CONTENT WARNING: DISCUSSION OF GENOCIDE, RACISM, AND THE ETHICS OF FORGIVING WHITE GUILT. YEAH, THIS ONE GOT HEAVY.
It's time for yet another trip to camp, and another trip to the world of Shivers. We've had a mixed bag of quality with the camp books from Shivers, so who knows what's on our way? But what's a (Woo!) Party Summer without some adventure? Will it be worth that adventure? Let's find out with The Ghosts of Camp Massacre.
Samantha isn't too fond of going to camp this year, especially with her annoying eight year old brother Rex. She likes to act like he doesn't exist and often tells people she's an only child or an orphan or something. She also says that because girls mature quicker than boys, that's why she doesn't care for boys much. I shouldn't really too much into that, but you know how this blog works by now. She's also the kind of kid who loves to use big words like illiterate and monotony and point it out to you all smugly, so that's why she hasn't earned a "based" card just yet. So, why is she in such a bad mood? She doesn't want to go to Camp Wil-He-Waha for a week, especially with Rex around.
Then she feels a tongue on her neck, causing her to scream. No, wait, before you get concerned, it's just Rex annoying her with an ice cube. We also learn Samantha is nicknamed "Spooky" on account of being scared so easily by everything, especially a clown night light she had as a kid, which okay that tracks. Imagine being in your bedroom at night and the only light in the darkness is a creepy illuminated clown face. That's the "Bart's bed" of night lights. After being chastised by the bus driver for screaming, Samantha calms down and notices that Rex is already getting along with the other kids. A boy named red on account of his freckles, and a boy named Tommy who wears a black "Insanity Saints" (killer name) T-shirt. Samantha thinks that he should be nicknamed Blackie, to which I tugged upon my collar thusly.
Some other kids on the bus include Brad, who has a pimply face, Jill and Melissa who still carry around Barbies, which of course is "too immature" for Samantha, then another girl with really short dark hair and a pale face which freaks out Samantha because I guess pixie cut goth girls scare her too. They all arrive at Camp Wil-He-Waha, with the bus driver warning Samantha to stay away from the old mill. Well considering what happened in The Awful Apple Orchard, I think that's a wise word of warning. The head counselor, Mr. Ruffin, meets with the campers and introduces Ricky, Randy, Mandy and Paula, the counselors. He also warns again to stay away from the old mill.
Samantha is taken to her cabin and is bunking with Jill, Mellissa and the goth girl (or Ghoul Girl as Samantha puts it). The girl introduces herself as "Satin", which is a neat name. The campers are then tasked with cleaning the cabins, which causes Samantha to scream at a dust ball she thought was a mouse. After that, everyone heads to bed, with Samantha swearing she hears the trees calling out "Spooky". They head to bed, with Satin snoring so much that Samantha has to imagine reading the first page of a phone book to get to sleep. She then gets scared by an evil clown!... that is actually just Rex in a mask.
The next day, more chores and busywork and far less, you know, camp stuff. At this rate I'm expecting them to make wallets for export and one of the kids being eaten by a bear. Well actually the bear eats his hat. Was it a nice hat? Ah, yeah. At dinner, Mr. Ruffin says that everyone will gather by the campfire for music and stories. Hey, something camp-like! After some songs and stories, Mr. Ruffin tells the story of the Waha tribe who used to live on this land. They were. as the book describes, brutal savages who were also cannibals. Ooh I am tugging my collar harder than I have ever tugged before. Rarely do I feel more "white shmuck having to talk about this" than I do right now.
This of course was the age of settlers stealing native land, and the first to show up were a trapper Eli Sutton, his wife Elizabeth and children Ezekiel, Emily, Joshua, Jeremiah and Daniel. Other families show up and they try to survive the harshness of early settler life. That is until one night when the Wahas showed up and brutally murdered everyone. Stabbed them all, and freaking beat two-year old Daniel to death which, holy shit dude. They burned the houses down and celebrated their actions. They left the old grist mill standing, and all that remains is supposedly the spirits of the Sutton family, who still haunt the campgrounds.
Of course, this scares Samantha, but not so much everyone else. More chores on the next day and as they work, Satin and Samantha start to get along a bit better. Satin claims she's been in many camps all over the world, even Paris where she can drink wine. She's an only child and her parents seem fine to send her away from them at any point. Samantha says that if she wants a sibling she can take Rex off her hands, but Satin says she'd rather kill him instead. Okay, normally I'd take that as a "oh ha ha, it's all just a larf" deal, but this is SHIVERS after all. So I gotta be on my toes with this.
Next up is a camp hike, which I guess counts as something camp-like. Everyone's annoyed, but begrudgingly goes through with it. Satin puts on a lot of lotion, when Samantha makes a comment, she snaps back saying she's trying, you know, not to get skin cancer. Also she's wearing black shorts, a black t-shirt and a black bandana. This is the coolest character in any of these books, my god. They walk through the woods, to which Samantha thinks she sees a girl looking at her from further in the woods. They stop at the old mill and again, Samantha thinks she sees a girl staring out the window, presumably the ghost of Emily Sutton. No one else sees the ghost of course, but Samantha can. She doesn't look all stabbed or anything, but has a look of fright on her face, as if she's trying to warn Samantha about something. As Samantha tries to get her bearings, Satin tells her that she saw the ghost of Emily Sutton as well. Also the hike was just to the hardware store to get more stuff for chores, which yeah that tracks.
That night, Brad and some of the other kids decide to go to the old mill anyway, despite the warnings. Samantha, Jill and Melissa opt out, but of course Satin is in. After a while, and after hearing more whisperings of "Spoooky" outside, the kids return to Samantha and the others, scared out of their minds after going to the mill. The building is old and dilapidated, and the kids found bloody rags on the floor, which then alerted the ghosts of the Sutton family, all hacked to pieces, including Emily who looks like she was scalped. The kids decided that was enough pissing off poltergeists and made a run for it. It was such a scary experience, it turned Satin's black hair white.
The next day, everyone is in trouble for going to the old mill, even the kids who didn't which hey, that's bullcrap, but given this camp are you surprised? Samantha is tasked with picking blueberries when she sees the ghost of Emily Sutton and her family, looking perfectly fine, not a scratch on their ethereal forms. Emily asks for Samantha's help, to show up to the old mill, but that night, Samantha and the others are barred from going to the mill. Also that night, the girls get attacked by the natives... which are just Brad, Satin and the others. Yeah, nobody actually saw any ghosts at the mill, this was all a ruse to screw with Samantha. Hell, so committed to the bit was Satin that she dyed her black hair white. No, really. She is the coolest character in any of these books.
The next day, Samantha, after ignoring Satin's constant apologies, heads to the mill to talk with the Suttons. They say that they were waiting for her, that she could be the one to help them finally rest in peace, to hear of their atrocities. Yeah, the Waha tribe slaughtering everyone wasn't exactly what happened that night. It's what everyone always said happened because, well, racism for one thing... See, the tribe was actually the Willawoohoos, a peaceful and noble tribe. When the Suttons arrived, they were welcomed to share the land with the Willawoohoos. But, because the Suttons were white settlers which means they were scumbags, Eli told the other settlers of the Willawoohoos being this tribe of psychotic murderers that attacked his wife in the fields. They stormed the village and savagely murdered (and, hate to say it even if the book doesn't but presumably raped) the entire tribe. And because of that slaughter, that's why everyone believed the tribe to be these savages. In other words, we white people really, REALLY fucking suck...
Even Samantha is like "Nah, fuck you, you deserve to suffer" and runs off. The next day she tells everyone, but they don't believe her, mainly because Eli Sutton was the founder of Suttown, and is proclaimed a hero. Satin however thinks that they should help the ghosts. That, technically, while what Eli did can't be forgiven, should Emily or the other kids have suffered for the sins of their father? Oh this'll be an interesting conclusion. Satin says that she knows Samantha's the only one who can do this, and, oh yeah, Satin also knows magic, which frankly tracks. Magic that doesn't work because the Suttons just show up on command, and I guess technically Samantha forgives them which gives their spirits some peace. The week of camp ends, it seems like Samantha and Satin are good friends now, and she sees the Suttons as she drives off in the bus. Then she gets scared by Rex again. Maybe Satin SHOULD have killed him.
This book is from 1996, yet feels way, WAY too topical right now when it comes to the manufactured war on "critical race theory." The mindset of not teaching people about the horrible actions of white settlers on American history. The slavery, the genocide, the centuries of horrible actions. And if the Suttons were real, you'd have angry conservatives talking about how it's not right to attack someone like Eli Sutton who founded Suttown. Nah, forget about forgiving his ghost, knock that damn statue down and blow it up. I also get the intention here, and I'm not going to go and say these fully reflect the views of the author, but I also don't like the overarching message of the book because it's ultimately saying "We did something horrible, but we saw the error of our ways and we seek forgiveness." Nope, bullet train to hell for the lot of you.
And trust me, I hate that I even have to put my personal views out on any of these blogs, but yeah, this was a case of the further this went, the more I cringed inside at what the finale represents. Call me "woke" or whatever stupid boogeyman word you have, but I'm not going to change my mind. Like fuck, Eli starts the massacre by inciting the people, saying the Willawoohoos attacked his wife. Of course the first things that popped in my head were Emmitt Till and the Tulsa Race Massacre, not to mention every atrocity placed on native tribes and other races. The woman who got Till murdered recently died and hell no she deserves no forgiveness for that. And right now, a judge dismissed reparations for the remaining survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre. If people are still suffering for the miscarriages of justice, then I don't care how sorry the ghosts who committed the deed are.
So, that's my biggest issue, and it's a fair issue to have. As for the rest of the book, it's fine. Works well enough for your standard camp story. Samantha's a decent protagonist. A bit haughty at times and a bit too scaredy, but I like things like her weird obsession with telling the reader what a long word she uses is. Satin rules. Probably the coolest goth kid character we've ever had in any of these books. Yes, she joins in the mocking of Samantha, but she otherwise seems like she really wants to be Samantha's friend. I also kind of like that her whole magic thing fizzles out and doesn't work. The rest of the characters mostly exist, mainly to deride Samantha for her fears.
So, ultimately, how do I rate this book? Because by all means, it's a fine book. Not the most dynamic, but as a book it still works. It would be a B- at best. But with the ending and my personal feelings on how the book handles said ending, it muddies the water big time. It's not an F, because I think it's frustrations aren't fully F-worthy. But I think a C- might be the fairer rating here. A book with good ideas that you're going to really be on the fence with given the implications of what the book's asking the reader to do. Though, for all my anger with the choice to forgive the Suttons, at least the book is saying this is all fucked up and treating it as a conflict.
And it ending with Samantha feeling more like she forgave them because she ultimately had to saves the conflict from being worse and keeps Samantha from coming off as a bad person forgiving horrible people. And she ultimately now has to live with the crippling realization of what happened, and that no one would believe her, the Willawoohoos will still be demonized, the "Indians are the bad guys" and Eli Sutton will still be lionized and beloved, is the kind of dour ending that does work because that's exactly what would have happened again if the Suttons were real people. That's what makes it a C- in the grand scheme of things. Any worse muddying of the conflict would have definitely caused it to fall harder.
Dang it Shivers, I wasn't expecting a Christopher Pike-esque battle of emotions and ethics here. I just want silly camp fun. Oh well. Woo... p-party summer? Ghosts of Camp Massacre gets a C-.
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