This is a tough one. I really admire Laird Hunt. I wish I could write books like his—proportional,
upending, unresolvable, unputdownable. I probably thought more about this book after reading it than almost any other. No, I didn’t think about it, it haunted me. I wanted it to go away. It is sppppoooooooooky when it is spooky but it is also annoying through much of the middle with a kind of goth Alice in Wonderland oopsie daisy quality to the plot that got boring. It was like these moves were needed thematically perhaps but not needed for the narrative. So you can start to feel talked at and then the lecture is in very dark riddles. I think what haunted me is that women seemed to be blamed on some level for the abuse they endure… LH, you are a spinner of nightmares. ( )

Review test test test test ( )

I was all over the place on how to rate this. It's a book you have to finish to see it come together. I was thinking I would rate it a 2/5 until pretty close to the end, when it suddenly jumped to a 3 or possibly even 4/5 for me. It read like a series of weird, unconnected, seemingly arbitrary episodes, but there is a lot that isn't what it seems in this novel.

Being a fairy-tale-style witch story set in the woods of colonial New England, the book rightly reads like a fever dream. But I think there are some weaknesses that hold it back, mainly clear info being suddenly spat out at the story's convenience on a few occasions. The way it was done came across a bit clumsy to me, but thankfully Laird Hunt was more creative with the final change abouts.

While it's not something that gives me the feeling of wanting to read it again soon, I could see myself picking it up some Octobers from now to see how it reads in hindsight. I also hope someone makes a movie version, because I could see a creepy, visually impressive psychological horror film come out of this. ( )

I picked up this book from the shop purely from liking it's cover.
I loved it. It was a little tricky to get into I'll admit, but I got hooked. I had to let go of my inquisitive thoughts and just let myself take in the story.
The atypical writing style only makes it feel more fairytale-like. It felt like a dream, or some kind of nightmare, it was hard to tell. I loved the feeling of only getting drips and drops of information as and when the character feels like disclosing anything, this is something there should be more of in literature. It's not just reading a linear story, it's experiencing something new, or maybe something like witchcraft itself.

I was surprised when I saw so many negative reviews, especially about it not having a conclusion, I found the ending quite satisfying. ( )

Specifics:

Book: In the house in the dark of the woods

Author: Laird Hunt

Published: 16TH OCT’18

Genre: Horror fiction, Psychological fiction, Historical fantasy

Publisher: ONE (Pushkin press)

Pages: 210

My rating: 3/5


Blurb:

ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS AND WASN’T A WOMAN WHO WENT TO THE WOODS.

In this dark fairy tale, a young woman sets off to pick berries in the depths of the forest, but can’t find her way home again. Or perhaps she has fled and abandoned her family. Or perhaps she’s been kidnapped, and set loose to wander in the wildness. Alone and possibly lost, she meets another woman who offers her help. Then everything changes.

On a journey that will take her to the depths of the witch-haunted woods, through a deep well wet with the screams of men, on a living ship made of human bones, our heroine may find that the evil she flees has been inside her all along.


DEDICATION:

Deep into that darkness peering,

Long I stood there

Wondering, fearing


REVIEW:

Let us say that we take Alice in Wonderland and put it in a blender with a few famous scenes from other fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel, add a considerable amount of gore, confusion and horror and a pinch of surprise – the blend is the gist of this book.

For most part, the only thing I felt while reading the book was confusion. It starts off really well, with a very good fairy tale kind of vibe but as we dig deeper, it slowly blends into mystery, thrill, horror and gore. It doesn’t exactly feel like a wicked or dark twist to a fairy tale. It rather feels like a fairy tale happening in an alternate universe.

It is set in the era of witchcraft in colonial America/England (There are sources suggesting both but I lean on the latter). Like the blurb says, a woman is lost in the woods, by what means, is a mystery that is left to us to figure out. While this is intriguing, it does become sort of monotonous and thus, boring.

The book also keeps flashing back to Goody’s past and connects it to the present. While it was a good narrative, in a few parts, it only adds to the confusion.

The only reason I ended up finishing the book is that it is small and I was halfway through already. But, I think it was a good choice because it wasn’t a bad read, it just requires a lot of your attention to remember and keep track of everything that is happening and judge the same.

The slump mid-way can be annoying but it is totally worth finishing. I also think that it requires an intellect that I do not have to fall in love with the book.

I rate it 3 out of 5 stars.

SPOILERS AHEAD:

Few things that will forever be embedded in my mind are definitely the murders that Goody has committed. The ease with which she discusses her past and also manages to behave like really good wife and mother is worth talking about.

Instead of writing about the plot and characters, this time I have theories, so let’s jump into them.


MY THEORIES:

THEORY 1: According to my dumb brain, this story is the game that Goody and Eliza play in Eliza’s home come to reality.

So, there are a few characters:

1. Goody, the mother and wife with an abusive mother who would beat her and her father

2. Eliza, a woman who left her family to live in the woods with a house that has a stream and a cellar and is good with herbs

3. Captain Jane who is a brave soldier of the woods, that helps those that are lost and also has a flying ship made up of human bones and skin

4. Granny Someone, who is a weak witch that wanders around selling things (necklaces) she makes from raw materials she picks up from the woods that apparently traps people

5. A beautiful man who isn’t a man that traps kids luring them with music (I honestly, do not recollect) and traps them in a dark cellar after turning them into pigs

6. A red boy who apparently has control over everyone at the forest, especially Eliza.

While at Eliza’s house, Eliza and Goody play a game where they act out a story and switch characters abruptly. For example, consider Alice in wonderland! 1 is Alice, 2 is the hatter, 3 is queen of hearts, and 4 is Cheshire cat and so on... The game begins with allotted roles that are interchanged as the game goes on.

Similarly, the above mentioned characters excluding the last two are interchanged. Once Goody decides to stay at Eliza’s house, Goody becomes Eliza, Eliza becomes Captain Jane, Captain Jane becomes Granny Someone and I guess someone new becomes Goody and Granny someone falls asleep or dies.


THEORY 2: Goody, most probably due to the abusive and unstable childhood is a psychopathic cold blooded murderer who hallucinates the entire story and probably is the one who built the ship made of human bones and skin with the remnants of her victims.

Reasons to read:

It is a dark and eerie twist to a fairy tale
A unique writing style
Will put your mind to work
It’s a unique blend of fantasy, thriller and gore.
Weirdly strong female character/’s

Cons:

Confusing to a large extent
Violence might act as a trigger to those vulnerable
Can be one of those books DNF’d due to boredom/confusion
Hits a plateau midway and then it’s hard to keep reading but gets interesting by the end ( )