#the haar

[lobster-tales]

Books Read in 2026

The Haar by David Sodergren

In fact, the only thing Muriel couldn’t abide — that really, truly nauseated her — were stuck-up wee arseholes in suits telling her what to do.

[unknown-lifeform]

If anyone wants a shortish horror novel where some assholes get graphically exploded and an elderly widow has a lovely romance with a man eating abomination that came from the sea, you should read The Haar. It's a really good book. The romance is very sweet. The exploding is very graphic. It says fuck billionaires too. Clearly one of thise stories where the author decided to just write some weird shit for the fun of it and it's a delight

[skin0walker]

1 & 3 Someone you can build a nest in by John Wiswell.

2 The Haar by David Sodergren.

[howtowhumpyourhiccup]

So started and finished reading 'Below' by Laurel Hightower, which isn't so hard, it's a novella of only 106 pages, but I quite liked it! A lot gorier than I expected a book about a woman being terrorized by the Mothman to be, honestly. (I'm not complaining, just surprised)

Also started 'The Haar' by David Sodergren because I've been wanting to read a book/novella by them. The cover is gorier irl than it appeared on my computer screen, haha. (I'm not bothered by it, just means I can't read it in front of other people, lest I get asked questions.) Also the cover, it turns out, is done by none other than Trevor Henderson! The man behind Siren Head and who makes a habit of making strange and disturbing artworks!

[blunderpoons]

Weird microgenres I did not know existed, but somehow stumbled upon: Books that end with someone turning into a jellyfish:

"Our Wives Under the Sea" by Julia Armfield

"Devil is Fine" by John Vercher

and Honourable Mention to "The Haar" by David Sodergren, where someone turns in to a gelatinous marine blob that may or may not be a jellyfish Suggested names for the genre are welcome.

[theonepieceisabox]

My two halfs as I’m reading a main character doing their fucked up little boondoggles and hobbies.

[rainstormcolors]

Some book talk, I suppose:

I've been reading more the past few years after a period of not reading much, and it's not that I haven't had thoughts on other stories I've read so much as the one here feels easier to describe for me and this story has a degree of broader appeal than some of the others I've read, and I speak of The Haar by David Sodergren, a short folk horror novel, described by some as being like The Shape of Water meets Little Shop of Horrors featuring the creature from The Thing, and also reminiscent of The Summer Hikaru Died in some ways.

Stories like The Haar, The Summer Hikaru Died, Starman, and Solaris each tackle the premise of an alien being taking on the shape and features of a lost one one, often centering ideas of grief, and I think that these kinds of stories come to different conclusions is valuable as different takes on grief and what they can say and share.

The Haar carries a wistful tone through its first act, the way time erases and how memories glow in the shred.

I do agree with the popular criticism that the villainy characters who end up on the kill list are pretty flat and cartoony and it takes something away a bit for me. The first person who we observe the creature kill would be an example of how I'd have preferred the writing, where there is a hint of depth and backstory even if the character has done something terrible, and the other kills lack this. Instead of melancholy, it's more slasher, which I understand is the aim, but it's somewhat odd and awkward in contrast to the central character and theming.

But I felt like noting that what I took away from The Haar is I feel like there's a metaphor here about aging, dementia, and ultimately dying and death that colors beyond the literal events. Who is Avalon vs. Billy? But more than that, when you are old, as the people and places you've known have gone away, as they disappear, as you don't have much time left, what else is there but memories? Time erases everything so what else is there but memories? And as Muriel seems to be sliding around through time in the memories of her past with Billy, it's not real, but as one slides back through fractured memories, as the brain loses the setting of the world around it, it's not real either, but it's life to the person feeling them, even if they can't live in the present the same way anymore. And in death, the inevitable and unknown, where everything will fade away and where time will grind even the memories away, it's still the place where everyone will find themselves in the end. For Muriel, it became "wanting to be with Billy again."

I'm not sure on my actual proper verdict on the book, but when I've peeked around briefly at discussion of this novel, I didn't see this brought up, although I'm quite sure it's been noted by others. And it felt more philosophical, this undercurrent of theming.

[peachsequence]

The Haar by David Sodergren