cornerfolds
Written on May 30, 2014
I first read The story of her holding an orange by Milos Bogetic (better known as Inaaace) on Reddit’s r/nosleep over a year ago. It pulled me in and I spent days checking and rechecking to see if he’d posted an update. It ended abruptly, leaving me (and everyone else) to scour the comment section for answers. When I heard Inaaace was releasing a book with more details and an expanded ending, I could not wait to read it! It took me a little while to get around to actually opening the book on my Kindle, but I finally did it.
The story of her holding an orange should never have been released as a book. There, I said it. And I know I’m not the only person who feels this way. As a story on Reddit (or Creepypasta or wherever else it was posted), this was an amazing read. It had the “creep factor” and held on until the last, heart stopping line, which left an entire subreddit in panic mode. Unfortunately, it just didn’t translate very well.
Milos says from the very beginning, “I probably break every rule of proper writing…I write the way I speak.” I would most definitely agree with Milos. From page one there are grammatical errors and curse words for no good reason. Granted, this was originally written for Reddit and this kind of language is expected there. There does not seem to have been much editing between the original posts and the book form. Milos is repetitive, gives unnecessary details, and takes the “conversational style” to the extreme. As I was preparing to review this book, I had to keep reminding myself that it is a book, not a post online, and that I needed to review it as such. I say again, it should not have been released as a book.
The actual story, however, is a different matter. Milos manages to make an orange creepy in a story that is entirely original. The main antagonist, Rose, is mysterious and, quite frankly, terrifying, for 90% of the book. There’s no explanation for her bizarre behavior, which amps up the disturbing nature of the character. In a nutshell: this story is weird, creepy, and unique. Unfortunately, the last 10% of the book essentially ruins it.
The original story ended in such a way that readers were left thinking about it for weeks and still reference it often. The ending written for the book feels like it was an afterthought (because it was) and completely removes all of the mystery and discomfort surrounding Rose’s character. It makes her almost sympathetic, something she was never meant to be.
Overall, The story of her holding an orange is excellent – on Reddit. I would absolutely not recommend buying the book or even reading a free copy. If you want to read this story as it was meant to be read, I highly suggest going reading the original posts by Innace on Reddit.
I give this book 2 stars, simply because the original story was brilliant. Please, please don’t read this book.