BIRD BOX by Josh Malerman
SUMMARY
Josh Malerman's novel "Bird Box" begins with Malorie inspecting her stomach. She and her sister Shannon find out that Malorie, in her early 20's, is pregnant. Alongside this discovery, a wave of news reports comes about strange occurrences of murder-suicides. As these incidents spread, the sisters cloister themselves in their apartment in the hope of surviving the end of the world. Soon, people identify that the way that creatures affect humans is through sight. With this discovery, people lock themselves in their houses and blindfold their eyes when they must go outside. 3 months after the outbreak, Shannon kills herself in the bathroom after accidentally seeing a creature. Distraught, the pregnant Malorie answers an old advertisement in the newspaper about a safe place. There, she meets Tom, Jules, Cheryl, Don, and Felix who live in the house. The housemates accept Malorie into their home. Soon after, another, equally pregnant woman named Olympia arrives at the house and after her, a man named Gary knocks on the door. Since the house is full, the group debates whether to allow Gary into the home. After a vote in which Malorie broke the split, they allow Gary into the home. He tells the group of how a crazy man named Frank in his old house pulled the blinds down because he believed the creatures could not affect him. As time passes and the women near their ninth month, Gary begins to convince Don of Frank's logic. Slowly, a divide forms in the group between Don and Gary and the others. Suspicious of Gary, Malorie sneaks into his room and finds Frank's notebook, the book in which he wrote of his beliefs. When Malorie brings this evidence to the group, the others vote Gary out of the house over Don's protestations. On a stormy night, the 2 women enter labor at the same time. Tom and the others scramble to help the women deliver their babies in the attic, the safest room in the house. While Malorie gives birth, she hears Don and the others fighting below. Terrified, she shouts for them, but they do not tell her what is going on below. Soon, she and Olympia hear screams from below then Gary enters the attic. Malorie realizes that there never was a Frank and that Gary had been lying to them all from the beginning. Gary tells her that Don pulled down the blinds and opened the doors to let the creatures inside because Gary convinced him that the creatures only harm people who expect to be harmed. After a while, the screaming subsides and Gary opens the attic door to let a creature inside. Malorie, covering the eyes of her baby boy and Olympia's baby girl, closes her own eyes until the creature and Gary leave the attic. The telephone rings for the first time in Malorie's time in the house. She answers a man named Rick who tells her that Tom called him and that he has a shelter just down the river from Malorie's house. He tells Malorie she is welcome if ever she wishes to come and live with them. After she buries the bodies of every single housemate, Malorie and the children spend 4 more years in the house alone. She trains the boy and girl everyday in order to improve their hearing. Soon, the two are able to hear and identify sounds from other streets. With their ability, Malorie hopes to be able to respond to Rick's offer and travel down the river in a rowboat. After 4 years of training the children, Malorie sets off in the rowboat with her boy and Olympia's girl. After encountering a deranged man, a pack of wolves, and a flock of warring birds, the 3 make it to the shelter where Rick welcomes them. Finally about to feel safe, Malorie sees that some of the inhabitants of the shelter are blinded. She cries and asks Rick not to blind her babies, but he responds that they do not blind themselves anymore. Reassured, Malorie introduces the boy as Tom and the girl as Olympia then the novel ends.
ANALYSIS: READER'S RESPONSE
Bird Box is not my typical horror movie but it is an incredible suspense novel that adapted into movie. The story was all about fighting against the dangerous creature which led the characters to have blindfolds with them so that they will not be able to see the creature. Some parts of the story written in the book is slightly different from the movie, but since I am not really familiar what is the flow of the book, I would based my analysis from the movie then. The movie did not rely on graphic special effects to build the suspense, and the way they manipulate shadows, sounds, and background space creates an unparalleled atmosphere. Moreover, you can find beats that are honestly tense and terrifying. According to Karen (2013) "this is an incredibly original horror/psychological suspense novel that reminds us that with all great horror, the unseen is so much more terrifying than the seen." Overall, the story had made an extraordinary thing because at some point, it made the readers or viewers felt different from other kinds of suspenseful stories and that is how I liked about the Bird Box, making difference from other horror stories.
Malorie, the main character together with the two children were the ones experienced the dangerous creature. The story is told in alternating chapters between Malorie "now" and Malorie at the beginning of the event, wherein we found out that she was pregnant just as the world begun to collapse. In addition, we cannot find clearer origin of the events that happened in the story but we can understand clearly the way how characters responded to the experiences. "Don't open your eyes warns the cover of the book, but instead I didn't close mine as I finished this treasure in one night. Bird Box is such an original premise and is written so very well, its author creates a world of people driven mad by what they see, so seeing itself becomes forbidden. I don't usually read horror, but I am glad I made an exception for this gift box", (May, 2018). This proved that Bird Box was an amazing horror story that challenged the readers or viewers to feel the same what had the characters experienced in the story. Also, upon watching it we can question ourselves like how terrifying is it to not be able to see? To hear a noise right behind you and not know what it is? To leave a safe house to forage for food and not be certain you will ever find your way back? To drive a car blindfolded through corpse-studded roads and you do not know if you will hit a pole or fall into a ditch? To determine what is danger and what is just a leaf falling? These were the few questions that we could imagine how it is possibly happened in the story. That is why, we can right away conclude that Bird Box and its best kind of building, creeping horror, and the writing was perfectly suited to the story. Most especially, the most interesting thing about the story was, you would thought that at times when you want to be able to see what is happening, but you are stuck at the situation wherein characters had a limited vision in order to save their lives from the creature.
The story was indeed a self awakened thing. In fact, we can find Malorie's painting at the beginning of the movie. Jessica, Malorie's sister explained that the painting "looks like a whole bunch of people sitting together, but they all look incredibly lonely." Malorie then replies, “ Loneliness is just incidental, it’s really about people’s inability to connect.” Malorie was a mother who was not confident about what her life is doing. However, because of the great trials she mold herself then to become a mother and father to the two kids. In addition, it was a self awakened because you have to make use of your senses properly in order to survive. As what Strause, M.G. (2013) stated, "the sense of sight is obviously a very important aspect of the film, as well as an extremely important lesson. We depend too much on it. We do not allow ourselves to use our other senses to enhance our lives and emotions, nor we do not allow ourselves the time or chance to be introspective and discover who we truly are and how we feel." This was Malorie's great struggle, she did not allow herself to bring out what is in her. Thus, because of the great trial given to her she can be able to express who really she was. She achieved the freedom of emotion, spirit, and the journey of connectivity which finally freed her out of her own box. This means that human as we are, we should embrace the life we are in because later on, it is the way how we handle things easier. Bird Box taught us the ability to connect and fight against the monster that comes from within so that we are determined enough to be positive amidst trials. That is why, I concluded Bird Box as one of the great horror movies that I have watched.
REFERENCES:
Karen (2013). Goodreads Author. Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18498558-bird-box
May, B. (2018). Goodreads Author. Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18498558-bird-box
Strause, M.G. (2019). Analysis of Netflix’s “Bird Box,” a Deeper Meaning
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