Let the Old Dreams Die (2005)

Let the Old Dreams Die (2005)

Author: John Ajvide Lindqvist | Translator: Marlaine Delargy | Page Count: 518

'[E]verything is kind of temporary, somehow. As if things never really get started. Or that it's already over, and I haven't noticed.'

A collection of eleven short stories from author John Ajvide Lindqvist, most of which were originally published in his homeland as Paper Walls (2005). The translated English language edition added the titular Let the Old Dreams Die, which takes place after his most celebrated full-length novel, Let the Right One In (2004).

Similarly, the closing story in the book, The Final Processing, is a sequel to his full-length Handling the Undead (2005) novel. The remainder of the shorts are standalone works, but some could be called spiritual successors in other ways. (See NOTE at end of post.)

Some of the works will appeal to horror fans with a twisted and grisly imagination, but some will probably only really make sense to individuals who've felt isolated, distanced or uncomfortable in their own skin, or even in familiar surroundings.

A lot of Lindqvist's protagonists are in a position whereby they fear the truth of a situation because it'll invariably cause some kind of gulf to open and separate them from their seemingly safe and routine existence. The situations start normal but the observations fantastical; together they create a strange believability, even when logic says that those kinds of things really couldn't happen… at least, I hope those kinds of things really couldn't happen.

I've never had such difficulty in choosing a quote to use on a post. I'd a dozen or more, each as good as the other but for different reasons and evocative of equally different emotions. If the endings had been as perfect as the singular observations, the book would've been even better.

NOTE: the US and UK editions appear to differ. The US book is missing Paper Walls, whereas the UK one lacks Tindalos. Mine's the pictured UK edition, so I have no idea what Tindalos is about, but I can say with certainty after having read it that I'd not want Paper Walls to be absent.