It's not Night Life of the Gods

June 13, 2008 9:08 PM

In this book, statues come to life. It's not Night Life of The Gods, by Thorne Smith. What is it?

A book ithat was available in the early-to-mid-70's. Statues came to life in the book. It wasn't horror. It was more or less contemporary at the time.

Those are all the details! Any ideas?

Thanks!

posted by lockedroomguy to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

Statues come to life in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. That was written in 1950 - too old? Here's a plot summary of the chapter with the statues.
posted by daisyace at 4:43 AM on June 14, 2008

Statues come to life in the movie of Heavenly Creatures. I believe it was based upon a book, but I'm not sure if the book has the statues or if it was just a movie addition.
posted by sharkfu at 8:59 AM on June 14, 2008

I have been meaning to ask a question here for ages now -- it was about a YA book in the mid-70s in which gargoyles (and maybe statues too) in New York City came to life. If I recall correctly, the storyline also had something to do with the Cleopatra's Needle obelisk, and the book had a gold or orange cover. Is this perhaps the same book you are looking for?
posted by litlnemo at 11:53 AM on June 14, 2008

I should also add that in this book I think there was a girl who was sort of secret friends with these gargoyles, or something like that. I honestly can't remember what happened in the plot beyond that.
posted by litlnemo at 11:54 AM on June 14, 2008

litlnemo -- was it either So You Want to be a Wizard (boy and girl in 1980s take their Ordeal to become wizards; live statues help them fight final battle in alternate-universe New York) or The Bronze King (girl with help of street musician and stuck-up teenage violinist and a statue from Central Park fight a kraken that has moved into the NY subway)?
posted by nonane at 3:15 PM on June 14, 2008

I don't want to derail lockedroomguy's question, but no, I don't think either of those are the books are the one I was referring to, but maybe they are the one he is thinking of. lockedroomguy, any input on this? Is my "lost" book the same as yours?
posted by litlnemo at 12:02 AM on June 15, 2008

Well, lockedroomguy hasn't returned, but I did find the name of the book I was looking for, and it does match the description of the book requested. It is Stoneflight by Georgess McHargue. The basic description quoted at Amazon -- "Janie uses her power to put life in the stone animals that ornament New York buildings to escape her parents' quarreling, but when the animals start to turn her into stone she learns that having feelings is the price of remaining human" -- is really poor, but a longer review on the Amazon page makes it clear that it is indeed the book I remember. (The edition they picture there isn't the same edition, though -- the cover art I mentioned was on the hardcover.)

I found it by searching the solved mysteries pages at Stump the Bookseller for the word "gargoyles."

So the question remains... is this the book you wanted, lockedroomguy?

Either way, thanks for posting this, as it finally led me to find a book I'd been wanting to track down for ages.
posted by litlnemo at 2:31 PM on June 21, 2008