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Horrorstor: A Novel

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Have you ever worked retail? I have and it is truly a horror story. Anyone that has ever worked in customer service knows one thing really well: The customer ISN'T always right. So to base a book, a horror book no less, on a haunted version of IKEA or Orsk as it is named in the book is such a brilliant and unique concept. He'll make sure Amy's transfer papers go through if she stays overnight with Basil and a few of her co-workers. What could possibly go wrong? Horrorstör is basically a novel about a haunted IKEA. There’s no romance in it, but it’s relevant to the interests of the Bitchery in the sense that it’s about a haunted IKEA, a concept that should strike mingled dread and delight in the soul of anyone who has ever actually been to IKEA. I love the concept of this book. It is so unique – I’ve never read a book like it and believe I’m unlikely to stumble upon another. I feel it’s pretty much what you would expect from a novel pitched as a horror parody of IKEA. I’m a hoe for that Swedish furniture store and the story fed my home décor-loving heart. The tone starts off funny, and as the story progresses it turns creepy and escalates to, “Holy crap what just happened!” The tone is reflected by the layout of the book, which resembles an IKEA catalog, and which opens each chapter with a new advertisement. Initially the ads are for innocuous, even cheerful pieces of furniture, but the captions become more and more ominous and the furniture weirder and weirder.

If you’ve been online lately, you’ve probably seen quite a bit of buzz in the bookish community about My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix, but it just so happens, he’s also the author of this book, appropriately (and hilariously) titled Horrorstor. And so, Amy, this very realistic character, got a very strange last day of Work at Orsk...An exceptional Night Shift by the boss she hates, because he seems to be hating her. If you see me in the wild and I'm reading a book that was written by Grady Hendrix, interrupt me at your own peril.”So book industry, I'm looking at you. Who let this get published? Whose fault is this? Why are we okay with lazy unfinished writing? Horrorstör is elevated from a typical horror novel because of its setting, which is really quite clever, and the way Grady Hendrix, the author, weaves the store manual into the narrative. This is my second Grady Hendrix book and I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed this blast from my past! I loved how Grady Hendrix turned a 'haunted-house' story on its head and into a dark, creepy, stinky, big-box nightmare. Creative, creepy fun with humorous and twisty chapter introductions about the various Orsk products and their interesting uses.

A vampire's hunger for blood may be insatiable, but this masterpiece novel ladles out ample thrills, chills, and relevant examples of sociopolitical injustices to satisfy any literary appetite.” Initially I was put off by the writing style, but then I realized that the whole book is written in IKEA language – short words, short sentences, to the point. The first half of the book was great,a little slow,but still good,and you are introduced to the characters,which to be honest,are some of the most natural and real characters I have ever read about.They seemed to me so random,yet so unique.You happen to meet Amy,a girl who is not really happy with her job,she works at Orsk,which is a furniture shop.There also is a hipster with the beard,Matt.Basil,the boss who is always complaining.So you get the idea. Just dropping in to clarify (this is obviously VERY IMPORTANT) that IKEA isn’t a random set of letters, it’s an acronym containing the founder’s initials, and the first letters in the name of the farm where he grew up and in the name of his hometown. Also, all IKEA product names have a certain logic to them (and mean something). They’re not just selected at random. This is highly googlable, so I won’t bore you with the details.A delight...its incisive social commentary and meaningful character development make The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires not just a palatable read for non-horror fans, but a winning one.” I absolutely loved the set-up. The brain-draining corporate retail environment was spectacular. The satire perfectly played. I've asked you here because I need your help. I have an extra job for tonight. A side project. And I need you to keep quiet about it." pg 27, ebook.

Gilsdorf, Ethan (October 24, 2014). " 'Horrorstör' by Grady Hendrix". Boston Globe . Retrieved January 29, 2020.

But to my American ears the word is the perfect stand in for IKEA – a word clearly selected at random by marketing officials who didn’t think this through.” If you haven’t yet read Horrorstor, I cannot recommend it enough. It is truly delightful, especially for fans of horror or satire, and despite all the torture and death littered throughout the novel, it’s actually just a really fun read, and a uniquely immersive experience. From the New York Times best-selling author of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires comes a hilarious and terrifying haunted house story in a thoroughly contemporary setting: a furniture superstore.

After the first part,everything changes,the sense of humor vanishes,the novel gets darker and darker,and that's where the scary begins.And I am not talking about the fluffy scary,but as creepy nightmary scary. Grady Hendrix includes his own author photo in the form of an Orsk employee nametag, complete with the store’s obnoxiously perky customer service motto, “Have a question? Just ORSK!”The main appeal to the book is the concept, not the characters, but I loved Basil, the manager whose character development I won’t spoil, and the heroine, Amy, who starts off being pretty immature and shows her inner grit and compassion as the story develops. Ruth Anne is a great person with hidden depths. Hendrix did a great job with lots of little references that made me smile from mentioning Best Buy, Lorraine Warren (I’m a huge fan of The Conjuring series), and capturing the essence of an IKEA store. LoL I’ve only shopped there twice in my life and let me tell you, that place has to be terrifying late at night in complete darkness. The humor was also spot on for me. The satirical nature of the entire story, plus the witty banter between the characters, made this an absolute delight from beginning to end.

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