Description from Goodreads
Former film teacher Lois Cairns is struggling to raise her autistic son while freelancing as a critic when, at a screening, she happens upon a sampled piece of silver nitrate silent footage. She is able to connect it to the early work of Mrs. Iris Dunlopp Whitcomb, the spiritualist and collector of fairy tales who mysteriously disappeared from a train compartment in 1918.
Hoping to make her own mark on the film world, Lois embarks on a project to prove that Whitcomb was Canada's first female filmmaker. But her research takes her down a path not of darkness but of light--the blinding and searing light of a fairy tale made flesh, a noontime demon who demands that duty must be paid. As Lois discovers terrifying parallels between her own life and that of Mrs. Whitcomb, she begins to fear not just for herself, but for those closest to her heart.
My Thoughts on the Book
I found Experimental Film an enjoyable read, with all the film theory and history (altough some of it is of course fictional history), the well-written and complex characters, and the story itself. There's a mix of some fast-paced and action-packed moments, with some more quiet ones, but it's nice catching one's breath a bit sometimes while reading a book. There's also some folk horror elements blended into the story, which I appreciated. The biggest bonus for me though, was how well the autism was written and conveyed, without it turning into a caricature.
Fair enough, I might wish the ending was a bit different, but perhaps that's a bit more me than anything else.
While Experimental Film may not be for everyone, it's a book I can easily recommend.
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