Alan Wake: Novel critique By:Leona. Introduction: The novel I will be critiquing is Alan Wake by Rick Burroughs. In this critique, I will be talking about the book's characters and two themes. This book falls under the psychological thriller genre and mystery and takes place in a fictional town in Washington. Summary: Horror writer Alan Wake and his wife Alice decide to take a vacation in a small town. From the outside, it looks like the perfect town, but soon becomes a nightmarish hell for Alan. Alan and Alice get into an argument the first night at the cabin they are staying at. Alice goes off into the woods, but when Alan tries to find her he sees that she has drowned in the lake. Alan spends the night looking for her, but he finds himself …show more content…
The supernatural is a big theme in the book because it has lots of physiological tension and other worldly elements. Many things in the book work against the laws of nature, for example a dark matter taking over the townspeople at night and controlling what they do, obviously this can’t happen in the real world. “It uses darkness somehow. it takes over people and things, uses them to do stuff” (pg 256) What is happening is something paranormal and is something that can’t happen. Those things play into the role of this quote, explaining how the supernatural is a theme in the book. The plot of a book that Alan can’t remember writing is slowly coming to life. This was Wakes' world now too, a world where a writer could change reality.” (pg 286) This quote shows that the book is supernatural by saying that Alan Wake has the power to influence what happens through his writing. The second theme in the book is survival. Survival is a major theme because throughout the majority of the book Alan and Barry are fighting to survive against the townspeople and the difficult terrain that surrounds them. Berry and Alan are almost constantly in a tense situation where they have to fight for their lives. “Wake and Berry were surviving for now.” (pg 214) This quote shows Alan and Berry are in situations where they can die at any