Who Would Like This Book:
If you love unique, experimental storytelling and crave books that blur the line between psychological thriller and horror, "The Pallbearers Club" should grab your attention. With a dual unreliable narrator format and layered annotations, Tremblay invites readers to puzzle through reality and memory. Fans of coming-of-age tales tinged with darkness, ‘80s/‘90s alt rock nostalgia, and ambiguous supernatural elements will find plenty to dig into. If you enjoy novels that challenge your perceptions and love a good character study, this might hit your sweet spot.
Who May Not Like This Book:
If you’re looking for a fast-paced, plot-heavy horror story, this one might test your patience - it’s more literary in style, often meandering, and spends a lot of pages dwelling on introspection, band history, or the minutiae of the era. Some found the pacing sluggish, the narrative a bit self-indulgent, and the meta, postmodern structure off-putting. If you dislike ambiguity or need definite answers to your supernatural mysteries, this probably won’t satisfy. Others were frustrated by the protagonist’s voice or felt the payoff didn’t justify the slow burn.
About:
The Pallbearers Club by Paul Tremblay is a unique and thought-provoking novel that blends elements of vampire mythology with coming-of-age themes and buddy tale dynamics. The story follows the enigmatic characters, Art and Mercy, as they navigate a darkly romantic tale of gothic obsession set against a backdrop of post-punk music and 80s nostalgia. The narrative style, with two ish narrators sharing their perspectives, creates a sense of tension and ambiguity, keeping readers engaged in uncovering the mysteries of the plot.
Genres:
Tropes/Plot Devices:
Topics:
Notes:
Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings include themes of anxiety, depression, and self-harm, as well as discussions of mental health and existential crises.
From The Publisher:
"Paul Tremblay delivers another mind-bending horror novel . . . The Pallbearers Club is a welcome casket of chills to shoulder." - Washington Post
A cleverly voiced psychological thriller from the nationally bestselling author of The Cabin at the End of the World and Survivor Song.
What if the coolest girl you've ever met decided to be your friend?
Art Barbara was sonot cool. He was a seventeen-year-old high school loner in the late 1980s who listened to hair metal, had to wear a monstrous back-brace at night for his scoliosis, and started an extracurricular club for volunteer pallbearers at poorly attended funerals. But his new friendthought the Pallbearers Club was cool. And she brought along her Polaroid camera to take pictures of the corpses.
Okay, that part was a little weird.
So was her obsessive knowledge of a notorious bit of New England folklore that involved digging up the dead. And there were other strange things - terrifying things - that happened when she was around, usually at night. But she was his friend, so it was okay, right?
Decades later, Art tries to make sense of it all by writing The Pallbearers Club: A Memoir. But somehow this friend got her hands on the manuscript and, well, she has some issues with it. And now she's making cuts.
Seamlessly blurring the lines between fiction and memory, the supernatural and the mundane, The Pallbearers Club is an immersive, suspenseful portrait of an unusual and disconcerting relationship.
Ratings (8)
Incredible (3) | |
Loved It (2) | |
Liked It (1) | |
It Was OK (1) | |
Did Not Like (1) |
Reader Stats (27):
Read It (8) | |
Want To Read (13) | |
Did Not Finish (3) | |
Not Interested (3) |
1 comment(s)
Unfortunately not my kind of book. Had problems getting invested in the story and it's not something that will stay with me for long
What can you read after
The Pallbearers Club?
When you click the Amazon link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commision, at no cost to you.
