Review of "I'm the King of the Castle" by Susan Hill

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I'M THE KING OF THE CASTLE ★★★★★

by Susan Hill

Creepy. Disturbing. Emotionally exhausting. 

But in my opinion, I'm the King of the Castle is one of the most well-written novels out there. It seems wrong to say that this is one of my favorite without me appearing to be someone twisted and all that, but let me tell you: this is probably one of the most interesting books that I've read for ages.

This should be more popular, and this definitely shouldn't be priced at 10 pesos (though of course I am not complaining about that part). I will admit, I bought this because of two reasons: (1) the unbelievably cheap price, and (2) because of the cover. I'm a huge fan of impressionist/ post-impressionist art, in case you don't know. And indeed, the painting turned out to be a work of Van Gogh. Anyway, if there's one thing I'm certain of, it's that I'm thankful I bought this one.

It sure as hell was creepy. At first I thought it was a bit boring. Plus, the writing style of Susan Hill was simple and direct; she didn't bother with the flower descriptions (which was a drastic change from the novel I read previously, Paradise County). But soon, I was introduced to the character of Edward Hooper, shocked at his bluntness, shocked at the way his mind worked, given his age. In the beginning I could almost sympathize with him, I sort of understood his sentiments, and the fact that hereally didn't want anyone to come to Warings. 

However, when Kingshaw's point-of-view was shown, it became different. Kingshaw's fears were too real, too tangible, that I could feel everything that he was feeling--especially the way he was frightened about Hooper. The thing is, Kingshaw wasn't necessarily a coward; in fact, he was smart, and he didn't simply let Hooper have his own way. But heck, there was really something about Hooper.

The whole time, I was so tense and my heart was beating loudly, it was as though I were Kingshaw. Before I knew it, I had read at least 50 pages already without me noticing; that is how engrossed I was. I'm the King of the Castle is very hard to put down, once you've started to arrive at the suspenseful part. 

But, I suppose, that's the weird thing. This isn't really a thriller, and the things that Hooper did to Kingshaw weren't really as violent as I was expecting, but they were undoubtedly very frightening. It's the simple things that made everything so creepy. Those seemingly trivial things were the objects of terror during our childhood. God. I could feel Kingshaw's fear reverberating through the pages. And I couldn't believe the thoughts running in my head while I was reading this: "I want Hooper to die," and "If I were you, Kingshaw, I'd just run away and starve myself until I die" and stuff like that.

The characters? They're so difficult to wield into words. But hell, they're realistic. I'm so amazed Susan Hill was able to weave her characters like this. Although I'd say this book isn't really for someone young, I'm the King of the Castle shows that there are some things that adults will never understand. This as exemplified in the way that Mr. Hooper and Mrs. Kingshaw didn't even have the slightest notion as to what was happening between the two children. The kind of fear Kingshaw felt, not everyone could fathom that.

Several instances I found it so strenuous to go on, knowing that Kingshaw would have to suffer again sooner or later. But it's the idea of "not knowing" that made me continue, urging me to read forward because I was desperate to know what would happen next. Who would triumph in the end? 

Oh. And the ending. It was so tragic and sad, but I know that Susan Hill had no choice but to conclude the book that way. In the end, it would inevitably come to that, anyway. But goodness, I wasn't actually expecting her to actually to do it. It really makes me wonder how and why someone would make a novel like this--one that uses isolation as a central theme, one that uses children to symbolize several things, especially our fear.

It's hard to write a review for a book such as this one.

You really need to read it to understand.