, it's interesting; as a coherent, satisfying story, it falls short.
March 15, 2019
where to start?!? much of the spartan plot is given to the reader in the synopsis, so what is left but to solve the mystery, assign guilt, and pass sentence? um, not so fast... this was another fabulously written book by Burnside, an author who somehow escaped by attention for a long time but has rewarded me with four intriguing, if enigmatic, books... by the time i finished this one, i was left with a strange feeling i not being entirely sure what happened, but loving it all the same... a myriad of personalities, all providing their own tale, each providing clues and information and background, though what you choose to believe and what you should believe are never that obvious... the disappearances of five boys makes up less of the narrative than one would expect, so if you want a cleanly laid out mystery, definitely go elsewhere, as you will be disappointed and confounded... as i read i kept getting the feeling this was more of a science fiction story, with the feel of Tarkovsky's "Stalker" but somewhere in a dystopian United Kingdom... there were also elements of VanderMeer's "Southern Reach" and of the film "Chernobyl Diaries" with some of the bizarre scenes... plenty of unsettling bits, a smattering of quasi-unreal passages, and some rather humorous occurrences that leave you unsure what is actually going on and what the point of the whole thing is... and that is what i truly loved about this book, it takes you in so many directions and manifests so many distinct possibilities with its various characters it turns into a thought-provoking tale on several levels... you care less about what "actually" happened and immerse yourself in a intermediate reality, a constantly shifting set of truths about what each person knows and is willing to divulge... if this review is a mess, then you get a good idea how convoluted this book is... it's Burnside, deal with it...
October 30, 2017
There is a little of Stephen King in this tale of mysterious events in an unidentified location, referred to only as Innertown and Outertown, Adjacent these isolated towns is an abandoned chemical plant, once the lifeblood of the community, until its dire effects on the health of the local population became all too apparent.
Now teenage boys are disappearing, and there seems to be a cover-up involving a wealthy local businessman and an incompetent policeman.
After a poor beginning, I became more engaged in the story once the narration was taken over by 15 year old Leonard Wilson.
the story became one of teenage angst, isolation, gang behaviour, sex and violence - directionless youth, completely lacking in parental supervision, running amok. Enter the Moth Man, and the plot takes on yet another twist and element of mystery.
But the writing, although maintaining a fair level of interest and intrigue, was really uneven, varying from very good to completely awful, with several passages that were quite tangential. It seems that Burnside has a plethora of ideas that he wanted to jam in, including multiple literary and film references, but he couldn't quite get his thoughts together in a coherent and meaningful fashion.
The characterisations were quite poor and often implausible. The character of Elspeth, a wantonly promiscuous teenage girl, is a paticular case in point.
Ultimately, very little is resolved and the ending is as poor as the beginning. With a bit more care and revision, this could have been a really good novel.. As it stands, it is really only just competent.
Now teenage boys are disappearing, and there seems to be a cover-up involving a wealthy local businessman and an incompetent policeman.
After a poor beginning, I became more engaged in the story once the narration was taken over by 15 year old Leonard Wilson.
the story became one of teenage angst, isolation, gang behaviour, sex and violence - directionless youth, completely lacking in parental supervision, running amok. Enter the Moth Man, and the plot takes on yet another twist and element of mystery.
But the writing, although maintaining a fair level of interest and intrigue, was really uneven, varying from very good to completely awful, with several passages that were quite tangential. It seems that Burnside has a plethora of ideas that he wanted to jam in, including multiple literary and film references, but he couldn't quite get his thoughts together in a coherent and meaningful fashion.
The characterisations were quite poor and often implausible. The character of Elspeth, a wantonly promiscuous teenage girl, is a paticular case in point.
Ultimately, very little is resolved and the ending is as poor as the beginning. With a bit more care and revision, this could have been a really good novel.. As it stands, it is really only just competent.
October 30, 2019
I was about a quarter of the way through this book when I noticed the low ratings. I couldn't believe it. I thought: "This is brilliant".
Well, but... As another reviewer put it, it ultimately reads like a brilliant 75 page short story embedded in... I'm not sure what. A few other good short stories, mostly describing characters who aren't directly involved in the action in the main one? And what of the so-called "ending"?
Ultimately, the middling score seems to be just about right.
Well, but... As another reviewer put it, it ultimately reads like a brilliant 75 page short story embedded in... I'm not sure what. A few other good short stories, mostly describing characters who aren't directly involved in the action in the main one? And what of the so-called "ending"?
Ultimately, the middling score seems to be just about right.
April 3, 2018
Wild and ambling, interesting in that it eschews expectations, shifting rapidly in genre and tone. Great descriptions of the chemical plant and city and so on. The narrator's obsession with high school literature seems empty though, could be entirely cut and nothing would be lost, instead it's presence seems a bit mastabatory. Others won't like it as it doesn't deliver on its mystery and the ending trails off, to be honest. It seems defying convention for the sake of defying it doesn't actually result in a better or more enjoyable novel.
December 15, 2025
the writing is really beautiful and encapsulating but the stylistic choices and the plot just weren’t for me. The characters were also a bit shallow and some dare I say unnecessary 😬
April 30, 2011
"E' sempre estate, in un luogo o in un altro, per qualcuno."
Un poliziotto che sconta la sua accelerata nomina con il più grave dei peccati, l'omertà; un imprenditore sinistro che segue fedelmente la sua specifica e personale morale; una donna alcolizzata e mezza pazza, vittima delle visioni di una mente che non riconosce più come propria; un vecchio guardone, bambino dentro, che vive ai limiti della cittadina e della società; una banda di ragazzini troppo annoiati per passare per teppisti; un adolescente abbandonato a se stesso, che legge Tolstoj, guarda film russi di 4 ore e come passatempo sperimenta il kamasutra; una adolescente abbandonata a se stessa, mangiata viva dal bisogno di concedersi a chiunque - in una grigia e anonima cittadina, sventrata dal più feroce postindustrialismo, questi personaggi si muovono come anime in pena, senza esser tuttavia mossi da tormento, quanto, piuttosto, dalla noia, una noia che rende pazzi, che intossica e crea dipendenza. E quando cinque ragazzini spariscono, uno dopo l'altro, ognuno di questi personaggi finisce con lo scoprire la parte inevitabilmente oscura di sé. Ma solo a pochi eletti spetta la redenzione.
Glister è un romanzo davvero anomalo. In un contesto provinciale extraurbano, che fa l'occhiolino alla critica sociale, si innesta il nodo narrativo di un romanzo apparentemente noir, con un fuoco multiplo sorprendentemente potente, capace di scavare nella personalità dei personaggi coinvolti, e con una progressiva e ben presto definitiva virata verso il surreale. Non si può dire che sia un thriller, dunque, né tuttavia pare essere fino alla fine un romanzo di critica sociale; a ben vedere, nel suo mutare continuamente forma, insieme al punto di vista della narrazione, l'unico aspetto a rimanere costante è quello psicologico - ecco, dunque, sarebbe più giusto dire d'esser davanti ad un romanzo psicologico. Un romanzo psicologico particolarmente coraggioso, che tiene incollato il lettore e alla fine lo fa affogare in una spirale di nonsense, allucinazione ultima di un processo d'intossicazione iniziato con la prima pagina.
Certo, qualcosa non mi ha proprio convinto, e anche parecchio. Sarà anche legittimamente funzionale a rappresentare l'alienazione dei personaggi, ma quella virata surreale che prende la storia non può convincere del tutto. Gli interrogativi rimangono, le perplessità pure, soprattutto per tutti quei piccoli dettagli di realismo che non possono esser tralasciati: i personaggi agiscono in vario modo, ma sembra che l'autore dimentichi tutte le ovvie e inevitabili conseguenze delle loro azioni. Il protagonista, Leonard, sparisce per giorni, lasciando in casa il padre morto, e nessuno sembra farvi caso. Non è plausibile. Così come non convince pienamente l'altrimenti brillante caratterizzazione di Leonard, adolescente atipico dall'inverosimile maturità.
Credo che, alla fine, questo sia un romanzo del quale si possa dire tutto e il contrario di tutto. Che possa piacere e lasciare indifferenti, affascinare e fare schifo. Forse proprio per il suo voler essere, a tutti i costi, una storia ai margini: ai margini della realtà, del "mondo là fuori", del verosimile, del normale.
Un poliziotto che sconta la sua accelerata nomina con il più grave dei peccati, l'omertà; un imprenditore sinistro che segue fedelmente la sua specifica e personale morale; una donna alcolizzata e mezza pazza, vittima delle visioni di una mente che non riconosce più come propria; un vecchio guardone, bambino dentro, che vive ai limiti della cittadina e della società; una banda di ragazzini troppo annoiati per passare per teppisti; un adolescente abbandonato a se stesso, che legge Tolstoj, guarda film russi di 4 ore e come passatempo sperimenta il kamasutra; una adolescente abbandonata a se stessa, mangiata viva dal bisogno di concedersi a chiunque - in una grigia e anonima cittadina, sventrata dal più feroce postindustrialismo, questi personaggi si muovono come anime in pena, senza esser tuttavia mossi da tormento, quanto, piuttosto, dalla noia, una noia che rende pazzi, che intossica e crea dipendenza. E quando cinque ragazzini spariscono, uno dopo l'altro, ognuno di questi personaggi finisce con lo scoprire la parte inevitabilmente oscura di sé. Ma solo a pochi eletti spetta la redenzione.
Glister è un romanzo davvero anomalo. In un contesto provinciale extraurbano, che fa l'occhiolino alla critica sociale, si innesta il nodo narrativo di un romanzo apparentemente noir, con un fuoco multiplo sorprendentemente potente, capace di scavare nella personalità dei personaggi coinvolti, e con una progressiva e ben presto definitiva virata verso il surreale. Non si può dire che sia un thriller, dunque, né tuttavia pare essere fino alla fine un romanzo di critica sociale; a ben vedere, nel suo mutare continuamente forma, insieme al punto di vista della narrazione, l'unico aspetto a rimanere costante è quello psicologico - ecco, dunque, sarebbe più giusto dire d'esser davanti ad un romanzo psicologico. Un romanzo psicologico particolarmente coraggioso, che tiene incollato il lettore e alla fine lo fa affogare in una spirale di nonsense, allucinazione ultima di un processo d'intossicazione iniziato con la prima pagina.
Certo, qualcosa non mi ha proprio convinto, e anche parecchio. Sarà anche legittimamente funzionale a rappresentare l'alienazione dei personaggi, ma quella virata surreale che prende la storia non può convincere del tutto. Gli interrogativi rimangono, le perplessità pure, soprattutto per tutti quei piccoli dettagli di realismo che non possono esser tralasciati: i personaggi agiscono in vario modo, ma sembra che l'autore dimentichi tutte le ovvie e inevitabili conseguenze delle loro azioni. Il protagonista, Leonard, sparisce per giorni, lasciando in casa il padre morto, e nessuno sembra farvi caso. Non è plausibile. Così come non convince pienamente l'altrimenti brillante caratterizzazione di Leonard, adolescente atipico dall'inverosimile maturità.
Credo che, alla fine, questo sia un romanzo del quale si possa dire tutto e il contrario di tutto. Che possa piacere e lasciare indifferenti, affascinare e fare schifo. Forse proprio per il suo voler essere, a tutti i costi, una storia ai margini: ai margini della realtà, del "mondo là fuori", del verosimile, del normale.
February 19, 2017
What a strange, dark little novel.
April 26, 2009
A good summary from Amazon by Jon Foro:
George Lister's secretive chemical plant fueled Innertown's economy for decades, but since its closure, its legacies are poverty, clusters of rare cancers, and a local wilderness populated with rumors of an unnatural selection of misshapen wildlife. When Mark Wilkinson--the first of several teen-aged boys to disappear every 12-18 in the coming years--is found hanged in the "poison woods" over a bizarre shrine of boughs, glass, and tinsel, the town constable chooses to cover up the atrocity (to the pleasure of Innertown's corrupt string-pullers), leaving the town's long-abandoned youth to take responsibility themselves. The Glister is a strange and affecting book, working as both simmering horror and a Dennis Lehane-style thriller: think The Blair Witch Project meets Mystic River meets It. Burnside's deliberate prose strikes a pitch-perfect balance between the insidious banalities of industrial society and the unacknowledged horrors lurking in the varicose network of cracks in its crumbling foundations, the spaces where institutionalized cowardice and naïve accountability meet to settle the fates of a damaged society's innocents. It's a story that will stay with you long after its last harrowing pages.
This book is beautifully written, though harrowing in theme and subject. It is dark, but it finds a resonant beauty in that darkness.
I found it devastating and lasting. Highly recommended.
George Lister's secretive chemical plant fueled Innertown's economy for decades, but since its closure, its legacies are poverty, clusters of rare cancers, and a local wilderness populated with rumors of an unnatural selection of misshapen wildlife. When Mark Wilkinson--the first of several teen-aged boys to disappear every 12-18 in the coming years--is found hanged in the "poison woods" over a bizarre shrine of boughs, glass, and tinsel, the town constable chooses to cover up the atrocity (to the pleasure of Innertown's corrupt string-pullers), leaving the town's long-abandoned youth to take responsibility themselves. The Glister is a strange and affecting book, working as both simmering horror and a Dennis Lehane-style thriller: think The Blair Witch Project meets Mystic River meets It. Burnside's deliberate prose strikes a pitch-perfect balance between the insidious banalities of industrial society and the unacknowledged horrors lurking in the varicose network of cracks in its crumbling foundations, the spaces where institutionalized cowardice and naïve accountability meet to settle the fates of a damaged society's innocents. It's a story that will stay with you long after its last harrowing pages.
This book is beautifully written, though harrowing in theme and subject. It is dark, but it finds a resonant beauty in that darkness.
I found it devastating and lasting. Highly recommended.
October 3, 2017
La scrittura ora elegante, ora ruvida di John Burnside conduce il lettore attraverso le 307 pagine di questo giallo atipico in cui non assistiamo al delitto, non c'è un vero e proprio investigatore, il "cattivo" di turno aleggia sull'intera vicenda ma agisce molto poco e non c'è -sic!- nemmeno una ricostruzione dei fatti.
Le storie dei protagonisti sembrano narrate quasi come racconti separati tra loro e ciò mi fa pensare che: a) era un preciso desiderio dell'autore b) il progetto originale del romanzo era decisamente più lungo e articolato. Personalmente propendo di più per la seconda ipotesi considerato che ritengo il libro buono fino a pagina 300, ma il mio giudizio cambia radicalmente per colpa delle 7 raffazzonate ed affrettate pagine finali in cui subentra un elemento soprannaturale assolutamente fuori contesto che lascia in bocca il sapore rancido dell'aria irrespirabile di uno stabilimento chimico dismesso.
Le storie dei protagonisti sembrano narrate quasi come racconti separati tra loro e ciò mi fa pensare che: a) era un preciso desiderio dell'autore b) il progetto originale del romanzo era decisamente più lungo e articolato. Personalmente propendo di più per la seconda ipotesi considerato che ritengo il libro buono fino a pagina 300, ma il mio giudizio cambia radicalmente per colpa delle 7 raffazzonate ed affrettate pagine finali in cui subentra un elemento soprannaturale assolutamente fuori contesto che lascia in bocca il sapore rancido dell'aria irrespirabile di uno stabilimento chimico dismesso.
December 12, 2018
this was just okay.it was nothing great.
some one gave it to me to read.
it is actually about a 15 years old boy growing up in an unnamed town.
his name is leonard wilson.
the town he lives in his called innertown and it is a part industirial ruin.
he has a relation ship with a girl called elspeth and the story revolves around that.
then strange things starts happening in innertown .
young teenagers start to go missing in that city and they are no where to be found.
different people suggest different theories but nothing seems to make sense.
there is a police officer known as john morrison who tries to find out what happens.
children continue to go missing.people do not know what to do.
leonard wilson thinks that the police officer john morrison is behind all this but that is not the case.
in the end , leonard wilson fears for his life and is afraid that he might be the next teenager to go missing.
some one gave it to me to read.
it is actually about a 15 years old boy growing up in an unnamed town.
his name is leonard wilson.
the town he lives in his called innertown and it is a part industirial ruin.
he has a relation ship with a girl called elspeth and the story revolves around that.
then strange things starts happening in innertown .
young teenagers start to go missing in that city and they are no where to be found.
different people suggest different theories but nothing seems to make sense.
there is a police officer known as john morrison who tries to find out what happens.
children continue to go missing.people do not know what to do.
leonard wilson thinks that the police officer john morrison is behind all this but that is not the case.
in the end , leonard wilson fears for his life and is afraid that he might be the next teenager to go missing.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 178 reviews