Title: The story of her holding an orange
Author: Milos Bogetic
Publisher: Inaaace Press
Pages: 73
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“When I was 17 and living in Europe, strange woman started following me. She would find me everywhere. And every time she’d find me, she’d only want one thing: for me to take the orange. After a year of being constantly stalked, I moved to America. 10 years later, she found me again. This is the true story of her, the woman holding an orange.”
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. The original story
was brilliant but please, please don’t read this book.
