The Book of the Baku

RL Boyle’s The Book of the Baku is one of the YA novels of the year, but even after finishing this amazing book I’m still not 100% sure it is aimed at kids? For the most part it was astonishingly bleak for a kid’s novel and although the blurb calls it “A Monster Calls meets The Shining” I would disagree and amend that to “A Monster Calls meets The Babadook” which suits it slightly better, as I could see little of The Shining in The Book of the Baku, but that is no bad thing. This highly unsettling debut novel is very much its own beast and does not lean on anything, except for the pain of broken families, isolation, guilt and tragedy. If you think this sounds bleak, do not let that put you off, Sean is a brilliant leading character who deserves your empathy. It was also fantastic to read a horror novel with a boy as a central character, these are few and far between, and one who struggles with a disability, whose cause is revealed in tragic flashback.

The Book of the Baku plays out in two ‘before’ and ‘after’ narratives, but it is enticing unclear what happened to Sean’s mother when he arrives at his estranged grandfather’s house. A family tragedy has led to him developing a Conversion Order, which means he cannot talk, he also has a serious leg disability which hampers his mobility and has been bullied because of it. In the past his grandad was a novelist who wrote a collection of short stories about a mythical creature, called the ‘Baku’, which feeds on the dreams of children. As Sean reads the terrifying collection, he begins to lose touch with reality and the stories from the book blend into his every-day world, with some real Bababook style moments. This was one of those books where you just will the main character to confront their internal demons and I was quite literally cheering when some light appeared in the darkness of the tunnel. In many ways the life Sean left behind was considerably more harrowing than anything the Baku could do to him and it was brilliantly written into the big reveals which come later in the plot. The Book of the Baku was one of the bravest and most impressive YA horror novels I have read in a good while. AGE RANGE 11-14

“There’s only so much horror and pain any living creature can take before it loses its mind.”

Sean, unable to speak due to a trauma in his past, is going to live with his grandfather. He knows Grandad used to be a writer but that’s about the extent of his knowledge as they only met two months ago. It is at Grandad’s that Sean learns of the existence of the Baku. He’s going to wish he hadn’t.

While the Baku, a creature otherwise known as the ‘dream eater’, is not a new concept (its mythology spans centuries), the author has brought it to life in an imaginative way, imbuing it with a whole new level of creepy. I can see the appeal of what appears to be an easy way of getting rid of your nightmares but this is definitely not the incarnation of the Baku you want to feed.

“For there’s a darkness deep in me,
That feeds on pain and misery.
Give it to me, relinquish dread,
And fall asleep in peace instead.”

I felt Sean’s pain throughout the book, both physical and the pain of grief. His underdog status and innate likeability had me empathising with him even more. I wanted this kid to be okay and I hoped everything would work out in his relationship with his Grandad, who I absolutely adored from the get to.

Towards the middle of the book I began to wonder if the story was going to start feeling too repetitive but new elements and additional information about Sean’s past alleviated my concerns. There’s a growing dread as the days progress at The Paddock, something that may even be enhanced by the use of repetition, as you anticipate what’s next for the main characters. The horror is amplified by Sean’s inability to communicate what he’s experiencing to anyone.

“It is as though each unspoken sentence dries to create a thicker barrier for those behind it and now his voice is blocked behind an impenetrable concrete wall.”

I loved the inclusion of the rowan tree in Grandad’s garden. Given the themes that were explored in the book, the choice of this specific type of tree felt especially significant. Although I want to say more about this tree I won’t because spoilers. However, I will recommend you read about its mythology and symbolism once you’ve read the book so you can see for yourself how brilliantly it all lines up. I particularly like the explanations given https://treesymbolism.com/rowan-tree-symbolism-meaning.html and https://treesforlife.org.uk/into-the-forest/trees-plants-animals/trees/rowan/rowan-mythology-and-folklore/.

Content warnings include alcoholism, bullying, death by suicide, death of animals, domestic abuse, drug addiction, gun violence, mental health, physical abuse, sexual assault (off page), slavery, suicidal ideation and verbal abuse, including slurs about a physical disability (no, I didn’t like this at all but the horrible words used were consistent with what I knew of the characters who said them).

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to read this book. I’m rounding up from 4.5 stars.

The Book of the Baku follows Sean, a teen who's having to move in with a grandfather he's never met before following a family tragedy that's forced him to leave his home, and caused him to become mute. His social workers tell him that he needs to confront his trauma in order to move on, to get his voice back, and that he can't just hide away from what happened to him; but Sean's having trouble facing up to what happened. He's blocking out his friends, and retreating into his art.

Luckily for Sean, his grandfather seems to understand that Sean needs his own time and space, and converts his home conservatory into a bright new art studio for his grandson. He buys Sean stacks of art supplies, and encourages him to pursue his passions. At first, everything seems to be going well between the two of them, despite them struggling to get to know each other for the first time.

Things change, however, when Sean discovers a collection of horror stories in his granddads library, 'The Book of the Baku'; which Sean's grandfather wrote himself years ago. The stories tell of children haunted by awful nightmare, and how they give these nightmares over to the mythic Baku, a statue that can eat their bad dreams. But when Sean starts to have these nightmares himself, and starts to see the Baku he begins to fear that the creature might be real, and that it's coming for him. Now he has to try to avoid dreaming, avoid letting the Baku in closer to him whilst his grandfather retreats back into his writing shed, zombie like, and the house begins to decay around them both.

At first I thought The Book of the Baku was going to be a pure horror story, a book about monsters and nightmares. It ticks a lot of those boxes, and the nightmares and short stories that fill the pages of the novel are incredibly chilling at times; but it soon became apparent that the book was going to be a lot more than watching this boy struggle against supernatural forces. The book is as much about trauma and loss than it is anything else; and I'm not entirely convinced that the Baku itself isn't just a manifestation of the grief Sean's living with. Though the book refuses to give clear answers one way or another, and the monster could very well be real.

Throughout the book we learn more and more about Sean through flashbacks scattered across the narrative. These moments take us back to a time before Sean moves in with his grandfather, before he fell mute, when is life was somewhat happy. Having grown up in a poor neighbourhood, Sean has had to struggle most of his life, and has had to mature quickly. Yes, he and his close friends still play childish games, but they live a life where drink, drugs, and gang violence are a constant part of their lives. Sean has had to struggle and fight for what he has, and it shows that he was a very strong young man, and raises the question of what would have been so awful as to traumatise him so much.

R.L. Boyle is very clever at giving you enough hints at what this could be through these flashbacks, enough possible scenarios that you're constantly trying to work out what it might have been. There are a few possibilities I came up with throughout the flashbacks, and they were not only all wrong, but all so much better than what really happened to Sean. I'm not going to say what happened to him, as it would completely ruin the book, but when I found out it broke me. I'm not ashamed to say that I genuinely wept, that the book brought out floods of tears and all I wanted to do was to give Sean a huge hug and tell him everything was going to be okay.

Even though the book is about monsters, ghosts, and horror stories on a surface level it's so much deeper than that, and it deals with grief and trauma so beautifully, and made it one of the most emotionally affecting books I've ever read. I've seen the book being compared to A Monster Calls, and that's an incredibly apt comparison. I can see the people who loved that book loving this one, and it deserves to be as loved, recognised, and awarded as it was. The Book of Baku is not only the best book I've read this year, but perhaps one of the best I've ever read, and it needs to be read by everyone.

Here, RL Boyle creates a deep and complex mythology based on the Japanese myth of the baku, and makes it entirely her own. The concept of an elephant headed god who is steadily moving closer and closer to Sean across the pages of the book, made me think of that old saying, 'an elephant never forgets', which is entirely apt for this startling and original book.

Sean appears to be mute, removed from care on the request of his grandfather, a Roald Dahl-esque figure who spends hours, even days in his shed, writing. One of his books, written after the death of his wife, the grandmother Sean never knew, attracts Sean's attention and, without thinking, he takes 'The Book Of The Baku' off the library shelf and begins to read.

Each tale is a child's nightmare, related in horrific detail , enough to make the skin crawl. The children call to the Baku to come and eat their nightmares, to give them a night's sleep. They write their nightmare down and feed it to the Baku, but when their fears are no longer satisfying the hunger, he comes for their hopes and dreams instead...

Woven into this horror are Sean's 'Before' chapters, where he and his friends ran loose across an estate called the Dulwood(appropriately named, the children there are seen as 'dead wood', no point in putting anything into them as they are born lost causes). In the days 'After' there is the sinister implication that something terrible has happened, something so bad it has struck Sean mute. His grandfather seems well intentioned but uniquely unable to cope with his grandson as he takes him home to the Paddock-another well named place, where freedom to roam is implied, but, despite the obvious wealth, this is a prison of another kind.

The book is full of motifs and contradictions, as Sean before created graffiti art of him and his 4 friends, and was the hopeful one of the gang ('we all escape or none do'), he names his art 'The Escapists'. In his grandfather's house, he uses the most expensive implements at his fingers,to create Michaelangelo's 'Prisoners, which express his feelings about fear, anxiety, and being out of place.

As he spends more time in the Paddock, the beautiful garden and the garden ornaments turn from serene to sinister, tendrils start to come out from under the writing shed, Grandfather becomes undone and is either drunk or writing. The flowers and trees rot, and the corruption comes closer with each night Sean spends there. As the nightmares of other children seep into his dreams, he awakens to find the Baku has left him notes under his pillow , on his chair, and in his bed.

The Baku is creeping closer, in vividly described scenes that chill your very marrow, Sean seems trapped and imprisoned by fear, unable to speak, to use his voice. His entire life has been stolen away from him, his future now financially possible, but his heart pulling him back to his roots.

In essence, 'The Book Of The Baku' is about the process of creating art, and how we use it to express our feelings of rage, grief and use it as a gateway to another realm. Reminding me of 'The Tommyknockers' and of 'The Thief Of Always', yet entirely it's own beast, this book has a loud and resonant heart in the shape of Sean, the bravest boy I have yet to encounter in the pages of a book.

His resilience and ownership of his mutism and physical deformation is incredible, his voice, his words have been stolen by adult oriented trauma, and he will not, cannot speak. But the way he cares for the abandoned hoglets that he finds, and tries to feed himself and bring his grandfather back from an all consuming grief honestly broke me. I was reduced to tears, this was poverty and lack of life chances by irresponsible adults which is seen all too often , yet rarely conveyed with such authenticity. It is a simply stunning novel, and I cannot say anymore than that as my throat is sore with tears and my words are just not elegant enough to explain.