Let the Right One In is the story of a bullied schoolboy and a lonely new-girl becoming friends in the working-class suburbs of Stockholm. Oskar, who lives with his divorced mother, occasionally sees his alcoholic father on weekends. He meets Eli, a new girl who moves in next door with a man presumed to be her father. They meet on the stark, cold playground of their apartment complex, become friends, and help one another through the trials of being young and vulnerable in an adult world. It sounds like a sweet coming-of-age story but it is not!
Oskar is just inches from snapping and murdering his classmates in revenge. Eli… well… Eli is a vampire. (Not a spoiler, the reader figures this out pretty early.) Each in their own way stirs both pity and horror in the reader. This book is the anti-Twilight. Sure you have your vampire/human star crossed lovers, but they are both more threatened by human horrors than supernatural ones. Being a vampire is not Eli’s only dark secret. Oskar finds her second secret far harder to accept. Think “Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” meets “Tuck Everlasting” and you have the weird tone of Let the Right One In just about right.
What Wander Readers Will Love:
- Let the Right One In does a great job of letting you into the every day lives of working class Swiss people. The school system, transportation system, infrastructure, police, mainstream media, all feature at least a cameo.
- In addition to the lives of Oskar and his parents, you also get a glimpse of the working class lifestyle in Sweden from several families and individuals. Their lives overlap and interact but each has it’s unique dynamic.
- I don’t know where you sit as you read this, but here in Ohio, people are already grumbling about the approaching winter. In Let the Right One In, you get to know people for whom winter is normal and even enjoyed. It might help you anticipate the approaching cold with a little less dread.
What’s your favorite vampire story? If you read Let the Right One In, let me know how it ranks in the Vampire cannon for you.
Read ~ Write ~ Wander
~Angie