I love Jeanette Winterson’s writing – it’s always engaging, thought-provoking and beautifully-written, and ‘Night Side of the River’ is no exception.
This is a collection of short stories, billed as ‘Ghost Stories’ but actually so much more than a bunch of unconnected tales. Instead, Winterson divides her collection into four sections: Devices, Places, People and Visitations. There’s also mini-essay sections where Jeanette Winterson herself puts forward ideas about ghosts or personal perspectives – I particularly loved the introduction where Winterson explores the human fascination with ghosts and their place in different cultures.
One of the ideas running through the book is the impact of new technologies on our lives, deaths and afterlives – Winterson has a track record of engaging with some complex questions around AI, the metaverse and our digital footprints. This is intriguingly explored in the early sections of the book with stories about an app that keeps your loved one installed in your life, plus a story about virtual reality and living through an avatar after death. I’m not crazy about stories based on technology, but Winterson’s take is refreshing and not without a horrifying, ghostly element that fits well with the book.
My personal preference in the realm of ghost stories is for the gothic – count me in for haunted houses, darkness, curses, spooky seances and general creepiness! Luckily for me, there’s plenty of this evident in the collection – from ghostly, tragic, doomed lovers to spooky happenings at Blackdog Castle, remote houses and empty parks, hidden rooms and messages from beyond the grave. There’s stories narrated by the living, the dead, the ghostly, the haunted, the grieving – and, because this is the ever-playful Winterson, the con-artist wanting to cash in on ghost events as entertainment.
As expected, there’s strong undercurrents of horror in some of the stories – the boatman one is terrifying! However, there’s much subtlety beyond this – especially in Winterson’s presentation of grief and the things that make us remember, the things that provide comfort or provoke memories. Some of the stories are really moving, something I wasn’t really anticipating.
Lots of the stories are also really clever and there are some twists along the way. There’s also a really pleasing variety in the collection, from the downright scary to the dystopian, the tender to the gently humorous. I definitely had favourites and ones that will stay with me, but I enjoyed them all.
I’m not sure whether this was just a feature of the Kindle proof, but my copy didn’t clearly separate the stories so it was a bit tricky to read. The contents page gives story titles, but these weren’t evident as story dividers – I think maybe a physical copy of this would be easier to navigate, especially as there were sometimes linked ideas where I wanted to flick back to check something in a previous story.
This is a really thought-provoking and entertaining book with something for everyone – even those totally cynical about the supernatural (which, I confess, is where I stand!) Whatever your tastes, this is some skilful and enjoyable storytelling.
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Header photo by Stefano Pollio on Unsplash
