"A tale is a funny thing, and even when it’s your own and you have a quill in your hand you must be careful where you touch it."
Read from January 12th to January 19th
Horror
218 pages
Synopsis:
In this horror story set in colonial New England, a law-abiding Puritan woman goes missing. Or perhaps she has fled or abandoned her family. Or perhaps she's been kidnapped, and set loose to wander in the dense woods of the north. Alone and possibly lost, she meets another woman in the forest. Then everything changes.
On a journey that will take her through dark woods full of almost-human wolves, through a deep well wet with the screams of men, and on a living ship made of human bones, our heroine may find that the evil she flees has been inside her all along. The eerie, disturbing story of one of our perennial fascinations--witchcraft in colonial America--In the House in the Dark of the Woods is a novel of psychological horror and suspense told in Laird Hunt's characteristically lyrical prose style. It is the story of a bewitching, a betrayal, a master huntress and her quarry. It is a story of anger, of evil, of hatred and of redemption. It is the story of a haunting, a story that makes up the bedrock of American mythology, but told in a vivid way you will never forget.
Review:
This book felt like it took me ages to finish! The writing style was different and challenging to get used to, so reading 20 pages actually felt like the length of reading 80 pages. I found myself rereading a lot of portions of the text because they confused me. The overuse of "my man", "my son", etc., was absolutely cringe and every single time the author used it my whole body wanted to gag.
So, the book starts off with a total Hansel and Gretel vibe and I had myself questioning whether this was a retelling or not. I mean, this Goody woman trots off into the woods to pick berries and gets lost. Then the forest gets dark and creepy. And then it took a really weird turn and it was obvious it was not a retelling because the story was honestly just messed up and confusing.
The characters of the wood really annoyed me through the entire book. Every time “Goody” would ask a question, they would dance around the answer or plainly not answer or even straight up insult that she asks so many questions. I understand that it was because it was all some big game to get her to take the place as the next Eliza, but man that is just frustrating as hell. Plus, all the other characters: Captain Jane, Red Boy, Granny Someone. What even are these characters?
THE PLOT THOUGH!?!? Once a new Eliza is chosen, characters can just....... switch?????? Like what? It's never explained how or why or wtf. This book just makes no friggen sense.
Also, the ending pissed me off. They left Goody’s story unfinished after she became Eliza. I wanted to know how she felt. What her thoughts were... instead, we got the story of the old Eliza. I need to know about what happens with Goody, or new Eliza.
For a "horror" I was not horrified. To me, this did not deserve to be in the horror genre. It was just embarrassing.
Ugh, I don’t know. I’m just not pleased over all with this book.
