Reviewed by Cheryl
TITLE: Rilke’s Ghost
AUTHOR: Michael Ampersant
PUBLISHER: Lust Spiel Books
LENGTH: 26 pages
RELEASE DATE: September 14, 2019
BLURB:
While visiting the lovely town of Duino on the Adriatic Italian coast, Michael A. provoked the wraith of the legendary German poet Rainer Maria Rilke by applying Google-translate to the wordsmith’s famed “Duineser Elegien” (Elegies from the Castle of Duino). Now he spends the summer in Switzerland, in a chalet only three kilometers away from the grave of the poet. Will Michael be stupid enough to challenge Rilke again, thus unleashing the most sophisticated ghost story of modern history, including an exorcism of serendipitous proportions…?
REVIEW:
This was an interesting concept about something, and someone, I know nothing about. I was looking forward to reading it, and to be honest, the story did not disappoint. I felt I learned something, which is never a bad thing when reading a book, even if only intended to be for recreation. I had never heard of Rilke and was interested in finding out more.
I appreciate the novella is very short but I don’t think it lived up to its blurb at all. There were nice touches and a good story but I would not call it the most sophisticated ghost story of modern history. It was barely a ghost story at all, with no more than a few oooh’s to even show the ghost was there. I can see how being oohed at could be frustrating and annoying, but hardly scary, and neither did the characters seem to be scared.
My favourite character is the priest, who comes across as awful, in the best possible way. He is a real character. It’s difficult to get one’s own character across when writing in first person, especially in a work this short, and Chang doesn’t have very much input, so it is the priest’s character that steals the show.
The book is written in an interesting style and it wasn’t one I was able to really get into. The grammar wasn’t great and in places it was so muddled I couldn’t quite follow what was going on. I specially didn’t get a hold on what happened at the end, other than that they got rid of the ghost. I have no idea how.
On the whole, this was an interesting book, but not one that was easy to read. I believe the writer is not first language English, and it shows. With some serious editing this book could be a little gem, but as it is, it’s just a pretty rock.
RATING: 
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