Little Star: A NovelJohn Ajvide Lindqvist
Thomas Dunne Books, October 2012
ISBN: 978-0312620516
Little Star is an unforgettable portrait of adolescence, a modern-day Carrie for the age of internet bullies, offensive reality television, and overnight You Tube sensations. Chilling, unnerving, and petrifying, Little Star is Lindqvist’s most disturbing book to date.
Lennart Cederström, embittered ex-pop singer, is foraging for mushrooms when he finds a baby left for dead in a plastic bag. He revives her and is utterly astonished by the sound of her crying; the child’s voice is a clear, haunting, perfectly pitched note. Convinced that his discovery of the child is a chance for him to redeem the disappointment of his life and career, Lennart takes her home, and keeps her in the basement and names her Little One.
The plot simultaneously follows the life of Theresa, a similarly disaffected young girl, who is drawn to Theres by her siren-like singing. They develop a connection through music and draw other social outcasts to themselves, forming ‘The Pack’. It becomes apparent that only through bloodshed can these girls assert their power and achieve the autonomy that society in general and men in particular have denied them.
Lindqvist’s fourth novel is a disturbingly realistic examination of damaged and alienated teenage girls, pushed to the fringes of society, who find each other through social media, with devastating consequences for the society that marginalised them. Little Star is perhaps even more disconcerting than Lindqvist’s other works, despite lacking traditional monsters, its accurate portrayals of teenage angst leaves the reader wondering if this could really happen.
JOHN AJVIDE LINDQVIST is the author of Let the Right One In, Handling the Undead, and Harbor. Let the Right One In has been made into two critically acclaimed films. The Swedish film was directed by Tomas Alfredson (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) and won top honors at sixteen film festivals around the globe. The American remake of the Swedish movie, entitled Let Me In, received rave reviews. Stephen King called the film, "A genre-busting triumph. Not just a horror film, but the best American horror film in the last twenty years."
ISBN: 978-0312620516; ISBN10: 0312620519; Imprint: Thomas Dunne Books; On Sale: 10/2/2012; Format: Hardcover; Pages: 544; $27.99
