BOOKS OF THE YEAR
Reality, and Other Stories by John Lanchester review – horror for the digital age
Vinegar-sharp ghost stories play with the hold that technology has over all of us
Christopher Shrimpton
Thu 22 Oct 2020 12.00 BST
J
Reality, and Other Stories is a collection of eight contemporary ghost stories, with the horror stemming from the irresistible power that technology has over us. In real life we are obsessed, distracted, impolite, floating through a world of unravelling human bonds and never-ending notifications. Could fiction be worse?
The opening story follows a family as they visit a wealthy friend’s country estate for a New Year party where there is a video games room, there are iPads, Disney+ – everything they need to keep the children occupied. Spoiling the party is a very tall, unhappy-looking man who never looks up from his phone. He takes a special interest in the children; is always there when the parents aren’t. But when the parents ask about him, no one else in the house has seen him. It’s a cautionary tale that bubbles first with humour then panic, and ends in melancholy.In “Reality” a young woman wakes up in a strange house. It is Day One of a new reality television show. The house is beautiful and the people are too – or so it seems. Of all the stories, this is the most affecting. The participants chirp compliments (“Love the outfit!”), but are mocked by the echoes of their own voices – they sound false. It’s all for show; nothing is real. They soon turn on one another. There are no ghouls or ghosts, but a horrible sense of souls in torment.
The stories are uneasy rather than frightening, in the manner of MR James. In fact, “Coffin Liquor” – in which a snobbish academic has his Great Expectations audiobook ruined by a malevolent spirit – is a fine tribute to the master. Lanchester is more barbed: those most likely to be haunted are smug academics and people who say “no worries”. He is also socially alert; the tensions and disconnections of modern families are nicely illuminated.
Lanchester conjures a sad shadow world all the more scary for being a mirror image of our own. These entertainments are brisk, vinegar-sharp satires that horrify and amuse in equal measure; an alarming reality check. Like a lesson in etiquette, it’s good medicine.
• Reality, and Other Stories is published by Faber (£12.99).
THE GUARDIAN
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