Let the Right One In

During the fun weekend of Kristy's bachelorette party I was able to finish a book I had been reading for a couple of weeks. Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist was first published in 2004 in Sweden, and then translated by Ebba Segerberg into English for publication in 2007. I first found out about this story from my husband, who rented the movie from Blockbuster Online. He thought it was going to be a bloody vampire movie. When we sat down to watch the film, we found out it was something much different. The film was dubbed over in English so I'm not sure how the real actors sounded, but it was an interesting story none-the-less. In the film, you get the feeling it was meant to be a child-like love story with some vampire blood lust in between.

After watching the film, I found my way into a Borders and low and behold, found that the movie was a book first. As usual, I had no idea since this was a foreign film. What I found most interesting was that the book was said to be, "Absolutely chilling." by L.A. Banks. What was a love story on film, became a much more bloody vampire story in written form. I don't know that I can use a rating for the books I read, because I have a habit of loving them all, for one reason or another. And this book is no exception.

The book is mainly about a young boy in 1980's Stockholm who is an outsider. He is the skinny little boy who is bullied by the other kids in his class. The boy, Oskar, doesn't learn to defend himself until he meets and becomes best friends with Eli, a strange little girl that seemingly comes from nowhere. This is the central story in the book, but as the book progresses you learn more and more about how Eli's arrival effects others in this small Stockholm subdivision. Among the minor characters are a group of older alcoholics who haunt a local Chinese restaurant. Their story is filled with despair, especially as some start disappearing. You will also get to know Oskar's bullies, teachers, and mom and dad. Some will stick out as people that Oskar feels comfortable enough with to tell the truth to, almost. He always falls short of being honest with every character but Eli, and Eli, in turn tells Oskar the truth about her life as she knows it.

This story is full of strange characters who find themselves in terrible situations. But the backbone of the story seems to be the blossoming friendship between two pre-adolescent children who have found a kindred spirit in one another, despite their obvious differences. The story is sprinkled with bloody vampire encounters that are reminiscent of 30 Days of Night and new information for Americans about modern vampires in Sweden. There may be a political purpose to telling the story in 80's Stockholm, but that was lost on me since I don't know much about Stockholm in the 1980s.

If you like vampire books and enjoy foreign films, you should check out the novel and film entitled, Let the Right One In.