This book was interesting. It was the 2nd book I read when I requested random books from The Last Bookshop during covid last year. It's deemed as horror but I'm kind of glad it wasn't, at least to me.

I have a lot of questions - like why were all of the ghosts so angry and weird? Are there any ghosts who are happy or do those ghost just not become ghosts?

I liked the story - totally bizarre for me - but it wasn't boring.

My rating is probably a little low. It was such a change in style for me to read that I just went with an I liked It - which I did. ( )

This started out really good but quickly declined. I liked the idea of ghosts inhabiting all the residents but I think it would have been better to portray the idea of them having a type of symbiotic relationship rather then the ghosts just being a straight up misery to the residents. My other issue is that the story line is not very clear, we just meander around with no clear direction as to where it is going. The description of a dying town was spot on and reminded me of a lot Castle Rock. ( )

It is really fitting that this is my last read of 2020. It is a story about a failing town, whose main industry is a pork packing plant. The town is full of literal ghosts that attach themselves to the towns people. Most of the times the ghosts bring destruction and despair (although there were a few instances where the ghosts had a seemingly benign influence). When a teenage boy's ghosts enables him to create people out of pigs, the new pig-men threaten to take the all the factory jobs away. Being faced with the loss of their livelihood brings out the worst in people. The book was very bleak. All of the characters and their ghosts lived depressing oppressive lives. The town was full of violence and death and there was little hope of escape. Any bit of hope that a character would have a happy outcome was usually squashed along with that character. At another time, with another frame of mind, I may have appreciated what the author seemed to be saying about dying towns in the rust belt and how they and their residents are haunted by the past - but after the year we have all had I definitely wanted something less bleak. ( )

A spooky, at times brutal, and quite unusual read, with themes of coping with change, living with grief and starting afresh. Swine Hill is a heavily haunted town and not just its buildings and physical spaces but also its people. Every one in town hosts a ghost inside them that compels them to do strange things, gives them unusual powers, and keeps them from leaving this broken town. Amidst it all are a brother and sister who try to navigate this unpredictable and sinister place - especially now as the pig people have arrived, fear is gripping the town, and as society spirals out of control events are escalating.

This book is…. weird. It’s a strange mashup of sci-fi, horror, fantasy, and family. The town of Swine Hill (Swain Hill), already in decay from loss of industry, has become a mostly deserted, post-apocalyptic, ruin of ghosts, pig-men, corporate greed, and angry, despairing people. The only industry still operating is the slaughter house, run by a mysterious corporate entity.

Our protagonists are teen-aged siblings Jane and Henry. Their whole family is possessed by ghosts; Jane’s tells her everyone’s secrets and Henry’s is a genius engineer who compels him to build amazing machines- and work on living flesh, too. Jane considers her ghost a sort of friend, while Henry’s takes over his body and leaves Henry missing time when the ghost departs. Lately, Henry has been working at the meat processing plant, on what, he doesn’t know. But of late, a person named Walter Hogboss has been promoted to plant manager, and he’s calling Henry.

Swine Hill is a horrible place. There are no safe spots. I wondered at times if the whole world was afflicted like Swine Hill was. It’s a story of racism, grief, whether it’s all right to eat intelligent animals, ethics, slavery, and much more. It’s a hard book to read; I found myself wondering if there was any spot of beauty in this world of dirty air and falling down buildings. There is, in some character’s souls-and not just the human ones. Five stars, even though it’s not a comfortable book to read. ( )