I can't tell if I want to dig a hole and bury myself in it or read it again.
An off-beat horror story, in which the horror doesn't depend on Dueling Banjos, or the eldritch, or Old Gods buried in the root cellar, but on something much more terrifyingly plausible: a home invasion by a group of strangers with baffling, murderous demands.
Never less than well-written and intriguing, but it seems to me like the whole is less than the sum of the parts: I'm not sure why Tremblay has asked me to endure this deeply disturbing tale. What's the lesson, or message, or salutary warning I'm supposed to be taking away from this? Don't vacation in a remote cabin in the woods, out of cell phone range? Well, I would have thought we'd all learned that lesson, from stories and movies, a long time ago ...
Is there no message? Just a horrible parable about the way a life can go up in flames in a heartbeat, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it?? Well thanks, Paul.
This novel does an excellent job of intensively recreating what it must be like to be at the mercy of murderous whack-jobs -- The invaders don't want anything their victims (or we, the readers) can understand -- money, valuables, power. Not even inspired by prejudice --the two men are gay spouses, but the home invaders' denials that it has anything to do with why they have been targeted sounds almost sane, and more persuasive than most of their story.
I stuck with this out of curiosity, and the need to find out what happens, what the author does with it, and how he brings it to an end. Having been hooked by the opening, told from the beautifully done perspective of lovely, delightful 8-year-old Wen, I couldn't put it down until I exhausted the possibility that I would come away with a good reason for having read this.
And I didn't, not really. As one of my friends has said, "what you think might happen ends up happening." And I came away with no sense that the anticipated, expected ending added any value or meaning to a deeply disturbing (if cleverly written) series of events.
Never less than well-written and intriguing, but it seems to me like the whole is less than the sum of the parts: I'm not sure why Tremblay has asked me to endure this deeply disturbing tale. What's the lesson, or message, or salutary warning I'm supposed to be taking away from this? Don't vacation in a remote cabin in the woods, out of cell phone range? Well, I would have thought we'd all learned that lesson, from stories and movies, a long time ago ...
Is there no message? Just a horrible parable about the way a life can go up in flames in a heartbeat, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it?? Well thanks, Paul.
This novel does an excellent job of intensively recreating what it must be like to be at the mercy of murderous whack-jobs -- The invaders don't want anything their victims (or we, the readers) can understand -- money, valuables, power. Not even inspired by prejudice --the two men are gay spouses, but the home invaders' denials that it has anything to do with why they have been targeted sounds almost sane, and more persuasive than most of their story.
I stuck with this out of curiosity, and the need to find out what happens, what the author does with it, and how he brings it to an end. Having been hooked by the opening, told from the beautifully done perspective of lovely, delightful 8-year-old Wen, I couldn't put it down until I exhausted the possibility that I would come away with a good reason for having read this.
And I didn't, not really. As one of my friends has said, "what you think might happen ends up happening." And I came away with no sense that the anticipated, expected ending added any value or meaning to a deeply disturbing (if cleverly written) series of events.
This was a reread for me and it did not change my viewpoint of this novel. It is a tale of paranoia, sacrifice, apocalypse, and survival that escalates to a shattering conclusion. The fate of a loving family and quite possibly all of humanity are intertwined. I read this for a Litsy Mail Postal Book Club. Here is my review from my first read:
I wanted to read this book because I saw so many people had liked it but I will have to say that I didn't really like it at all. I have read some scary books and this one was not that scary to me. There are crazy people holding the occupants of the cabin as hostages but I thought it lacked real tension. I listened to the audio and it was during the day and maybe if I was home alone and it was at night then I'm sure I would have been a bit more nervous. So, if you read this one and you were scared then I would say, "Good for you!" If you haven't read it then maybe you should try it and see if it is scary enough for you. I just thought the whole story was rather strange. But I guess that's why they have so many flavors of ice cream!
I wanted to read this book because I saw so many people had liked it but I will have to say that I didn't really like it at all. I have read some scary books and this one was not that scary to me. There are crazy people holding the occupants of the cabin as hostages but I thought it lacked real tension. I listened to the audio and it was during the day and maybe if I was home alone and it was at night then I'm sure I would have been a bit more nervous. So, if you read this one and you were scared then I would say, "Good for you!" If you haven't read it then maybe you should try it and see if it is scary enough for you. I just thought the whole story was rather strange. But I guess that's why they have so many flavors of ice cream!
If you like Stephen King you will probably like this book.
Personally I couldn't even finish it.
Personally I couldn't even finish it.
