Title | : | Beulah |
Author | : | |
Rating | : | |
ISBN | : | - |
Language | : | English |
Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
Number of Pages | : | 346 |
Publication | : | First published January 18, 2022 |
Awards | : | Bram Stoker Award Best First Novel (2022), Shirley Jackson Award Novel (2022) |
Beulah Reviews
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Horror, ultimately, is about people. The knife is meaningless unless it’s got a body to cut to ribbons. The monster isn’t scary without someone to chase. The universe isn’t cold and uncaring without someone who desperately wants it to be the opposite. When talking about horror—where it’s gone and where it’s going—it’s important to remember the lens through which we view it. Because, after all, we are the lens.
Christi Nogle’s Beulah understands this better than most. Here we have a debut novel as steeped in people as it is in ghosts (although it has plenty of both). It’s a quiet book of big emotions, disenchantment, and mental illness—but most of all, it’s a story about people. People fighting, loving, excusing, and of course, coming of age. Some will say this is not a horror novel at all, or give it a blue-ribbon genre title like “elevated horror” or “post horror.” Whatever you want to call it, Beulah is an engaging tale filled with vividly drawn characters and heart-wrenching sadness.
Beulah takes place in the small town of Beulah, Idaho, where Georgie, her mother, and two sisters have come to help an old friend renovate a house. While this may sound like a typical set-up, and could send the dominoes falling toward a familiar outcome (house is haunted, family is scared, horror ensues), Nogle centers the novel’s journey on Georgie and her internal perspective. Told in sharply written first-person, Georgie isn’t just the main character, she’s truly the heart of the novel—even more so than the titular Beulah.
In getting to know Georgie, who is blessed/cursed with the ability to see ghosts (another horror trope that doesn’t go quite where you expect), I was reminded me of SP Miskowski’s immediate and voicey I Wish I Was Like You—another novel that featured a difficult young woman coming to grips with a setting-as-character.
And while it may not sound like a selling point, Georgie’s frustrating nature is really one of Beulah’s greatest strengths. In many ways, the character is all the more poignantly depicted for her own flaws. There’s no getting around it—Georgie is a piece of work. She’s detached, depressed, sometimes oblivious to others emotions, sometimes precisely empathic; she’s self-centered, lazy, and at other times demonstrably kind and caring to her family. Frankly, she’s a mess. But, this mess at the center of the story is what makes for such a lucid coming of age tale. Georgie is a fuck-up, but we’re rooting for her the whole time to finally figure it out.
It bears mentioning though that Georgie isn’t the only character here. Her mother, sisters, and sort-of love interests are depicted with an eye for detail and truth. Still, it is Beulah—the town—that stays with me. Nogle expertly captures the feel of small town Idaho as a place stuck out of time. As a former Idahoan, there’s a sense of remoteness and disconnect living in the Gem State that lends itself well to a novel about ghosts. In many ways, Georgie and her family, in coming to Beulah, mirror the specters that toil in oblivion beneath their noses.
Beulah has a lot of masterful character work, but it is still important to remember that this is a novel of supernatural horror. And just as it delivers on selling us its cast and setting, so too does it create an interesting and unsettling depiction of the afterlife. The ghosts in Beulah are strange. They flit at the corners of your vision, they appear as shadows, they get locked into the labor of their lives. They sometimes interact with people, but when they do, it’s an absent-minded parody of human connection. In Beulah, ghosts are vaguely sentient patterns. It seems fitting then, that Georgie, as she comes of age, must decide which of her patterns are most important to break for her to grow.
Beulah is a confident debut novel from a powerhouse of a writer. Nogle creates a world for us to live in and populates it with people torn from the periphery of our own lives. The people are not perfect, but they feel real. And when horror comes for them—as it comes for us all, eventually—their shudders and shakes might as well be our own. -
Nogle, like all writers with a rare knack coupled with incredible skill and imagination, makes everything she writes look easy and effortlessly ingenious. Even the Table of Contents of her latest novel, Beulah, reflects that sense of effortless ingenuity (The beginning chapter is called "When you talk to the dead", followed by 12 month named titles, followed by the last chapter, "When you walk with the dead"). I’ve been lucky enough to publish Nogle's short stories twice now, and I hope to publish her work many more times in the future. My initial reaction to reading this debut novel is simply this: how in the hell could this be anyone’s first novel? It’s so assured, so masterful, so in control at every level. This is not the typical mess of even the most talented writer’s first attempt at that tricky long form. This is the work of a top tier author in top form. Anyone writing a book blurb is tempted to summarize the plot and shower the book (and writer) with hyperbolic praise. I won’t do the former, and I promise you I’m not doing the latter. Nogle has all the goods, a singularly weird imagination, a tremendous sense of pacing and voice, and a mastery of clarity and control on the sentence level. Beulah will easily prove to be one of the best horror novels (never mind debut novels) of 2022. Read it.
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What a creepy concept! Not only to be able to see the dead but for them to force you from your own body so that they can take it over. Even worse is the discovery that your younger sister has the same talents and is open to the same problem.
In a somewhat dysfunctional family, Georgie, generally a loner, finds friendship of a kind with those in the ghost world. These interactions only serve to increase her 'separateness' from family and the world around her who view her as an oddity. As time goes on however, she finds that her younger sister, Stevie, is at risk from the spirit world too and so she tries to guide her away from danger.
An entertaining and thought-provoking tale on the nature of family and the ties that bind them together although my maternal head wanted to give the mother, Gina, a good talking to! -
Beulah, the first novel from Christi Nogle, is ripe with characters and circumstances that compel the reader through the story, and it is well worth the price of admission.
The story centers around Georgie, a late teen young girl with a gift: the ability to see ghosts. Her family is relocating to Beulah, a town that is filled with ghosts and memories of a past that she cannot remember. As the story unfolds, we learn that this is not the family’s first time in this small town, nor is the gift that she possesses her’s alone. This revelation leads to dangers for her and her family and she is the only one who can save them…but at what cost?
Christi Nogle has crafted a richly detailed setting that summons the reader into it’s shops and homes and hallways. And while the community is itself beautiful, it is the character of Georgia that makes this such a memorable novel.
Georgia exists in a thousand imagined histories and timelines as her ability to ‘see’ strengthens, yet she struggles to exist at peace with herself in the real timeline in which she lives. Her doubts, fears, anger, and at times selfless love for those who may seem unworthy is a pleasure to read and brought tears to my eyes at times.
While there are no monsters and few villains, this is, in my opinion, the best type of horror. The horrors of life and love and loss that are eternally real and leave the deepest wounds.
This is a wonderful first novel that I highly recommend and I look forward to reading more from Christi Nogle in the future.
I received an arc of this ebook from Cemetery Gates Media in exchange for an unbiased review. -
As brilliantly written as this was, it was a bit of a slow burn for me, and needed a bit more action. Not just glimpses.
It's good, though. It's strong.
A relaxing summer read for horror fans would be the best way I could describe it.
I can see why it won a Stoker.
A solid 4 stars. -
I woke up at 4:45 am, my body thinking that four hours of sleep was plenty (it was not). In that liminal state where the house slept and creaked around me, I finished the last hundred pages of Christi Nogle's Beulah. There's honestly nothing more perfect than that. I was on the couch in my pajamas blinking away tears and trying to come to terms with the fact that I should try and get at least another hour of sleep.
That did not happen.
Beautiful and perfect in its execution, Beulah is what Catcher in the Rye would look like written by Shirley Jackson. Every page drips with melancholy, the characters drawing you into their unique struggles. You care for them, wish the best for them. Want them to talk more to each other and scream when they don't.
This book speaks equally in the words unsaid. Prose that is poetic in its scarcity, beautiful in passive shades of childhood colours.
To be completely honest, there were moments where I disconnected from the story, but those moments mirrored Georgie's journey in such a perfect way that it enhanced my experience. Nogle doesn't just tell you Georgie's story, she makes you live it. She doesn't tell you Georgie is a black hole, you fall irredeemably into that void. And it's not so bad.
Christi Nogle's short fiction has done an amazing job building anticipation for this debut; now I need to figure out what to do with myself until she releases her next haunting novel. -
Please note: I do not rate on Goodreads.
Beulah is a character-driven novel which offers an original portrayal of the ability to see and interact with the supernatural.
The story portrays believable relationships that are sometimes tender and often troublesome. The character of Georgie was so vividly painted she will stick with me for quite some time. I also enjoyed getting to know Beulah itself.
If you enjoy 'quiet' horror you will certainly enjoy this one. -
With a skilled and unflinching hand, Nogle guides us through layers of time and experience in Beulah. Through the eyes of reluctantly “gifted” Georgie, we see what is usually hidden—the heartbreaking and terrifying—every rich and textured detail leading to a truly satisfying payoff. I will never forget this walk with the dead.
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Really enjoyed this ghost story told from the perspective of an apathetic (and traumatized) teen who hasn't quite figured out her "gift" or herself. The ending is a wonderful twist on a coming of age story and there are many moments to be savoured here both tender and horrific.
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Christi Nogle’s debut novel, Beulah, is a fantastic novel of haunting contradictions, something it shares in common with its narrator protagonist, Georgie. It is at turns epic yet focused. Intimate, yet distant.
We follow Georgie, a young woman who is moving to the small town of Beulah, Idaho with her mom and two sisters. It's supposed to be a fresh start for all of them. There's a supportive family friend in the town who has offered them a place to stay, an old school that is being remodeled into a residential property, a do-over of a senior year in high school.
Georgie is a flighty and listless gal, a daydreamer who likes to spend her free time wandering both in the landscapes of her mind and the real world. There may be a good reason for this, too. Georgie tells us she has a gift, an ability to see the ghosts of the past and interact with them depending on the occasion. With these qualities, she comes off as an unreliable narrator at times.
Beulah's greatest strength as a novel is in its first person narration. The voice that Nogle crafts for Georgie is authentic and real—we can easily imagine that this eighteen year old is sitting there talking to us. This is a character that I'll be thinking of for the years to come.
Much of the drama and incidents that Georgie encounters in the real world is small and personal. There is sibling rivalry, fights with mom, teen struggles with romance. At the periphery of it all are the ghosts that intrude, the ones that seem to be gaining power and influence over both Georgie and her younger sister who may or may not have the gift.
In a world where all sorts of stimulation is constantly available and vying for our attention, a book like Beulah seems like an anomaly. I’ve recently seen the sentiment amongst readers online that they are beginning to prefer novellas when it comes to horror, quick reads that get in and get out with the thrills and chills. This is not that book and it is quite ambitious in that regard: a 350 page slow burning horror novel that is scant with scares and instead focuses more on family dynamics and telling a beautiful coming of age tale. Still, despite its measured pace, there are a few really good scares in here and if readers are able to meet the book on its level will be rewarded greatly as it picks up in its final third and barrels toward an electrifying and gripping conclusion.
Ultimately, I am still haunted by the totality of the story, finding myself experiencing the memories and fantasies of Georgie's ghosts as if they were my own.
"There's no distinction between memories and stories. They're all real, all the same." -
Beulah is an amazing book, full of the pain and exceptionalism from a broken, dysfunctional family. The truth of the book is exceptional and insightful, and the sacrifices of the main character are surprisingly what keeps the family going. Read this book.
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Okay, I haven’t read ALL the ghost stories out there, but I’d wager to say this kind of ghost story hasn’t been done often, and definitely not with such masterful atmosphere and tone. I’m somewhat mad at myself for reading it so quickly—I was growing accustomed to the way it comforted me each night before bed with its dark-yet-pleasant narration. I’m hoping to come back to this one later if it releases in audiobook, however it would take a special kind of voice actor to nail Georgie. She’s a character you won’t forget.
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A wonderfully moving novel covering the weirdness and darkness in life, death, and the moments in-between. This book is as much about the ghosts of choices made or not made as it is about the spirits of the deceased.
Nogle is a top-notch weird/dark fiction author who doesn’t shy away from the unexpected and then follows through in a way that makes these strange choices feel as natural as possible. I was genuinely surprised at several moments in the book. -
The fascinating thing about Beulah is how Nogle manages to make ghosts unremarkable--and I mean that in the best way possible.
In another author's hands, 18-year-old Georgie's ability to see ghosts would be the centerpiece of everything, the keystone on which the rest of the story hinged. Instead, Georgie's struggle to simply exist, while being part of her family and taking care of her little sister, are the focus, and the ghosts and hauntings which torment her just as much as they keep her going are, in their own way, simply a part of her reality (and thus the reader's). There's no mistaking this for a coming-of-age story or a family drama, however, because the paranormal aspects of the story live in the cracks of each memory, in Georgie's every hesitation, and in every corner of Beulah that means such different things for the various characters in this book.
From the moment I fell into Nogle's novel, I was stolen into her world and her voice. It's hypnotizing, powerful, and the carrier of a reality that feels deeper than the story she's built. It is, simply put, pretty wonderful, and I hope you'll look it up. Just be ready for the darkness of it, and prepared to lose some days to its pull.
Absolutely recommended. -
A sure-handed debut of considerable strength.
Nogle's depiction of rural life, its joys and constraints, are keenly wrought.
Beulah hits the perfect line between supernatural horror and the horror of the real melding the two together effortlessly until no line exists between the two. -
Georgie is an eighteen-year-old who sees ghosts, but that's just one layer of her special gift. It's not very long into reading BEULAH before you find out this is so much more than a ghost story.
BEULAH does what good fiction should do. It transports you. In this case, transportation is into the world of the dead, courtesy of Georgie. Her eyes, her ears, her experiences.
I'm a sucker for novels with afterlife-ish world building on the topic of ghosts. Nogle takes it to the next level in BEULAH because of the time and care she put into characterization of Georgie and her family. It really shines through. It's one thing to write a ghost story, and another thing to craft an afterlife world that is at the same time captivating and repelling. Captivating for its beauty in imagery, its emotional appeal, the way I could at time feel the longing of the ghosts. Repelling because of the elements of the world of ghosts that is terrifying. The reason the unique ending landed so well for me was because of the detailed characterization and world building at the start of the novel. Nogle's writing is, as always, gorgeous and compelling.
With BEULAH, you get both a tremendous ghost story and you get insights about family, loss, love, disappointment, and contentment. This is a truly creepy but beautifully quiet book. It's haunting in a way I haven't experienced from a novel in quite a long time, and I expect it'll stick with me. And maybe keep me wondering about the possibility of the ghosts of those I love who may be trying to haunt me.
Thank you to Cemetery Gates for this free copy of BEULAH. I'm so glad I won it in a Twitter contest! My opinions are my own. -
I love the premise, I love the writing, and I love the characters. Christi Nogle's writing style is consistently gorgeous and her prose just flows. I recommend this to everyone who's ever felt like the odd one out, the outcasts, the strange kids, the ones who see beyond what's right in front of them.
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Video Review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl_Tx...
4 1/2
I've been lucky lately reading ghost stories. It's always fun and exciting to get into a really good ghost story that does what it's supposed to. The kind that makes the hair on your arms stand up, or send chills down your spine.
I continue this recent luck with "Beulah" from Christi Nogle.
Beulah is the kind of story that grabs your hand, and drags you on this adventure, making you witness things that you will question long after the book is completed.
It’s a story of a family moving, and making a fresh start in a small town. However, that situation unravels pretty quickly and we find ourselves wrapped up into this Ghost World, and you question what is real and what is a figment of your imagination.
Our main character, Georgie, along with her mother and two sisters find themselves now living in Beulah, Idaho, inside this old schoolhouse that needs renovation. But this schoolhouse has a lot more than outdated plumbing and faded paint.
Georgie sees ghost. And just saying it like that does it no justice. There is a much stronger and more meaningful power to this gift than to just say Georgie sees ghosts. These ghosts are on a different level, and this is ultimately the foundation of the story. The memories and the secrets all come out, with surprising affects on the cast of characters.
Told in a direct simplistic way, Beulah is able to keep the mystique surrounding the ghost and the mystery in the underlying issues as far as how the ghosts are actually affecting Georgie, and her sister Stevie.
In fact, you can probably say this “gift” Georgie has of seeing the ghosts proves to be more of a nuisance, especially when the danger enters the story. You start to see exactly who is in trouble, and the characters true personalities start to shine.
This is a very good blend of strong characters and a strong plotline. The characters may be a bit stronger as the book moves forward. Georgie is strong, and we see this from the get go. She is perfectly written, and built deep with several layers. You can’t help but to get attached to her.
Beulah is rich and warm with creating great detail in the setting. You get a good feel on life, living in this small town. Nogle is very detailed without being too long winded. I got a welcoming feel to the school the family is staying in, until of course the ghosts show up.
This is not a quick read. Pace yourself, there is a lot to take in. This is not your typical ghost story. Emotionally charged and pleasantly crafted, Beulah dives deep into both a supernatural tale, and a story of a girl finding her real true strength from within. -
Georgie can see ghosts. She knows she ought not to pay attention to them, because they are dangerous if you let them get too close, but they ease some of her loneliness. Moving back to her mother's home town in Iowa, Georgie tries to work out what she wants to do with life and how to best serve her family. But with her low energy, and the way her family struggles with her condition, and her general unmoored nature makes that difficult.
Beulah is a really interesting mix of slice of life and paranormal. I think this is what people class as "cosy horror". Georgie and her family were so detailed and felt so real throughout, with their little tics and well-worn arguments, and the ways that they show love to each other. It's a fantastic portrait of a family. I was also really compelled by how Nogle manages to make Georgie so compelling, despite her lack of goal and purpose. She drifts through life, and I wanted to see where she was going to drift next!
The ending was emotional--inevitable, but wrenching and unexpected at first. The build-up is excellently done, with the emotional weight of Georgie finally able to make choices for herself, even if those choices have large-scale consequences and sacrifice a lot of herself.
Classism is also a big theme that runs throughout, and I enjoyed the interplay of Georgie's family and that of Ellen's, Georgie's mother's best friend. Even in the quiet, more subtle moments, it's clear the ways they approach life are radically different and in Ellen's expectations of them. Beulah too is beautifully drawn, especially the way that Georgie and her mother's memories run over each other at points.
Georgie's relationships with her sisters, Stevie and Tommy, was one of my favourite parts. They are both complicated in their own way, but her closeness to them both and all of their attempts to find ways to understand each other was fantastic.
And through it all, we interweave ghost stories and hauntings and the creeping dread of the basement.
Beulah is a really exciting debut novel. I really look forward to more of Nogle's work. -
Beulah handles its paranormal elements as I've never seen before. They're just there, a fairly normal part of the protagonist's life, and I found that refreshing. I think it's a character-driven story at heart, and I found myself turning pages to find out how the everyday dramas would resolve more than anything. The writing is simple, honest, and filled with little truths applicable to many of our lives. I felt I was in good hands throughout it all. Overall, an excellent modern story in a genre that has been well and truly spreading its leathery black wings this past few years. Can't wait to read more of your work, Christi!
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Character-driven and heavy with atmosphere, Beulah pulls the reader into a slow-burning ghost story as surreal as a dream, but rife with brutal moments of harsh reality. Gothic foreboding colours every page of this novel. Be warned though, don’t go into the book expecting standard jump scares and ghouls. The horror in Beulah is as subdued and as insidious as the ghosts that haunt Georgie herself.
It’s hard not to fall into the tale of Georgie, to be swept away by her romanticism, her despair, her desire to be something more, to find her own place in the world. Written in first person, Georgie’s voice and personality are realistic, clear, tragic. Her struggles to find familial approval, to protect her siblings, to find a sense of normalcy while also trying to embrace her gift is a coming-of-age journey that mirrors the struggles so many people go through every day.
I also really enjoyed Christi’s take on the paranormal and of ghosts. It wasn’t anything I ever expected, especially how the novel ends. I wasn’t prepared for how breathless it left me. This is definitely one novel I won’t be forgetting any time soon. -
A unique story of Georgie, stuck in the land of teenage-dom, where she isn't sure where she fits or who she is, or who she should be. Where everyone has an opinion of what you should do and who you should be.
And she sees ghosts.
And she discovers the only one holding her back is herself.
A quiet, creepy tale. With family and friends and the looming darkness that life can be. Always go back to visit. Always. -
I'm a huge fan of quietly emotional, slice-of-life horror and this book fits perfectly into that niche. When Georgie moves to the small town of Beulah with her mother and sisters, her gift (or curse) of seeing ghosts comes into full force leading to unintended consequences. The setting of the old schoolhouse they are charged with renovating adds the perfect spooky touch, and I found Georgie's character, an aimless and depressed teenager who feels detached from both life and the living, very relatable. There is a lot of foreshadowing and hints dropped throughout the story, some of which I felt paid off and some of which didn't for me. However, this is one of those books where what happens is less important than the overall mood of the piece. There were some editing issues, and I think the novel might have been even more effective if it had been tightened up a bit in length, but still, this is a very rewarding read for lovers of a thoughtful take on ghost tales and coming-of-age stories.
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In Beulah, Christi Nogle builds a slow creeping dread that crescendos masterfully and had me at the edge of my seat for the last half of the book.
Georgie is a super senior with a gift - she can see the dead - but there are risks in communing with them, and Georgie has learned this the hard way. She and her family move to Beulah for a fresh start and Georgie aims to do better, but struggles with the things many teenagers face: depression, grief, romance, sibling rivalries, tension with her mom. But when Georgie's youngest sister, Stevie, shows signs of having the same gift, teaching and protecting Stevie threatens to undo all of her work to put her past behind her.
The relationships in Beulah are masterfully wrought, the dread and loneliness of such a power are beautifully drawn, and the end is full of emotional resonance. This one will hit you in the feels. -
“Beulah” is unlike any ghost story I’ve ever read. A slow burn that never truly ignites but hypnotizes and enthralls. The character work here is just remarkable. A powerful story about a family struggling with loss and upheaval. Trying to cope with the ghosts that haunt them literally and figuratively. Struggling with the familial assaults of The things unsaid, the little crimes we commit against one another, the resistance in admitting how much we are alike. The teenage labyrinth of belonging and discovery of one’s self. The terror of not being able to be the person everyone wants or needs you to be. Generational traumas and failures. There’s so many layers that I’m sure I missed a lot. I can’t really describe it, but I was captivated, moved, haunted and impressed.
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Beulah is amazing. A subtle creepy coming of age story that explores sisterhood, moving to a new town, and ghosts, what more could you want? Christi Nogle's prose is haunting and beautiful as she builds this world. This book hit me hard a number of times with its themes of siblings and the challenges that brings. It's a long one, but never really felt that way because of how engrossing it is.
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Fantastic characters, really sucks you in from beginning to end! Great read!!
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This book just wasn't for me.
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Color me blown away! Definitely one of the most unique ghost stories I've ever read.
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4.25/5