Monthly Book Review #2 Amityville Horror

The Amityville Horror, by Jay Anson is a thrilling book, filled with scenes of horror, fear, and ferocity. The book relates to us about the side of potential in-depth spirits that can stir up confusion between others, and peoples suspicion. This way and that way, the book turns reality and morphs it into a tale for many many tales. It seemed like a boring book at first, because it starts off slow, but further and further you read the pages, the words, and it makes it mesh together like a design by a famous artist known around the world and that inspires great works of art.

What was the author's purpose(s) in writing this book, and how can you tell? How well was this purpose achieved?

The purpose of the book is influenced by the author when he was researching the strange happenings after they had happened previous years before. Having been influenced by the stories from the people who have lived there, he (Jay Anson) decided it would work for a perfect true horror story. Deciding it was good enough he hurried to find all of the bits and pieces before some of them were lost. Due to the nature of some of the conversations that were reenacted, he could not categorize his book on the Non-Fiction side of the book stores. The way you can tell why the author wrote this book is by reading this quote:

"George waited for the priests reaction. He got it.
'George I don't want you, or Kathy, or the children to go back into that room. You have to stay out of there!'
'Why, father? What's up there?
Before the priest could answer, there was a large crackling sound on the telephone. Both men pulled pack from their earpieces in surprise. George couldn't make out Father Mancuso's next words. All that remained was an irritating static noise. 'Hello! Hello! Father? I can't hear you! There must be a bad connection!'(pg.59-60)

It does not really need to be proved when you can tell from this quote that the theme of horror comes into play throughout the whole book. But I will anyways. All of the pages revel through how the Horror came to pass, what has happened there in Amityville because of it, and what the family said they experienced there.

For what audience(s) is this book intended, and how can you tell? (In other words, for whom would you recommend this book?)
From what I read, which was the entire book, I can tell it was to appeal to all ages that like true stories and horror. Myself as one of those in the audience can say that it was the book I was looking for to make my life seem better than those of the family that lived the Amityville Horror. This book is hard to put down as soon as you begin to read the prologue of the mass murder that occurred in the house because a boy killed all of his immediate family with a high powered rifle because a voice in his head told him to do so. This book is a modern day story that can apply to every-one's life with hardships that families can overcome. Some families now a days get divorces instead, but in the book they decide to put up with it as long as they could, before it drove them from their house. I would definitely  recommend this book to people who like suspense, horror stories, and people who like to read something new every once in a while.

What are the weaknesses of this book, in your opinion?
Normally I do not like writing about the weaknesses of books in general, but in this case I have to. One of the major issues of the book is that it can only appeal to a small group of people. People who want to read horror stories, and tall tales. It just seems too cheesy to be a real story, because of the conversations, and the priest hearing voices, it just doesn't seem real enough. I think one of the reason I don't think it's real enough because there are so many stories out there, that anyone can take one, alter it, and make a new story that is better than the original and make money off of it. Another weakness of the book is the style it is written in. It doesn't even come close to a Harry Potter book, or any of the horror story books. The way they supplied the information to the reader can confuse them, and can frustrate the reader into not wanting to read it anymore.

If you've read other books in this same genre, how does this one compare?
Compared to the other books I have read throughout my youth, I have never read a "True Horror" story, other than reading the subtitles of "Haunted" on Discovery Channel. But it can come close to a story I have heard about; a magical Cupboard which makes things come to life( The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks). If you did not realize, that was sarcasm. Anyways the book is full of these many happenings that apparently occurred in the neighborhood from the "Amityville Horror" and because the house was haunted. This book should not be compared to other books because it should be classified to a special category of Fiction, where no other books can be allowed unless they are as unreal, full of horror, and the scenes happen in a place called Amityville.

Even though I am kind of negative towards this book, it is because I was under the influence when writing this, and it is from the heart because either way there is no way I would ever say those negative things sober. But if i wrote them down then I must have meant them, and I will stand by it and only recommend it if you are bored and want to read a book that you can edit and make a better edition for yourself.