History Literature / ArielBlock

* TheAlcoholic: David becomes a functional one of these. But he also loves Ariel, so things may work out for him. Roberta is hooked on prescription sleeping pills.
** Jeff's information on alcoholism and the descriptions of David's blackouts are TruthInTelevision for the author according to him. He says he wrote the first drafts of ''Ariel'' (which he titled ''The Adopted'') on alcohol and cough syrup.
* TheBeautifulElite: Jeff Channing comes very close to being one of these. Ariel and Erskine say "he's got those television good looks."

* {{Diary}}: Ariel keeps hers in an ordinary spiral notebook.

* JailBait: Ariel, to Jeff as he goes off his rocker.

* CreepyChild: Roberta thinks Ariel is. Also, Ariel's klutzy friend Erskine Wold. Ariel hints that Erskine may turn out to be BeautifulAllAlong behind those NerdGlasses: "What he should really do is get contact lenses when he's older. His eyes are really quite attractive."

* WordOfGod: While the author loves Ariel and Erskine, "I’m not as taken with other elements of the book, including the ending. I’d have ended the book differently if I could have figured out how. Some people were bothered by the ending, finding it [[AmbiguousEnding ambiguous]], and other people liked the ending ''because'' of its ambiguity."

* {{Bookworm}}: Ariel. She's got all the Oz books, plus young-adult novels, and cites several books she loved but didn't finish, including Rosalyn Drexler's ''I Am The Beautiful Stranger''. She's also read at least some of ''Literature/MobyDick'' and actually did finish Poe's ''The Purloined Letter'', which is where she gets the idea to [[HiddenInPlainSight keep her diary in a school notebook]]. (She talks about knowing better than to keep it in one of those ''[[SecretDiary My Secret Thoughts]]'' books around Roberta.) Creator/SylviaPlath and ''her'' book ''Ariel'' are mentioned several times.

* MagicalFlutist: A spooky version thereof. It's never described just where Ariel got her tin flute. She plays it all the time. David enjoys it as did little Caleb, but Roberta hears it as HellIsThatNoise. Or maybe Ariel is just a DreadfulMusician -- but at the end, combined with another instance of Poor Communication, it's [[spoiler: what finally drives Roberta to suicide.]]

* {{Bookworm}}: Ariel. She's got all the Oz books, plus young-adult novels, and cites several books she loved but didn't finish, including Rosalyn Drexler's ''I Am The Beautiful Stranger''. She's also read at least some of Literature/MobyDick and actually did finish Poe's ''The Purloined Letter'', which is where she gets the idea to keep her diary in a school notebook. (She talks about knowing better than to keep it in one of those ''[[SecretDiary My Secret Thoughts]]'' books around Roberta.) Creator/SylviaPlath and ''her'' book ''Ariel'' are mentioned several times.

* DreamingTheTruth: Ariel may have done so, but she may also be dreaming what she fears.

* MagicalFlutist: A spooky version thereof. It's never described just where Ariel got her tin flute. She plays it all the time. David enjoys it as did little Caleb, but Roberta hears it as HellIsThatNoise. Or maybe Ariel is just a DreadfulMusician -- but at the end it's [[spoiler: what finally drives Roberta to suicide.]]

* SecretDiary: Kept in an ordinary school notebook so Roberta won't snoop, and it works; it remains safe throughout and Ariel is still writing in it at the end.

* GameShow: After seeing Jeff (not knowing who he is) at Caleb's funeral, Ariel begins to think of him as a host for ''TheDatingGame'', then imagines a new show, ''The Funeral Game'' -- pick the right coffin and win an all-expenses-paid trip for two to Forest Lawn.

* PuppyLove: Ariel and Erskine, although they agree they don't want to "do that" because they're friends. The author says that their scenes together are his favorites, and he's very fond of them.

* HauntedHouse: Itself a character in the story. Ariel's family has just moved into the big old house in an older section of Charleston, South Carolina. While Ariel loves it, Roberta comes to believe it is conscious and evil.

* SpookyPainting: Found in Ariel's attic and "adopted" by her. May or may not be a portrait of Grace Molineaux, who may or may not have been an AxCrazy murderess and/or Ariel's former reincarnation.

* SecretDiary: Kept in an ordinary school notebook so Roberta won't snoop, and it works; it remains safe throughout and Ariel is still happily writing in it at the end.

* PuppyLove: Ariel and Erskine, although they agree they don't want to "do that" because they're friends.

Written by hardboiled detective author Lawrence Block and marketed as a horror novel, this is a very subtle story about the scapegoating of a "different" child, communication failure and the destruction of a family, with supernatural elements crawling in at the windows.