I have read and reviewed four previous works written by Richard Matheson here on my book blog. I've enjoyed the four previous books I've read by Richard Matheson. I eagerly looked forward to reading more books written by Richard Matheson.
I decided on listening to the unabridged audio version of Earthbound by Richard Matheson and narrated by Bronson Pinchot as it had been on sale through Chirp Audiobooks website. Earthbound's plot/storyline sounded intriguing enough to warrant my interest, BUT I found Earthbound to be the BIGGEST FLOP ever!!
In hindsight, I wished I had DNF'd Earthbound after the first couple of chapters. However, I kept reading Earthbound because I'd enjoyed reading Richard Matheson's other books and figured that Earthbound had to get better. Earthbound did pick up and grow somewhat better the second half of the novel, but not enough to warrant a higher rating.
Earthbound is billed as an erotic, ghost story. The plot centers around a married couple taking a second honeymoon in an attempt to rejuvenate their failing marriage. Things fail fast from the very beginning in every way possible. The writing is so painfully, slow and boring. The storyline is repetitious in parts. I found the couple's interactions unrealistic... neither one of them speaks their mind or communicates very well with each other and the husband, David, is quick to anger over stupid stuff. The last half of Earthbound does pick up and grows a tad more interesting when the ghost begins to inhabit Ellen's (David's wife) body, but overall Earthbound is a major dud. Spare yourself!! Skip reading Earthbound.
Below is the publisher's summary for Earthbound, which I discovered on Amazon's website:
A ghost story from the celebrated author of Hell House and I Am Legend, featuring a succubus homewrecker preying upon a troubled marriage.
In 1982, before Matheson had fully achieved the cult-and-grandmaster status that he has today, Playboy Press published a version of his erotic ghost story that was so severely edited that Matheson took his name off the book and instead published it under the name Logan Swanson.
In this restored version of the original manuscript, David and Ellen Cooper’s twenty-one-year-old marriage is nearing the rocks, so they decide to leave Los Angeles for a honeymoon and go to Long Island. Soon after they arrive at their beach cottage, a strange woman, Marianna, appears to David, and he is immediately entranced.
Matheson adeptly explores David’s growing fear and guilt, which becomes intensified after he and Marianna make love in a secret room in the house. Although Marianna is portrayed as an “earthbound spirit” (a ghost who rejects the afterlife, appears real to all senses, believes she is alive, and through psychic attack, sucks life from the living) she’s really more or less a succubus, gussied up in Casper the friendly ghost clothing. With each graphically detailed sexual rendezvous, Marianna pushes David to deeper levels of obsession, loss of will and irrationality. The story reaches an even higher pitch as the evil ghost begins to threaten Ellen, injecting some excellent suspense into unabashed pathos and outright titillation.
I am giving Earthbound by Richard Matheson a rating of 1 star out of 5 stars.
Until my next post, happy reading!!
