Neal Shaffer's work is never easy, and The Awakening is no exception. It is an homage to a style of Italian horror film I'm unfamiliar with (a "giallo"), and I'm left wondering if the deliberately ambiguous ending is common to that type of film. Because while the book is fascinating reading from moment to moment, it all seems to be building up to something and then it ends without any real resolution. A series of murders, a conspiracy, some possible psychic powers and an untraceable killer make for some very interesting mysteries, but the solution doesn't really provide any answers to the questions raised, and so the whole story feels a bit on the pointless side. Stylish, yes, intriguing throughout yes, but in the end ultimately very frustrating.
The Awakening takes place at an exclusive private school in Maryland, one so exclusive that our lead, Francesca, breaks tradition by being a thirteenth student admitted into a small class. Shaffer and Genovese do an excellent job of building up Grenrock Academy as a mixture of Ivy League exclusive and old world sinister, exploring how tradition can have so many meanings. In one sense, tradition can be about academic excellence, but it can also refer to the rites and ceremonies of a secret society, and there's a pervasive feeling that Grenrock Academy is built on both.
Before the real story of The Awakening gets going, I found myself very drawn into the book. Shaffer develops a likable and intelligent cast of young girls, steering clear of the cliche of social warfare and instead presenting these girls as friendly and welcoming to the new student, without making them saintly in their everyday personalities at the same time. The close-knit vibe between students and teacher has a touch of lurid sensibilities, daring the reader to think that there's a darker meaning beneath it, especially after we've been introduced to the sexual identity of one of the students early on, but for the most part, those relationships also are sweet, genuine and strongly written.
The structure of The Awakening is along the lines of a murder mystery. Someone is killing these beautiful young girls, and with Shaffer and Genovese pointing up the sexuality of the girls and their unusually close relationship with their teacher, the plot deliberately leads the reader to believe that this young, well-liked teacher is somehow involved. However, while the structure is one that sets up the killings as something mysterious and even supernatural, with ritualistic overtones and a killer who can seemingly strike underneath the nose of parents, bystanders and even attentive nearby police, Shaffer doesn't really pay off these bizarre trappings with any sort of answer. When we find out who the killer is, we don't find out why he was doing what he was doing (the only answer given is the copout "he's insane") nor are there any hints as to how the killings took place. For that matter, one of the key story elements, Francesca's psychic visions of the killings, aren't really revealed to have any significance either. In the end, a number of questions are raised and not only are no clear answers provided, there aren't even enough clues provided for the reader to draw their own conclusions, unless those conclusions are basically made up out of whole cloth. These are not small problems... if your whole story is a build-up to a whodunit, complete with a how and why, the answer can't be "this guy... because he's ca-raaazy!"
The real find of Awakening is Luca Genovese, though, whose artwork is just lush and gorgeous. It's interesting, because it looks at time like it was done in pencil, particularly in the way some of the blacks are shaded, but it has a strong ink line as well. I also just love the general look that Genovese gives his characters, reminiscent of such varied Oni artists as Christine Norrie, Ross Campbell and Carla Speed McNeil. Beyond just the attractive look of the work, however, Genovese also does an excellent job in setting the mood of the piece. He isolates characters in panels to give the sense of a woman alone, being stalked by an unseen killer. He gives us close-ups of one of the girl's lips to hint at her sexuality. He shows us the light going out in the eyes of one of the victims. And his use of close, claustrophobic panels contrasted with wide open shots to show that there's nothing lurking nearby does an excellent job of capturing that sense of impending doom that is usually done in a horror film with camera tricks and/or the score.
While I'm hopeful that we'll see more of Genovese's art in the future, however, my main reaction to The Awakening is one of disappointment. It's like taking a long, pleasant drive to an anticipated destination, but then discovering that the place you were going is closed up, and so the whole drive has been kind of a waste of time. This is part of a thematic trilogy, so I hold out hope that somehow answers will be provided in the other books, but given that the plot and characters seem unlikely to repeat, I'm not certain how the answers could make themselves known. 5/10
