The Silver Kiss

The Silver Kiss
First edition cover
Author Annette Curtis Klause
Language English
Subject Loss, Love, Vampires
Genre Young adult, Romance, Horror
Publisher Dell Publishing
Publication date
 September 1, 1990
Media type Mass market paperback/hardcover

The Silver Kiss is a young adult, romance and horror novel written by Annette Curtis Klause; it is printed in hardcover and paperback versions. The novel was Klause's first; it was published on September 1, 1990, and was re-issued in 2009 with two bonus short stories by Klause. The Silver Kiss was inspired by Klause's poems and her teenage fantasy about romancing with a vampire. It is set in the United States in the early 1990s and explores themes of belonging, death, and loss through the romance between a young woman—Zoë Sutcliff—and Simon, an English vampire who looks like a nineteen-year-old youth. During the story, Zoë's mother is in hospital dying from cancer. Zoë and Simon come to terms with their own mortality and the loss of their loved ones through their growing relationship and their battle with an evil vampire named Christopher.

The novel is a coming-of-age drama in which the characters must confront their fear of death and challenge their notions of it. Klause uses the horror genre to examine different types of horror such as terminal illness, spiritual horror in the form of vampires, and personal loss.[1]

The Silver Kiss received numerous accolades; it was selected as Best Book of the Year Honor Book (1990) by Michigan Library Association, Best Books by School Library Journal (1990), and Best Books for Young Adults (1991) by American Library Association.[2]

Plot

Zoë Sutcliff is a young woman who experiences the slow death of her mother, Anne Sutcliff, and the dislocation of her father, Harry Sutcliff. She turns to her sole friend Lorraine, who cannot provide emotional support for Zoë. Lorraine moves to Oregon with her family, leaving Zoë completely alone. She tells Lorraine about her feelings for Simon, whom she meets while walking in a park, but does not tell her Simon is a vampire from 17th- century England. Zoë considers asking Simon to turn her mother into a vampire, but he tells her there is no cure for vampirism and that existence as one is unappealing.

Simon is entranced by the grief-stricken Zoë and must accept his feelings of fondness for her while trying to control his own nature. His growing attachment to Zoë puts them both at risk because he also seeks to kill Christopher—his own brother—who looks like a six-year-old albino but is a sadistic version of what Simon could become. Despite misgivings, Simon approaches Zoë; they confront Christopher in a climatic battle and slay him. After the battle, Simon spends his final hours with Zoë; they have sex and he dies after exposing himself to sunlight.

Characters

  • Zoë Sutcliff, the main character; a young woman in her late teenage years.
  • Simon is a 340-year-old vampire from Bristol, England, and Zoë's love interest.
  • Lorraine, Zoë’s best friend who moves to Oregon with her family.
  • Anne Sutcliff, Zoë's mother, who is dying of cancer.
  • Harry Sutcliff, Zoë's argumentative father.
  • Christopher, Simon's older brother, who is also a vampire.

Bonus stories

The 2009 reissue of The Silver Kiss contains two bonus short stories written by Klause; "The Summer of Love" and "The Christmas Cat".

Reception

The Silver Kiss has been compared[3] to the successful Twilight series as a vampire romance. The Silver Kiss was written several years before Twilight and has been successful by its own merits. Klause has been said to have successfully integrated "gory details" into a "sensuous and suspenseful story".[4] The novel has been cited in the psychology journal Adolescence as an example of literature that can help adolescents understand death, "enabling them to understand the impact of trauma and identify corrective responses".[5]

According to Publishers Weekly, Klause's use of themes and genres is "excessively ambitious", making "her suspense ... uneven, her love story inadequately rooted and her resolution just a bit pat". The reviewer, however, said Klause's use of the vampire figure and the quality of her prose points to "an intelligent and original eye". [6]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-the-silver-kiss/#gsc.tab=0 accessdate =21 March 2015
  2. ↑ "Annette Curtis Klause". Children's Book Guild. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  3. ↑ Cooper, Ilene (15 November 2005). "Meyer, Stephenie. Twilight". Booklist. 102 (6): 58. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
  4. ↑ Zvirin, Stephanie (15 November 2000). "The Silver Kiss". Booklist. 97 (6): 632. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
  5. ↑ DeMinco, Sandrea (1995). "Young adult reactions to death in literature and in life". Adolescence. 30 (117): 179–185. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
  6. ↑ "Children's Book Review: The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause, Author Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers $14.95 (0p) ISBN 978-0-385-30160-2:". Publishers Weekly. PWxyz, LLC. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
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