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"Once Upon A Lane"
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“…the house no one ever went into or out of…”
“Once Upon A Lane” in a cozy cul-de-sac with pristine lawns, there’s a community of neighbors and friends alike who are going about their day to day lives. Paxton Green makes his rounds to appreciate the landscape of the lane with his green thumb. Mrs. Habernathy has been on the lane the longest and likes to keep an eye on things. Young Tommy is the mailman making deliveries and dodging the youngest Murphy boy with his best friend Bobby, while they run all around the lane on their latest imaginary adventure. Of course the boys will have to make a pit stop at Ella and Ida’s house for some fresh baked treats. The ladies will most likely be out on their porch discussing the latest gossip involving all the other members of the lane, while something across the street sticks out like a sore thumb. The only place that everyone in the lane seeks to avoid interacting with, but cannot help but wonder what could be inside... the house with the dead yard…
“Once Upon A Lane” in a cozy cul-de-sac with pristine lawns, there’s a community of neighbors and friends alike who are going about their day to day lives. Paxton Green makes his rounds to appreciate the landscape of the lane with his green thumb. Mrs. Habernathy has been on the lane the longest and likes to keep an eye on things. Young Tommy is the mailman making deliveries and dodging the youngest Murphy boy with his best friend Bobby, while they run all around the lane on their latest imaginary adventure. Of course the boys will have to make a pit stop at Ella and Ida’s house for some fresh baked treats. The ladies will most likely be out on their porch discussing the latest gossip involving all the other members of the lane, while something across the street sticks out like a sore thumb. The only place that everyone in the lane seeks to avoid interacting with, but cannot help but wonder what could be inside... the house with the dead yard…
Readability
This book is very well written, but you better bring your wallet (and a dictionary) because it contains enough five dollar words to put a down payment on a new home in the suburbs. “Once Upon A Lane” is a narrative that’s devoid of any plot and seems to focus more on showcasing Wilson’s literary prowess. He achieves this by weaving a sophisticated series of events that involve more than thirty distinct characters over the course of the entire book. At first I thought the story was gearing up to be a murder mystery with paranormal elements, but then later I was thrown off track and had to do a double take when I was reintroduced to a character I thought had already died. I was frustrated because I thought I had stumbled upon a critical error on the author’s part, but then later I realized that it was intentional. To be honest, at that point in the book I really had no idea what the hell I was reading anymore, but that did not discourage me from trying to put the pieces of this puzzling tale together. From sun up to sun down the story is narrated from the third person perspective as it makes the rounds seamlessly weaving the daily activities of all the characters interacting along the lane. Many of the events are inconsequential, and since the story makes no attempt to establish a structured plot, the pacing starts to really drag around two thirds of the way through the book. The heavy amount of redundancy and lack of clarity as to what the hell the story is all about could have only been redeemed by Wilson’s creative writing style.
Creativity
In a word, Duncan Wilson’s “Once Upon A Lane” just flows. There are so many characters in this book, and so many of them are introduced so early on that it can be a struggle to keep up. The characters are like stones stuck in a river of energy as the current carries the narrative over, between, and around them. The story isn’t exactly character driven (as there is no plot), but there are what I would consider “major” characters opposed to “main” characters in this story. So among the thirty plus characters in this book, only about half get any significant attention to detail in terms of personality and playing an ongoing role throughout the narrative. Despite having so many, I think Wilson did a great job at making each character very distinct from one another.
The further I read, I was able to relate names with specific hobbies, professions, or interests and all the minor characters were identified through their associations with the majors. There’s no real character development in terms of arcs or tropes, and I also can’t exactly call the characters “plot devices” either since the story didn’t really have a plot. However, periodically the narrative will drop sudden and/or subtle clues, mysterious nuances, or peculiarities about certain characters which made me think that there was something sinister occurring just below the surface of this grass is greener narrative. The story is laced with unassuming metaphors, foreboding symbolism, and in-your-face oddities which raised enough questions to get me hung up on this riddle of a book until the very end.
Delivery
If it wasn’t for the way “Once Upon A Lane” was written, then the narrative itself would have just been dull, frustrating, and ultimately feel like a big waste of time. Remember when I told you to bring a wallet before reading this book? Well, that’s not only because the book has a lot of five dollar words, but it also writes checks to the reader that its ass can’t cash! I can’t talk about the let downs of this book without first addressing the elephant in the room, which was used as a selling point, and that’s “the house with the dead yard”.
The best way I can describe the mysteries surrounding the house with the dead yard (much like everything else that feels out of place in this book) is that there are cosmic, paranormal, and psychological implications. Mostly the house represents dread, but I think it also resembles a wormhole to alternate dimensions, which would explain some of the unexplained phenomena in this book:
- characters coming back to life
- characters have altered behavior
- characters have amnesia or changed memories
- characters living in homes that belonged to previously existing characters
For these reasons I call this book a riddle, because Wilson does not spell anything out for the reader in “Once Upon A Lane”. Evil is implied throughout the book, but lurks below the surface (with the exception of two minor characters). Justin, who’s a character seeking revenge and enjoys creating carnage, and there’s also the creature, which is a repulsive looking character that appears periodically to embody fear and/or wrath (either as itself or the fear and wrath in others).
Everything considered “evil” is implied and is never really explained. Most of these implications are left completely to reader interpretation. For instance there’s a kind of evil that is implied through Leo Tuttle’s character and his relationship with his exotic pet. Another kind of evil is implied through Liola’s character, the reading material she was into, and the way she ended up - which left even her medical friend (Candice) confused:
She understood the terms, she understood the science behind the terms, and she understood how those terms related to what her friend had suffered, but she still did not understand how such a thing occurred to Liola. How could it have happened so fast? How was it not detected long before it occurred? Why were there none of the known warning signs?
This is the kind of book that you can read through multiple times in an attempt to connect the dots, but ultimately you’d just be speculating (as there is no initial plot to make a point). I would have liked some sort of payoff in the end that offered clear explanations for some of these puzzling occurrences within the lane, but all in all this was a very unique story.
This book is very well written, but you better bring your wallet (and a dictionary) because it contains enough five dollar words to put a down payment on a new home in the suburbs. “Once Upon A Lane” is a narrative that’s devoid of any plot and seems to focus more on showcasing Wilson’s literary prowess. He achieves this by weaving a sophisticated series of events that involve more than thirty distinct characters over the course of the entire book. At first I thought the story was gearing up to be a murder mystery with paranormal elements, but then later I was thrown off track and had to do a double take when I was reintroduced to a character I thought had already died. I was frustrated because I thought I had stumbled upon a critical error on the author’s part, but then later I realized that it was intentional. To be honest, at that point in the book I really had no idea what the hell I was reading anymore, but that did not discourage me from trying to put the pieces of this puzzling tale together. From sun up to sun down the story is narrated from the third person perspective as it makes the rounds seamlessly weaving the daily activities of all the characters interacting along the lane. Many of the events are inconsequential, and since the story makes no attempt to establish a structured plot, the pacing starts to really drag around two thirds of the way through the book. The heavy amount of redundancy and lack of clarity as to what the hell the story is all about could have only been redeemed by Wilson’s creative writing style.
Creativity
In a word, Duncan Wilson’s “Once Upon A Lane” just flows. There are so many characters in this book, and so many of them are introduced so early on that it can be a struggle to keep up. The characters are like stones stuck in a river of energy as the current carries the narrative over, between, and around them. The story isn’t exactly character driven (as there is no plot), but there are what I would consider “major” characters opposed to “main” characters in this story. So among the thirty plus characters in this book, only about half get any significant attention to detail in terms of personality and playing an ongoing role throughout the narrative. Despite having so many, I think Wilson did a great job at making each character very distinct from one another.
The further I read, I was able to relate names with specific hobbies, professions, or interests and all the minor characters were identified through their associations with the majors. There’s no real character development in terms of arcs or tropes, and I also can’t exactly call the characters “plot devices” either since the story didn’t really have a plot. However, periodically the narrative will drop sudden and/or subtle clues, mysterious nuances, or peculiarities about certain characters which made me think that there was something sinister occurring just below the surface of this grass is greener narrative. The story is laced with unassuming metaphors, foreboding symbolism, and in-your-face oddities which raised enough questions to get me hung up on this riddle of a book until the very end.
Delivery
If it wasn’t for the way “Once Upon A Lane” was written, then the narrative itself would have just been dull, frustrating, and ultimately feel like a big waste of time. Remember when I told you to bring a wallet before reading this book? Well, that’s not only because the book has a lot of five dollar words, but it also writes checks to the reader that its ass can’t cash! I can’t talk about the let downs of this book without first addressing the elephant in the room, which was used as a selling point, and that’s “the house with the dead yard”.
The best way I can describe the mysteries surrounding the house with the dead yard (much like everything else that feels out of place in this book) is that there are cosmic, paranormal, and psychological implications. Mostly the house represents dread, but I think it also resembles a wormhole to alternate dimensions, which would explain some of the unexplained phenomena in this book:
- characters coming back to life
- characters have altered behavior
- characters have amnesia or changed memories
- characters living in homes that belonged to previously existing characters
For these reasons I call this book a riddle, because Wilson does not spell anything out for the reader in “Once Upon A Lane”. Evil is implied throughout the book, but lurks below the surface (with the exception of two minor characters). Justin, who’s a character seeking revenge and enjoys creating carnage, and there’s also the creature, which is a repulsive looking character that appears periodically to embody fear and/or wrath (either as itself or the fear and wrath in others).
Everything considered “evil” is implied and is never really explained. Most of these implications are left completely to reader interpretation. For instance there’s a kind of evil that is implied through Leo Tuttle’s character and his relationship with his exotic pet. Another kind of evil is implied through Liola’s character, the reading material she was into, and the way she ended up - which left even her medical friend (Candice) confused:
She understood the terms, she understood the science behind the terms, and she understood how those terms related to what her friend had suffered, but she still did not understand how such a thing occurred to Liola. How could it have happened so fast? How was it not detected long before it occurred? Why were there none of the known warning signs?
This is the kind of book that you can read through multiple times in an attempt to connect the dots, but ultimately you’d just be speculating (as there is no initial plot to make a point). I would have liked some sort of payoff in the end that offered clear explanations for some of these puzzling occurrences within the lane, but all in all this was a very unique story.
#LFLR Indie Rating: 7/10
“Once Upon A Lane” is a wonderfully written narrative that will dry hump you from beginning to end, and leave you contemplating how you’re going to hide that disturbingly pallid stain long enough to make the whole damn walk of shame back home, to the house with the dead yard, without having to face the disdain of old Mrs. Habernathy. Duncan Wilson’s newest release is a horror about a stranger recounting his terrible tale in “A Random Tavern”.
“Once Upon A Lane” is a wonderfully written narrative that will dry hump you from beginning to end, and leave you contemplating how you’re going to hide that disturbingly pallid stain long enough to make the whole damn walk of shame back home, to the house with the dead yard, without having to face the disdain of old Mrs. Habernathy. Duncan Wilson’s newest release is a horror about a stranger recounting his terrible tale in “A Random Tavern”.
THIS BREAKDOWN IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE #LFLR NETWORK.
