Book Review: Dark Matter: A Ghost Story by Michelle Paver
Book Title: Dark Matter: A Ghost Story
Author: Michelle Paver
Genre: Horror Fiction Historical Fiction Historical Mystery Paranormal Ghosts Gothic Thriller Ghost Stories Supernatural Suspense
Publication Date: October 21, 2010
Page Count / Format
Rating: The Eternal Road
This book.
This mother pagin’ book.
What’s that part of Subtronics’ song Clockwork? “Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality?” That is infinity percent this book. I love a good ghost story as much as the next person, but this one? This one makes you question your own beliefs. And I don’t mean religion. I mean it makes you question human nature. It makes you question depression. It makes you question psychosis. It makes you question the supernatural. It makes you question death itself. It makes you question the afterlife. It makes you question what happens to emotion at the end of everything.
First off, the main character is so dreadfully human in the beginning, you’re not sure if he’s just crazy the whole time, seriously depressed, or is driven mad because of what happens in the book. Second off, the responses I had throughout reading this book are all variations and inflections of “what?” This is one of those books that takes longer to read not because the book itself is long but because you find yourself flipping back a few pages to read something once or twice more to compare to what you just read. If that sounds like your kind of book then pay attention!
Imagine this. Its the 1930s. Jack Miller is at the bottom of the bottom. The whole world around him is broken. He’s stuck with a job he hates, and is desperate to escape what he sees as the only possibility for his future. He applies to go on an expedition to the Arctic to study the biology, geology, ice dynamics, as well as a pattern of meteorological surveys. His role in this expedition? Communications. He dreams of escaping his dreadful situation and finding peace, adventure, and freedom. The doors it would open for him are merely a bonus. He is heavily biased, hates dogs, is at times snarky, and perhaps a bit delusional or peculiar. This is the journal of Jack Miller, what he runs from, and what he runs into in the long, empty night. Unedited. Raw. Compelling. Could you have handled it better? Could you have lasted in the long dark? Could you have kept going?
This book is written in such a way that you have an unsettling pit in your gut while you read. There’s something just beneath the surface that’s off the entire time. The author really captures the tone and language of the characters despite the limited viewpoint presented. Readers have a limited viewpoint of what is happening because readers can only see what Jack writes in his journal entries. It leaves part of the details up to the reader, which adds a nice element to the story in terms of how a reader engages with said story. Did Jack go crazy? Or did he really find something …. else… out there in the endless night?
The most notable characters from the book are as follows:
Jack Miller: the communications expert of the expedition and our main character
Algie Carlisle: chief huntsman, dog-driver, and geologist of the expedition
Hugo Charteris: the glaciologist of the expedition
Teddy Wintringham: the photographer of the expedition
Gus Balfour: the biologist of the expedition
Mr. Eriksson: skipper of the ship taking them to Spitsbergen, a sealer and a trapper
Throughout the book the pacing is consistent. We are given glimpses of details in both big and small ways. Typically in the form of self reflection from Jack. It neither feels rushed or too slow. It was merely a story unfolding before me as I read through it. I was listening to the main character telling me of their experiences as I would when a grandpa gets to talking about events in their life. The writing style, in my opinion, made the theme more prominent. It created the story, the intrigue, and the desperate need to understand what was happening to Jack. World building for this masterpiece is done sparsely, but it fits the story beautifully. We are only told of what things appear as through Jack’s journal. He mentions descriptions of the world in brief snippets, usually in the form of weather for the day. We are not intended to see it for ourselves.
Hands down, the most memorable quote from the entire book is this:
“Some people think of death as a door into a better place. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face ... What if it’s not like that? What if there is no enlightenment, and its all just dark? What if the dead know no more than we?”
What lingered for me after the last entry, was the question it raised about my view on reality. Though historical fiction, this book is set in a real place in the real world. (Not to mention the subtle yet powerful Easter egg that’s dropped at the end that adds new insight on Jack.) I found myself going back through several entries scanning to see if I had missed something, to see differences in Jack himself from entry to entry. I loved reading over his recount of what had happened. This book is a sort of slow but steady burn. It was immersive, highly thought provoking, and unsettling. I loved this book, and I think about it a lot more than I’m willing to admit online.