Bethany Griffins’s The Fall is a retelling of Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Both tell of a doomed family, the Ushers, and a very creepy house. But while Poe’s tale, from the perspective of an unnamed narrator, focuses on sickly Roderick Usher, Griffin’s protagonist is Roderick’s twin sister, Madeline.
The Fall is the story of Madeline’s fight against the house she cannot leave. Madeline is cursed; the chosen favorite of the mysterious and haunted House of Usher. As a child, she thought the house protected her, but as she grows into her cursed legacy, she begins to realize that she is a prisoner in a house that is not her own. Rebelling is more difficult as times goes on: the house is determined to keep Madeline, no matter what.
Griffin’s The Fall possesses the essential features of a Gothic story: a haunted house, dreary landscape, a strange illness, and the deterioration of a once thriving world. It even begins with Madeline experiencing a terrifying fear – waking up trapped in a coffin. The house is it’s own character, and a frightening one at that. It has the power to manipulate, take away, and exact revenge. That’s a truly scary thought…
The Fall is a good atmospheric book to keep you in the Halloween spirit even after the holiday.
Twisted Talk: Have you read “The Fall of the House of Usher?” Will you read The Fall? Discuss below!
