Silent Hill 2: The Novel - Review

Novel Review

image source: silenthill.wikia.com 

Title                              : Silent Hill 2: The Novel

Author                          : Sadamu Yamashita

Genre                            : Horror fiction

Original Language        : Japanese

Publisher                       : Konami Digital Entertainment

Year of Publishing        : 2006

Number of Pages          : 272 Pages

Silent Hill 2: The novel is a novel adaptation of the video game “Silent Hill 2” written by Sadamu Yamashita in Japanese. Later, the novel was translated into English by Lady Ducky. It tells the story about James Sunderland, a man who suddenly got a letter from his supposedly deceased wife.

The story took place in Silent Hill, a town that had a mysterious power that could make someone’s nightmare into reality. Someone who had a dark heart might see this town as an imaginary of Hell that was infected with twisted creatures. However, someone who had a pure heart might see this town merely as a foggy, abandoned town.

The main character of the story, James Sunderland, got a letter from his supposedly deceased wife. In the letter, it was written that Mary, James’ wife, was waiting in their “special place”. James knew that their special place was in a city called Silent Hill. There was no mistaking it, from the handwriting, James was so sure that the letter was written by Mary. Even though the fact showed that Mary had already died three years ago because of an incurable illness.

James was determined to go look for Mary to Silent Hill. He knew it was crazy, but he insisted that this could be his only hope to meet his beloved wife. Once James reached Silent Hill, he was so shocked that the town had already become lifeless and foggy, like a city of the death. Even if it was like that, James still forced himself to enter the dead city.

At the entrance of Silent Hill, James met a dark haired girl, Angela Orosco, staring at a grave stone. He tried to ask her if this was the right way to Silent Hill. Upon seeing James, the girl was shocked at first. She tried to tell James that this town was dangerous and he shouldn’t be here. James didn’t heed what the girl said. Then, he just left her there, continuing his journey to find his wife.

During his course to find the special place in Silent Hill, James experienced a nightmarish experience. In Silent Hill, he could see some strange monsters that chased after him. Those monsters were so twisted that some of them didn’t have eyes, a nose, and a mouth. Those monsters were looked like rotten flesh in the shape of human body, yet they didn’t resemble a human even for just a little bit. Those monster chased after James wherever he went. James tried to fight them. Sometimes, he just tried to get away from them when he didn’t have any weapon to fight back.

Later, during his venture to search for Mary, James met someone that resemble Mary so much. The woman had the same physical appearance as Mary, yet her personality was so much different from Mary. The woman was Maria. She accompanied James through Silent Hill, but sometimes she got separated from him.

Going deeper into Silent Hill, James met a little girl named Laura. The girl actually knew Mary, his deceased wife. Laura was actually trying to look for Mary too, just like James. However, she didn’t really like James because he abandoned Mary when she was at the hospital. Because of her hatred towards James, Laura often played pranks with James and left him alone. At times, James wondered how Laura could run freely through Silent Hill. This town was supposed to be infected with dangerous monsters, yet he didn’t see Laura getting any injury or feeling scared. She seemed to be happily running around Silent hill.

James struggled to get to the “special place” that was written in Mary’s letter. During his search, he met a fat man named Eddie Dombrowski. It turned out that Eddie used to be the target of bullying. Because of Eddie’s dark past that made his heart turned to darkness, Eddie saw Silent Hill as a nightmarish place that eventually become the place where he died. James had a confrontation with Eddie during one of their meetings. Eddie tried to kill James, but James could escape from him. In the end, Eddie was dead because he was attacked by the twisted creatures in Silent Hill.

Leaving Eddie to meet his death, James went on through Silent Hill. Later, he met with Angela Orosco again. It turned out that Angela was a victim of a broken family. She was harassed by her father and brother, while her mother abandoned her. This had made her hatred towards her mother grew larger and larger. Angela saw Silent Hill as a place engulfed in burning place. Just like what Eddie did, Angela also tried to kill James. James tried to save himself from her. In the end, Angela was killed by the burning flames manifested from her own nightmare.

Meeting two humans with dark heart was bad enough for James. What made things worse was in this foggy town, James also met a strange creature that has a pyramid head which held a spear. That monster sometimes chased James wherever he went. Then, in the end, he saw that monster killing Maria, the woman who resembled Mary, in front of his eyes, twice. It turned out that Maria was a manifestation created by James’ desperation to see Mary again. Because he was in Silent Hill, this thing wasn’t something impossible. James then realized that Maria wasn’t real. She was just someone that his mind created to fill his emptiness because he longed for Mary.

At the end of his journey, James learned that he was the one who killed Marry out of desperation. He couldn’t bear his beloved wife’s physique turned into someone that he couldn’t recognize anymore. The pyramid headed monster that had been chased after him was some kind of the manifestation of his feeling that wanted to be punished. After he had realized what his sin was, the pyramid headed monster stopped chasing after him. In the special place, the Lakeview Apartment, James saw Mary’s ghost. Mary said that she had forgiven him.

Overwhelmed by guilt and sadness, James finally decided to drown himself in the lake near the apartment. He thought that finally he could be together with Mary again.

In my opinion, this is a good horror fiction novel that can creep me out whenever I tried to imagine James’ situation in my mind. Reading this novel was a challenge to me. With its dark theme, it successfully made me feel like I was really in Silent Hill. The way the author describe the situation made me feel like I was the one who stood in James’ shoes. I felt like I was James. The downside from this novel was just that it would be kind of hard to understand if the reader hasn’t played the game when reading this. There were some kind of theories and illustration regarding the mysteriousness of Silent Hill than can’t be understood by just reading the novel.

What can I get by reading this novel is that we have to think carefully about what we are going to do. Just by making one great mistake, we might end up losing something or someone dear to us. We won’t want to regret that later after things has been done. The past mistakes may haunt us forever until we can finally accept that we are in the wrong. We have to pay the price for the great mistake that we had done in the past. So, it will be wise for us to think carefully before we do anything. Don’t try to escape. Try to face the reality even if it hurts.

Overall, I would like to recommend this novel for those who like to read something challenging that might give you the creep. I hope anyone that read my review will find this novel interesting just like I do.